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Married to the BRATVA Guard

Page 34

by Ella Thorne

“Someone sent me this,” I say, and hold out the phone.

He looks at it for a long time. Long enough that I start to shake.

“Call her,” he says.

“I did. On the way here.” My voice cracks. “It goes straight to voicemail.”

He’s already dialing Leo. I stand in the middle of the study and stare at the photograph on my phone. I make myself look at it properly.

The car’s at an angle. The door’s open. The lot is small, with a brick wall at the back. There’s something painted on the wall, just at the edge of the frame. Bright colors. A big yellow sun, with a woman’s face in the middle of it.

I know that wall.

“Wait,” I say.

Caleb stops talking to Leo.

“That’s the pilates studio,” I say. “On Halsted. The one with the mural. She’s been going there for two years.” I look up at him. “They make you lock your phone in a locker for the whole class. That’s why it goes to voicemail. It’s not eleven yet. She’s still inside.”

He’s very still.

“They don’t have her,” I say. “They took a photo of her car while she was in class. They opened the door to make it look bad. But they don’t have her, Caleb. They just know where she is.”

He says something short in Russian into the phone. Then he waits.

It’s the longest ninety seconds of my life.

Then Leo’s voice comes back, tinny through the phone. I can’t make out the words, but I can hear the tone. It’s relief.

Caleb lowers the phone.

“She’s in class,” he says. “Leo called the front desk. The girl saw her go in at ten. She’s on the mat by the window.”

My knees go. He catches me before I hit the floor.

Ten minutes later, I’m sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea I haven’t touched, and the house is full of people.

Leo, at the back door. Andrik from the warehouse. Two more of Caleb’s men I don’t know yet. Caleb on speaker with Ivor, and then with Garick, and then with Arina, who shouts so loudly he has to hold the phone away from his ear. Milana’s on her way to Papa’s house now, with two of Garick’s men. She’s furious they made her leave in the middle of class.

“Somebody’s been watching her,” Caleb says. “Somebody who knows the routines.”

“Geoff,” I say.

They all look at me.

“Geoff knows all of us,” I say. “He’s known all of us since we were born. He knows where Milana goes to do Pilates. He knows when I go to the church to cook for the community. He knows what time Arina leaves for the range and when Evaria goes to the shelter.” I wrap both hands around my mug. “And he knows me best of all. He knows exactly what I’d do if somebody told me my sister was in trouble.”

“What would you do?” Ivor asks over the speaker.

“Go,” I say simply. “On my own. Without telling anyone. Because that’s who I’ve always been.”

The kitchen goes quiet.

Caleb’s watching me from across the room. His face hasn’t changed, but there’s something in his eyes I’ve never seen before. Something raw.

“He doesn’t want Milana,” I say. “He wants me. Because I’m married to you. Because you’re the one who found him.”

“Then you’re not going anywhere near that harbor,” Caleb says.