Page 111 of Savage Vows

I step closer. “Good. You know me. Saves time.”

He takes a breath that sounds more like a gulp. “Adriana and I were chasing a story. The missing girls, Portello, all of it.”

“I know about that,” I say impatiently.

He looks awestruck. “You do? Did she?—”

“Get to the point,” I say, slowly taking my gun out. His eyes widen, his lips quivering. “We were together this morning for an interview. She left the clinic because she didn’t like where my methods were headed.”

“You need to be more specific.”

Alex’s gaze skitters across the room before landing on the cluttered table. “I…I thought you were behind the disappearances. When that survivor pointed at your photo, I—” He shakes his head, fear bleeding through the bravado I never bought.

“What survivor?”

“It doesn’t matter,” he stammers, then reaches for a stack of pictures spread across the tabletop. He plucks out the one of me, the zoom-lens shot Eddie flagged. “She pointed at this, and I…I assumed it was you.” His hand trembles as he peels my photo away. “But it wasn’t. She was pointing at the image behind it.”

The picture underneath shows a familiar face, half turned from the camera, blond hair slicked back, an easy smile I’ve seen a hundred times across a crowded club. Maksim.

Ice slides through my veins. For a moment the room narrows to a tunnel—dim loft lights, rain hissing on the roof, the photo burning into my vision. Beside me, Alex keeps talking, voice distant.

“I wanted to warn Adriana—it was already too late, she’d left, and she hasn’t answered any texts since.”

His words dissolve in the static roaring in my ears.

My mind races, every piece snapping into place with cold, brutal clarity. Adriana isn’t answering her texts. She hasn’t come back to Bella’s. She’s not hiding out at any of the safe addresses I know.

There’s only one place left she’d run to if she felt cornered, betrayed by everyone else. The one person who always smiled, always promised safety, always knew how to put her at ease.

The monster was beside us all along, hiding in plain sight.

The room tilts as the truth lands. I delivered her straight to him.

“Oleg, Liam—we need to move. Now.” My voice is rough, breaking. “She’s with Maksim.”

33

ADRIANA

I wake up with a jolt,my skin prickling with heat, my heart hammering against my ribs. For a split second I’m still lost in the dream—Dante’s mouth at my throat, his hands holding my hips tight, his body pressed against mine, thrusting slow and deep, making me gasp and arch under him.

The air in the cabin feels thick, and I glance down, cheeks burning, finding the sheets damp between my thighs. Even now—after everything, after all my doubts, after the terror of the last few days—my body still aches for him. My stomach twists. What’s wrong with me?

He’s a killer.

I push the thoughts away and sit up, shivering a little as the morning light pushes through the small window. Damp earth, pine, and a heavy quiet—miles from anything familiar.

Yesterday comes back in fragments.

I sit up in the strange bed, brush hair from my face, and look out the small cabin window. Pine trees press in on all sides, theirneedles dusted with rain. I remember where I am—Maksim’s remote cabin, miles from anything.

The drive here was a blur of back roads and Maksim trying to calm down my growing wave of anxiety. He listened as I explained everything—what I knew about the missing girls, what Moe had said, the way the evidence was starting to point toward Dante and Remik.

He said he’d started suspecting something months ago. “When I pressed Remik about it, he told me to stop asking questions. Next thing I know, the security footage goes missing. That’s not a coincidence, Adriana.”

I turned in my seat, searching his eyes. “You think Dante and Remik are working together? You’re sure?”

Maksim nodded without hesitation. “Yes. I saw enough. The only question is how far they’re willing to go.”