“No.” I grip the sheets tightly until my knuckles turn white.

No. Raven wouldn’t leave me…. She wouldn't do this to me. Not now, not after I told her about my past trauma, and definitely not when we were excited about our baby.

“There’s no way she’d do this!”

Elio moves closer, his hands clamping down on my shoulder as I try to get out of bed. “Ezra, stop. You’re still recovering. You should focus on that.”

“Get your hands off me,” I snap again, jerking free from his grip. My legs suddenly feel like jelly, and the pain in my chest flares.

“De- devo trovarla (I need to find her),” I stutter, suddenly feeling weak.

She can't just leave… she might be in danger.

“We will,” Elio reassures, gently guiding me back onto the mattress. “But for now, we can’t. The number on that card isn’t reachable or traceable. Same with her number.”

Once my head touches the pillow, my mind races with possible worst scenarios. This doesn’t make sense… any of it. She wouldn't just disappear. She must’ve had a reason.

Perhaps the stranger lured her, or worse, she’s been kidnapped. The urge to yank out this drip and turn the whole world upside down till I find her is overwhelming. I'm halfway through yanking out the cannula when it hits me.

If she had a contact card, it means she’d spoken to someone on one of the days she visited the outside world. Fuck. I shoot up immediately, ignoring the ache in my body.

“Elio,” I say, my voice more controlled now. “Bring me the CCTV footage from when she went into town. I need to know where she’s been and who the fuck she spoke to.”

He eyes me carefully before nodding. Taking out his phone, his fingers fly over the keypad. “I’ve got our guys on it,” he says, after a beat.

I clench my fist, my vision blurring as dizziness starts to overwhelm me but I manage to ignore it.

“And the shootout that day? Did you get to find out what happened with Enzo?” My gaze locks on him.

“Ezra… I have it under control. For now, you only have to worry about recoveri—”

I interrupt him with a hiss. “My family is under attack. There’s no way I’d just stay put.”

“Boss…”

“Elio… updates,” I snarl at him.

He glances between the heart monitor and me, and then sighs in defeat.

“Okay, the shootout,” Elio begins, stepping closer again. “When we went back to clean up after bringing you here, we found one of Enzo’s men. He’d been knocked out cold during the fight.”

“And?”

“We interrogated him,” he continues, weighing his words. “He talked. Said Enzo was coerced to set you up with the meeting… by a man named Smerti.”

“Smerti!” The name coils in my gut.

Elio nods. “Enzo was smart enough to tell his guy to snap a photo of this Russian fellow.” He draws closer, holding the phone to my face. “It’s blurry, but we’re still on it…”

“Still on it? You’ve had nine days,” I deadpan, as I collect the device.

The image is fuzzy, but I can make out the man with a thick blonde beard. He’s in a business suit, smoking a pipe while in a deep discussion with someone on the other side of the photo. I assume that someone was Enzo.

There’s a glint in his eyes. They seem familiar.

“So you’re Tsvetok Smerti,” I murmur, and zoom in to study the photo closely.

Elio leans over, peering at the picture, too. “His smile tugs at the back of my mind, but I can’t figure out why.”