“I love you, Kingston Ashford,” I breathed, grinding against him.
When he kissed me next, the world stopped spinning. The problems ceased to exist for a moment. The horrors faded.
“I’ll love you in every lifetime, sunshine,” he murmured against my lips.
It was just the two of us and this feeling that bound us together—in life and death.
Chapter 58Louisa
Isat in the waiting room of the medical facility that the Nikolaevs owned, waiting for Lara’s counseling session to end. It had been a week since we left Greece together, and although her progress was minimal, it was there. In every flicker of a smile. In every word spoken.
Lara Cortes was a survivor and one of the strongest girls I’d ever known.
Two of Alexei’s guards waited outside the building for us. Usually Kingston came with us, but he and Alexei were following a lead, and I knew it had to be important for Kingston to miss this.
There hadn’t been any development on the Sofia front. I suspected she might be hiding in Russia, but I didn’t know where. Her castle looked deserted on the surveillance we’d gotten.
The door opened and I lifted my head, fully expecting to be met with Lara’s face, but Dr. Freud’s door remained closed. I shifted around just as a man’s hand slammed over my mouth and I was snatched violently from the couch.
I jammed my elbow behind me, hard enough to make him grunt but not enough to loosen his hold. I started kicking my legs, sending the crystal vase from the table flying through the air and crashing against the wall. To my horror, the door opened and Lara stood there, her eyes wide with terror.
“Get the girl too.”
I sunk my teeth into the man’s hand, and he howled like a dog, loosening his hold on me.
“Go back inside and lock the door,” I screamed at Lara.
“But—”
“Do it!”
The man’s hand wrapped around my throat just as Lara shut the door, dragging me out of there while his accomplice tried and failed to turn the door handle. He slammed his shoulder into the mahogany, but it refused to budge.
“Fuck her,” one of the men grunted. “Help me with this one before she gets away.”
I yanked his hand, then twisted it around as I whirled, the sound of bone snapping filled the air.
The man yelped and cradled it but not before he managed to shove a cloth into my mouth, gagging me. They began to drag me while my muffled screams filled the air. Nikolaev’s guards had to be here somewhere.
I kicked backward, hoping to hit his shins, and cursed myself for not having my gun on me.
“Just knock the bitch out,” one of them grunted as they struggled with me.
“She’ll have our balls if we damage her,” the one man wheezed, his voice full of fear.
Panic slowly started to rise within me. There was only one she that made men quake with fear, and that was my mother. I thrashed wildly, my lungs and body burning from the exertion. My eyes darted around for signs of help, and to my horror, death surrounded us. Dead nurses. Dead doctors. It was a goddamn massacre.
Before I had the chance to process where they were taking me, I heard the screeching of tires. The two guards who’d brought us here were lying dead on the sidewalk, their blood pooling around their bodies. I saw red and knocked one of the men out with a kick to the head. Two more jumped out of the car, and one pressed a knife to my neck.
“That’s enough, bitch.” My breath whooshed out of me. Drago was here. My mother sent Drago after me. I didn’t think there was anything left that could shock me, but here I was. “Move, or I’ll bleed you like a pig.”
Yanking myself out of my stupor, I pulled my fist back and punched him in the face. I’d rather go back to my mother dead than alive.
But before I could attempt anything else, my vision went back.
Chapter 59Kingston
My molars ground together as I stared at the surveillance video of Louisa’s kidnapping. She fought them like a tigress, but eventually they had her subdued. It was hardly a fair fight, an army of men against one woman.
The Nikolaevs and my brothers were here, prepared to offer whatever support I needed.
My sister sat in the connecting room consoling Lara, whose soft cries traveled through the space. She and her therapist were the only survivors in the whole facility. Sofia’s men didn’t spare anyone who happened to be visiting the facility at the moment of the attack.
My stomach churned at the images flashing on the screen, each one more grotesque than the last. Red-hot anger flared to the surface at the injustice of it all. But I knew it wouldn’t help me in this instance. I had to keep my head clear to devise a strategy. That was the only way to get my girl back.
Sofia was desperate, made clear by the fact that she attacked the Nikolaevs’ facility without cutting the surveillance.
But there was one thing that worried me above all else, and that was Drago.
The motherfucker was a sick and twisted pervert, rarely dragging out his torture. He’d get so unhinged the victim would die before ever offering up answers. He had no self-control, and Sofia knew that. So why did she send him to get Louisa?
The fury bubbled in my veins, quickening my pulse until my ears rang.
“We’ll get her,” Alexei said, his voice devoid of emotion as per usual. “Her mother won’t harm her.”
“Yes, she will.” The room fell into resolute silence, and Alexei’s and my brothers’ eyes landing on me. I’d lost her once, I couldn’t lose her again. “She beat her so badly in the past that Louisa needed plastic surgery.”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Royce muttered under his breath. “Maybe we ought to catch her and give her a taste of her own medicine before getting rid of her.”
“Where do you think they’ve taken her?”
A heartbeat passed. “Russia.”
My gut was warning me Sofia took her back to where it all began. Her twisted, evil castle in Siberia.
“But you’ve always refused to go there,” Sasha pointed out.
“For her, I’ll go to Russia.” Fuck, for her, I’d visit all nine circles of Dante’s inferno.
“Are you sure Sofia would hurt her own daughter?” Byron questioned.
“Sofia had her brainwashed, making her believe she’s her twin,” I gritted. “She’ll try it again.”
I couldn’t allow it to happen. I couldn’t allow Sofia to erase my Lou. She was the best thing that had ever happened to me. Her strength helped me survive every fucking storm throughout my miserable life. My heart beat only for her, in the rhythm of hers, and this need for her was part of my DNA.
“I’m going after her.” I slammed my fist against the table, everything on it rattling in protest.
It was so fucking hard to think rationally when I knew exactly what kind of torture Sofia was capable of. I’d endured it. It was the kind that broke your body and spirit, molding you into something unrecognizable.
The dread in my chest grew with each passing minute. I feared if I didn’t go after her immediately, I’d explode.
I couldn’t even hear what Alexei, Royce, and Byron were saying outside of the buzzing in my ears.
“Sofia’s probably counting on it.” Alexei was right, but I didn’t give a shit. I’d lose my fucking mind if I didn’t get to her.
I stood up and strode to the window, releasing a heavy breath as I stared at Lisbon’s glittering night lights. “You never saw what she did to her eight years ago. Nobody can survive that twice.”
Chapter 60Louisa
Iblinked against the bright light burning my eyeballs, my whole body registering pain. The stench of death and mold brought back memories, pointing to where I’d been taken, and I almost choked with fear.