Page 81 of Cruel Russian King
Unclear voices swirled around me. My head felt clouded with fog, every movement felt like I was in a damn trance. I was being moved. I needed to know where the fuck I was and who was moving me. I forced my eyes open and Yegor’s concerned gaze met mine.
Smoke hit me next, and confusion replaced the fog for a few seconds before everything slammed into me all at once. An explosive device hit the front of the damn car before we flipped.
Fuck. Ninel. The baby.
Panic surged through me, and I forced myself upright with Yegor’s and Zahkar’s help, ignoring the pounding in my skull, the blood trailing down the side of my head and my protesting muscles.
“Where’s Ninel?” My voice cracked. I coughed into the sleeve of my shirt, blood splattering on it. Yegor’s eyes darkened.
“She isn’t here,” Zahkar said grimly.
I spun, heart hammering against my ribs.
“Let’s get you to the hospital. We’ll find Ninel,” Yegor said firmly.
I straightened, scanning the road behind us. A log lay in the middle, and the SUV Ruslan and the other guards had been in was flipped. Three of our men were standing with them.
“No. We go to Lev,” I growled.
“But…” Yegor began.
“No,” I cut him off, my voice hard. “We find Ninel first. She always comes first. Got it?””
Yegor gave a brief nod.
We moved quickly to one of the vehicles. Yegor slid into the driver’s seat and floored it, the engine roaring as we barreled toward the Safin faction.
I patted my pants, searching for my phone. It wasn’t there.
“Zahkar. Phone,” I barked, barely keeping my composure. He handed me his device, and I dialed Konstantin.
“Zahkar, what can I do for you?”
“It’s me. Mrs. Rykov has been taken. I need you to find her. My phone’s also missing, cut all access.” Every word was carved in ice.
Even though my phone was coded, I wasn’t taking chances.
I told Konstantin the road where the attack happened.
“When you find the bastards who took my wife,” I growled menacingly. “Every single person connected to them…kill them. All of them.”
I ended the call without another word.
Every second stretched, every heartbeat a countdown. Ninel and our child were in danger. If anything happened to either of them…I wouldn’t survive it. And I had survived a lot in this brutally cold world. I had to check myself before spinning out of control. My family needed me. They were counting on me. And I would not, could not, disappoint them. Their lives were in my hands.
After driving like a bat out of hell, Yegor slammed the SUV to a stop outside Lev’s compound. He barked into the intercom.
“Lev, we've got a situation. It's Ninel.”
The gates swung open and we tore through them, tires squealing, and pulled up to the mansion. The front door opened, and Lev, along with the rest of Ninel’s brothers, poured out of the house.
We barely had time to exit the vehicle when Lev was on us, eyes blazing.
“What happened?” he demanded sharply.
“We were attacked,” I growled. “The front of the car was hit with some sort of explosive device. I lost control and we flipped a couple of times. When I came to…Ninel was gone. You have to help me find her.”
Jaroslav’s cold gaze locked onto me, his gun trained to the middle of my forehead.
