Page 58 of The Bratva's Sold Bride

Going to the house that Zoey was renting turned up nothing. The place was locked up tight with all the curtains drawn, and the neighbor told us she hadn’t seen her since that morning. The landlord lived thirty miles away and was currently unreachable by phone, and Ivan put up a big fuss about breaking in and searching the place. I relented, putting it on the back burner for the moment.

We finally managed to track down the other café employee who was working when Olivia was still there, and I told Ivan to hang back. I was already going to be intimidating enough, with my nerves raw from worry and running into dead end after dead end.

“Yes, I remember the other American woman leaving,” she said after I questioned her. “And then I think your wife left a little bit after that? I don’t remember seeing her go, though.”

I nodded. “But you think she was with the other woman?”

“Pretty sure. They were talking the whole time. I think your wife went to the bathroom first, before she left? I was cleaning the machines, sorry.”

Frustration welled to the point my fists clenched, and the young woman noticed, taking a step back. “Don’t be sorry,” I said through gritted teeth.

My heart was on the brink of shattering, but I shoved the pain aside. No matter where she was or if she’d gone of her own accord, right now, there was no guarantee that Olivia was safe. I thanked the barista and hurried back to Ivan, waiting in the car.

I slammed in next to him and told him about Olivia’s involvement. “There’s no way it’s a coincidence.”

“Okay, so maybe they left together,” he said, still refusing to believe anything was wrong as far as Zoey was concerned. “She doesn’t know anything about your situation with Olivia. What if she suggested some sightseeing, and Olivia couldn’t think of an excuse not to go?”

I snorted at the lengths he’d go to for this woman he barely knew. “Yeah, and Andre, my best guard, just dozed off on duty for the first time in his life. I’m not buying it. Call her again.”

Ivan reluctantly pulled out his phone and swiped through to her number, where I noticed he’d added a picture of himself and Zoey, both of them smiling cheesily at the camera. Just like the three previous times, I’d told him to call her, she didn’t answer. This time, when Ivan put his phone down, his face was grim.

“Straight to voicemail.”

“So now her phone is off, and you’re going to try to tell me she doesn’t have anything to do with Olivia going missing? Get your head out of your ass. You’re letting your attraction overrule what little sense you have.”

“Fuck off,” he growled, but his anger dissipated and turned to worry. “Do you think both of them could be in danger?”

“Unless you think your girlfriend is the kind of woman who goes around drugging people, I’d say there’s a chance.”

He let the girlfriend jibe pass without comment. “But, who?” he asked, rubbing his temple. “We settled with that gang interfering with the land deal.”

If by settled, he meant stomped into oblivion, that was true. But we had plenty of enemies, and anyone left from that shoddy organization might have been looking for retribution. We headed to a meeting point, and none of the search team had any answers either. We discussed which direction they might have headed and organized teams to send on every road leading out of the village. While studying a map, a message came through on my phone from a number I didn’t recognize and wasn’t in my contacts list.

I wonder if your wife is all right?

A feral sound ripped from my throat as I showed it to Ivan, then immediately answered.

Who the fuck is this?

There was no reply, even after several endless minutes of staring at the screen. I tried calling the number, but it went straight to voicemail. I shook my head at Ivan, who let out a stream of curses.

“Somebody has them,” he said, looking very close to how I felt.

“Everybody just get on the road and start searching,” I bellowed. “I want regular updates.”

I frantically paced, a maniacal energy not allowing me to stand still for a moment. Time sped up, every second ticking by without any useful news, and no more messages. Ivan wanted to take off with the others, but I had to be strategic, and stared blindly at the map, trying to determine which was the smartest route to take. The last thing I wanted was to end up further away from Olivia if more news came in.

My phone buzzed again, vibrating my palm in the death grip I had it in. “Same number,” I said tersely to my brother.

He stared at me, lips pressed together in a tight line as I swiped the screen to load the message. I had been praying for any news that might give me something to go on. But this wasn’t what I wanted. Not at all. This wasn’t an answer to a prayer but a curse.

I stared down at the picture that popped up, ignoring Ivan’s pleas to know what it was, my blood turning to ice at what I saw.

Chapter 35 - Olivia

I couldn’t stop thanking Zoey; I was so grateful to have found such a goodhearted friend. She continued to blow off my gratitude, completely unconcerned with her own safety, even though she needed to be. How much she needed to be remained to be seen, because I was still hopeful she could get out of this without Dima knowing she was involved. That seemed impossible but I only had hope to go on, for both Zoey and me.

She flipped on her headlights as night started to close in on us, and I looked up to see a group of signs. We’d been driving for a while now and I suddenly realized we were heading north instead of south. I was so wrapped up in getting as far away as possible that we never discussed where to go. She must have just headed toward the US border on autopilot.

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