Chapter Thirty-One
Ditri
Isaw her go into the house fifteen minutes ago, and she still hadn’t come back out. Sarah had been nervous to meet so many of my associates today. That was why I insisted she invite her mother as well. I wanted her to have someone here to talk to besides me just in case. But it turned out that she didn’t need a safety net. Sara had spent the last couple of hours chatting easily with my friends and family, getting to know the people who were important to me.
She was easy to get along with, easy to love.
I hadn’t told her that yet, but I’d realized recently that the deep feelings I had for her, the connection we shared that was unlike anything I’d ever felt for another person, was love. I would have scoffed and rolled my eyes if someone had told me just a few weeks ago that I would feel such a way about anyone, but now I had two people in my life who I loved completely.
I lifted my daughter up into the air over my head, enjoying the sound of her giggles that traveled across the whole backyard. Everyone was watching me, but I didn’t care. Let them think that I had gone soft. I’d prove otherwise if I had to.
I was only soft for my girls.
Returning to the table, I handed Alexis off to her grandmother, asking that she help her choose a dessert from the table full of food on the patio. Then I headed inside to see what Sarah was up to. She wasn’t in the kitchen or the downstairs bathroom. The library, living room, and foyer were also empty.With a slight frown on my face, I checked upstairs. She was nowhere to be found.
Then I checked every room again. I knew I didn’t miss anything, but where was she?
More than twenty minutes had now passed since I saw her come inside, and a cold dread settled in the pit of my stomach. I wasn’t prone to panic, a Bratva leader couldn’t be, but with Sarah missing, it was impossible to stay calm.
I headed back outside and scanned the crowd, everything seemed as it should be. But then I looked again, Gina was missing.
Maybe they were talking somewhere? Though on the few occasions they had met I don’t think either woman exchanged more than a brief greeting.
Something about it unsettled me. I didn’t like Gina, I only tolerated her because of Nikolay, and the fact that her brother was one of my men meant she was trustworthy, otherwise I wouldn’t have permitted her presence.
Gina was a spoiled princess with an attitude, but she wouldn’t dare to do anything to Sarah. Would she?
That dread turned into anxiety that made my pulse race and blood rush in my ears. Hurrying back into the house, I returned to my library and opened a hidden panel in the wall, revealing a bank of security monitors.
Just as I started to pull up the footage from the front and back of the house over the past hour, I sensed a presence behind me. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Nikolay there.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “You looked pissed off when you came out of the house, and then you turned right back around and came inside again.”
Under different circumstances, I probably would have joked about him watching me a little too closely, but this wasn’t the time for levity. I didn’t have it in me.
“I can’t find Sarah.”
I didn’t bother telling him that Gina was also missing, not wishing to get into an argument with him about his woman. Instead, I started to play the footage from the cameras on the front of the house. Fast forwarding for a moment, I stopped it as I saw movement at the front door. The timestamp showed that it was about twenty-five minutes ago.
My blood turned to ice in my veins when I saw Sarah and Gina together. The bitch had a gun in her hand, pressed right into Sarah’s side. Fear sliced through me at the thought of her pulling that trigger.
“What thefuck?” Nik’s jaw dropped as we watched Gina force Sarah into her own car. They drove away, and that was it. My girl was gone, and I felt like the ground had dropped out from beneath my feet.
I turned to Nik, gripping the front of his shirt and yanking him toward me until my face was in his. “What the hell is your girlfriend up to, Nik?”
“I have no idea!” he protested, not even trying to pull free. He knew I was furious, and resisting would just make it worse. “I swear, I don’t know what she’s up to. She’s always been unstable.”
I released him, shoving him away from me. “You’re the one who’s been fucking her.”
“Yeah, but that’s just sex. There’s a reason we’ve never gotten serious. She’s good in the sack, but she’s also—”
“Fucking crazy?”
Nik scrubbed a hand down his face. “I don’t know, man. I thought she was just a little vapid and selfish. I could deal with that because the sex was good. But I never thought she’d…”
“Betray us? You know what this means?She’sthe spy. She has to be. Because of her connection to you, she’s been around for so many important meetings and knows way too much.”
I groaned as I realized I’d completely underestimated her. No, worse than that. I overlooked her. She wasn’t even on my radar, and I was an idiot for that. I figured the spy had to be a man, someone close enough to be privy to sensitive information.