Page 94 of The Games of Madmen

“This doesn’t make sense,” I say, taking Z’s hand and steadying him.

“It will, I promise. Please, set a timer. Three days.” And then she hangs up.

My hand drops with the phone, and Z punches the wall, his fist puncturing the plaster.

“What do we do?” I say, my equilibrium making my feet sway. It doesn’t make fucking sense.

“Something must have happened,” Z says, his breathing slowing.

“So, what do we fucking do?” I bellow.

Ice blue eyes cut to me, and my stomach clenches at the agony there. We can’t fucking make it through this again. “We trust her and wait.”

“And what if she doesn’t come back?”

She has to. She fucking has to.

“Then we scour every corner of the earth until we find her.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

Alyona

Sharp pain clenches my stomach muscles as I abruptly end the call with Rodion. Glancing up, I see the final boarding announcement flickering across the overhead screen. My heart races, and the uneasy sensation in my chest intensifies when my phone buzzes in my hand.

With a deep breath, I answer, my voice steady despite the trepidation coursing through my veins. “Diana?”

“I’ve done everything you asked. Locker number, six zero one. Code, four, three, six. Just remember, this conversation never happened.” Her tone is firm, underlined with a hint of urgency.

“Of course,” I reply, keeping my voice calm.

“Alyona, please, whatever you’re planning, just be careful.”

“I will. I promise.” I end the call and power down the phone, quickly locate the locker and slip the phone inside, and take out the new passport. I can’t risk the twins tracking my phone ormovements. Diana booked the flight under the new name and I once again owe her more than I can ever repay.

Taking a moment to inhale deeply, I focus on the mission ahead of me as I sprint toward my gate number, my heart pounding louder with each step. It’s finally time for Yuri to pay for everything he’s done.

No more planning.

No more waiting.

No more excuses.

This is it.

***

Yuri may very well be a good businessman, but he’s a pathetic cunt in his personal life, and he is predictable. Due to his dick being a small, flaccid maggot that doesn’t function, he keeps a regular lineup of sex slaves to entertain himself with and a male to do the deed in his stead. It wasn’t hard to replace the girl he had for tonight as he keeps a collection of them in his basement dungeon, the disgusting pig. He wouldn’t know one from the other, so offering tonight’s girl a reprieve was enough of a reward to get her to wait hidden, while I took the punishment for her.

The man he uses as a fuck horse is a piece of shit that has no qualms forcing Yuri’s form of sickness on the girls, according to the girl I’ve replaced.

He’ll die for that sin.

Straightening my wig that Diana left me, along with the rest of my outfit in the brush just off the property line, I keep my head bowed, navigating through the halls of the Vasiliev mansion. I walk straight past the security on the ground floor because they’re used to seeing women coming and going up thisstaircase, and they don’t even blink in my direction. Why would they think I pose a threat? After all, I’m just a woman.

Ha. Yuri’s sexist, pig-headedness will be his downfall. It’s poetic.

The dark blue decor hasn’t changed over the years and evokes memories of my childhood. I spent countless hours running around here with Viktor, familiarizing myself with every corner while playing hide and seek and, more importantly, the locations of all the cameras. Slipping onto the property with one of the maid’s food deliveries was easier than it should have been. The idea came to me when we mentioned how Alexey used the strategy with Betty to track the twins. I slipped straight inside and out of sight until it was time.