Page 24 of The Bratva's Christmas Bump

“Son, listen?—”

“Don’t!” I bark so loud that even in the dark, several critters squeak and flee in the darkness. “I swear to God if you’ve hurt her, then I’ll do the exact same to you!”

“Watch yourself, Son. I was taking her to dinner,” Dad snaps. “Decided it was time to get to know the woman youmarried.”

I should be concerned by his tone, but his words don’t hit with even a hint of truth.

“She attacked me out of nowhere. I told you she was suspicious, I told you that we should have killed her the moment she ended up at your penthouse, but?—”

“HOLLIE!” I bellow her name at the top of my lungs, striding right past my father and down the embankment toward the trees. “Hollie, where are you?”

Within minutes, Toto, Stu, and I are combing the woods while my father, despite his pathetic tale, joins in the hunt with his men. He delivers weak calls of her name in such a tone that it sounds more like a threat than anything else.

Twigs snap underfoot. Leaves crumple. Branches snap back and forth as they get caught on my clothing while I stride deeper and deeper into the woods calling her name until my throat burns.

I have to find her.

Given my father’s presence here, I have to believe she’s still alive. He wouldn’t linger if he’d killed her.

Reception out here isn’t the strongest and my tracing app constantly flickers in and out of connection while I stride as best I can toward a blinking dot on the map. The longer we search, the colder the world grows, and my worry spikes. Hollie wouldn’t survive a night out here in the freezing cold, not after everything she’s been through these last few days.

Around a log, I come face to face with Toto, whose face echoes the worry in my own mind. “What do you wanna do, Boss?” he asks in a low voice.

“Find her.”

“Yeah, I know, but your dad?—”

“Let me deal with him.” My tone remains curt. “Finding Hollie is all that matters right now. But…” I hesitate and glance behind us where Stu is visible through the trees, purposefully keeping my father and his men illuminated with a flashlight. “Stay closer to them. If he’s hurt her or scared her, then I don’t want him close when I find her.”

After a glance at my phone in my hand, Toto nods and redirects his search to loop back and meet with Stu. I continue, stomping through the woods toward the dot while my heart races faster and faster as if I’ve been sprinting the whole time.

“Hollie?”

Suddenly, a soft gasp rises from the darkness to my right. As I turn, twigs and leaves crunch and crackle as someone moves. Lifting my flashlight, I glimpse her crimson hair as she takes off sprinting and relief surges through me.

“Hollie, wait!”

“No!” She stumbles, but it doesn’t slow her down. Branches and tree roots rise out of the ground to cut at my ankles and grab my clothes as I chase after her. It’s like nature itself is mistaking me for the threat.

To her, though, I probably am.

It doesn’t take long for me to catch her but when I do, she spins and throws a handful of dirt in my face. Blinded, I throw myself forward and catch her by the waist, then pull her backward as I stumble to regain my balance. She hoarsely yelps until both my arms are around her, then I trip and we both hit the ground with a grunt.

“Please,” she gasps. “Don’t hurt me again, don’t hurt me!”

“Hollie, it’s me. I'm not going to hurt you, I promise!”

Despite her trembling, something in her stills and she slowly peers through her unkempt hair to meet my eyes. “Maxim?”

“It’s me.”

“Your dad?—”

“I know.” Cutting her off gently, I slacken my grip around her waist. “I’m sorry. I’m here now.”

“He t–tried to—” She chokes suddenly, and through the reflection of my flashlight, I glimpse her tears. “He tried tokillme.”

“I know.”