Page 65 of Bought to Bear Bratva Heir

My heart literally broke. "Are you safe, Alec?"

If he wasn’t safe, I was going to march right back over there and get him. I’d go up against Ilya and all his men if I had to.

"Yeah." I heard him suck in a breath. "I just want to go with you."

"And you will, I’m going to come and get—"

There was a rustle, like someone was breathing heavily down the phone.

"Where are you, Daisy?" a familiar cold voice asked.

"Put Alec back on the phone." I couldn’t help the shake in my voice or the way my chest tightened. "Now. I want to speak to my son."

Ilya's chuckle was enough for my blood to run cold. "The only way that is ever going to happen is if you come home to us. If you want to run, then fine, but I will make sure you never speak to or see Alec again."

There was no threat in his voice. Only a cold, deadly promise.

"What?" I snapped. "Are you going to kill me? That was the threat last time, Ilya. But I’m not afraid of you now." Of course, that was only half true; I was pretty terrified of him, but I was more scared of losing my child again.

Alec deserved someone to protect him.

"Come home, Daisy. Now. Otherwise—"

Ilya was blustering. The most feared man in the city was blustering. I ended the call and turned it off so he couldn’t call back.

Ilya was lost; he couldn’t see what was right in front of his face. But I had never seen things more clearly.

For three days,there was nothing. No other contact, no hard, insistent knocks on the door. Not that my nerves calmed down. The idea of Ilya turning up at any second was like a dark cloud hanging over me because I knew him better than anyone. I knew that he would make me pay for putting the phone down on him.

Just like he would make me pay for leaving him again. But I honestly didn’t know why. He had never wanted me in Alec’s life. That was made perfectly clear six years ago. So why was he so hell-bent on keeping me in their lives now?

Why did he keep coming to my room? It was more than just sex. I’d dealt with that aspect of Ilya when we had first met. No, he touched me like he couldn’t help himself, and even when his words were angry and spoken to hurt me, he was all about me and my release.

But he didn’t come.

And by night four, I was so exhausted that I couldn’t keep my eyes open a second longer. Maybe he wouldn’t come now. It wasn’t like any attorney in the city would even take my calls. As soon as I said what this was about, they told me they couldn’t take my business.

Ilya had turned the whole city against me. If I had any chance of getting Alec back, I had to think outside the box.

Maybe someone in London? I had some savings.

The thought had barely entered my mind before I was turning in the narrow twin bed that I’d slept in growing up. Glancing around the room, I frowned. Had I even been to sleep? I honestly didn’t know. My waking thoughts and my dreams were all about getting Alec back, but I was sure I had slept for a few hours.

Which meant it should have been getting light outside. So why was the room so dark?

Struggling between sleep and wakefulness, I sucked in a breath and choked.

Smoke.

It was so dark because there was great, dark, billowing smoke pouring in from under the door.

I’d been asleep so deeply that I hadn’t even realized the house was on fire. Swinging my legs from the bed, I was horrified to find the floor under my feet hot.

Downstairs, I was sure I heard something or someone move.

"Hello—" Reaching for the doorknob, I tried to twist it open and pain shot through me. It was so hot. Everything was so hot.

Ignoring the pain, I tried again; it twisted uselessly as even more smoke billowed under the door.