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What matters is she’s gone.

My wife is gone.

Missing.

Roman approaches me first.

“How the hell did this happen?” I bark.

To Roman’s credit, he looks genuinely disturbed by the situation and like he’s already scoured every inch of the city looking for my wife.

It was two hours after she went missing that he called me. They all tried to find her first before alarming me.

“I’m sorry, Lev. I’m trying to figure that out myself.”

Konstantin joins him. “I had my eyes on her the whole time.”

My blood boils. Unable to control my temper, I march up to him and throw a fist right in the side of his face. Blood spurts from his nose and he stares at me like I’ve lost my mind.

I’ve never gotten into any kind of fights with my men. It’s not how I conduct myself. My father never did that, either, but I don’t know what the hell to do. My wife went missing on their watch.

“If you had your eyes on her the whole time, why didn’t you see what happened to her?” I spit, glaring at him. “Why the fuck is she missing?”

“I’m sorry, Lev. I truly am,” Konstantin offers, wiping the blood from his nose. “We’ll find her. I swear it.”

I hold my tongue. I can see he’s loyal to me and will do whatever it takes to find my girl, but anything I say now will be the wrong thing.

Anushka approaches, taking tentative steps. “Lev.”

“What is it!” I snap, making her jump. She was here, too, but didn’t see anything useful.

“Hey!” Aleksandr cuts in, shooting me a hard glare. “You need to back up on that tone.”

He’s fucking right. Instantly, I feel bad. Usually, it’s me who’s overprotective of Anushka.

“Mne zhal',” I apologize.

She dips her head. “It’s okay. We’re all on edge.”

“What did you want to tell me?”

“Please don’t bite my head off.” She holds up her hands. “I don’t think she was taken.”

I give her a thin stare. “What do you mean?”

“I think she escaped, Lev.”

I stare at her for a long moment, contemplating this new turn.

Gabrie—

Allegra wouldn’t have escaped. Would she?

Would she leave me?

“What makes you think that?”

“She’s my friend. I think I know her. Maybe a little more than you do.” The confidence in her voice grips me.