Page 24 of The Devils' Darling

I stare at my father, my jaw working. “None of us is in love with her. We formed a support group. That’s all.”

“A support group?”

“Yeah, we call it the Cronus Club.”

On that note, I leave him. His face is puzzled as I close the door. He’ll get it, sooner or later, the fucker. Cronus was the Greek god who ate his own children so they wouldn’t usurp him.

A support group for kids with evil fathers.

I laugh to myself as I stride down the corridor. I quickly sober, though. It is eventually going to come out about us and our Duchess. We can’t let only one of us have her, so eventually the world will know. Until then, I’d rather my father not hide her away in his apartment with her mother, keeping her from us.

The thought keeps nagging at me that Kirill might have betrayed us somehow. What if he’s not gone after Mackenzie to save her but to take her for himself? Even though we’ve said it is the four of us in this together, what if Kirill has relented to his father?

I want to see if his gun is gone. It will give me a clue as to his state of mind. If he’s taken his gun, then he will be thinking he’s going to have to use it. It means he’s going there to fight, but if it’s still here, then maybe not. Maybe he’s gone there to give his father what he wants.

When I reach his room, I push open the door, which has been left half ajar, probably by Tino, and take a look around. There are clothes half spilling out of the closet like Kirill dressed in a rush. I kneel and search for his gun. It’s gone.

So, he’s armed, which makes me think he’s going in there as an enemy to his father. It means he and Mackenzie are alone and up against Grigori Stepanov and his henchmen.

“Where the fuck did you go, Kirill, and why didn’t you tell us?” I’m speaking to an empty room, but I still long for an answer.

If he’s being a noble fuck and trying to protect us from harm, he’s an idiot, and he’s putting Duchess in even greater danger. We could have helped him get her back.

I idly wander to his desk and stare at a half-finished essay, but then my gaze catches on something else.

A notepad, with a half torn-off page, flutters in the breeze from the open window.

I lean over and stare at the piece of paper underneath the ripped top piece. There’s a series of indentations on the paper. Writing, or rather, the impression of it.

I’ve seen the old pencil rubbing trick on ancient crime shows like Columbo, but I also know that doesn’t work well and can ruin what you’re trying to read.

The best bet is light and the correct angle to be able to see the message.

Kirill definitely wrote something on the paper on top of his notepad, ripped it off, and left this room. I need to see what’s on it. I hold it up against the light, but that doesn’t help. I turn on the desk lamp and angle it a ton of different ways, but I still can’t read it.

Inspiration hits, and I grab my phone. With the flash on, I take a series of pictures at various angles, the flash of the light hitting the paper in diverse ways. I finally see it. A set of numbers.

I grab a pencil and paper on Kirill’s desk and write them down. There’s also a name, Glenwood Drive.

I know that. It’s a long road that leads through the forest to a lake.

There are cabins near that lake.

I bet these coordinates lead to one of them.

With the information, I sit on Kirill’s bed and plug the coordinates into maps on my phone. Sure enough, he’s headed down that road because it leads to those coordinates. I bet that’s where Grigoriy has Mackenzie. And Kirill now, too.

What the fuck is Grigoriy doing with them both?

I’m sure as psychotic as he is, Grigoriy won’t kill his only son and heir. Kirill was never sure of that, but what better way to control him than make him think at any point he could be murdered? I’ve always thought Grigoriy was evil, but not as insane as he appears.

So, if we take murder out of the equation, why else would he take Mackenzie and demand Kirill come to him in the middle of nowhere?

What will he do out there that he couldn’t do in a motel or nearer civilization?

Fuck. It doesn’t bear thinking about.

If he takes them away, and they’re trapped in Russia, we’ll never get them back.

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