MasukHolly listened to the gentle hum of the car as Andrei drove away, only allowing herself to collapse against the kitchen island when she could no longer hear the roaring sound of the engine. She glanced at the almost-full bin, at all the food she'd just thrown out, and immediately regretted her decision to move out of the townhouse today. There was so much to do, and she reckoned clearing out the kitchen alone would take at least an hour. She didn't even want to think about her bedroom upstairs, or all the clothes in the guest room she'd turned into a walk-in closet. "Best get on with it," she muttered under her breath as she peeled herself away from the counter. She looked through the bottom cupboards, pulling out boxes of unopened appliances—from the pop-up toaster from her parents, to an air-fryer from Liam when she first moved in, to a Keurig from Willow, whose client had been generous enough to give her not one, but two coffee machines. She'd found the gifts totally unnecessary
“Milaya,” Andrei said softly a little over an hour later as he pulled up to the Sandown Mews boom gate, stopping at the security booth. “We’re here,” he continued, gently shaking her awake.“Goodness, did I fall asleep?” Holly asked, blinking at him.“You did,” he replied. She’d fallen asleep halfway into their trip, and as much as driving in silence was no fun—especially when he had so much on his mind—he hadn’t had the heart to wake her.“Why didn’t you wake me up?” she asked, rubbing her eyes before rummaging through her handbag.“You were tired,” Andrei replied as she handed him her access card. He tapped it on the reader, and a moment later, the gate yawned open.They sped up the quiet, tree-lined street, passing rows and rows of cookie-cutter townhouses. The last time Andrei was here, he’d been on a mission, so he’d barely had time to look around. But now he had plenty, and he found the whole set-up a tad disturbing. On the surface, everything in Sandown Mews looked almost utopi
Raymond had no sooner left than Bastian arrived. He rushed into the room, holding a serious-looking envelope in his hand, with three housekeepers hot on his trail. "Boss, there's an update on De Jager," he said, taking the seat the butler had just vacated. "Take a look at this," he added, handing over the envelope. Andrei peeked inside and waited until the housekeepers had cleared the table and neatened up the room before pulling out a handful of photographs. "What am I looking at?" he asked, scanning the CCTV images of his wife leaving her townhouse the day before. One of the images was the exact copy of the photograph Jaco had sent him. "De Jager didn't get close to Matushka," Bastian explained. "He paid the security guys at her place—" "I'm assuming the same way you did to get these photos?" Bastian nodded. "They couldn't let him through the complex without a valid reason, but he sweet-talked them into giving him the footage." "That bastard!" Andrei violently cursed, utter d
Since there was nothing Andrei could do about Clarke at this very moment, he decided to focus on the family business. "Where are we with Juan's missing men?" he asked, absently scanning the markets on the Business Insider app on his iPad. "Still no sign of them. They're bound to turn up soon, though," Igor replied. "I've got several crews working in shifts. They won't stop until we find the Mexicans." "Assuming they are still in Rock Castle," Andrei said, finally allowing himself to entertain a niggling thought that had been bothering him since their call with Juan. "They could be anywhere right now. They could be victims of a kidnapping scam. Maybe we should reach out to the Mozambicans—" "And say what?" Igor firmly shut him down. "Hand us the Mexicans, and we all go on our merry way? As if they would ever do that! Besides, we don't even know if they're involved." "They run the kidnapping trade," Andrei argued. "But so far, we don't have anything solid that points to a kidnappi
They lingered in the dining room for a while, with Holly attempting to reach her father several more times. Each time her calls went unanswered, something in Andrei died, and a terrifying darkness took residence in his heart. But no matter how many times Clarke rejected Holly's attempts to make things right with him, she refused to give up. Coming clean with him had quickly become her single most important purpose in life, for the foreseeable future at least. So all Andrei could do was sit helplessly and watch her desperately cling to the hope that her father would return her calls, both their hearts breaking a little more the longer the hands on the clock ticked on, and her phone remained dead silent.After twenty minutes of tense silence—twenty minutes of waiting for the phone to ring—Andrei finally had to call it."Milaya, he's not going to call back," he said, turning in his seat slightly to face her."No, he will." Holly shook her head stubbornly, her voice firm, her bottom lip j
"Give us the room," Andrei said, his voice low and commanding. Within seconds, the place was empty. His men and Marta scrambled out of the dining room, giving them all the privacy in the world. "Miss Anderson, are you okay?" Eric rushed to her side the moment they were left alone, turning her by the shoulders to look her over. "Did they hurt you?" Andrei stepped between them, getting directly in Eric's face. "Why the hell wouldn't she be okay? Are you suggesting I would hurt my own wife?" "Wife?" Miles was in total disbelief, his shock palpable. "What do you mean, your wife?" But it was the betrayed look in Eric's eyes that gutted Holly. "That's why you didn't want me at Sandown Mews last night," Eric said. "Because you were here the whole time? When did this happen, Miss Anderson? What did you do? Jesus, what do I tell your parents?" "You don't tell them anything, Eric," Holly said firmly. "I'll talk to them myself." "I'm afraid we can't do that. We have to call it in," Miles
"What does a girl have to do to get your attention?" Veronika asked, placing her arms over the railing as she paused beside him. Andrei turned slightly to look at her, his eyebrows shooting up, surprised she'd chosen to lead with that, given their relationship."So?" she pressed, beaming at him as
Clutching several gift bags in one hand, and holding a Kelly bag and a walking cane in the other, Holly was the epitome of beauty and grace in a classic black dress, matching satin pumps and a burgundy coat draped around her shoulders. Her long hair, pulled away from her face in a French twist, and
Holly dashed to the guest bathroom and closed the door before returning Andrei's call. It rang for a long time before his voicemail picked up. She didn't leave a message because she doubted people still checked their voice messages. So she texted him, asking him to return her call. She lingered in
On the other side of the door, in the living area, Andrei was battling his own struggles. The only difference, though, was that his were totally self-made. Levi had pounced on him as soon as Holly and Colleen locked themselves in the bedroom, demanding to know what he was playing at. But no matter







