Page 43 of Savage Vows
She pulls up a screenshot. A girl in a silver dress smiles into blue light. The club’s logo glows behind her shoulder.
I study the image. “This is Anya? Julianne’s friend?”
“Yes, that’s her. This was three weeks ago,” Bella says. “She went missing that night.”
She swipes to the next image. Different girl. Red dress. Same blue light. Same logo of the club.
“And this is five days ago,” she says. “She didn’t come home either. This is Samie. You know, the other girl rumored to be missing.”
I slowly nod, our first conversation in the city flooding back to my mind. “Yeah, your mom found out from someone.”
Bella nods. “Her family never filed a missing person report, but she hasn’t been seen in a while, and she’s not posting on social media. But most suspiciously, she was at the same place as Anya.”
“Well, that can’t be a coincidence.”
Bella nods again. “Yes, it’s a club midtown called Portello. I found them through the location tag on one of Anya’s friends. She’s been there before.”
I stare at the picture. I thought Anya was a sweet little church girl, but of course she has her secrets. And so did Samie. Girls like Anya and Samie are expendable in our world.
“You know, I feel kind of connected to them,” Bella says as if reading my mind. “We’re all in the proximity of this blustering darkness, but we’re powerless.”
“You’re not powerless,” I say.
Bella smiles at me sadly. “I know you love me, that you’ll protect me no matter what. But you have your family’s name and legacy—nobody will hurt you the way people can hurt me.”
She’s right. I’m untouchable in this way, but that doesn’t mean people haven’t found ways to hurt me. I keep last night’s events to myself.
Bella points at the picture. “I checked highlights people saved from those nights. Both girls show up in other people’s stories for a few seconds. After that, nothing.”
“Bratva connection?” I ask.
“Possibly,” she says. “That club pulls our crowd. Private tables. Faces you recognize if you know where to look. Anya was obviously Julianne’s friend, and they had other friends from this world. Samie’s father was an enforcer for the Romanovs. He’s retired now but I heard she had a boyfriend and he did some work for them now and then. Like I said, both girls were in proximity to the underworld without actually being someone of note.”
She’s right. I can’t ignore that. They were easier to take; no one would ask questions.
I look at the screenshots again. They feel ordinary and wrong at the same time. “Send them to me,” I say.
She AirDrops them, and my phone buzzes against my palm.
“What are you thinking?” she asks.
“I don’t know what to think,” I say. “But if there is a pattern, it starts here.”
Bella studies my face. “Can you get out long enough to check it?”
“I’ll try,” I say.
We start back toward the house along the gravel path. Bella looks around, eyes wide. “This place is huge,” she whispers.
“You should see the garden,” I say. “It goes forever.”
Gravel crunches under our shoes. The garden smells like wet earth and cut grass.
Bella glances over her shoulder, lowers her voice. “What kind of man is he, Adi?” she asks.
I stare straight ahead. “I don’t know,” I say honestly. “He hasn’t hurt me.”
Bella frowns. “He has a reputation, you know. Everyone says he’s ruthless. He’s—” She searches my face. “You don’t look scared.”
