Page 75 of Wicked Embers

Leigh is gone.

On the floor beside the bed, a rag and a small glass bottle.Chloroform. Deliberately left behind—just to let me know how she was taken.

“What the fuck is all the noise?” Oleksi’s groggy voice grumbles from behind us as he stumbles into the room.

“Leigh’s been taken,” Sabrina and I say at the same time.

“Radomir!” Dolph’s voice comes from behind me, sharp and tense. I turn to see him staring at his phone. “Temur says a helicopter just took off from the roof.”

The roof.

They used the penthouse door to the rooftop. It had to be someone who knows this place—someone close. Very few know where that exit is. My mind races as I turn to Dolph. “Temur said you’ll want to see the security feed.”

“I’ll go check out the rooftop,” Fredrik says and disappears.

We move fast. Sabrina keeps pace with me as we head to my office, her slippers slapping against the marble. Oleksi, bleary but alert now, looms behind us, casting her weird looks.

“What?” she snaps, shooting him an unimpressed glare. “You’ve never seen a woman in pajamas before?”

Oleksi sneers, smirking like the cocky brute he is. “Women don’t wear pajamas to bed with me.”

Sabrina arches a brow, the corner of her mouth lifting into a mock-pitying smirk. “Oh? Do they prefer armor... or just regret?”

I ignore their bickering as I sit behind my desk, pulling up the security feed. Sabrina’s right over my shoulder, leaning in so close I can feel her breath.

“What the hell...” I mutter as the feed shows the rooftop door opening and a familiar face has Leigh wrapped in one of the sheets from our bed, limp in his arms as he rushes out. Sabrina stiffens, her voice a whisper. “But we blew that motherfucker to smithereens.”

“No body was found,” I inform her.

“That fucking roach!” Then her face pales. “How the hell would he have known about the escape hatch?”

Oleksi steps closer, eyes narrowing at the screen. “Who’s that…? Fuck.” His voice drops. “Is that Michael? Your stable manager?”

“No. It’s...” My voice trails off as the elevator dings.

“I’ll check,” Dolph says, stepping out the room.

There’s a moment of silence before we hear Dolph’s voice, sharp and unyielding.

“Stop right there, or I’ll blow your fucking brains out.”

A British-accented voice replies, low and deadly. “You can try, but I’ll be across the room and have snapped your neck before you even pull the trigger.”

Sabrina’s eyes go wide. She bolts from the room like a whirlwind. “Don’t shoot!” she shouts.

I’m right behind her, Oleksi and Viktor following close. The sight in the living room stops me cold.

An eerily familiar man stands there, calm and confident, his hands raised in surrender. Anger bursts through me, while Sabrina freezes mid-stride, staring at him like she’s seen a ghost.

“You!” I snarl. “You have some balls coming back to the scene of the crime.” I’m about to tell Viktor and Dolph to seize him but Sabrina stops me.

“No, wait!” Her voice rises as she points to him, saying sharply, “You can’t be here without a password!”

"Jesus Christ, Sabrina." I whirl on her. “This isn’t the fucking time—“

But the man answers, his voice even. “I promised I’d buy you a yellow T-shirt with a pink winky smiley face the next time I was in town.”

Sabrina’s voice cracks with relief and joy. “Uncle Nik.”

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