Page 52 of Savage Little Secret

Vegas drowns the stars, but the moon and the city’s neon glare are enough. I’ll take anything.

With Cara gone, it doesn’t feel like I have much left.

Most of my men won’t support this search. Communication has iced over.

It shouldn’t surprise me, but it still does. Without my loyal men and a couple of allies, I’d be alone in this.

A heavy weight settles on my chest as I approach the edge of the rooftop and glance over the side, staring down at the busy street below.

If she’s gone, there’s no peace left for me.

I can already feel it, my thoughts circling, biting, refusing to stop.

I drag in a breath and pull out my phone. My thumb finds her photos before I can stop it.

The first ones are of her working during lunch.

I don’t even know what compelled me to take the photo, but with her eyes narrowed in concentration and her lips parted, she looks beautiful.

She caught me and didn’t flinch. She posed like she already knew I’d keep those pictures like evidence.

I need the motivation now more than ever because the phone call that I’m about to make could break me.

After gazing at her pictures for a few more seconds, I swipe out of my photos and scroll through my contacts until I find Victor’s number. He could already be sleeping since it’s nearing midnight, but I couldn’t care less. He’ll talk to me tonight whether he likes it or not.

I tap the call button and press the phone against my ear, my heart racing faster with each ring. My heart rate spikes when Victor’s voice fills my ear.

“What do you want, Dmitri?”

“Do you have her?” I say. “Did the Council take Cara?”

Victor sighs. “Why would you think that?”

“She’s missing. You ordered me to kill her! Did you take matters into your own hands?” I grit out, fury already burning its way through me just from picturing them laying a finger on her.

“She is a threat,” Victor replies in a firm voice. “She’s one of the many enemies that the Bratva face, and you fell into her trap like a fool.”

My face heats up as I stare out at the city, wishing that I could have this conversation face to face with the son of a bitch. “If you touched her, I’ll burn every last one of you alive. She is mine!”

“Do you have no loyalty?” Victor questions me.

I don’t want to hear anything about loyalty. I’ve already had some of my men and allies turn against me, and I’m tired of trying to please assholes who don’t give a shit about me.

“Answer me. Do you have her?”

“No, we don’t have her,” Victor tells me. “You’d be wise not to make such accusations in the future.”

“I don’t believe you. Not for a second.”

If they don’t have her, it must be the Albanians or possibly someone else, someone we haven’t considered. Whoever it is, they know how to hit me hard and deep. They know how to hurt me.

This is personal. Whoever took her knows exactly where to cut me.

It could be anyone. I could’ve shared a drink with him and shook his hand for all I know.

Artur Suyunov? Annika’s father would absolutely go to these lengths to punish me for refusing to marry Annika.

The uncertainty is the thing that’s killing me the most.