Page 83 of Stolen Seconds

Dr. Aldo stood patiently beside the door; his questioning eyes narrowing at me in suspicion.

“One less patient for you to worry about.” I nudged my head at him. “Congrats.”

I’d walked down the room when my phone buzzed in my pocket.

Roman’s name flashed across the screen and instantly I knew something was wrong. After what happened last night, he wouldn’t have called me if it wasn’t urgent.

Was it Irina?

I said I’d let her come to me this time, but my patience only extended so far. If I had to drag her back to Italy kicking and screaming, I would.

“What’s going on?” I answered, panic gripping me in a vice and what I felt last night didn’t compare to the terrible sensation coursing through me now.

“Nico is gone.”

“What do you mean ‘gone’? Did you check his location?”

After Nicolai was brought in by Roman and we learned of his background, my best friend inserted a GPS chip beneath his skin.

The trauma Nico had experienced made him compliant enough to undergo the quick procedure.

It had been a bit strange to us all how sympathetic Roman was toward him, but we quickly learned that their relationship was more of a father and a son than aDonand his crew member.

“I had to.” He sighed. “He hasn’t come yet.”

“And?” It wasn’t abnormal that our youngest member had a tendency to go out.

“I’m headed to his location.” He sounded too calm, and I knew it was worse when he did.

“Did you call Ric?” I asked as I signaled to my security team to go upstairs. My father could rot elsewhere.

“I did. He’s on his way there right now with the men to scope it out.” A loud horn echoed down the line before he cursed. “Hold on, I’m sending you Nico’s location.”

A second later, I zoomed in on the blinking red dot displayed on my screen, squinting my eyes to see where exactly he was.

It looked to be a small building, the area surrounding it deserted. The fuck?

And there it was. The confirmation to my suspicion. Something was wrong.

“Luca.” Roman didn’t wait for me to acknowledge him before he said, “If she had something to do with this, I’ll fucking kill her this time.”

I’d never driven my bike so recklessly in my life.

My heart was beating against my chest harshly, blocking out everything else except for blue eyes that cut me deep, denting and molding a place into my heart.

Irina might be malicious when she wanted to be, but I knew she would never harm Nicolai.

I’d caught up to Roman on the way as he rode his truck, speeding down the roads as fast as I was.

I turned my head at the same time he did, his expression disturbed before he held his phone up to me where Ricardo’s name was displayed.

My stomach twisted in knots as he stepped on the gas, and I almost wasn’t ready to see what I’d find when we arrived at the location.

My thoughts were spiraling, and I held onto this idea that Nico was having a bad night and ended up getting shit faced fuck knows where. But even I knew he’d never been reckless in that regard.

Five minutes later, we were parked and running toward a gray building. It was old and abandoned, as if it had no purpose of being there.

Barging through the steel door, we moved around swiftly, scoping the area inside to find the space empty, a putrid smell emitting in the air.

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