Nikolai
“I can’t find Ava”
Those are the first words out of Kat’s lips the moment I step into the living room.
Kat stands before me, hands fidgeting, face flushed with what I can only describe as worry as she delivers the news to me. Her husband stands a few steps away, his hands shoved into the pockets of his slacks as he glances between Kat and me. His stance is guarded, like he is prepared to intervene at the first sight of trouble.
His brows furrows. He looks worried, probably by the idea of me lashing out at his wife as she speaks.
I almost laugh at the thought. As if I would willingly hurt Kat. She was my blood, and even though her words angered me in this moment, I would never willingly hurt her. She was family, after all, and I would never put her in harm’s way.
“What do you mean you can’t find my wife?”
I’m surprised by the level of restraint with which I’m able to say the words. I’m almost sure that the words aren’t mine, and if it weren’t for the slight wince in Kat’s expression, I would’ve assumed someone else had spoken them.
Kat runs a perfectly manicured hand through her blond strands, biting down on her lower lip as she struggles to find the right words to explain what she means.
“I’ve checked everywhere. ” she says, her fingers trembling slightly, “her room, the gardens, even the library-she’s not here.” She looks up and I notice the way her voice drops when she says the word here.
I hadn’t seen Ava since yesterday when she left my office after our little argument.
She had done a pretty good job at making herself scarce the entire evening and while the idea of barging into her room and picking up right where we left off sounded appealing, I knew that she needed space. Time, to come to terms with what had happened between us.
When I kissed her yesterday I never expected her to kiss me back. Her lips on mine, combined with the way she pressed up against me, almost made me want to take her right there and then.
But I didn’t.
I held on to what little restraint I had and kissed her until she was all I could taste.
Then she started crying. I was worried that I might’ve done something wrong to upset her. But then, when she said those words, depriving me of her lips, I lost it.
I never lose it.
It was something I prided myself on. The ability to keep calm despite anything. At least I was able to. Until her. There was something about Ava that had the ability to drive me crazy with the slightest push and force me to lose whatever grapple I thought I had on my restraint.
Quite frankly, I found It annoying, but that didn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it when she fought back.
Kat paces back and forth, moving two steps to the right and then doing the same to the left. It was clear to me that she didn’t anticipate this happening.
Well, to be fair, neither did I.
“You were supposed to watch her,” I say, my voice low but laced with a dangerous calm that causes her to flinch. I keep my gaze locked on her and she stops pacing for a moment as the accusation in my tone settles on her shoulders.
She presses her palm to her face, inhaling sharply, “I know, I know, alright, I fucked up.” she spits rapidly. I could see the tension in her shoulders roll into knots around her neck
Fucked up is an understatement. “Ava missing could be detrimental to our mission. How the hell did you let her out of your sight?”
It isn’t like Kat to lose something. She was one of the strongest people on my team, which was why I left her in charge of watching Ava and making her feel comfortable because I knew that no matter what, she would be able to look after her. To protect her when I can’t without it looking like I was trying to hover or control everything Ava did.
“I’m sorry,” She whispers, “What if something happened to her? What if she was kidnapped?”
I arch a brow. That was highly unlikely. Not only was the security in the estate airtight but there were cameras everywhere and motion sensors activated around the house. No one who isn’t a registered member of this house would be able to get in without setting off the alarms.
Which was why I knew that the possibility of Ava being taken from right under this roof were slim to none.
She escaped on her own, that much was obvious. But how?
“Did you check the security cameras?”
I ask and Kat nods
“Yes. I checked it twice by myself and two more times with Ivan”
“And you found nothing?”
She nods, “It’s like she just disappeared into thin air”
My jaw ticks. The idea of my wife just disappearing into thin air, as Kat so delicately puts it, is as likely as me sprouting wings in the middle of the hallway.
“Where were you last night?”
Ivan asks, his gaze piercing mine when I don’t respond. Benjamin, a recruit in the Bravata, came knocking yesterday while Ava was still in my office. I was initially pissed off by his interruption and was ready to put a bullet in his skull to teach him a lesson but then he told me that some of Alessandro’s men were spotted in one of my Warehouses. Particularly the one in the South Side, near the Calumet River, where I store most of the sensitive shipments that came for the Bravata.
Why they were there, I didn’t know, but my men were able to capture one of them, and I spent the entire night torturing him, trying to get whatever information I could that might be useful to me.
Unfortunately, the poor bastard preferred death and managed to snatch a knife from one of my men who wasn’t paying attention and then proceeded to slit his own throat while I was on a call with Kat.
“Out” I reply simply. I wasn’t in the mood to divulge my recently failed torture session with my best friend while my wife was currently missing.
That would be done after Ava was found and she was home safe and sound where I knew no harm would come to her.
Ivan nods once, seemingly understanding the reason behind my monosyllabic response, and takes a step towards his wife.
I follow his movements, and my eyes lock with Kat’s sapphire ones, which she uses to communicate without words. A mixture of desperation and guilt fills her expression and there’s something about the look she’s giving me now that hits me harder than I expect.
Her usual sunshine demeanour is gone. Stripped away under the harsh rays of vulnerability. She looks worn out and tired and I wonder if she has even had a shower this morning.
“How long has she been gone?” I ask. Kat scratches the top of her head, as she tries to recall the first moment she realized Ava was missing.
“Since, eight o clock ” She says.
I glance at my wristwatch and feel my chest tighten as the minute and second hands glare back at me. Fuck, it was almost one in the afternoon.
My wife has been missing for nearly five hours and my best friend and his wife only decided to let me in on that little piece of information thirty minutes ago.
How the hell did they think that was okay?
“Ava is never late for breakfast, so when she didn’t come down I was worried. I went up to check on her but her bedroom was empty. I thought maybe she had gotten up early and already had breakfast, so I checked the garden to see if she was there since she likes to go there sometimes, but then that was empty too.” Kat explains
I blow out a slow measured breath, trying my best to reign in the anger that threatened to burst through my chest. It didn’t matter how angry I was, what mattered was making sure my wife returned with not a single hair out of place.
“You should’ve called me the moment you noticed she was gone”
*I know” she says, her gaze dropping. “I’m sorry.”
I grit my teeth. It was that word again. Sorry. I hated it. No amount of sorry was going to ensure that Ava was going to be okay and no amount of sorry was going to bring her back.
The word was as useless as the letter e in the word hope.
It meant nothing in the face of a situation and, therefore, should be abolished from the dictionary.
My opinion of course.
Ava could be God knows where because Kat refused to realize the gravity of the situation earlier, and now I was stuck cleaning up the mess and playing detective. I take a steadying breath, forcing down the frustration already gnawing at my insides.
Losing control isn’t going to be useful right now. What I need is to remain calm and find her.
“I know this might look bad,” Ivan began taking a step forward, his expression tight, “But This isn’t her fault.”
“So whose fault is it then?” I ask corking my head to the side,
Ivan opens his mouth and then snaps it shut again.
That’s what I thought.
“I admire your love for my cousin, Ivan. I really do, and your friendship means the world to me, but because I see you as family, it doesn’t give you the right to defend her mistakes when my wife’s safety is on the line.”
“I know,” he says, struggling to keep his tone even. “And I get it. But we both know that Kat’s been looking out for Ava since she got here. Kat considers her family and whether or not you acknowledge it, you and I both know that She wouldn’t be careless with someone she considers family.”
My index finger twitched at my side. Ivan was right. Kat did consider Ava family. Which was why I knew that she was the perfect person to keep an eye on Ava.
I force out a breath. I have to keep calm.
“You’re right,” I say and turn to Kat who looks away, her shoulders slumped.
“I’m sorry,” I say, meaning it and she nods.
Worry never looked good on Kat. Whenever the anxiety would kick in, she would fidget, her hands wringing together, squeezing, as if she could force the emotion out of herself with just the right amount of force. Right now, her gaze darted between me and the door as if she expected my wife to walk in any second now and turn all of this into some well-plotted prank.
But I knew better.
One way or the other, my wife had managed to escape my guards and dodge the security cameras I had installed around the house, allowing her to escape without any indication or warning from the alarm systems.
The perfect escape plan.
A grin tugs at my lips. Not only was my wife the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, but she also had a bit of mischief running through her veins.
She was the perfect queen to rule by my side and now all that was left was for her to realize how devastatingly good we would be together.
“So what do you want us to do,” Ivan asks, knocking me out of my thoughts. I turn to him to find out that he’s already looking at me, waiting for my next command.
“Did you check with any of the guards? Ask if any of them had seen her leave?” I ask, and Kat nods
“No one did,” she says.
I didn’t know whether to be proud or to be pissed off at her ability to outsmart my guards.
Then it struck me,
“Her phone,” I say, remembering the cellular devices I had Ivan pick up from one of our tech stores a few blocks away. I particularly picked the device for her for a number of reasons, one of them being the ability to plant a tracking chip behind the battery panel without her ever knowing.
“What?”
I glance over at Kat, who looks every bit confused by my words.
“Did you by any chance see a cell phone in her room, perhaps on her lamp table or the dresser?”
Kat frowns, her brows pinching together as she tries to remember.
“No,” she responds slowly, “Should I have?”
Relief floods through my veins, almost instantly. Because if Ava has the phone, then finding her will be much easier than I expected.
“Where are you going?”
Ivan asks, but it’s too late. I’m already out the door and making a beeline to my office, where the encrypted tracking device is stashed in the drawer of my desk.
I didn’t think I would need it so soon but I’m relieved I thought of it. Having her locked up, I knew that it was only a matter of time before her first escape attempt so I wanted to be ready. To have the upper hand so that I can bring her back to where she belongs which is by my side.
If Alessandro or any of his men have her, then I’ll make sure they regret it, but if she left by herself, then I’ll make sure she regrets it for thinking she could leave me again.
Ava was mine. Mine to hold. Mine to break and mine to mould again until every piece of hers was inscribed with my name.
She probably doesn’t know I can track her which was what probably gave her the audacity to carry the phone with her as she left.
It was a good thing that she was still naive because that meant that I could find her no matter what. She was predictable and I liked it.
Reaching my office, I yank open the door and stride over to my table at the centre of it.
I pull open the drawer, my finger closing around a small black device and In seconds, I have it powered on and Ava’s location on display in the form of a red beeping dot.
You’ve made a terrible mistake thinking you could get away from me Ava.
And now I’m coming to get you.