If she took the jewelry, she needs money. But why? We have money, and she knows I will stop at nothing to make her happy. So why would she pack a bag, take her clothing and jewelry, and walk out?
What could have caused her to go if not someone saying something or doing something to make her think it’s her only choice?
I stalk through the bedroom on a loop, keeping my eyes off the bed for fear of destroying it in my rage.
There is no reason for her to leave me. Not unless she found out about…
No. She couldn’t have because the only person who knows about the night I rescued her is Kai. And Kai would never betray me.
But doubt creeps in easily along the tendrils of rage, of anger, of her possible betrayal. The only thing I asked of her was to never leave me. Never walk away from me like my mother did all those years ago.
If she loved me, then she wouldn’t have done this. No.
I swing back around to someone having taken her. She was obviously lured out of the building under a threat of some kind.
I return to the command room; everyone has left except Kai, who is once again studying all the footage we have of her. In the shots, she calmly walks down the staircase, then out through the lobby. She speaks to the guards and then leaves the building. The street cameras show her going east, but then we lose her around a corner. Since that moment, I don’t have any sight of her and no reports of anyone having seen her.
Kai stops the recordings and sits back in the chair, hands folded over his stomach. “You know what I’m thinking, what we are all thinking, Boss. You have to be thinking it too.”
He’s right, but I won’t put it into words, not until I find her and hear the truth from her own mouth. “You all may be thinking it, but you’ll keep your fucking lips shut, or I’ll make them stay that way permanently.”
After my threat, he goes quiet, no doubt worried I’ve lost my shit. Maybe I have. Maybe my angel is the only thing that has been keeping me tethered to my sanity all this time.
“What do you want to do next?” Kai asks.
I stop pacing and glare at him. “Are the guards from the lobby being questioned?”
His jaw goes tight, but he nods once, clipped. “Yes, Ivan has them. Although, I do think they are innocent.”
If Ivan has them, they won’t walk out of the room alive again. Innocent or guilty, they let Valentina walk out of the building, and for that, they deserve Ivan’s special attention.
“The men turning against us won’t help in the search,” he says after a lingering silence.
Something inside me fractures, splinters, and I launch myself at him. He doesn’t fight back as I topple us both to the floor. I hit him once, hard on the jaw, and the pain sings through me, tightening the bolts, battening the hatches. Yes. This is what I need.
I punch him again and again, but he doesn’t fight back. His body is limp as I grasp the front of his suit, holding him in place. “Fight back, you asshole,” I order.
He meets my eyes and shakes his head. “No, I deserve it. I was here when she left too. You haven’t punished me yet. Apparently, I didn’t learn my lesson from the last time.”
The last time someone snuck past him and almost took her from me. This time, she really is gone, and the pain I felt at the mere idea of her loss before is nothing compared to this hollow ache inside me now. With her gone, there’s nothing good in the world and absolutely no reason not to crush every single soul under my heel until they do my bidding.
Kai exhales loudly through his mouth, his bleeding nose not allowing him to breathe properly. I shove him to the ground and step over his body. At the bar in the corner, I grab the ice bucket and thrust my fist inside.
The chill takes some of the ache out of my knuckles, and I turn to face Kai again. He’s dragged himself off the floor and reset his nose. I throw some ice cubes in a rag and hand them to him. Without a word, he presses the cold compress to his face.
This is not the man I’m supposed to be. I’m not my father, who used violence to calm himself. Sure, I like pain, but not to deliver it. Not unless it’s righteous justice. And Kai would cut off a limb before he betrayed me.
I throw myself in one of the chairs and study the frozen picture of her leaving on the screen. “I need her back,” I whisper.
Then I look at him, my second-in-command, and let him see the sheen of tears in my eyes. “Without her, the world will burn, and me along with it. I won’t live without her. Even if she did walk away from me, I’ll lock her in our bedroom after dragging her back kicking and screaming, and that will be our lives. She promised me everything the day we got married, and I intend to make sure she makes good on that vow.”
Kai rights the chair we threw over and sits beside me. “We’ll find her. I promise, no matter what, we’ll find her.”
In my mind, no matter what means dead or alive. Which is another outcome I haven’t allowed myself to consider. What if she’s already dead, and that’s the reason there hasn’t been any sign of her?
The list of people who would love to see her bleeding out is short. Sal’s family comes to mind immediately, and maybe her father. Would he rather see his little girl dead than married to me?
Probably, but if he’s taken her from me, I’ll make what I did to Sal look like a fucking picnic before I finish with him. Either way, her father’s blood will be on my hands one day. It’s just a matter of sooner or later.
“Has her father made any moves?” I ask.
My knuckles are swollen and purple, but nothing is broken. I swivel the chair to get a look at Kai’s face. Nothing more than bruises now that he’s set the break.
Kai doesn’t say a thing about the beating I gave him. I don’t know if I’m ashamed or grateful. “Not that my men have told me. I’ll check in with them again. What now, Boss? Tell me what you need, and I’ll take care of it.”
I shove out of the chair and head toward the door. Only one thing will ease this void inside me. “I need her found, Kai. Now. Before I do something I can’t apologize for later.”
5
VALENTINA
The next day, I plan to check out of the motel and head to another one. At the very least to try to cover my tracks. It’s midmorning, later than I want to leave, but I’ve been too afraid to walk out the door for fear of someone seeing me and reporting back to Adrian.
A knock on the door makes me freeze mid-motion while packing up my bag. I ignore the sharp knock, and pray they go away. Maybe it’s housekeeping. Not that I’ve seen much of that since checking into this dump.
I gently shove the extra shirt I’m holding into the bag, straining to listen at the door. Another sharp knock makes me jump. This time, though, I drop my belongings, grab the gun, and shove it into the back of my pants. It’s dangerous, but it’s not like she’d given me a holster along with the weapon.
My phone vibrates, and I snatch it up. It’s from Cook, who tells me to open the door.
I breathe out in relief, my shoulders relaxing. Thank goodness. I feared I might actually have to shoot someone there for a second. And I still don’t know if I have the balls to do it.
Was that what I found so attractive about Adrian? He’s never afraid to do the hard things…especially when it comes to keeping me safe.