70. Max

Since Natalya disappeared, I've barely slept. All I can think about is what she must be going through. Sasha combed through the camera footage around my estate and found no signs of an intruder because the two cameras near the hole in the fence had been tampered with.

We searched beyond the rear of the property and spotted some tire tracks, but so far, I have nothing. No leads. No clue where Uriov has taken her.

Sasha thinks there might be a clue on her phone, as I told him she acted strange at the funeral, so he's trying to hack into it. However, he doesn't hold much hope.

"Did you get anything useful?" I bark when Kolya walks in. He looks almost as shitty as I do. As well as Natalya's disappearance, one of our other warehouses was hit last night. This time, however, we managed to foil the attack and capture two of the assailants. Kolya's been questioning them for the last few hours.

He cracks a smile. "Yeah, boss. One of them sang like a canary. He confirmed Uriov is behind all of our recent issues."

I suspected as much. Now that he has Natalya, it's clear he means to break me. How he found out she was mine is a mystery, but I guess I haven't exactly kept my relationship with her a secret. Any number of people could have seen us at the nightclub, or in bars and restaurants.

This is all my fault. If I'd listened to my gut and stayed away from her, Uriov wouldn't have targeted her.

"What else do you need me to do, Boss?"

I'd forgotten he was there. He watches as I scrub my jaw and try to think. Where might Uriov have taken her? We know he's working with the mayor, so perhaps we need to start looking a bit more closely at Kolanski.

Maybe I should give that asshole a call. Scare him a bit. He thinks he's safe now he's working with Uriov but I know Anatoly well and there's no way he'll protect the mayor once he's served his purpose.

"Is Amanda safe?" As Natalya's friend, she's also at risk. I wouldn't put it past Uriov to take her. And we still haven't located Jane.

"Yes, Boss, she's with my brother and cousin. They've taken her to a safe house. Nobody will get to her there."

I have a feeling there's more to that story than he's saying but now is not a good time to ask.

There's a commotion outside the front door and one of my guys comes in looking irritated. "Boss, a kid has shown up, insisting he needs to talk to you. He says he's your woman's cousin."

"Cousin?" I think back, trying to remember what Natalya told me about her family. Does she even have a cousin or is this kid a trojan horse from Uriov? I honestly wouldn't put it past the asshole to send a kid strapped in a suicide vest to my front gate. For the lolz. He really is that fucking insane.

Leon looks nervous, not wanting to say the wrong thing in case it sets me off again. I've been like a bear with a thorn in its butt for the last 24 hours.

"Yeah, he says so but I can't be sure who he is. He has no ID on him."

"OK, bring him to me." I may as well see what he has to say. If he's here to try and kill me, then I will deal.

"You sure, boss?"

Leon shrinks under my hostile glare. "You think I can't handle a kid?"

"No, of course not, boss…" Kolya struggles not to smirk as Leon backs up with a nervous look in his eye. He knows he's already on thin ice for not preventing the car bomb that killed Natalya's colleague. While I accepted his and Pietr's story about helping the woman with the missing kid, any more fuckups and he's a dead man. They both are.

I try to be a fair Pakhan at all times, but I will not stand for mistakes that cost lives, especially if my malyshka is in danger.

"Good, glad to hear it."

"I'll come with you, Boss," Kolya says, his hand on his gun. None of us are taking any chances.

He follows me as I leave the house and walk down to the gatehouse. My guards have our visitor pinned up against the wall, guns trained on him, yet he looks pissed off rather than scared.

"Are you Maxim Petrov?" he snaps when he sees me. There's zero deference. I can't decide whether to be angry or amused. Right now, amused is winning, but only by a whisker.

"I am. What's your name and why are you here?"

"Mickey, and I'm here because that fucking twathead has my cousin and you're the best man to help her."

That gets my attention. "Come with me."

"Finally," he mutters, throwing my guys disgusted looks. They remain unmoved because questioning visitors is their job.

"Tell me what you know," I demand once we're inside my study.

Mickey looks around and takes a seat. His clothes are disheveled and he really needs a decent haircut. It's hard to work out how old he is, but at a guess, I'd say early 20s. I have a feeling the kid doesn't get out much, but what really puzzles me is the fact he's so unafraid of me.

He knows my name, therefore he has to be aware of who I am. Most normal people would be shitting themselves in my company, but this kid acts like he couldn't give a fuck.

"I've been looking into Anatoly Uriov - and you - for my cousin. He's a sick bastard. You're not quite so bad."

"Thanks," I mutter, just as Sasha walks in and stops dead.

"Who's the kid?" he asks with surprise.

"Natalya's cousin. He says he knows something."

His eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "How?"

"If you shut up, maybe we'll find out!" I snap, returning to Mickey, who's busy rolling his eyes and pulling a laptop from his backpack.

"So I've been watching this website Uriov has set up and there's been some activity. He sent out messages to all his subscribers a couple of hours ago, with details of a special event tonight." Mickey starts pulling up some windows while Sasha looks over his shoulder. There's a sharp inhale.

"Are you fucking Lokisboy?"

I have no clue what Sasha is on about but Mickey looks up and smirks. "Yeah."

"Why you little shit, you took down my security system! It took me ages to find out who was responsible!"

"Which one? I pick up a lot of jobs."

"Warehouse 12 by the docks. The security system went offline for 15 minutes. Five men died and we lost a shipment."

Mickey shrugs. "Not my fault your system was shit. A job was posted. I accepted. I don't check who or what it's for." He literally does not give a fuck. Sasha is fuming. And to be honest, I'm not happy either, but my main concern is Natalya.

"We can discuss this later, Sasha," I snap, reminding him what's at stake.

Sasha grinds his teeth and looks like he wants to kill Natalya's cousin but steps back. We both watch as Mickey pulls up some images and for a moment, I see black spots in front of my eyes.

The photos show my malyshka dressed in a white slip of some kind, posing on a bed. There are dark circles under her eyes but she doesn't look as if she's been physically hurt. The next set of photos is of Jane, her friend, which solves the mystery of her disappearance.

I suspect this is how Uriov lured Natalya outside. He must have threatened Jane to make sure she didn't tell me. The notice Uriov sent out says Natalya and her friend, Jane, are the stars of his next show.

"You need to get them out before the show goes live," Mickey says. "The things his men do to women on camera are sick."

I don't need Mickey to remind me. Sasha has told me things about the website that make me ill. Uriov's tastes have definitely become more depraved in the last 18 years. Zelenya is lucky she and her kid got away from him.

"We will if we can figure out where he's taken them!"

My stomach churns. God, the knowledge of what will happen to my malyshka if I don't reach her in time kills me. Uriov better hope he has a good escape plan in place because I will burn his operation to the ground once I find him. And then I will tear him apart, limb from limb. By the time I'm done with him, he'll wish he never set eyes on Natalya.

I'm so focused on my revenge plan that I almost miss Mickey's next words.

"I think I know where that might be," he says.