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FORTY-NINE

Inessa

H olding Valentin’s forearm, I try to guide his huge body to sit down. It’s like he’s disappeared, there’s nothing on his features, and he’s just staring into space. I manage to tilt him so his back is to the sofa and gently push against his chest. He falls without any real force behind my hands, and his heartbroken whisper kills me.

“He’s got my son.”

He looks up at me lost. The killer has red-rimmed eyes, repeating himself.

“He’s got my son.”

He continues repeating it and I lower to my haunches and hold his shoulders, but he doesn’t stop.

The words change as it sinks in, and his face splinters.

“I can’t live without him.”

There’s no consolation I can give him. Whoever Leno is has shared history with the Vartanovs that they know he isn’t going to be treating Viktor with care. I wrap both arms around him and speak with conviction of the only thing I know to be true. “Vlad will get him back.”

My voice is full of strength, and he speaks to himself.

“Little man will be okay. Vlad will get him.”

Nodding to himself, he fills with anger, and I move back in time to escape the coffee table being thrown across the room. It’s not just rage fueling him but despair, and I stay a statue standing against the wall, watching Valentin break down.Everything is destroyed and I remain unmoving as he moves like a cyclone.

Vlad’s phone is still on the only intact sofa and we both turn to it as it starts vibrating. I can’t see the name with how quick it’s snatched up, and Val answers, clenching his jaw to stop the promise of death leaving him.

“Let me speak to him,” he says, losing his usual cruelty for something darker.

Moving closer to him like I can do anything, he puts it on speaker and wraps his arm around my shoulders. Viktor’s voice is filled with strength, and warm tears race down my cheek.

“Ni za chto.”

He’s a child and shouldn’t even have the capability of knowing what’s going on, never mind giving an order.

My tears run together as I wipe my cheek, but Val removes his emotions from his vocal cords.

“Você sabe onde está?”

There’s no echo of Val’s horrible Portuguese, but it’s enough for Viktor to find a way to answer. Pretending to be afraid, he acts far beyond his years.

“I know you won’t come for us, it’s okay. I left my bike near the pool. And my three favorite cars are under my pillow. Can you put them with my other toys?”

Whatever the bullshit answer means has Val relaxing, and the phone is snatched from Viktor’s hand as he screams, “Don’t touch me!”

There’s a sound of a slap, but it’s further away, and Dani’s voice is muffled in the background.

Any ease that comes over Val is chased away, and he ends the call to stop his rage from being heard. I’m abruptly moved to the side as he gets a second wind and trashes an already destroyed room. I’m a useless audience stood waiting for anything to guide me on how to help.

He manages to calm himself down physically, but his chest is moving too fast, and I’ve never heard someone breathe aggressively until right now. Every movement is mechanical as Val lifts the phone to his ear and sounds like Vlad.

“He’s with the MC, their property on the river. There are three of the cunts with him, and he’s in a basement but can see the road.”

I don’t know where he pulled that information from when Viktor only spoke about his toys, but it meant something. Remembering I’m standing here, he ends the call and gets rid of my confusion.

“Vlad’s paranoid ass is good for something.”

Not adding anything more, he storms off, nearly forgetting his shoes.

I’ve never been fully alone in the house before. It’s too quiet, and I wish I was like Katya and Ana. Instead, I’m sitting here waiting, not knowing what the fuck is happening. Trying to move through the destruction, my foot stings, and I lift it carefully. There’s glass everywhere, little shards digging into my feet, and I lay the sofa cushions over them so I can get my shoes.

Making sure all the floors are alarmed but the ground floor, so I don’t trip it, I clean up, so Viktor doesn’t see anything when he comes home. Vlad won’t let him be anywhere else, and Val will tear apart anyone who so much as looks at his son. The silence is deafening. It’s like the soul of the home has been ripped away, and there are only two guards standing beside the doors.

Something sinister snakes up my spine, and my nape prickles like I’m being watched. Standing straighter on alert, there’s a boom that rocks the foundations and blinds me. There’s no heat, but the sound and lights fuck with my senses. My body reacts on some survival instinct, making me fold in half and cover my head. The echo in my ears distorts everything, and the flashing doesn’t stop, no matter how tightly I shut my eyes.

It all fogs my senses as though they’re being attacked and something cool presses into my neck. My hand moves and brushes leather as I’m pulled up by my hair against a body I don’t recognize.

Letting my body go limp so they lean forward, I aim my head back where their nose should be. Whoever is grabbing me isn’t going to take me on vacation. They’re a twisted fuck and want to cause maximum damage. My senses haven’t adjusted from whatever exploded, and a dirty cloth is stuffed into my mouth, making me choke. Any sight I regained is cut off, and my arms are bound before it all stops.