29. Alexei

29

ALEXEI

“I’m intrigued to know what it is you need me to look into so urgently.” Frederik leans back in his armchair.

Handing my private investigator a glass of scotch, I take the seat opposite him.

I chose to have this meeting in the safety of my office at the penthouse rather than at one of my usual haunts in the city. I can’t risk this information getting into the wrong hands.

Everyone’s loyal until they’re offered the right price.

“First of all, I assume I have your utmost discretion. I can’t have any of my brothers knowing what I’m about to share with you.”

Frederik frowns but nods before taking a sip of his scotch. “Of course.” He runs a hand through his hair. “Now I’m even more intrigued.”

Downing my drink in one, I let the alcohol burn my throat as I work up the courage to speak the words out loud.

I don’t trust many people outside of my family unit, but I trust Frederik .

He’s been working with my family for years, but he has been known to do extra work on the side just for me.

I hate the idea of anyone else knowing about my father’s alleged adultery, but I don’t have the time to look into this myself, so asking Frederik is the next best thing.

“I was given some information that I wanted you to look into. It’s about my father.”

Frederik raises his eyebrows but nods.

“Go on.”

“A man named Matteo Ricci told me that my father might’ve not been as faithful as we think. We were questioning him regarding Ivanov.”

“Ivanov? As in…”

“The Pahkan, yes.”

“Fuck.” Frederik lets out a long breath as the words ring in the air between us.

My mouth feels dry, and I want nothing more than to down the entire bottle of scotch, but I need to keep a clear head.

“I need to know if there’s any truth to it, and how the two are connected.”

Frederik downs the rest of his drink. “The Ivanovs are tricky people to look into. It might take some time for me to find any credible sources.”

“I want this cleaned up as soon as possible. My father’s reputation is on the line, Frederik. Even if this rumor gets out, it could ruin my family.”

“I will do everything I can to find out the truth, Alexei. You have my word.”

“I expect an update in a few days.”

“No problem.”

I nod .

My phone rings as I’m showing Frederick out. I pull it out of my pocket.

“Excuse me a minute.” I frown, swiping my thumb across the screen. “Micah, this better be important.”

“Bianca was taken to the hospital.”

My blood runs cold. Bianca? In the hospital?

“Is she okay?” I run my hand through my hair as my mind goes to the worst-case scenario.

It might have taken me a little longer to come around to the idea of becoming a father, but the thought of something happening to my child, to Bianca, makes me sick.

“She was in pain?—”

“What kind of pain?”

“She had some cramping, but the doctor checked her out and said everything looks fine, but they want to keep her overnight for observation.”

“And you’re only calling me now ?”

“Bianca didn’t want me to tell you until we knew for sure what was going on.”

“I’m your boss, not her. Put her on the phone now.”

I try to take a steadying breath.

Micah had one job, and he let Bianca sweet-talk him into bypassing my instructions.

What if something had gone wrong, and he had failed to tell me? What if something had happened, and I didn’t get to her in time?

“Heading back to her room now.”

“You’re not even with her?”

“She wanted tea?—”

“I don’t give a fuck what she wanted!”

Frederik flinches out of the corner of my eye, but I don’t care.

“Let me speak to Bianca.”

A door clicks open.

Micah curses.

Something’s wrong. “ Micah .”

“She’s not here.”

“ Fuck! ” I fight the urge to launch my phone across the room. “I’m going to track her phone.”

Hanging up, I notice a missed call from her hours ago.

Fuck!

I pull up the tracking app.

Frederick shifts his weight from one foot to the other. “Is everything okay?”

I don’t reply.

My fingers shake as the tracking app opens, and I click on Bianca’s cell.

I zoom in on the map.

Her phone is heading toward the interstate leading out of the city.

I try calling her.

Nothing.

“I have to go.”

My body doesn’t feel like my own as I sit behind the wheel of my Mercedes and race out of the city, Bianca’s location loaded up on my navigation system.

Someone took her. Someone took my solnyshka and my unborn child right out from under my nose, and I’m not going to stop until the city runs red with the blood of the fuckers who took her.

Micah never should have let her out of his sight. I don’t care how badly she begged, he should have known better.

I only hope his mistake doesn’t cost Bianca her life .

My knuckles are white as I grip the steering wheel, the adrenaline pumping through my veins making me alert.

When I glance at the navigation screen, I almost run my car off the road.

Her location has stopped moving. She’s still on the interstate, but the red pin is stagnant.

“What the fuck?”

I’m only a few miles away, but with each passing second, I start to fear the worst.

There’s only two reasons her phone could have stopped moving in the middle of the interstate.

Either it was thrown from the car, or there was an accident.

I swallow the bile that rises in my throat at the thought of the second option.

It can’t be.

After everything Bianca and I have been through, I can’t let this be the way it ends. There has to be some other explanation because I can’t lose her or our child.

As I speed down the near-empty interstate, I notice the smoke first.

My heart stops in my chest.

“ Zhizn’ moya …”

I push the accelerator to the floor, fighting the urge to vomit as the wreckage comes into view.

The front left side of the car is completely mangled, but the damage is too great for it to have simply come from a collision with the safety barrier.

Someone crashed into them, but whoever the fucker was seems to be long gone.

My car barely stops moving before I’m climbing out of it and running over to the wreckage, broken glass crunching beneath my feet .

“Bianca!”

I peer into the front window and see what’s left of the driver—my stomach churning at the smell of the burned flesh.

“Bianca!” I move to look into the backseat, but it’s empty. “Fuck!”

I walk around the back of the wreckage and notice spots of blood leading away from the car and a set of tire marks a few meters away.

My legs threaten to give out as I realize what this means.

I’m pulling my phone out of my pocket and dialing Dimitri as I stare down at the spots of blood. Bianca’s blood.

“What’s up, brat ?”

“Bianca’s missing.” The words almost have me doubling over and hurling my guts up.

“What?”

“I tracked her phone, but there was an accident.” I have to screw my eyes shut and take a steadying breath as I try to think rationally about what to do.

“An accident? What the hell happ—Fuck!”

“Dimitri?” My heart hammers in my chest.

“I just got a message from Zara.”

“What does it say? Is she with Bianca?”

“Shit.”

“Dimitri!”

“It just says ‘ help ’.”

Fuck .

I need to think, but my heart is pounding so hard in my chest I can’t take a full breath. Each second that passes is precious time that I can’t afford to waste.

“Alexei, what should we do?”

I screw my eyes shut, trying to ignore the panic that’s building inside me. I need to keep a clear head if I have any chance of getting to Bianca in time.

“Get Luc on the phone. Get him to hack into Zara’s phone and have him send me her location.” It’s the only thing I can think of that might actually help.

“Already on it. Do you think they’re together?”

“I fucking hope so.”

“Alexei, she’ll be alright.”

“You don’t know that.” I turn around to face the burned-out wreckage that she came so close to being caught in. “You should see the state of the car she was in.”

“Someone ran it off the road?”

“Looks like it. Fuck, if I’m too late…”

“You can’t think like that, Alexei. It doesn’t help anyone.”

“She’s carrying my child, Dimitri! Moy rebenok. I can’t help but think the worst.”

“I know.”

My phone pings against my ear, and I pull it away.

Luc sent me a new pinned location.

“Dimitri, I’m putting you on speaker.”

I click open the message and zoom in on the pin. “Fuck!”

“What is it? Do you know where they are, Alexei?”

All the air seems to leave my lungs as I stare at my phone.

“Gilanto’s taken them.”

“Fuck. How do you know?”

“Because Zara’s phone is at one of Gilanto’s properties in Chinatown, and I’m betting Bianca is with her.”

My ears are ringing as I think of what might be happening to them right now .

I turn my back on the wreckage and hurry back to my car where I connect Dimitri to the speaker.

“Alexei, this could be a trap. He could be trying to lure you there?—”

“I don’t give a fuck.” I turn on the ignition, putting the car in drive. “I’m not taking any chances, Dimitri, not when it comes to Bianca and my unborn child.”

My brother is quiet for a moment, and I take the opportunity to think as the roar of the engine fills my ears.

Gilanto has Bianca and Zara. The one thing I feared the most has come true.

This time, I can’t be too late. I won’t let that happen. I won’t fail them like I failed my parents.

My chest tightens as I try to take a steadying breath.

I can’t afford to make any mistakes here. I need to keep my head clear as I try to come up with a plan.

“Where do you want to meet?” Dimitri snaps me back to the present.

“I’m heading straight there. We don’t have any time to waste.”

“Alexei—”

“Are you in or not, Dimitri?”

“Of course, I’m fucking in.” His footsteps in the background are followed by an engine roaring to life. “What about Mikhail and Danil?”

“I want everyone on this. It’s likely going to be a fucking bloodbath, so bring as much backup as you can.”

“Wait for us there, Alexei, I don’t want you getting yourself killed because you’re not thinking straight.”

“If I have to sacrifice my life to save Bianca’s, then so be it. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure she gets out of this alive.”