Page 84 of Sapphire

Finally, he lifts his head and his eyes are glassy.

“No, No.” I push him away. “No,” I keep saying repeatedly. “Not our Zoe, not our Zoe!” I cry.

Tomas tries to comfort me, but I push him away again.

I can’t, I just can’t deal with his touch in this moment.

His red-rimmed green eyes stare at me, then he turns away, my rejection stinging. He climbs the stairs of our jet.

With leaden legs, I follow him and take my seat, the silence between us growing with each moment.

“We will find her. I promise we will fucking find her.” Tomas’s voice breaks with emotion even though his face looks like stone.

He doesn’t deserve me turning in on myself at this moment, we are a partnership, and we need to handle this together.

I climb over the chair and squeeze into the seat with him, wrapping my arms around him. “I know you will find her.” I let his strength soothe me.

He pulls a blanket over us as I sink further into his embrace.

“Enrique is going to be here soon, he’s coming back with us,” Tomas tells me softly.

I nod, my body slowly deflating.

The hostess hands me a crystal tumbler. I throw back the amber liquid, and it warms my throat, instantly calming me.

“Thanks for holding the plane,” Enrique says as he rushes on board.

When I see him my blood boils. I jump up out of my chair and grab him, pushing him up against the wall.

“Mateo!” Tomas yells at me.

“You fucking lost them. You told us he was in Russia. You fucking lost them!” I scream in his face, shaking him.

“I know, I fucking know!” Enrique answers. I can see on his face that he is just as shocked as us.

Tomas pulls me away from his cousin. “What the hell are you doing?”

I throw my hands up and shuffle back to my seat, asking the hostess to bring me a bottle of whatever she has. I can’t stop thinking about Zoe. What are they doing to her? Is she still alive? Is Gracie okay? Fuck, I must call her parents and tell them that we lost their daughters. I let out another roar, frustrated as I kick the seat in front of me repeatedly. I want to rip this plane apart.

“Cariño, stop, please stop.” Tomas grabs me, but I’m too strong for him to have any effect.

“What if we are too late?” I sob.

I can see it in Tomas’s eyes—he is thinking the same thing.

“We pulled your surveillance footage. They were taken from your home this morning around two a.m., and they were both alive,” Enrique says.

“But that was ten hours ago, ten fucking hours.” I punch the seat.

“Calm down, you can’t help her like this.” Tomas rubs my hand in his. “I don’t care how much it costs, we are going to get them back, and we are going to destroy Nikolai Petrov, mark my words.”

Before the car gets to our home, Enrique warns us the scene is confronting. We go through the police blockade and the car stops just inside our gate. We both jump out—no one could ever prepare us for what we see. All along the white pebbles of our driveway are pools of red blood.

“They killed every single security guard,” Enrique informs us.

Blood is everywhere, but thankfully, the bodies have been removed. I don’t think I would be able to cope with seeing those men’s faces. Why kill all these men? What about their families? My heart breaks at the weight of the situation, realizing we are not the only ones who lost people we love today.

We make it inside and I rush toward our room, hoping this is all a horrible dream and that Zoe is lying there waiting for us.

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