No, I haven’t spoken with Antonio in years. His name isn’t on the birth certificate. I never told a soul the name of the biological father. It’s not possible that he figured it out.
Besides, if Antonio discovered I was keeping Liam a secret, he’d have taken Sophia too. After all, they are fraternal twins.
Staying at the preschool is useless. I answer the police officer’s questions and provide my address and phone number, which happens to be the compound’s location. Mikhail isn’t going to be pleased to have cops showing up at the door. But my children are the priority, whether Mikhail realizes it or not.
Nikita drives me back to the compound.
Sophia is crying in the backseat the entire way home.
My eyes are misty. I’m trying to hold myself together, but I’m struggling. There were no witnesses, but there had to be surveillance footage somewhere in that neighborhood. There were plenty of homes. Didn’t someone have a doorbell camera or security camera outside their property? If it was facing the preschool or nearby, maybe we could track down the abductor.
What do they want with my son?
Could it be for ransom?
My phone has been in my hands, while I fiddle with the screen, but no one is calling. It’s eerily silent.
“We’ll find Liam,” Nikita says, assuring me that my son will be fine.
But I don’t believe him. He works for my brother, a monster. I should have left the family when the twins were born, or sooner, when I was pregnant. Staying has put my children in danger.
“How?” I rasp, glancing at Nikita. He means well, and I’m sure he’s trying to comfort me, reassure me that my son will be fine, but if it’s men who took Liam for revenge on Mikhail, then I’m doomed.
Mikhail doesn’t give a damn about my son or me. He’d sooner let Liam die than pay any type of ransom. And I doubt anyone is looking for a payday.
This has to be a revenge scheme to get back at Mikhail. Since my brother doesn’t have any kids or a wife, whoever it is probably assumed they’d hit him where it hurts.
His biological family.
Except he values the bratva more than his blood.
His family are his men, like Nikita, Dmitri, Yuri, and Luka, his most trusted men.
I fall well below the bottom, far beneath the bratva. He lets me live under his roof, provides for me, but he’s not the least bit selfless in his actions. I’m expected to take a husband. It’s assumed that I’ll marry a man of his choosing. But I’ve pushed off any marriage, telling Mikhail I will marry the husband of my children when he comes back from the war.
It’s all a lie.
And whether Mikhail has seen through the lies or not, I’m not sure. He hasn’t forced my hand, and I’ve been grateful.
Nikita answers his phone while he drives. I only hear bits and pieces. None of it makes much sense until he hangs up.
“We have some ideas about who might be behind the abduction,” Nikita says. He glances in the rearview mirror at Sophia.
Is he being cautious about what’s said in front of my daughter? Does he not wish to scare her any further? That can’t be good.
He lowers his voice. “There’s been chatter.”
“Do you have a name?” I can’t take the silence. Not knowing is worse than anything I could ever experience. I need to do something, to take matters into my own hands if necessary. “Please,” I rasp, about ready to beg.
Nikita shoots me a look. “It’s just chatter. Men talk.”
“What is it?” I’m desperate and will take any glimpse of hope, no matter how slight or insignificant it may seem to someone else.
“The Morettis were seen dumping in the harbor.”
My breath catches in my throat. “Dumping what?” I ask.
Could it be Liam? Would Moretti’s men have gone after my son and then killed him to dump him in the harbor? It doesn’t make sense to me, but men like Moretti and Mikhail don’t act rationally. They’re impulsive and dangerous.