Page 165 of Mafia Obsession

“What happened to your video of Sandrine?” Ares asks Daria.

“I’m juggling multiple cameras,” Daria responds.

Panic claws its way up my throat. “Turn the yacht around,” I say, looking at Ares. “We have to go back. We have to fly to Arizona. Tonight.”

He’s already shaking his head, jaw set. “We’re two days out from Santorini. Even at full speed, we won’t make it to Arizona on my jet tonight.”

“Then get a helicopter,” I push, desperation swallowing me. “Something. Anything to?—”

“Lourdes…” Ares says my name sharply to calm me down. “We’re in the middle of the Mediterranean. There’s no helipad on this yacht.”

The reality hits hard, stealing the air from my lungs.

Two days.

“If Kirill has her, he’ll bring her back to Chicago,” Daria says, her voice calm now through the speaker. “Do you want meto send men there? We can move now. You don’t have to wait.”

Chicago.

Ares’s gaze flicks to me.

I said it myself months ago. Kirill didn’t look like he’d hurt her in that video. Ares didn’t exactly agree with me. But something has changed his mind.

“She’s not in immediate danger,” Ares says into the phone, though his eyes never leave mine. “Not physically.”

“So you want to wait?” Daria asks, sounding skeptical of that plan.

“I want to know for sure where she is,” he replies. “If we move too soon, we risk spooking Kirill. Then he could put her somewhere else.”

My stomach twists, but I understand. “Please call him. Just to confirm, she’s with him. That she’s all right. Please,” I beg, my voice at nearly a whimper.

“I will.” Ares kisses me on the forehead. “Daria, get me a number for Volkov.”

“I’ll find a private line and text it to you.”

“We will fly right to Chicago from Santorini, Daria,” Ares continues. “Have everything ready.”

“It will be,” Daria says. “Call me the second you dock.”

The line goes dead.

I don’t realize I’m shaking until Ares pulls me into him, one arm wrapping around my shoulders, the other cradling the back of my head. I press my face into his chest as the fear finally spills over.

“I left her,” I whisper, the words breaking apart. “I left her in Arizona. Just like I did years ago.”

“You didn’t leave her,” Ares says firmly, his hand moving slowly through my hair. “She was safe. This is not on you.”

“But if I had stayed?—”

“If you had stayed, this still would have happened,” he cuts in. “And worse, you would have been taken, too.”

“Elodie…” I sniff. “She’s missing as well!”

“If they were together, then Kirill has them both.”

He keeps checking his phone for a text from Daria with Kirill’s phone number. I thought he had all gangsters’ numberson speed dial.

“It’s going to be all right,” Ares says into my hair, his voice low and steady as he holds me. When his phone beeps, he nods. “I got the number. I’m calling Kirill right now.”