Page 121 of Captive Promise

He’s still nowhere to be found.

His absence feels like a gaping wound, a vulnerability I can’t afford. Not now, not with Katerina’s life on the line.

But I can’t focus on that.

I can’t let myself be distracted by anything but the task at hand. Luca’s disappearance will have to wait. Everything will have to wait until Katerina is safe again.

At Nikolai’s next call, I’m wound so tight I nearly snap the phone in half answering it.

“We found her,” he says without preamble, his voice taut with a tension that mirrors my own. “She’s at a farmhouse, about two hours north of the city. We’ve got the location, the layout, the guard rotations. Everything we need.”

Relief crashes over me and it’s so intense it borders on painful. We found her. We know where she is. After hours of fruitless searching, I finally have a target. A purpose.

“I’m coming with you,” I bite out, already striding toward the door, my free hand clenched into a fist at my side. “I’m going to be there when we get her out.”

Nikolai pauses and I freeze. This fucker better not be saying that I’m not coming. “Maksim and I are leading the charge,” Nikolai says, his tone cold and uncompromising. “We’re not negotiating on this, Barone. She’s our family. We’re going to be the ones to bring her back.”

I grit my teeth, a hot surge of anger rising in my throat. I don’t give a fuck who leads the charge so long as we get Katerina back, but I do not like Nikolai’s tone.

The urge to argue and assert my own claim is ready to come out, but I force it back.

Arguing with them won’t get me the coordinates to where she is and the more we argue, the more time Russo has with Katerina.

“I understand,” I spit, the words tasting like ash. “I’ll follow your lead. But I’m going to be there, Nikolai. I need to see her, to know she’s safe.”

“You’ll be lucky if seeing her is all we let you do,” Nikolai snarls, his composure slipping for a moment. I can hear the seething fury beneath his words, the barely-leashed violence. “If it were up to me, Barone, I’d put a fucking bullet in your skull and leave you to rot. You brought this down on her, on all of us.”

Oh for fuck’s sake. This isn’t the time for a pissing contest.

“I understand your anger, Nikolai,” I say, my voice cool and controlled despite the rage simmering beneath my skin. “But don’t mistake me for one of your underlings. I’m not asking for permission. I’m telling you how it’s going to be.”

I pause, letting my words sink in. “Katerina is mine, just as much as she’s yours. I may not share your blood, but I share your goal. We’re going to bring her back, and we’re going to make Russo pay for ever daring to touch her.”

There’s a long, tense silence on the other end of the line. I can almost hear Nikolai’s teeth grinding, the force of his fury palpable even through the phone.

“Don’t test me, Barone,” he growls, each word dripping with menace. “You’re on thin fucking ice as it is. The only reason you’re still breathing is because we need you to get Katerina back and you still have Seraphina.”

A dark, humorless chuckle escapes my lips. “Oh, I’m well aware,” I drawl mockingly. “But let’s be clear, Nikolai. You need me just as much as I need you. We’re in this together, whether you like it or not.”

I lean forward, my voice dropping to a low, dangerous purr. “So let’s put aside our differences, just for now, shall we? Let’s focus on what matters—getting Katerina back and making Russo wish he’d never been born. And then, once she’s safe…”

I trail off, letting the implication hang heavy in the air. “Well, we can sort out the rest later. With blood, if necessary.”

Another long, fraught pause. I can practically hear Nikolai’s mind working as he weighs his options.

“Fine,” he spits out. “We do this together, for Katerina’s sake. But mark my words, Barone.” His voice drops to a growl. “When this is over, we’re going to have a reckoning. And you’d better hope you’re as good as you think you are.”

I smile coldly. “Oh, I am, Nikolai. I am. Now, let’s go get our girl back.”

With that, the line goes dead, leaving me alone with the burning, unshakable determination to bring Katerina home—and to rain down hell on anyone who stands in my way.

The drive to the staging point is a blur. The landscape rushes by, farmland and forest reduced to smears of darkness at the edges of my tunnel vision. My drivers are blowing by every traffic law imaginable but it’s still not enough. We need to go faster. Every second we waste is another second Katerina is going through unspeakable horrors.

It’s only when we pull into the clearing, gravel spraying from beneath my tires, that the enormity of what we’re about to do hits me. The place is a hive of activity, cars and vans and trucks parked in circles, men moving between them with purposeful strides. The air hums with the electric crackle of impending violence, of blood about to be spilled.

I see the Sokolov brothers immediately, towering figures at the center of the maelstrom. Maksim is geared up like a soldier, Kevlar vest over black fatigues, a bristling array of weapons strapped to every limb.

His face is like stone, his eyes burning.