Page 102 of Immaculate Deception (Romanoff Bratva)

I look around the room. But aside from us and the two bodies, it’s empty.

“What?” Arya asks, looking around, suddenly nervous. “Is there someone else?”

“Arya, where is he?”

“Where’s who?”

I know the answer already. The fact that she doesn’t know who I’m talking about tells me all I need to know. Still, I can’t stop myself from voicing the question in its entirety.

“Where the fuck is my son?”

36

Arya

Where the fuck is my son?

It takes me a long time to figure out how to answer.

“He’s gone,” I finally whisper in a voice so soft and fragile it doesn’t feel anything like my own. “They took him.”

Dima’s jaw clenches. “Who?”

“Brigitte and Erik. They took him and sold me here. That’s all I know.”

His face is a tapestry of rage. I feel horrible that he has to find out this way. But I can’t stop looking at the body on the floor.

Not Taras’s, of course. Fuck Taras. If I never saw him again, it would still be too soon.

It’s Rose I can’t tear my eyes away from. That awful bullet hole in her forehead…

Her eyes are open, staring up sightlessly at the ceiling above. It crosses my mind that she looks oddly at peace. For once, no longer haunted by her nightly demons.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath, trying to keep the bile in my stomach from heaving up.

Dima lays a heavy hand on my shoulder. “We’ll get him back.”

I let the words skim over me, like a flame moving close to the skin, warming it without burning. It’s comforting. But if I think about what he’s saying, if I let it penetrate the wall I’ve built around my heart, it hurts. It scorches.

Because I don’t know if it’s true.

It’s been six weeks. Lukas has been away from me longer than I had him. How are we supposed to find him? How are we supposed to get him back?

The thought breaks my heart. I shove it away. I can’t deal with that right now.

“We have to get out of here,” Dima says, looking around. “There’s a car in the garage with the keys in it we can take to escape. Let’s go.”

He takes my hand and I turn with him, but then I stop.

Rose.I look back at her.

Dima reads my mind. “We can’t do anything for her, Arya. She’s dead.”

My voice trembles. “We can’t just leave her here.”

“We have to go, Arya.”

“We can’t. I can’t. I swore I’d get her out. Please,” I beg him. “Please don’t make me leave her.”

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