Til Death Do Us Part (Kornilov Bratva Duet #2) - Nicole Fox Page 0,77
been if I’d caused her to be that afraid. I was grateful I hadn’t gone through with it myself.
“Does Molly know?” he asks. “Does she know you were going to terrify her into staying with you? Did you tell her that you were planning to send men in to grab her son? I’m sure not. If you had, she would have left you.”
“I didn’t tell her because I decided not to do it.”
Suddenly, the line goes staticky, and I hear my own voice, garbled through a bad speaker.
“Molly is pregnant, and I need to protect her, but she won’t let me. I need to show her how badly she needs my protection.”
“What do you have in mind?” George asks.
“I need a few men to break in. They won’t hurt her or Theo, but it will scare them.”
“Are you sure?”
“It’s the only way,” I say. “Molly needs to know how bad things can be. She needs to understand what I’m saving her from.”
The static fades, and I know Fedor has turned off whatever recording device he was playing back.
“That sounds like a man who is deeply in love with his wife, does it not?” Fedor laughs again, and I want to reach through the phone and strangle him. Before this moment, I hadn’t been able to imagine hurting my little brother, but now, I can picture it perfectly. If I ever get my hands on him, I’ll squeeze the life out of him. Easily. “Congratulations, by the way. On the baby.”
He knows she is pregnant. He has known for weeks. Since he overheard my conversation with George at the diner. I want to beg him not to hurt the baby, but I know it won’t matter. In all likelihood, showing any special concern for the child will only make him more excited to hurt it and Molly. So, I pinch my mouth closed and try to keep calm.
“As a gift to the new parents-to-be, I’ll let you speak to one another,” Fedor says. “Come on, Viktor, don’t be shy now. You’ve been on loudspeaker this entire time.”
“Molly?” Part of me hopes he is lying. I don’t want Molly to know about the men I nearly hired. I don’t want her to know that I was even considering manipulating her into marriage. But a much larger part of me wants to hear her voice. “Are you there?”
I hear what sounds like duct tape being removed, and then screaming.
“Viktor!” In the mess of crying and yelling, I hear my name, and my heart breaks. I drop to my knees in the study and squeeze the phone, desperate to get to her.
“Molly, I—”
“We’ll be in touch,” Fedor says, cutting me off before I can finish.
Then, the line goes dead.
22
Viktor
After I shove my legs into some jeans and pull on a T-shirt, my first thought is to call Petr. A few weeks ago, he would have been the person I took all of this information to. Now, he isn’t there. I know he is innocent, so I’ll let him out soon, but I need to get my men out in the streets now. We need to be looking for Molly every minute until she is found. So, I call my next highest lieutenant.
Alek doesn’t answer.
Neither does Moises. Or Lexei.
By the fourth person on the list, I’m cursing under my breath with every ring of the phone. It is midmorning. Everyone should be awake by now. If not, they should have their ringers on so they can be alerted to Bratva business no matter whether they are sleeping or not.
Finally, on the sixth ring, Michail answers.
“Hello.”
“Thank fuck,” I groan. “No one is answering. I’m trying to get men out on the streets to look for Molly. Fedor has her, and—”
“You want us to look for your girlfriend?”
I frown. “No, my wife.”
Michail makes an unconvinced noise. “According to the information we all received this morning, Molly is not your wife, and you lied to us.”
Shit. “What information did you receive?”
“Proof that you aren’t actually married,” Michail says. “Proof that you conducted a sacred swearing-in ceremony under false pretenses since Molly was not your wife.”
“Damn it, Michail, I’m sorry, but—”
“I’m not in the city,” he said. “Neither are most of the other guys.”
“What does that mean? Where are you?” The world feels like it is falling apart around me. I grip the edge of the desk for support. The same desk where Molly and I had sex last week. It feels like a lifetime ago.