Red-faced, he blew out a breath. “I don’t have her boss but—”
“But what?”
“I passed a car on the road. It was traveling in the opposite direction and going fast, but I thought—shit, boss, I’m sorry, but I thought I saw Leah in the back seat.”
My heart sank. If she had thumbed a ride, then she could be anywhere by now. She was clever. She would know better than to go back to her old haunts.
She would disappear.Her and my baby, and for what? For some skank and a massive misunderstanding.
“Which way?” I snapped.
“East.”
I frowned, away from the city. That made no sense unless the people who had her weren’t friendly.
Shit, shit, shit.
“Let’s go.” Ivan’s voice shook me out of my nightmare. Lifting his eyebrows, he waited for me to nod. “Stephen, phone in for reinforcements, and then get back on the road. If you take the side lanes, Viktor and I will take the main road. Keep communication open.” He took charge so easily that it reminded me why he was my second in charge.
When I was freaking out, he kept a calm head on his shoulders, which was what I needed to do.
And I would be able to if it had been anyone but Leah out there.
“And arm yourself if you are not already.” I added as Stephen headed back outside. His shoulders hunched against the swirling snow. “I don’t care who you use it against. Just get her back.”
“You got it, boss.”
“Ready?” Ivan said as the car squealed away, and I nodded.
Opening a drawer, I pulled out a gun and then another one. I offered one to Ivan, and he shook his head. “I have weapons in the car.”
Of course, he did.
“Then let’s go and get your wife back.”
I didn’t care who I had to shoot to get her back. Leah would be coming home.
Because maybe, just maybe, Ivan was right.
And I really did care for her.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Leah
I ran, my bare feet slapping across the gravel driveway as I sped away into the darkness. I didn’t look where I was going, and quickly, the manned gate came into view. My feet slowed and then stopped altogether. Fuck.
I had forgotten about the guard on the gate, and I didn’t know the grounds well enough to know whether there was another way out.
Half-hiding behind the trunk of a wide tree, I surveyed my surroundings.
There was only one man at the gate that I could see. Pacing back and forth, back and forth with a cigarette in his mouth. I could see the orange glow of the end illuminating his face every time he took a drag.
There was no way past him, and there was even less chance he would let me stroll up there looking like I was and open the gate for me.I wasn’t even dressed, I didn’t have shoes on, and I was pretty sure my feet were bleeding. No, I would have to find another way out of the grounds.
Turning in a right circle, I looked. In the middle of the night, it was almost impossible to get my bearings, but I didn’t know whether I could wait until morning. The snow was coming down thick and fast, and I was shivering uncontrollably.
My feet were, well, I didn’t want to think about the damage the ice and snow were doing to them. I needed to get out of here. Behind me, it sounded like someone shouted my name again, or it could have been the wind. I wasn’t sure.