29. Dimitri

29

DIMITRI

Something’s wrong.

Zara was meant to be home thirty minutes ago, but her phone is saying she’s still at the office. I knew she would be working late, but it’s nearing eleven, and she needs to rest, especially so early on in the pregnancy.

Dr. Waite warned us that carrying twins poses higher risk in the first trimester, but Zara is stubborn. She’s not one to sit around and do nothing no matter how much I beg her too.

But this is getting ridiculous. It’s late, and I’ve had the dinner ready in the oven for over an hour.

I try calling her cell, but it goes straight to voicemail. I frown.

Has she put it on do not disturb?

She knows that’s not part of our deal. She insisted on carrying on as normal, which included going into the office every day, so I asked to put a tracker on her phone and to have her message me the moment she leaves.

The thought of my wife and unborn children wandering about the city makes my heart rate spike .

I might have got Giovanni Saccone under lock and key, but he’s not the only one of his kind.

I try to shake the thought as I search through my contacts and dial Zara’s office number.

“Zara Mullen’s phone,” a female voice answers. A voice that is not my wife’s.

“Who is this?”

“Karlie Davidson, I work opposite Zara.”

“Karlie? This is Dimitri Koslov, Zara’s husband.”

“Oh, hey!” Karlie chirps. “Did Zara forget her laptop or something? I’m just heading out so I can swing by on my way home if need be.”

“She’s not there?” I frown.

“Uh, no, she left like an hour ago. Why?”

Fuck .

“She hasn’t come home yet.” My heart begins to race.

It does not take more than fifteen minutes to get from her office to the penthouse, which means something’s happened to her.

“Oh…”

“Can you call me if she comes back to the office?”

“O-of course.”

I hang up the phone and immediately dial Alexei.

He grunts, “What’s wrong?”

“Zara’s missing,” I choke out, the words like poison on my tongue. I begin pacing around the room as Alexei is silent for a moment.

“How do you know?”

“Because it’s almost fucking midnight, and she’s not back from work. Her phone says she’s there, but I just called the office, and they said she left an hour ago. He’s got her Alexei. Fucking Massimo, I swear?—”

“We don’t know that. ”

“ Alexei .” My throat feels dry as my mind starts to spin with every possible way he could be harming Zara.

“Come to the penthouse.” He hangs up the phone.

My body feels numb as I slide in behind the wheel of my car, my muscles working on autopilot as I make my way over to my family’s penthouse. I’ve never driven so fast in my life, but with each passing second, Zara could be slipping further and further away.

My head is filled with memories of last year, when I carried Zara’s broken, bleeding body from the warehouse where Gilanto had been keeping her.

I should have known better. If I truly loved her, I would have stayed away. But I was too selfish to let her go, and it may have cost Zara her life.

My body is shaking as I park my car in the garage and take the elevator up to the penthouse where all three of my brothers are waiting for me.

Mikhail perches on the couch, his laptop on his knees as he furiously taps away at the keyboard.

Danil is on the phone, but he glances my way as I cross the room and offers me a grim smile.

I’m glad Alexei brought me here, we’re going to need all the help we can get.

“Dimitri.” Alexei walks over from the bar cart in the corner of the lounge, thrusting a glass of vodka into my hand.

I down the liquid in one gulp and hand the empty glass back to him—a silent request for another.

“What’s the plan?” I look at Mikhail.

He looks up from his laptop screen, his face serious and closed.

“I managed to get hold of the CCTV footage from her office building.” His tattooed forearms flexing as he grips his laptop.

“And?”

He turns the laptop around and presses play.

I watch as Zara steps out of the elevator, her eyes cast down as she taps away on her phone, oblivious to the man who steps out of the shadows.

I can barely watch as he grabs her and drags her out of sight.

Mikhail opens up another screen, this time from a camera above the entrance to the building, and my heart almost stops as I watch as she’s bundled into the back of a van.

“Oh, god.” I run my hands through my hair.

Danil folds his arms over his chest as he looks at Alexei. “You think it’s Massimo?”

My older brother nods, the muscle in his jaw flexing. “But until we have proof, we can’t initiate an attack.”

My hands fist at my sides. “Yes, we fucking can!”

“Dimitri,” Mikhail’s eyes dart back and forth between Alexei and me.

“What if it were Bianca?” I growl, ignoring Mikhail. “Would you be holding back then? I don’t remember waiting around when Gilanto took your wife. You sent us right into the wolf's den without a second thought!”

“Calm the fuck down.” Alexei’s nostrils flare as he glares at me, but we’re not kids anymore. He can’t scare me into submission.

“Calm down? My fucking wife is missing !”

“Accusing Massimo Conti of kidnapping Zara without any proof is a a fucking death wish.”

“I don’t give a fuck?—”

“I do!” Alexei snaps. “Dimitri, we need to be smart about this because if we’re not, it’s not just Zara’s life on the line.”

Sinking down onto the couch, I rest my head in my hands as I try to think through a strategy.

Massimo has to be the one behind this, there’s no doubt in my mind. He warned me that if he were to catch a whiff of any dishonesty, he wouldn’t hesitate to attack.

Somehow he must have learned the truth about mine and Zara’s relationship. Despite us somewhere along the line falling in love, it doesn't change the fact that it started out as nothing more than a deal to get me out of marrying Lucia Conti.

That’s all Massimo cares about.

The betrayal.

“Does Bianca know?” I glance up at Alexei, but he shakes his head.

“I didn’t want to risk her doing anything stupid. For now, we need to keep this contained.”

I nod.

He nods back. “I’ll make a call to Frederik. In the meantime, let’s try and run the license plate of the van.”

“On it.” Danil unlocks his phone and begins tapping away at the screen.

“Good.” Alexei rubs at his jaw. “Mikhail, call Rosa and have her access all of the security footage she can. I want a play-by-play of the van’s route through the city to try and get an idea of the direction they were taking Zara. It’s the only lead we have to go on right now.”

Mikhail nods before opening up his laptop once more.

Danil places a hand on my shoulder as he holds his phone up to his ear. “We’ll find her, Dimitri.”

I nod, my throat too thick to speak.

Zara must be absolutely terrified.

I shouldn’t have let her go into work, but she was adamant about carrying on with life as normal.

I knew better. My world isn’t normal, which means I have to consider and plan for every possible threat.

And yet, despite that, I let my pregnant wife walk through the city alone and unarmed. What did I think would happen?

I should have picked her up myself, or at the very least sent Feliks to retrieve her in a car.

I let her down, and I may have to live with that guilt for the rest of my life.

“ Fuck .” I press my palms into my eyes. “I can’t just sit here and do nothing.”

I get to my feet.

Alexei is at the bar cart, his phone tucked between his cheek and shoulder as he pours us all another drink, though I don’t think any amount of vodka is going to calm me down.

I try to drown out the sounds of his conversation as I try to think of what to do next. Until we get eyes on this van, we have barely anything to go on.

My mind turns to thoughts of Giovanni lying in the cell back at our warehouse in Chinatown.

Is he somehow linked to this?

The idea makes me pause.

He warned me that he knew people in our world, but I dismissed it as nothing more than a bluff to get me to back off.

Could I have been wrong? Could Giovanni somehow have handed Zara over to Massimo as revenge?

My head snaps in my brother’s direction as he hangs up the phone.

“Alexe—”

“I fucking knew it!” Alexei hisses. “Dimitri, I warned you not to play with fire, but you did it anyway.” He presses his fingers to his temple as he screws his eyes shut.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Alexei takes a breath, his broad shoulders heaving, before he opens his eyes and glares at me.

“It seems Massimo found out the truth about your little deal with Zara.”

Fuck .

“Alexei—”

“Save it.” He folds his arms over his chest. “We haven’t got time to discuss this now.”

I frown at the stone-like expression on my brother’s face.

There’s something he’s not telling me.

“Spit it out.”

A deep crease forms between his dark eyebrows as he finally looks at me.

“That was Frederik on the phone. He told me Massimo is planning on torturing Zara until you agree to annul the marriage and marry Lucia instead.”

My chest feels as if it’s being cracked in two.

This is such a mess. After everything I put Zara through to try and save my own ass from marrying the mafia brat, it still wasn’t enough.

How the hell did Massimo find out the truth?

“I warned you that Massimo doesn’t take lightly to being lied to. You were wrong to call his bluff.”

“I didn’t fucking call his bluff! Fuck, this wasn’t meant to happen.”

“Regardless, we need to diffuse this before it’s too late. In the meantime, Danil, get Feliks and Anton on the phone. I want eyes on Massimo’s club just in case.”

Danil frowns. “You think Zara’s there? ”

“It’s doubtful she is. It would be way too obvious. But Massimo is clever, and I want to cover our asses in case he decides to play us.”

Danil nods. “Good idea.”

I lift my eyes to look at each of my brothers. “There’s something else you need to know.” My voice cracks. “Zara’s pregnant. We’re having twins.”

Mikhail’s eyes widen. “Fuck.”

“Her body won’t handle the stress of all of this. If she loses the babies…” I rub my hands over my face as I try not to let my thoughts spiral. “She won’t ever forgive me.”

Danil rests his hand on my shoulder, but it does little to provide me comfort. “We won’t let that happen, Dimitri.”

“Alexei, please , we have to make a move before it’s too late. I can’t lose her.”

“We’ll do everything we can, brat . But you might have dug your own grave with this one.”

The flash of pity in his eyes makes my teeth grind, but he’s right.

“I’m fine with my grave, just not hers, Alexei. Please, I’ll do whatever it takes to save Zara’s life. Even if it means marrying Lucia Conti. So, I suggest you get Massimo on the phone and find out where the hell he’s keeping my wife.”