Page 4 of Cruel Redemption

“Amara!” I hollered one more time.

She didn’t answer. No one had seen a gorgeous blonde walk past. No one would even fathom the kind of crime I knew had happened in broad daylight.

Someone had her. Someone had taken her from me.

It felt like I was living and breathing the nightmare. Only it had become brave enough to walk in the sun.

Three

Luka

I walked back inside and took the elevator to the top floor. I paced between the sawhorses and exposed wiring. I kicked a paint can halfway across the room.

“Fuck!” I roared into the empty office space.

I pictured Amara on the sticky floor of that basement where I had Nikoli deposit her five years ago. I imagined her begging for food or water again. I wondered if someone else’s hands were on her body. I had to fucking think. I had to stop feeling. I couldn’t think about the what ifs. I grabbed a wrench and hurled it through the air. It smashed a light fixture, and shards of glass scattered across the bare concrete floor.

I buried my head in my hands. She had just been here. She was just here.

It was fucking unfair to have her ripped away. I had found her again. After all this time, we were finally where we were supposed to be. This wasn’t right. It couldn’t possibly be real. It was another nightmare like the ones where she disappeared in the storm. I shook my head. That was a dream. I had to face what was in front of me now. I wouldn’t let that happen to her.

How was I going to get her back? Where did I start in a city this size? Which enemy did I go after first?

Between the two of us we had amassed a following of hatred and revenge. No one could be ruled out.

I called Nik. I needed the Brigadiers and their soldiers on this. They would scale the city, find her, and bring me the kidnappers. I would kill them myself.

“Pahkan,” he answered.

“There’s an emergency. I’m going to drop my pin, and I need you to get here immediately. On the way, call all the Brigs.”

“What’s happened? How can I help?”

I trusted Nikoli with Amara’s life once before and he had not failed me. I was willing to put the same amount of trust in him again, especially since I had rewarded his loyalty and dedication by promoting him to my Sovietnik.

“Discretion. We can’t let any of the families know about this.”

“Of course,” he answered. “What do you need me to do?”

“Amara Amato has been kidnapped,” I spoke the words as if they came out of someone else’s mouth. The taste on my tongue was sour. Saying it out loud was the same as shoving a knife between my ribs.

“I don’t understand. This is a Novikov affair? Were you involved?”

The crushing guilt that I was the first suspect could have broken every bone in my body.

“No. Someone else.” I ran my hand over back of my head.

Nik had always known she was important to me. As important as Katya. Though we never discussed the details. He didn’t ask. He knew not to, and he would follow the same path now.

“I got the pin.”

“Good. How far are you?” I asked.

“Fifteen minutes. But I’m already en route.”

Another fifteen minutes was long enough for them to take Amara far from the city. I had to assume she had been captured as soon as she exited the building. That meant they already had a twenty-minute head start.

“They grabbed her assistant too, Enzo Barone. There’s no sign of either one of them.” What I didn’t know is if they had been separated or were still together. Two of them made the variables more challenging. Once Katya knew Enzo had been taken, it would be more difficult to control every aspect of finding them.

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