Levin Volkov stops at the foot of my bed, looking at me with an appraising expression. “I hear you almost went and got yourself killed,drug.”
“Not on purpose. What are you doing here?”
“I’m the means Viktor sent. To help you,” Levin clarifies. “Since he can’t do it himself. He trusted me to do so–discreetly.”
“That’s cryptic.” I narrow my eyes at him. “To help me find Sasha?”
Levin raises one dark eyebrow. “Did you have something else more pressing?”
“Of course, the fuck not.”
He smirks. “I see the priesthood has started to wear off a little more. Sasha had something to do with that, hm?”
“Don’t talk about her like that.” I glare at him. “I don’t even know if she’s alive.”
“I’m almost certain that she is.”
The flood of hope that rushes through me is like nothing I’ve ever felt before. It feels like being lit up from the inside, as if a weight is lifted off of me in an instant, making me so buoyant I could nearly float. “Do you know where?” I ask, sitting up straighter and ignoring the burst of pain.
“I don’t know much yet. I know that she was kidnapped away from your estate and taken to Edo Casciani’s home.” Levin pauses. “Your brother was there too, Max.”
The feeling of hearing that is the exact opposite, like a punch to the gut. I grit my teeth, a hot flare of anger spreading through me. “He took her?”
“He had something to do with it, we think.” Levin rubs a hand over his mouth. “For all that, I assumed your priority would be Sasha. There’s something you need to know, Max.”
“What?” I can feel my brows drawing together. “What the hell could be more important than that?”
“The man who was looking to kill you–” Levin pauses.
“--is dead,” I finish. “Viktor told me.”
“--was working with Art.”
The silence hanging in the room in the moments after he says it is thick and foreboding. “Art was working with–”
Levin nods, his expression grim.
I can’t sit there a moment longer. I shove myself out of the bed, steadying myself with a hand on the headboard and ignoring the bolt of pain in my gut. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Was this before he came to the estate? During?”
“It’s unclear,” Levin admits. “It’s possible that he hoped you’d give up the inheritance of your own accord. We can’t find any evidence that suggests he really wanted you dead from the correspondence we uncovered, only that he was determined to get his hands on what he thought should be his, rather than yours. Which, as you mentioned, seems to have included Sasha.”
“So he has her?”
“No.” Levin clears her throat. “It appears that Edo has sold her to Obelensky, and she is on her way to Moscow. She may even be there already–hence why I can’t say for certain that she’s alive. But Art helped take part in getting her to Edo’s estate in the first place, likely in hopes that he could–”
“Stop there.” I rub a hand over my forehead. “So what is the choice, then? What is there other than to go after Sasha?”
“I’m not certain if Art is still at Edo’s estate, but I’ve found nothing so far to indicate otherwise. If you want vengeance on your brother for what he’s done–”
Cain and Abel. A story as old as time itself.“I would like that, very much,” I growl, my voice rasping in my throat. “But I’m not wasting time that we can use to find Sasha. So how do you suggest we do that? Do you know where Obelensky is holding her?”
“Not yet. I doubt it’s at his home.” Levin frowns. “I used up my favor with the Syndicate to help Liam find Ana, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t still have connections.” He nods at the clean stack of clothes on the armchair. “Get changed, pack what you need. We leave for Moscow in an hour.”
Giana picks that exact moment to walk into the room with tea, only to stop dead in her tracks and glare at Levin with an expression that would make any man, grown or otherwise, think twice about his actions. “Absolutely not,” she says flatly, setting the tea tray down on top of the dresser. “Maximilian took a bullet to the stomach, only days ago! He’s not well enough–”
“I’m going,” I look at her, doing my best to mimic her expression. “Sasha might be in Moscow, Giana.”
“Then let this man go find her. He looks strong enough.” She flaps her hand at him, giving him an appraising look out of the corner of one eye that makes the corner of Levin’s mouth turn up in a smirk. For a man who has sworn off romance entirely, he manages to make women swoon over him in any room he steps into.