Chapter 33

Yaroslav

A side from David running away at the end, the reunion with my sister went surprisingly well. Though it was initially painful to see her as she looks so much like our mother, I found that her personality was far warmer and loving than my mother ever was. Our mother was somewhat distant, leaving our care to various nannies. She loved us, but she wasn’t the type of mom who baked cookies or sang us to sleep. I can imagine Marta would be exactly like that if she had kids.

It broke my heart for her to hear how desperately she and Jackson have tried for a family, and how many miscarriages she’s had to go through. All without her family supporting her. I’m not one for regrets, but knowing what I now know, I will always regret missing out on so much time with my sister. So many years have been wasted all because of my stubbornness. I will be eternally grateful to Kim for pushing this reconciliation.

David adored Marta, and they got on straight away. I know he didn’t run off because there was something wrong, quite the opposite. David is terrified of being abandoned by his loved ones. It’s happened so many times to him, that I can hardly blame him. Now, with Marta back in his life, that’s just one more thing to lose. The fear of getting something he so desperately wanted, only to lose it again, caused him to freak out and run away. Better to abandon than be abandoned.

I can’t say I blame him. I feel much the same way.

I’m glad that Marta and Kim are becoming friends and have decided to meet for a coffee now, but I can’t help feeling irrationally jealous. By spending more time with Marta, Kim will have less time for me. But that isn’t fair to Kim, she needs a life, friends. It’s not like I can be with her twenty-four-seven, even if I’d like to be.

***

Knowing that David is home safe, and Kim is going to be out for the day, I decided to get some work done. I’ve been working for hours undisturbed, something I haven’t done in a while with Kim being so distracting to me. Just thinking of Kim makes me smile and I recall the gift I found on my bedside table when I returned home. A beautiful piece of pottery, painted with a midnight woodland scene and a pack of wolves, howling at the moon. Kim is so talented, I’d love to support her in selling her artwork or finally go to college and study to be an interior designer like she dreamed of. Now she’s with me, she can quit her jobs, and I can give her the life she deserves.

A knock at the door pulls me from my daydreaming. “Come in,” I call out, looking up to see an uncharacteristically frazzled-looking Artem. “What’s happened?” I ask.

“It’s Marta and Kim, they’ve been kidnapped. We think Sharkozi is behind it,” he relays somberly, bracing himself for my inevitable rage.

“What the fuck? When did this happen? And, more importantly, how did it happen? I thought I had given strict orders for someone to keep an eye on Kimberly at all times,” I bark, jumping out of my chair, my mind going into overdrive as I think over what we need to do now.

“About an hour ago. We had men following her, Vova was one of them. They’ve disappeared. We think it’s likely Sharkozi took them out before making his move,” he informs me, his face serious.

“Fuck!” I shout, throwing the empty water glass on the desk at the wall, and feeling a vague sense of satisfaction at having destroyed something.

Now, not only does Sharkozi have Kim and Marta in his greasy palms, but it seems likely he’s killed one of my best men.

“Marta’s car was found just outside of town on a quiet road, from the tire marks, it seems they were surrounded by at least three vehicles. There were no eyewitnesses found, at least not alive. It seems some poor bastard had the bad luck to drive past at some point while it went down, he was found in his car about a hundred yards down the road, tires blown out and a bullet through his skull. There’s no evidence that the women were harmed, though Marta’s window was smashed and there’s some of her hair and a shoe at the scene, it seems she didn’t go without a fight,” Artem explains. “The police are already on it, Chief Johnson is personally overseeing it, but without any witnesses and no cameras, it’s unlikely they will get anywhere fast.”

“I’m going to kill that fucking bastard! Get everyone working on finding them, now. We need all the information we can find on his safehouses and to find them. If he’s kidnapped them instead of killing them, it’s likely he isn’t doing it to send a message. He wants something,” I reason, praying that it’s true, I can’t lose them.

I’ve only just got Marta back, and Kim has become my world.

“When you find him, save Sharkozi for me, he’s going to pay for this,” I growl.

“Yes, Sir,” Artem says before running off to do as instructed.

I switch on my phone, hoping that Sharkozi will try to contact me with demands. The display shows I have two voicemails. I quickly listen to them. The first is from Kim, sounding normal and telling me they’re heading to meet Amelia at Antonio’s. A lead, we can go there and speak to the people there as well as Amelia, see if they know anything. I don’t have time to wonder what Kim wanted to tell me.

The next voicemail is from Marta. What I hear makes my blood run cold. It’s clear she tried to call me for help. And I had my fucking phone turned off. If I’d only left it on, we’d be an hour ahead, we could have found them by now.

I clench my fists in anger at the men responsible for this as I endure the sounds of Marta’s fear. Kim remains so calm and compliant, though I know she must be terrified. After the women are both out of the car, I can still faintly hear voices. But frustratingly, I can’t make out what they’re saying. I fire off the voicemail to my tech guys to try to enhance the audio, there could be some clue as to their whereabouts on this.

I stride out of the room, heading to get a car, instructing three men to come with me. My first stop is going to be Antonio’s to find Amelia. I will find Kim and Marta, I swear it, and I will make everyone involved in taking them pay with their lives.

No one touches the Volkov Wolfpack and lives. It’s time to let my wolf out of its cage.