Page 78 of Ivory Ashes

The way the color drains from their faces tells me they know exactly what I’m talking about.

I kick the father in the stomach again. He groans and curls into a ball, but neither of his sons argues on his behalf. It’s like they don’t even care about him.

Is this what it looks like when your relationship with your kids is built on the family business? When the only thing you have in common is the title you were born to?

Viviana’s voice hasn’t stopped echoing in the back of my head since she walked out of my office this morning, but the volume kicks up a few notches right now.

Business is all you seem to understand, so try treating our son like a job.

If this is what treating my son like a job looks like, I don’t fucking want it.

I hope I’m never quaking on the floor like the man at my feet now. If I’m unlucky enough to find myself in that position, I hope someone will have the decency to put me out of my misery.

Although the alternative to treating Dante like a business is treating Dante and Viviana like a family… and I don’t want that, either.

I stomp on the father’s knee to clear my head. “You can’t all be as oblivious as you look. One of you knows something about who has been stealing from me.”

Just as the trembling blonde brother starts to open his mouth, my phone rings.

I grimace and take the call. “I’m in the middle of something, Anatoly. What the fuck do you want?”

“Viviana is gone.”

I feel my hackles rise. Just like that, I no longer give a shit about the three men in front of me. Viviana is all that matters.

“Where is she?” I bark. “You were supposed to have eyes on her. Pyotr was her driver.”

Raoul hears the tone of my voice and pulls out his phone. He starts tapping away, clueing himself into what’s happening without me needing to say a word.

I left the office today without a word. I didn’t even look at her, which was harder than I made it seem. Her skirt hugged tight to every angle of her curves. It was painful to see her walk past my door without asking her to come in. Without bending her over my desk and tasting her?—

I growl, refocusing my thoughts. “What do you know, Anatoly?”

“So, I misspoke.” I can hear the wince in his voice. “Viviana isn’t gone so much as she is… out. Away.”

I frown. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“Well, she wanted to stop by her old apartment after work and Pyotr took her.”

“Pyotr wasn't authorized to make that fucking call.”

“He’s very sorry,” Anatoly says. “He is also the one who told me where Viviana went.”

“And where in the fuck did she go?” I didn’t have patience to begin with. Even if I did, it would be long gone now.

Behind me, Raoul curses.

I spin around and he’s looking down at his phone. When he sees me watching him, he curses again.

“What?” I bark. “Someone better start talking. Now.”

I snatch the phone out of Raoul’s hand. He has a security camera feed pulled up. I recognize Viviana immediately. The man next to her, however, I’ve never seen before.

“Who is he?” I growl.

“You’ve seen the footage, then?” Anatoly asks.

“Who the fuck is he?”

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