LOGINSERGEI"We have her."Those three words were all it took for every other thought in my head to go silent."Where?" I was already moving, already reaching for the duffel bag I'd packed three days ago and left sitting by the door, just in case."It was as you said, she went to the vault.”"I'm on my way."I hung up and slung the bag over my shoulder in one motion.By the time I reached the entrance of the house, Lily was already there waiting, her own bag at her feet, sunglasses pushed up into her hair despite the fact that it was barely dawn."About time," she said. "I was starting to think you'd changed your mind.""Not a chance."Nikolai came down the stairs behind us, still pulling a shirt over his head, his hair a mess from being woken up too early. "I'm coming.""No, you're not.""Sergei…""I already told you. Your place is here." I zipped the bag shut and looked at him. "With Katya. With your kid.”Katya appeared at the top of the stairs then, one hand resting on the small curve
RENEE It had been two days now since I had landed in Russia and I was still yet to see the man who had brought me here.I had spent a couple of hours banging on the door after I realized that calling him was not working but that didn’t work either.The only proof that time was still moving at all was the food. Three times a day, the door would open just long enough for a guard to shove a tray inside. He never spoke or even looked at me. I'd stopped trying to ask him questions after the second meal. The man was a wall. A wall with a gun holstered at his hip.They were treating me like I was an animal in a cage and I hated it so much.I hadn't slept more than an hour at a time since arriving. The bed was a cot with a mattress so thin I could feel the metal frame digging into my spine but it wasn't the bed keeping me awake.It was Emma.Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her face. She'd hugged me right before I left for that stupid dinner. Told me to have fun and to be careful.If I had
SERGEI “She isn't here, Pakhan.” One of the boys said from the back bedroom.There I was in the center of the living room, taking in the space that was supposed to be Iris' apartment.Nikolai appeared in the hallway, shaking his head. “The house is empty.”“If she isn’t here, then where could they possibly be?” I finally asked.I was running out of patience and it was showing in my voice.“I will have people keep looking.” Nikolai said,A lot of thoughts were playing out in my head now. To think that I had been played by her, just because I had let her get under my skin."Let's go," I finally said. "We are wasting time."I reached the front door first, hand on the knob, already running through my next course of action.I pulled the door open and stopped.The woman on the front step froze mid-step, one hand still raised toward the door like she had been about to unlock it herself. Keys dangling from her fingers.Her face went through a series of changes in the span of a single second.
RENEE"I still don't think this is a good idea."Iris's voice cut through the low hum of the airport terminal, sharp with worry.She stood beside me at the departure gate with her arms wrapped around herself, her eyes darting around at every person who walked past like she expected one of them to lunge at us."It's Emma we're talking about here," I said."I know that, Renee. I know." She stepped closer, lowering her voice to barely a whisper. "But that doesn't mean you have to walk into the lion's den alone.""I'll do literally anything for her," I said. "She is the person I care about most in this whole world. And if it means getting my hands dirty in any form, then so be it."Iris searched my face for a long moment. I could tell she was looking for doubt. But she didn't find it."Immediately you land," she said, her voice firm now. "Figure out a way to tell me. Okay?""I will."Her eyes dropped to my chest, then back up to my face. "Are you with the card?"I pressed my hand flat aga
SERGEI "The fuck is wrong with all of you?"I shoved the first guard so hard he stumbled back against the gate, his hands coming up in useless surrender. "One job. You had one job. Watch the gate. Watch who comes and goes. And you're telling me she just walked out and none of you thought to stop her?""Sir, she said she was just stepping out for air…"I grabbed him by the collar before he could finish that sentence. "Do I look like I give a damn what she said?""Sergei." Nikolai's voice cut through, and I felt his hand close around my arm, pulling me back. "Enough. This is not going to solve anything."I let go of the guard, chest heaving, and he scrambled backward like I might change my mind and go for him again."We need to find her," Nikolai said, his voice steady. "That's what matters right now. Not this tempter tantrum.""She didn't go to her own house. "I was pacing now, the gravel crunching under my boots. "She would have to be an idiot to go there, and if there's one thing we
RENEE "Renee?"Iris's voice cracked with disbelief the moment she pulled the door open, her eyes going wide before she yanked me into a hug so tight it nearly knocked the breath out of me."What are you doing here?" she asked, pulling back just enough to look at my face."I had nowhere else to go."She stepped aside and let me in without another word, closing the door behind us and locking it. She took a step back, looking me over.“You look like shit," she said.“I feel even worse.”"I've been trying to reach you for a whole day," she said, following me into her living room. "No response, nothing. I thought…" She stopped herself, shaking her head. "What happened? What is the update with Emma? And those men?"She kept raining down questions on me, so I told her.I told her everything. The fact that I had stolen Viktor's number and made that call. The deal we had made, if it could even be called that, where I had to prove myself worthy of my own sister's life. And then, finally, I tol
NIKOLAII walked into my father’s study where his council were waiting.“Nikolai” One of them clasped me on the back.“I did not think you would arrive so soon and with the girl.” My father’s second in command nodded at me.“It was not hard to find her” I said.No way was I going to tell them to th
KATYAWe landed in Russia three hours later.I stared out the window at the gray skies and endless stretch of snow-covered ground while panic clawed its way through my chest again.This could not be real.People did not just get kidnapped and flown across the world because their estranged father ap
KATYACold fear crashed into me so fast as my eyes locked on the gun pointed directly at my face.“What are you talking about?”“When were you going to tell me that you are Viktor Orlov’s daughter?” he asked quietly.I blinked at him.Viktor Orlov…My father.My eyes widened in confusion.“How do yo
NIKOLAIHer anniversary?And that bastard had spent it with his cock out in my club.My jaw tightened.What kind of man does that?No…scratch that.I knew exactly the kind of man that did that.The kind that did not deserve a woman like her.“What the hell does Kotyonok even mean?”Her voice cut th







