Page 125 of Scarlet Secrets

“His contacts. Someone has to have seen something.” His voice lowers and he must be with Erin. Sure enough, I can hear her saying something frantically behind him. But he must move to the door because her voice gets a little quieter and I focus on him, on the problem I can try to solve, not the one I can’t. “How did this happen?”

“Vitor dropped the ball.”

“I’ll get you a new head of security. Listen,” he says in Russian. “We haven’t gone out anywhere; the only place you might’ve been seen with Erin and the boy is the park you went to.”

“Agreed. Do they know he’s mine?”

Ilya is quiet for a few moments. “Let’s just hope not. He’s very young so they might not put it together. The fact you’ve been seen with someone might be enough to look into her, to find out she has a child. But there’s no link between the two of you until the wedding.”

Until she moved in.

Until I forced her hand.

Put our child in danger.

“So maybe they’re trying to cause trouble by taking the child of the woman I’m with? Sergio?”

“I’m not sure he’d dare.”

“Niko.”

“My thoughts, too.” The phone muffles as he speaks English. “I’m getting a report from Demyan, Erin.” Then he switches back to Russian. “Let’s hope they don’t know he’s yours.”

There’s a note of censure I let slide. He knows I once thought that in a moment of complete idiocy. But I get what he’s saying. If I thought that, maybe someone else did.

Which means whoever took Sasha’s using him to get to me, to draw me out, my latest piece’s kid is good, easy fodder to get me.

My son? They’ll kill him.

And then I’ll rip the world into shreds.

No. No. That isn’t happening. Sasha is going to be fine.

“I’ve got Pavel as my legs out there,” he adds.

“I’m aware.”

“No, he’s got my contacts. He’s talking to them now. Treat him as me.”

I hang up as the reports come in.

But there’s nothing I can use. There’s no sighting of Sasha, no word coming my way about him. And most of these assholes out there would use him to get to me. That’s what cowards do.

Kill an innocent man who wasn’t family yet.

Kidnap a child.

It’s almost three a.m. when my phone rings.

“Boss.” Pavel’s voice is quiet, the merest hint of excitement vibrating in it. “One of Sergio’s contacts came through.”

“Sergio?”

“He’s not family. He supplies chemicals to various businesses, but he’s attached to a plant Sergio owns. To make extra, he informs Sergio about unusual activities. I got him to talk.”

“And?” My heart beats hard and fast.

“He supplies to Niko to his South Side laundromat.”

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