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I PACED BACK AND FORTH in my office. I knew I needed to go after her, but if I went running now, she would flee. I needed to play it carefully – make sure she didn’t get too far before I gave chase.
I counted to ten and then headed for the door. She would be out of the club by now, and maybe now that the fresh air had hit her, she would be able to see what a huge mistake she was making. She didn’t want to leave. She had felt everything I had felt, and there was no way we were going to pass up the chance to make a little more of it, right?
Fuck. The club was packed, and I had to push through the crowds to make it to the door. I was nearly there, when I was waylaid, by a serious-looking Mauro.
“I need to talk to you.”
“I’m in the middle of something right now,” I told him impatiently, peering past him to see to the door – I couldn’t see Nadia anywhere, and I was worried about her wandering the streets this late at night without anyone to look out for her.
“You need to be in the middle of something else,” Mauro told me firmly, and I turned to him, furrowed my brow.
“What are you talking about?”
“The Serbians,” he replied, grimly. “We need to deal with them. They want to meet with you, tonight.”
“I can’t do it.”
“You don’t want to leave them hanging,” Mauro told me, as he pulled me into a quiet corner so we could speak properly. “You know what they’re like...”
“And you know what I’m like,” I replied. “I have things I need to handle, Mauro, I don’t have time to deal with whatever shit they’re putting out there right now.”
“It might be an ambush, but that doesn’t mean we can just blow them off,” he warned me. “If we ignore them...”
He trailed off. He knew I could fill in the rest of it for myself. The Serbians were serious business, and they weren’t going to just let me get away with ignoring their request to work together.
But Nadia... I needed to find her. I had a bad feeling about her going out like that, especially on a night as busy as tonight, and I needed to make sure at least that she got home okay. I knew Mauro wouldn’t be happy with my answer, but it wasn’t his choice to make.
“I have something else I need to deal with first.”
“Andreas—”
But before he could get another word out, I had slipped out from underneath his arm and headed for the door again. I wasn’t going to let anything happen to her. Especially not after what had just gone down between us.
I strode out onto the street, knowing that I was probably putting myself in the line of fire for those damn Serbians when they found out I had blown them off, but I didn’t care. Not right then. I didn’t care about anything other than finding her and making sure that Nadia was okay. And ensuring that she didn’t mean it when she said she didn’t want her job there anymore.
I knew she couldn’t just drop it like that. Her family had a debt to pay, and they were going to make sure to get it settled with us. Her father wasn’t going to let her leave, even if she wanted to. But she seemed pretty damn serious when she had walked out of there, and I had no idea what to make of that.
I took off in the direction I knew she would have been walking, not wanting her to get too far before I caught up with her. I needed to be honest with her, straight-up, tell her I wasn’t playing games any longer and that I liked her – that I felt something between us I hadn’t felt for a long time, and I didn’t want to pass up the chance to make more of it. I had no idea how she would respond to that, but I had to at least try and make it clear to her how I felt.
I liked her. One whole hell of a lot, and now that we’d fucked, I wasn’t about to let her get away that easy. Her passion, her energy, her attitude, I liked it, and I would be damned if I let something happen to her just because she was freaked that we had finally acted on it.
It was a cool night, and the streets were busy. I knew the club would be bouncing, and normally, that would have been good enough news to keep me in there. But I knew I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it unless she was there with me, keeping me company, and I wasn’t about to let her go wandering around the streets by herself when I knew it wasn’t safe for her.
I made a couple of wrongs turns, but finally, I found myself on her street once more. I spotted her father’s store, and looked further to the apartment block she stayed in. Had she made it home by now? Probably. And that meant I should leave her to it, but I—
Before I could think anything else, I saw her. Coming around a corner to the apartment blocks near the store. Her eyes were lowered, and she looked as though she wanted the ground to swallow her up. I thought to call out to her, but I was sure she would just run off. It was clear she was lost in her head right now, and I didn’t want to spook her.
I pulled back a little, so I could hide and keep an eye on her. She paused for a moment before she went inside, glancing this way and that – as though something was bothering her. Was someone around I hadn’t noticed? My eyes darted around the street, trying to pick out someone who might have been hiding in the shadows, but I couldn’t make anyone out. Maybe this was just how it had to be for her, given that she lived in the middle of the bad part of town.
She unlocked the door, pushed it open with her shoulder, and stepped inside. Realizing I had no idea which apartment she was going to, I took off across the street after her. If I wanted to talk to her, I couldn’t let that door close behind her.
But by the time I got there, it had just latched shut, and no matter how much I pulled on it, it wouldn’t budge. I sighed, irritated in a way I couldn’t explain. I had been standing right there, but instead of getting over there and making sure I didn’t let her slip away, I couldn’t do anything but stand and watch and hope.
I looked over the dozen or so buzzers in front of me. Which one was hers? I had no idea, but I was going to have to start somewhere. I started tapping on them quickly, trying to get someone’s attention. If I could just get into the building, even, that would be a step forward.
But nobody was answering at this time of night, especially not to some random guy who they had never seen before. I let out an irritated grunt and turned away from the door. I guessed I’d have to leave it for now – I could come back to her apartment later, maybe try the store if I couldn’t find her there. Perhaps it was better for me to leave her to it tonight, anyway...
I had all but talked myself into leaving when I heard the scream. It cut through the night air like a razorblade, and I knew at once it had come from Nadia.
“Nadia!” I yelled, into the dark, but there came no response at all. I had no clue how I was going to get to her, but I knew I had to. She was in danger, and I needed to do something about it.
“Boss?”
I turned, to see a couple of my security guards lurking just behind me. They must have followed me from the club. Well, now that they were here, the least they could do was something useful.
“Get over here!” I barked at them, and they glanced at each other – it was clear they didn’t know if they were going to get in trouble or not. I rubbed my hand over my face, irritated. The only way they were going to get in trouble was if they just stood there when I needed their help.
“Here, now!” I called again, and this time, they came running.
“Mauro sent us,” one of them panted to me. “We followed you, but...”
“Get that door open,” I told them, pointing to the door that led to the apartment block Nadia had walked into. I looked up at the windows above me, trying to make out any sign of life, of movement, but there was nothing. I cursed to myself. I knew that had been her, and I needed to get her out of whatever mess she was in right now.
They started to kick – loud enough to send noise crashing down the street. Was this the only entrance to the building? Maybe. But if not, then whoever was in there with her might have tried to drag her out already, make it so she didn’t have anyone to turn to. And we were just making more noise to warn them they needed to get out of here even quicker...
Finally, the door budged, swinging inward, after an assault from two of my biggest guys. The silence was starting to freak me out. What if something had happened to her already? What if whoever was in there with her had made her silent? What the fuck was I going to do then?
I barged past my guards and into the hallway, glancing this way and that. No signs of a struggle, that I could see – not that I could make out much in the flickering, dim lights of that hallway. Where was she? And how was I going to find out what apartment was hers in time to find her? Why had none of the other people who lived here come out yet? Hadn’t they heard the scream?
Another scream pierced through the air, and this one sent chills down my spine. I didn’t know what was happening to her, but I knew for sure that she was terrified, and I wasn’t going to let it go on for another moment.
“Upstairs!” I barked at the two guards, and I took the stairs two at a time as I sprinted full-speed up to where I thought I had heard the yelling from. I looked down every corridor we passed, but they all seemed quiet – until I got near the top of the building.
“Holy shit,” I muttered, and I skidded to a stop. At the end of the corridor, a door was swung open – and in it, I could see two figures grappling, one doing everything they could to get away from the other.
I ran toward them. I knew I didn’t have much time to waste. And I had already wasted too much of it as it was.
