Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 103656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
It also doesn’t help that I was overwhelmed with all the cryptic emotions that were going through me at the time. Even now, I can’t put a name to them.
Except that I…probably enjoyed it more than I should have.
Maybe that’s why I had that nightmare. Uncle Albert asked me if I was happy with the new life and setting I chose for myself.
It was also the second time Mike asked me for help, and I haven’t been there to answer his plea.
My phone vibrates on the nightstand, and I manage to swallow the contents of my mouth before I stand, stumble on the blanket, then release it and go to check the text.
Something knots in my stomach when I don’t find Kirill’s name on the screen.
Viktor: You’re on the night shift at the club tonight. You have no orders until then.
I type.
Aleksander: Am I not needed at Boss’s side now?
I could’ve asked the man himself, but I’m too embarrassed to talk to him after what happened last night. Especially since he didn’t contact me first.
Viktor: No.
Aleksander: Do you know where he is?
Viktor: Nowhere you should concern yourself with.
I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Leave it to Viktor to be the most unhelpful person ever.
So I text my friend.
Aleksander: Morning, Maks!
The reply is immediate.
Maksim: Morning, Sash. I’ve been waiting for you to come back to the annex, but then I recalled you were on night duty. Was everything all right yesterday?
Aleksander: Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?
Maksim: Boss looked kind of angry or annoyed. I couldn’t tell for sure, and since he doesn’t look like that most of the time, I was worried something had happened.
Aleksander: Nothing happened. Just the usual, I guess.
I’m such an excellent liar in texts. Which can’t be said about real-life interactions, because I was so close to telling Anna everything if she so much as pressed me earlier.
Maksim: Thank God. It’s never good to be on Boss’s radar.
Tell me about it.
Aleksander: I know, right? Speaking of Boss, do you know where he is?
Maksim: He headed out with Viktor and Yuri last night and still hasn’t come back.
I grow taller, my breath catching.
They can’t be in danger, or else Viktor would’ve said something or called for backup. But for some reason, I still don’t feel good about this whole thing.
After mulling over the information, I walk into Kirill’s closet in search of something I can use as temporary chest bandages.
My jaw nearly hits the ground when I find my clothes in the corner—all my suits, shirts, and sweatpants. Not only that, but underneath them, there’s a duffel bag with my bandages inside them.
Why did he bring them here…?
Not coming up with a logical answer, I wrap a bandage around my chest and get into a suit.
Since this is the perfect chance to try and find something in Kirill’s belongings, I do the most logical thing for someone in my position—go through his closet. Ninety percent of his tailored suits are black, but they have different cuts.
The remaining ten percent are either navy blue or dark gray, but I’ve rarely seen him wear those.
He has drawers upon drawers of luxurious and special edition watches. Ten of the same set of black-framed glasses. Some sunglasses that he almost never wears. Italian shoes and leather belts, but that’s about it.
There are no personal items or anything that helps with my search.
I’m about to put a bag back on the top drawer, when a picture falls. I grab the frame and pause.
There’s no picture inside, just…a handkerchief with his first name embroidered in the corner.
My fingers tighten around the frame, and an alien feeling drops to the base of my stomach. Kirill is anything but a sentimental person. He’s methodical, practical, and manipulative to a fault.
Actually, he uses people’s emotions against them, so the fact that he kept a handkerchief, framed it even, goes against everything I know of him. This was obviously done by a girl. But who? An ex-lover?
“Sasha! Are you in here?”
Karina’s sudden voice nearly causes me to drop the handkerchief. I hastily put the frame back exactly where I found it and step out of the closet.
Karina stands in the middle of the room, wearing an ample tulle dress, its black color contrasting against her skin.
Her face has some makeup on it, and she’s let her shiny blonde hair fall to the middle of her back. She’s crossing her arms and tapping her Louboutin heels on the floor. “Where were you? I was calling you for the past ten minutes.”
“Oh, sorry.” I grab my phone from the nightstand. “I left it here.”
“Whatever. Let’s go.”
“Go where?”
“To have breakfast in my room, of course.”
“I already had breakfast.”
“Then you can just accompany me. What’s so hard about that?”
“I’d love to, but I have work to do.” Or, more accurately, I have to try to find Kirill. While we do stay overnight at the club sometimes, I’m usually there, so I know he’s safe.