Page 123 of Sinful Lies

Sinking down onto the couch, I rest my head in my hands as I try to think through a strategy.

Massimo has to be the one behind this, there’s no doubt in my mind. He warned me that if he were to catch a whiff of any dishonesty, he wouldn’t hesitate to attack.

Somehow he must have learned the truth about mine and Zara’s relationship. Despite us somewhere along the line falling in love, it doesn't change the fact that it started out as nothing more than a deal to get me out of marrying Lucia Conti.

That’s all Massimo cares about.

The betrayal.

“Does Bianca know?” I glance up at Alexei, but he shakes his head.

“I didn’t want to risk her doing anything stupid. For now, we need to keep this contained.”

I nod.

He nods back. “I’ll make a call to Frederik. In the meantime, let’s try and run the license plate of the van.”

“On it.” Danil unlocks his phone and begins tapping away at the screen.

“Good.” Alexei rubs at his jaw. “Mikhail, call Rosa and have her access all of the security footage she can. I want a play-by-play of the van’s route through the city to try and get an idea of the direction they were taking Zara. It’s the only lead we have to go on right now.”

Mikhail nods before opening up his laptop once more.

Danil places a hand on my shoulder as he holds his phone up to his ear. “We’ll find her, Dimitri.”

I nod, my throat too thick to speak.

Zara must be absolutelyterrified.

I shouldn’t have let her go into work, but she was adamant about carrying on with life as normal.

I knew better. My world isn’t normal, which means I have to consider and plan for every possible threat.

And yet, despite that, I let my pregnant wife walk through the city alone and unarmed. What did I think would happen?

I should have picked her up myself, or at the very least sent Feliks to retrieve her in a car.

I let her down, and I may have to live with that guilt for the rest of my life.

“Fuck.” I press my palms into my eyes. “I can’t just sit here and do nothing.”

I get to my feet.

Alexei is at the bar cart, his phone tucked between his cheek and shoulder as he pours us all another drink, though I don’t think any amount of vodka is going to calm me down.

I try to drown out the sounds of his conversation as I try to think of what to do next. Until we get eyes on this van, we have barely anything to go on.

My mind turns to thoughts of Giovanni lying in the cell back at our warehouse in Chinatown.

Is he somehow linked to this?

The idea makes me pause.

He warned me that he knew people in our world, but I dismissed it as nothing more than a bluff to get me to back off.

Could I have been wrong? Could Giovanni somehow have handed Zara over to Massimo as revenge?

My head snaps in my brother’s direction as he hangs up the phone.

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