Page 127 of Scarlet Secrets

Then a second. A third.

That’s it. Backup. I’m out of the damn car so fast I give myself whiplash.

“Pavel, with me.” And I look at the guard and nod. “You, too.”

I hand out orders. Half the third car are coming in with me through the front. The second are taking the back and the third the side entrance.

“Kill anyone you see, anyone in our way, but do not touch my son.”

The men nod, muttering affirmatives.

I take a breath and will my ice to return, to be so farremoved that this is another mission. But I can’t. The best I can do is not shake.

We storm the fucking laundromat.

Empty.

No one’s there, not even a lone guard. So where the fuck did Niko go? What was the point of coming here with Sasha if it was to take him elsewhere. What was the point of the risk of being seen? To taunt?

Something is off.

And it’s starting to reek.

Did someone tip them off? Fuck, if the guy was Sergio’s, maybe the take on him as not being family is off. I’m about to call Sergio when I hear a faint cry.

My heart lurches.

I motion to the men to stop, and everyone freezes.

There it is again.

Heart stopping, I tear off toward the noise coming from the storage room that had been checked.

Checked for men, not my son alone.

It’s sobbing. A small child. Fuck, where. “Sasha?”

“Mama!” And then comes, “Dino?”

“I’m here, Sasha!”

I dive into the boxes, opening them, throwing the fresh sheets all over the place as I try to find him. But he isn’t there.

What if they planted a monitor?

I’m shaking as I wade into the next lot of boxes, all empty until I reach the one on the bottom, taped up. I rip off the tape and open it and I howl out.

Sasha is there, huddled in some sheets, tear-stained, his lip quivering. “I want Mama!”

His little arms raise up to me, and I scoop him up, holding him tight against me.

I don’t pause. I race out to the SUV, my men flanking me, guns out as we go.

In the safety of the car, Sasha clings to me. I hold him tight.

There’s no way Niko took my son and left him. Which means he thought he had my lover’s kid.

Which means…

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