Chapter 44

Forty-Four

K irill

"Find her." The fucking doctor is dead on the floor, and no one heard a sound. Pavel looks as though he is ready to murder the fucking clinic as he interrogates the nurses, who cry against a wall. No, they're not crying, they're sobbing.

I don't give a fuck.

Inside my chest, my heart is breaking. And yet, I keep the calm I've been trained to keep. There's nothing else I can do, but I swear to heaven and hell, I will find her.

I call my brother. He answers, his words teasing even as they fall clipped. "I've just finished war, and you're calling me. You are worse than my wife."

"Ruby is gone."

His tone is deadly. Sharp. "When?"

"Taken. From the OBGYN office. Now."

More silence, and then, "Is she pregnant?"

I hear a gravelly, "Fuck," that tells me my brother is with Elio.

"Yes. And she's been taken. The doctor's had his throat slit."

"Where was Pavel?"

"Outside the clinic room." I can't even be angry with him. I'd told him to wait outside the door. That I would be there soon.

Fuck. I can feel the spiral. The threat of insanity. Madness.

I harden myself.

Ilya speaks, "Elio has eyes on Artyom. He's arrived here in Oregon early this morning."

"Why the fuck didn't he say something?"

"He just checked in. We were busy eliminating the Yakuza this morning, brother. Stay calm. We will get her back."

I don't know if my training will serve me in this. My calm is being plucked apart, thread by thread.

I whisper, "She is my life."

It's the first moment that my cool composure cracks. It's just going to keep cracking every minute that stretches between now and whenever I have her in my arms again.

Because I won't face a world where there is no more Ruby. Where I never touch her again. Never kiss her. Never hear the sound of our baby cry…

"Please," I pray, for the first time in my life. "Please let her be okay. Let her come home to me."

To the devil, I am nearly ready to bargain my soul…