Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 53693 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53693 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
Now, though, he looks crazed and terrifying. I want to get away from him, but even if I can wriggle out of his grasp, I can’t outrun him. He and I both know that.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Ivan
An uneasy feeling spreads through me when Mario doesn’t pick up for the fifth time. I got home early from work, and Kat wasn’t here. It wasn’t so unusual, I knew she liked going to the park during the day. But it’s been almost two hours, and she still isn’t home.
Maybe I’m just being overprotective, but something in my gut tells me this isn’t right. There was another big attack on one of my subsidiaries this morning, and another package was at my door when I got home. Alone, I wouldn’t worry too much about these things, but all of them together make me nervous.
I call Mario again, and when he doesn’t answer, I look at her phone's location. It says she’s still at the park, which should calm me, but I feel in my gut that something isn’t right. I call a few of my men and ask them to meet me at the penthouse. Perhaps it’s irrational, but I can’t shake the feeling that Kat is in trouble. She’s not answering her phone either.
A few minutes later, five of my best are at my door, ready for whatever I ask them to do. That is one nice benefit of being head of the branch. I can get my men to do whatever I need with no questions asked.
I tell them the situation, though, wanting to emphasize how important it is that we find Kat and bring her home safely. They know how much she means to me. They’ve seen how I’ve changed over the last few weeks.
I’m constantly worried about her, and I’m up to my neck in frustration at her father and his branch. If he wants a fucking war, I’m happy to bring it to his doorstep with the stipulation that Kat is safely away from the bloodshed. She means more to me than anyone I’ve ever known. I can’t lose her. It would destroy me.
The six of us leave the apartment and walk over to the park, intent on tracking down Kat. We walk over to the location her phone indicates, but when we arrive, there’s no sign of her. Shit, shit, shit. This is so bad. I shouldn’t have waited. I should have come earlier.
“Fan out,” I tell my men. “She has to be around here somewhere.”
Despite the sureness in my tone, I’m terrified I’m wrong. I’ll never forgive myself if she’s hurt, or if her family abducted her. They wouldn’t hurt her, surely. But I think back over the notes she’s been receiving over the last several weeks. I think of the chilling words contained inside, and the rage bubbles up inside of me.
Her family wouldn’t hurt her, but Niko would. He wants to. He believes she was wrongfully taken from him, and maybe he’s right. But she doesn’t belong to him, and she never did. She’s mine, and it’s my responsibility to keep her safe. I’ll kill him if he has her, then I’ll deliver his head on a silver platter to Dimitri.
That should send a pretty fucking clear message about what I’m willing to do for her.
“Boss,” one of my guys calls out from one of the thickets around the clearing. “You’ll want to see this.”
I run over to him, and when I see what he’s found, I want to vomit. There’s Mario, just coming to. He looks like he was knocked out, and he slowly sits up, looking dazed. When he sees me standing in front of him, his eyes fill with panic.
“Fuck,” he yells. “Where’s Kat?”
“That’s exactly what the fuck I would like to know,” I growl.
He shrinks under my anger, but it isn’t him I’m angry with. I know he did everything he could to protect her. He’s a good man, and none of this is his fault. He’s not a small guy, so whoever knocked him out would have done it from behind.
“I don’t blame you, Mario,” I assure him.
I look up to Dante, my man who found him. “Get him to the hospital,” I instruct. “He may have a concussion, he needs to get looked at.”
Mario grumbles at this instruction. “I’m fine, boss,” he says, irritated. “I need to help you find Kat.”
I roll my eyes and help him up, grateful for his dedication. He’s an idiot for wanting to help when he could have a serious head injury, but I won’t argue for now. I need to find my girl.
“Keep checking the trees,” I tell the men. “She can’t have gotten far.”
It occurs to me that Central Park is fucking huge. If that asshole, Niko, did grab her, he could be anywhere in the park. There are plenty of places that he could hide. I only hope beyond hope that he didn’t make it far with her. Or, at the very least, she thought to leave clues.