Page 134 of Beautiful Cruelty

"Lacey!" My voice echoes through Pankration's halls as I stride past the library.

But she's not there.

I walk into the dining room. Empty.

The sitting room. Empty.

The kitchen. Empty.

Room after room I search. And not a single one of them contains Lacey.

"Lenka!" I call, changing my tactic.

"Vadim Petrovich." Lenka appears at the top of the grand staircase.

"Where is Lacey?"

"Your wife has retired with a headache. She asked not to be disturbed."

"Liar." Olga's voice cuts through the air like a knife before I can respond. "I know that look, Lenka Feliksovna. You used to wearit every time you tried to buy Polina a few hours of respite from Pyotr's relentless assaults."

Lenka's composure cracks for just a moment. "Olga Romanovna, I?—"

"Silence." Olga steps forward. "Where is she really? And don't you dare lie to me again."

Watching Olga berate Lenka, I'm suddenly transported back to being that small boy hiding in Pankration's shadows when I first came here, powerless against the cruel machinery of Pyotr's world. The familiar tightness grips my chest, but I force it down.

"Lenka," I say, gentler than before. "Where is my wife? Tell me the truth."

"Vadim Petrovich, I told you?—"

But Olga is already ascending the stairs, her heels thudding on each step like hammer blows. I follow close behind as she strides toward my suite. The door flies open under her hand.

Empty. The bed is still unmade from this morning.

"Well?" Olga turns to Lenka, triumph glinting in her eyes. "Care to try again? The truth. Now!"

Lenka's shoulders slump. "She left to meet her sister in Seattle. Personal matters, she said."

"Why didn't she have her sister come here?" I demand, though I already suspect the answer.

"I asked her the same thing." Lenka wrings her hands. "But she insisted on going out. Said she needed to speak with her sister alone."

"How convenient." Olga's voice drips with venom. "Your wife runs off right as Sayanaa arrives in Seattle. Tell me, bastard, just what have you told her about the bratva?"

"Everything she needs to know." The words taste bitter in my mouth.

"And whathaven'tyou told her?" Olga's eyes bore into mine. "What secrets are you still keeping from your precious bride?"

Nathan Walker's bloody face flashes through my mind. The sound of bones breaking under my fists. His final gasping breaths. And the slow and methodical way Demyon and I disassembled him after he finally passed.

It's the final truth I've kept from Lacey. The one sin I couldn't bring myself to confess.

"How did she leave?" I demand, my voice tight with emotion.

"The Prius," Lenka replies. "She wanted something inconspicuous."

Without another word, I storm toward my office, my footsteps echoing through Pankration's halls. Quickly, I pull up the tracking program, and scroll down until I find the Prius.

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