Those were the lies I kept telling myself, but in my gut, I knew something was wrong. Scarlett could take care of herself, I knew that. She never left the house without the little gun Ciro had given her when we were seventeen. Or the knife that Cristiano had taught her how to use just as good as him. She could handle any situation …
There was no line outside the bathroom door. When was there ever not a line to the women’s bathroom at a club this crowded?
Shaking my head, I opened the bathroom door and nearly tripped over something on the floor. Nausea churned in my stomach as I looked down and saw my sister’s phone lying at my feet. Fear like I had never known was like a shot of adrenaline through my veins.
No, she was fine, I kept telling myself. She was just in one of the stalls.
“Scarlett?” I called out, but the bathroom was oddly silent. “Scar?”
Behind me, the bathroom door opened and several women tried to enter. I searched each one’s face, but none were my sister.
“Excuse me,” one of the three women drunkenly mumbled as her and her friends headed for the empty stalls.
“Fuck,” I whispered as I stepped out of the bathroom. “Where are you, Scarlett?”
She wasn’t there to answer, so I did the only thing I knew to do.
I called Ciro.
Adrian
My apartment was in complete darkness, the only light coming from the city below as I looked out into the stormy night. It was pouring rain, lightning and thunder acting like a symphony to the chaos that was raging inside me.
Three days. Three fucking days since I had seen Victoria. Since I had heard her voice on anything other than that three second recorded greeting for her voicemail. Three goddamn days since everything that made my world bearable had left me.
I hadn’t slept. My mind wouldn’t shut off. The last night I had held her in my arms haunted me day and night.
I wanted her back. Fucking needed her back.
The men I had inside the Vitucci compound couldn’t give me any information, other than she was locked in her bedroom. I had others watching the compound, making sure she didn’t leave. So far, she had only gone out once, to some non-profit charity thing, and then she had returned right after.
Every night, I had gone to the same place where I had picked her up not far from the compound and sat in my car, waiting for her to appear. Each night, she never showed. Tonight, I had stayed home, figuring the storm would keep her inside. She was too smart to go out in this shit.
My phone went off for the tenth time in the last half hour. I barely glanced at it, expecting it to be Donati or Cristiano. They probably wanted to bitch about Jr. or some other shit.
None of my men had set eyes on the sonofabitch in the last few days, but I had them looking. Ever since he had appeared outside the Iron Hand, I hadn’t wanted to chance him doing something either to my sister or her beloved club.
When I saw the name that popped up, everything inside me stilled. My heart paused in my chest as I gave the phone a more thorough look. My thumb didn’t hesitate as I swiped it over the screen and lifted it to my ear. “Kotyonok.”
“Adrian.” Her voice was little more than a whisper, breaking on a sob as she spoke. Everything inside me turned cold. “I need your help.”
I was already moving toward the elevator as a hundred different scenarios played through my head. “Are you hurt?” I demanded. “Where are you?”
“Volkov.” The voice that answered me wasn’t Victoria’s, but Ciro Donati’s. Just that one word and I knew something was seriously wrong. His voice was just as cold and emotionless as always, only there was something just under the surface that told me this was important. “Jr. took Scarlett.”
Shit. No wonder Victoria was so upset.
“How long ago?” When the elevator doors opened, I hurried inside then stabbed the ground floor button. “Where did he take her from?”
“The Red Prism.”
I bit back a curse. It was one of the places my men had followed Jr. to a few weeks ago.
“She’s been missing for almost an hour now. Will you help me?”
I knew how much that must have cost the capo, but it only made me respect him more. If it had been Victoria missing, I probably would have asked for the other man’s help, as well. Nothing, not even my own pride, would have stopped me from getting her back.
“I’m on it,” I assured him without hesitation. “I’ll call you back when I know something.”
As the elevator slowed, I hung up with him and called Anya. When she answered, I could hear the noise of the club in the background.
“Scarlett Vitucci has been taken by Carlo Santino Jr.,” I told her before she could so much as say hello. “I want you to go over to the Red Prism and get Victoria. Bring her back to my place. I want to know where she is at all times. I need to know she’s safe. Understand?”
“I’m going out the door now.” Her voice was just as calm as it always was. “Good luck finding Scarlett.”
Six of my men were already in the lobby as I exited the elevator.
“Stop dicking around. I want Jr. found. Now. I don’t care what you have to do to find him.”
“He’s a ghost, pakhan,” Oleg told me with a bored expression on his pocked face. “We haven’t had eyes on him in nearly a week.”
“I don’t give a fuck,” I snarled at him, causing my men to stand at attention. “We will find him tonight. He took Vito Vitucci’s daughter. We find him, we find her.”
“Yes, pakhan,” Oleg and the five others said in unison.
I followed my men to the garage and got in the front seat with Oleg behind the wheel. I didn’t know what kind of shape I was going to find Scarlett in, but I knew we needed to find her sooner rather than later. There was no telling what Jr. would do to her. That sick bastard would get off on hurting and raping Vitucci’s daughter.
I leaned back in my seat, forcing myself to turn off the part of myself that wanted to protect Victoria and her sister so I could turn on the part that would do whatever it took to get my kotyonok’s sister back to her alive.
Chapter 15
Victoria
I was shaking, the initial reaction of realizing that Scarlett was missing having faded with the arrival of Ciro. The look on his face told me this was real, that my sister had been taken. But what scared me more than anything was the fear I had seen in Ciro’s eyes.
I had known the big beast of a man all my life. Not once had I ever seen that look in his eyes. He feared what was happening to Scarlett, of what could happen to her, making me realize my sister was in more danger than I could have ever imagined.
Seeing how scared he was terrified me, and when he had made me call Adrian, I hadn’t hesitated. If getting my sister back safe and sound meant I had to bow at the devil’s feet and beg, I would have done it, so calling Adrian was nothing.
Part of me had wanted to call him, anyway, to have him come get me, hold me and keep me safe. Hearing his voice, the way he had called me “kotyonok,” had nearly brought me to my knees. He was going to help find Scarlett, and for that, I was grateful.
A waitress, one of the few people still in the club now, pressed a glass of water into my hands before hurrying away. I took a small sip, but it didn’t relieve any of the worry and fear that were churning in my stomach.
A commotion behind me had me lifting my head. I had to blink my eyes a few times before I could make sense of what I was seeing.
Anya Volkov was pushing her way into the crowd despite the security guards, bouncers, and Ciro’s own men blocking her way inside. The way she sidestepped men trained to kill people first and ask questions later with not even a blink of her beautiful blue eyes held me spellbound for a moment.
Then she was suddenly in front of me, taking the glass of water from my nerveless fingers and urging me to my feet. “Come,” she murmured softly, tucking me close against her in a way that made me feel oddly safe
, even though I was considerably taller than her. “Let’s get you away from this madness.”
“But …” I started, then quickly shut my mouth.
I did want away from all this. There was nothing I could do but get in the way of Ciro finding Scarlett as quickly as possible, and I didn’t want to be the reason he spent even a second longer away from her than necessary.
I glanced around for him and found his eyes coldly watching me with Anya. I knew I was nothing but a nuisance to him on a good day, that if it weren’t for Scarlett, he probably wouldn’t even give me five minutes of his time. I also knew he loved her.
I lowered my gaze back to Anya. “Thank you,” I whispered through bloodless lips.
She gave me a grim smile, guiding me outside and into the passenger seat of her car. It had stopped raining for the moment, yet the clouds above suggested it wasn’t the end of the storm.
On the drive, my mind returned to what had happened in the club while I had been dancing with my twin. Had someone been watching us the entire time? Had they waited until we had been on our own so they could snatch one of us?
What if it had been me they had taken?
Fuck, I wished it had been me. I would have gladly taken my sister’s place.
When Anya suddenly pulled to a stop and turned off the car, I finally focused on my surroundings. We weren’t at the compound but some underground garage that was full of cars. As I looked around, I saw a car parked off to the side with no other cars near it that I remembered all too well.
“No,” I breathed, turning pleading eyes on Anya. “I can’t be here. Please, Anya, don’t make me go up to his apartment. I … I can’t do this. Not now.”
“Don’t worry,” she said in a voice that was oddly calming. “I won’t make you go up to his place. You can come to my apartment. I have my own floor.” She opened her door and got out.
With shaky fingers, I followed her. My legs felt boneless, but I somehow found the strength to walk over to the bank of elevators and stepped on with her when one arrived quickly.
Anya punched in a code that I assumed unlocked her floor as the doors shut. Then the elevator quickly ascended, and I leaned back against the wall, nearly too weak to stand on my own. Fuck, I knew I needed to check my blood sugar. The events of the last two hours were taking its toll on my body. I needed insulin and soon.
The elevator stopped, but I knew if I took so much as another step, I was going to face-plant then and there.
Anya started to step off, but at the last second, she glanced over at me. She must have read the distress on my face because she moved quickly and caught me just as I started to slide down the wall of the elevator.
“Easy,” she murmured in that same calm voice. “You’re okay. I got you, myshka.”
“My purse,” I whispered. “Insulin.”
Her eyes flickered in the first sign of surprise I had ever seen from her, but she acted quickly. She opened my purse, shifted everything around until she found my vial of insulin and a syringe. She loaded the syringe efficiently, and then handed it over to me.
I pushed the needle into my lower abdomen then leaned my head back against the elevator wall, waiting for the insulin to do its job. For several, long minutes I just sat there, with Anya right beside me, watching me with concern on her beautiful face.
“How long have you been a diabetic?” she finally asked.
“Since I was three,” I told her honestly, and sympathy filled her blue eyes. “It’s something I’ve learned to live with.”
“I can only imagine how hard it must be.” She lifted a hand and pushed my hair back from my face. “You’re looking a little better. Want to try to move somewhere more comfortable?”
I shrugged. “Sure, I guess.”
She stood then carefully helped me to my feet. Anya was surprisingly stronger than I would have ever guessed someone of her size would ever be. She helped me into her apartment and down onto one end of her plush couch in the living room. Once I was settled, she stepped back.
“How about some coffee? Tea?”
“Either. I don’t care.” I tucked my feet up under me and settled more comfortably into the corner of the couch before resting my head on the back of it.
As she left the living room, I took a moment to look around. Three steps went down into what I assumed was the dining room. The layout wasn’t as open as Adrian’s, so I had no idea what was down in the next room. The living room was large, and the décor was a mixture of luxury and comfort. The carpets were a soft beige that went well with the color of her furniture. The walls were also in soft colors, but it was her choice of pictures that graced the walls that really caught my attention.
The paintings could have easily been priceless pieces or expert knock-offs. Either way, they showed me a side of Anya I wouldn’t have expected. That she was deep and passionate under all that stoic coldness.
In the distance, I could hear her moving around in what had to have been the kitchen, making coffee I realized when the delicious scent filled the apartment.
The place was huge, but I felt oddly at home, even with all the turmoil flooding through me right then. I felt safe. So safe I found myself closing my eyes and drifting off as everything finally seemed to catch up with me.
I hadn’t slept much the last few nights, and after what had happened at the club, my eyes suddenly felt like they had hundred pound weights attached to them.
The ringing of a doorbell had my head snapping up, my eyes blinking open. It took a moment for me to realize where I was.
Anya sat on the other end of the couch from me, sipping from a mug of what smelled like coffee. She was looking over her shoulder, in the opposite direction from the elevator where the doorbell rang again.
Cursing, she put her mug on the coffee table in front of us and headed for the door. As she got closer, I realized it must have been the stairs, and my heart started racing at the thought of who it could be.
Please don’t be Adrian.
Please … Please be Adrian.
My mind and heart were shouting out conflicting pleas as I pulled my legs up to my chest, resting my cheek on my bent knees as I watched Anya stiffen before finally pulling the heavy door open.
“Klara, what do you want?” Anya’s voice was frosty, her body language speaking of her dislike for the woman before her.
My head snapped up at that name. Klara … Klara?
No. It couldn’t be. Hadn’t I suffered enough already that night without having to face Adrian’s wife? There had to be another Klara.
Mio Dio, please let there be more than one Klara.
“Adrian said you would have Theo’s new train set.” The newcomer’s voice was slightly more accented than either Anya’s or Adrian’s, but that only made her voice that much sexier. “He’s been wailing for hours, refusing to go to bed, so here we are.”
Anya glanced over her shoulder at me, and I saw resignation tighten her features, along with what almost looked like an apology. Stepping back, she waved the woman in.
My breath suddenly felt trapped in my lungs, making it impossible for oxygen to reach my brain. For fuck’s sake, this was Adrian’s wife? This beautiful woman with the curvy body that was made for sin and to grace the runways of every fashion designer from Milan to New York?
Her hair was long, vibrant, and styled in a way that made me wonder if she woke up with hair that beautiful or if she spent hours in the salon to accomplish it. Her makeup was perfectly in place, making her lips look plump and juicy and her eyes dark and mysterious. There was a diamond necklace around her graceful neck that glittered in the overhead lights, and I knew it must have cost Adrian a fortune. The rock on her hand was big enough to melt the damn polar caps if aimed at the sun just right.
Then she stepped fully into the apartment and I saw the little person who was walking in behind her.
The air left me so forcefully I nearly choked on it, but my eyes remained glued to t
he little boy who smiled so adoringly up at Anya.
He was a miniature copy of Adrian in every way. The same dark hair, skin tone, and fuck, those same dark eyes. Even the way he was smiling right then screamed at me that this was Adrian’s son.
Bile rose in the back of my throat at the realization that this little boy was yet another secret Adrian had kept from me. He had a beautiful son who was the very image of himself, and he hadn’t even said one word about him.
This was a nightmare. My worst nightmare in every way. Coming face to face with the wife of the man I loved and the son I had known nothing about. To see what a beautiful family he had. To see what his life was like without me.
The pain I had been trying to keep at bay from the moment my twin had told me Adrian was married came crashing down again, but this time it was worse. Before, his wife had just been a thought, not an actual person to me. Now, I was seeing the flesh and blood woman who had everything I could have ever possibly wanted in life.
The man … and his child.
“Hi, Tetka Anya. Papochka said you have my train.”
“I think I saw it, Theo.” Anya’s voice was the softest I had yet to hear it, and the affection she had for her nephew was evident in the smile she gave him.
“I remember where it is now!” Theo assured her excitedly, skipping across the distance from where his mother was standing with Anya toward me.
It was only as he was moving around the couch that he spotted me and his face split into a warm smile. “Hi, I’m Theo.”
“H-h-hello, Theo.” I tried to smile back, but I wasn’t sure if I accomplished it. “I’m Victoria.”
“Are you a friend of Tetka’s?” He moved around the coffee table, bent, and picked up a metal train.
“Yes,” I murmured, unable to make my voice any louder than it already was.
Theo came around the other side of the table, moving toward me. In a daze, I watched him, my heart shredding all over again at how lucky Adrian was to have a child, let alone one as sweet and beautiful as Theo.