Days.
My wife had been gone fuckingdays.
I could barely sleep, could barely fucking eat. Didn’t seem fair to do any of that when I wasn’t sure if she could, but I knew I had to keep my strength up if I wanted to keep looking for her.
I hadn’t stopped yet.
Ineededher home. Fuck, I couldn’t believe I’d failed her like this. What in the hell was she going through? Had she been sold already? Raped? Beaten?
Was she even alive still?
My phone rang from beside me, and I lifted it up, staring at the foreign number for a moment. After gritting my teeth and steeling myself, I answered it, staying quiet.
“Talk, or she dies,” the voice finally spoke.
“Where is she?” I demanded. No doubt in my fucking mind he had Hayley.
“What a way to greet an old friend, Miles. I heard about Damien. My condolences.”
I clenched my hand into a fist. “Fuck you,” I seethed.
He chuckled. Leo Petrov grew up here in the states and had gone to school here. But when he was fifteen, his father came for him, and he became an enemy. I hadn’t heard from him inyears, not since he left.
I had no idea what game he was now trying to play, but I was going to fucking end it.
“I’ve got your woman. Tight little pussy, that bitch has.” I wanted to break his fucking neck. It took every bit of my restraint to keep my cool while I was on the phone with him. “I’ll make you a deal.”
I was quiet for a moment. Cutting a deal with him went against everything I believed in, but he had my wife.Nothingwould stop me from getting her back, even if it meant making a deal with the devil.
“I’m listening,” I finally said.
“Get me five million in twenty-four hours, and you can have your little bitch back. She’s a bit dry for my tastes.”
Fuck!
Not only had he raped her, but she’d beendry. She was probably bleeding and crying, blaming me, hating me. Because I’d fucking let her down. Damien would haveneverallowed this shit to happen to her.
Nausea swirled in my gut, but I managed to keep myself from throwing up.
“You’ve got a deal,” I told him. “I’ll be in Russia in twenty-four hours. Meet up?”
“Here at my father’s,” he instructed. He was smart; his father had been dead for years now. The estate was just something he’d inherited, but I knew he didn’t live there. His house was unknown to everyone.
He hung up. I quickly dialed Quinn’s number. We had to get the ball rolling—and fast. Because I knew what the fuck would happen to Hayley if I wasn’t there in twenty-four hours.
She was going to die.
8
Miles
The flight to Russia felt like it would never end. FBI agents were taking a different flight, landing earlier than I was to get into position. Quinn was on the flight with me. I couldn’t bring anyone else; it was too risky. But I knew Quinn had my back.
When the plane began to descend, I quickly checked all my weapons. We’d flown on a private plane that had been offered by the FBI so we wouldn’t have to deal with TSA. Trying to get through TSA with them would have been a fucking nightmare. This way, we were able to drive right out to the strip, get in the plane, and just fucking go.
“You ready?” Quinn asked me.
“Fuck no,” I admitted. “But Hayley fucking needs us.” I blew out a harsh breath. “I just hope we don’t get killed in the fucking process because then, she’ll fucking have no one.”