Page 23 of Secret Baby and the Bratva

“That’s the problem. We’ve grown up accepting these hazards. She hasn’t.”

Feliks mumbles. “It’s not our line of work anymore.”

I slam my fist onto the ground. “I’d do anything for the chance not to respond when Grandfather called that night.”

“And let the drug ring continue?” Maxim says. “From a business perspective, we got the best possible result. From a personal perspective…I guess that’s why the elder Ubiytsa usually didn’t have wives. Did we do the right thing? With as much firepower as they had, if we came in with anything other than guns blazing, we would’ve been destroyed.”

“Well…I’m pretty sure I am destroyed. Losing Margot is losing everything. Losing Maverik…”

Maxim stands up and stretches. “He’s still ours.

Feliks says, “I’ve never regretted a decision I’ve made, and now…”

Our phones all go off and I fear the worst, that Pakhan has contacted us with another hit.

“Fuck, it’s her,” Feliks says, staring at his phone.

I pick mine up and look at the screen.

Margot:I needed time to think.

I message back quickly as my brothers are also doing, hit send, and distinctly notice there’s no sound of a phone in the nursery. My brothers also have their ears cocked toward the room.

“Probably has her phone on silent,” I say.

Felix says, “Did anyone hear Maverik wake up at 3:00 AM? He always wakes up at three.”

“No. Come to think of it, I didn’t. I’m pretty sure I woke up at three, conditioned for it.”

Maxim is already knocking on the door. There’s no answer.

“Margot?” I call out.

Still no answer.

“Margot, let us know you’re okay.”

There’s no answer. Ice runs through my veins. Maxim busts the door down. My eyes shift from the empty day bed that laundry is piled on where no one slept, to the crib, which I rush to and drag my hand over the sheet. It’s cool—no sign Maverik has been in this crib. Feliks taps his finger on the hook where the diaper bag should be. Empty. Fuck.

I scan the room and something about one of the windows catches my attention. I stride closer to inspect it. No screen. It’s unlocked. I shove down on it. It wasn’t closed all the way.

“She fucking ran away. She’s so fucking afraid of us, she ran away. Where the hell would she go?”

“Harper, Sadie, they’ll know something.”

My fingers poise over Harper’s name on my phone when an alert buzzes, as do my brothers’ phones.

Harper:Hurry over here

We don’t bother to ask questions, just rush out the door. We hop in the car and drive to the other end of the neighborhood as fast as possible.

Harper breaks the news to us. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know this would go so wrong. Margot swore me to complete secrecy and asked me to take her back to the apartment last night. I thought she would calm down by morning but I just got a text message from my old neighbor that they saw someone forcing Margot and Maverik into their vehicle. She said one of the men had a spider tattoo on his neck.”

I can barely hear anything else she says. The fucking Soloniks.

Seventeen

Maxim

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