Page 140 of Scarlet Vows

Chapter Thirty-Two

ILYA

Albert refuses to stop barking.I scoop him up and tear through the house, room by room, hoping like fuck she’s hiding.

It makes no sense. I know that. And I do it anyway. I should have been home, should have given her a guard. Should have locked her the fuck away.

I don’t want to believe Svetlana finding Albert beside himself, alone. I don’t want to believe Melor’s claim of kidnap.

“Alina!” I cry as Albert barks. “Malyshka! Please.”

I keep searching every fucking room until I move on to the grounds, then the street.

But it’s clear she’s gone.

For a moment, I stand in the foyer as Albert finally stops barking and starts whining. Svetlana wrings her hands, her worry thickening the air.

I don’t know what to do. For one of the first times in my life, in a life-or-death situation, I don’t know what to fucking do.

Carefully, I hand Albert to Svetlana. She takes him even as the dog lets out a panicked, distressed doggy wail.

“It’s okay, Albert. Svetlana will give you a treat.”

“Sir, I’ll hold him, but he won’t leave the foyer, not with me. He got me, and he wanted me to chase her. I’m sorry.” She breaks down and starts to cry. “I’m so sorry.”

I shake my head at her apology. “Did you do this?”

“Ilya!” Her eyes widen.

“Then you didn’t do anything wrong. What I need to do is find her. And you need to keep Albert safe for her.”

“Sir.”

I frown when a banging comes from outside the open front door.

From my car.

Oh fuck.

Malor.

I run to the car. How long has it been? Not ten minutes, I hope. Otherwise, he might not have been able to call Simonov in order to keep Alina alive.

He’s screaming at me in Russian while I unlock the trunk. He gets out, staggering, digging out his phone.

I snatch it from him. “I’llhold it. What is the arranged signal?”

When he takes a step toward me, I pull out my gun. Then he backs up against the car’s open trunk.

“I call or he calls. I just say I’m here. When you’re ready to give it all up, lay down your hold on this place and pay the ransom from your money of ten million, then she walks.”

“Ten… I need to make a call. Do not move.” I half turn and start to call Pavel, but something slams into me.

Hard.

I don’t feel anything but a rattling shock, and my vision blurs.

Albert barks. Svetlana screams.