Page 103 of Born into Madness
My Uncle Matvey’s silent, but he pulls his phone out and starts texting. I don’t want to know what he’s saying. He’s lived through the worst scenario imaginable, the love of his life being stolen and sex trafficked, so I know he always prepares for the worst. It’s not that he’s being dramatic or overbearing. It’s more that he’ll do anything to make sure nothing like that ever happens again in our family.
We know girls are being roofied at the club, we know several girls have gone missing on campus, and Cyn is at that very club right now, so I’m right there with him as far as calling in reinforcements, but I also can’t let my mind go there just yet. I know my girl. She’s probably sitting at a table in the corner, sipping a Sprite and watching her friends dance. There’s no reason to think she won’t remain right where she’s at until I can get to her.
“Don’t lose it,” my dad warns. When I don’t say anything, he comes over and grabs my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. “She’s fine. Our guys are there. There’s no reason to think she’s in any danger.” When I still don’t say anything, he gives me a soft shake. “You hear me?”
“Yeah, I hear you,” I say, just so he’ll relax his grip. The second he does, I’m racing out the door, ignoring him when he calls my name.
“Sasha, for fuck’s sake, wait for me!” he hollers, but the door is already slamming shut behind me.
I’m on my motorcycle and peeling out of the lot when I see him run out of the building. I know he’ll be right behind me, but I don’t have the luxury of waiting right now. All that matters is getting to Cyn.
We’re a good thirty minutes from the club, and the thought of her being there without me is starting to make it hard to keep my focus. I can feel myself shutting down, everything narrowing down to one thing and one thing only: Cyn. If I get to the point where that happens, I’ll lose control, something I haven’t done since my little sister was stabbed a few months ago. A lot of people died that day, and it had taken me hours before I’d been sane enough to be around anyone without the risk of me hurting them.
I break just about every traffic law there is on the drive to the club, ignoring the angry honks and pissed-off looks. Usually I’dtake the time to flip them off, but I’m not willing to waste even those few precious seconds. My chest feels like it’s in a vise grip, and not even seeing the lit-up neon sign for the club can make it go away. When I turn into the busy parking lot, I see our black Jeep parked in one of the rows, but still my body and mind won’t relax.
I park around the back instead of barreling right through the front door like I want to. I’m about to congratulate myself on a job well done staying sane when I get an incoming call. The name that pops up has my blood running cold. There’s no good reason for Savanna to be calling me. I’d insisted Cyn put her in my contacts, and me in hers, just in case of an emergency, but I never once thought it would need to be used.
“Fuck,” I say right as I accept the call.
Loud music blares through my phone’s speaker, matching the deep bass line I can hear in the parking lot, but Savanna’s terrified voice cuts through it when she says, “I can’t find Cyn.”
“What do you mean you can’t find her?” I ask, unable to soften my tone like I usually would when talking to her.
“I was dancing,” she starts to say, and the frightened sound of her voice has me very close to losing whatever grip on sanity I still have. “She’s just gone, Sasha. I can’t find her anywhere.”
“Keep looking. I’m on my way inside now.” I hang up before she can say anything. I hear my dad pull in behind me, but I’m already racing for the door when I hear him holler, “Wait! Sasha, goddammit, just wait for me!”
I don’t.
Instead, I punch in the code for the side door and force my way inside. It’s late, and it’s Friday, which means the club is pretty much wall-to-wall bodies. I push my way through, not giving the slightest fuck that several people are knocked to their asses.
As soon as the bartender sees me, I yell for him to shut off the music. The silence in the club after it’s turned off makes my ears ring. Everyone looks around, confused and drunk and irritated at having their party cut short.
“Everyone but the staff, get the fuck out!” I yell as I turn a circle so they can all see me. “Now!”
When they see how serious I am, panic sets in, and soon it’s chaos, a frenzied mad dash to the exits. I see Savanna and motion for her to come over while I grab my phone and my dad and uncles come rushing in through the back door.
“Have you heard from her?” my dad asks when he sees my phone.
“No, but I put a tracker in her engagement ring,” I say while my Uncle Vitaly sighs and says, “I can’t even lecture you about personal boundaries, because, honestly, that’s not a bad idea.”
“Niki set it up,” I say, using my thumbprint to unlock the app he installed. A map immediately pops up, and when I see the red dot getting further and further away from me, I start to leave. It’s my dad’s broad body that stops me.
“Not yet,” he warns.
“She’s on the move,” I tell him. “They’re taking her somewhere. I can still catch up to them if I move fast.”
I feel more than see the others stepping closer, surrounding me. When I turn my head, I see my uncles and cousins forming a circle around me.
“What the fuck is this?” I ask.
My dad keeps his voice even and calm when he says, “We need you to take a second and think this through, Sasha. You’re not thinking clearly right now.”
“No, I’m fucking not,” I admit, “because the woman I love is with some fucker who drugged her and is currently in the process of kidnapping her, and I’m not on my way to stop it.”
“You will,” he says. “We know where she is, and we’re going to get her, but we need to see where they take her before we do anything. They’re not going to hurt her while they’re transporting her. She’s drugged right now. As soon as they stop, we’re going to get them, all of them, but you can’t do what you’re planning to do in the middle of downtown traffic in full view of CCTV cameras and hundreds of eyewitnesses.”
I know what he’s saying makes sense, but I don’t want to fucking hear it right now. I look at the red dot, watching it take a right turn before I look over at Savanna. She’s crying, obviously terrified and worried for Cyn.
