Page 78 of Brutal Secrets
Sasha starts laughing. He’s bent over, tears in his eyes and arms clutching his sides. When he sits back up, he looks over at me. “And you tell me you don’t love her? This is a mess.”
I glare at him. “Will you help me or not?”
“You didn’t need to ask. I’ve always got your back.” He grins at me. “Even if I give you a hard time.” Once he’s stopped laughing, the smile slides from his face and he looks out of the window, avoiding my eyes as he shrugs. “Love is a weakness I don’t need, but if there’s a kid involved, then you’re vulnerable anyway.”
I lean my head against the back seat and breathe out a sigh. “I don’t want to leave a trail. If I stand a chance with Kesera, I can’t have a lot of talk about this guy Jimmy going missing just as I appear back in her life.”
Sasha taps on the divider between us and the driver. “Don’t worry about it. No body. No crime.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
My old burner phone buzzes, and I pick it up with a smile tugging at my lips. It might be my daily pancake update. My daughter has taken to giving me regular status reports on her breakfast and sleeping habits.
But my heart thuds against my breastbone when I see that the message is from Dex.
Nadia has gone missing. Meet us at the penthouse as soon as you can.
By the time I fly into their lobby, my stomach is in knots. I don’t believe this is a coincidence. Spataro’s men know who I am, and they know about my connection to Kesera.
The doorman must have orders to let me straight upstairs because he waves me toward the dedicated penthouse elevator. When the doors open, Kesera stands in front of me, red-rimmed eyes puffy from crying and her arms wrapped around herself.
“Zolotaya. Come here.” I step toward her and wrap her in a bear hug, squeezing her tight against my chest. She feels so right in my arms and I pull her tighter, relishing the chance to shelter her. “What can I do?”
She pads into the kitchen on leaden feet, pulling me to join Dex at the table. Nona stands at the sink and continues rinsing dishes as if this is a perfectly normal workday. Kesera sinks into a chair, staring dead-eyed at some printouts of two girls walking out of the gates of Blessed Heart International Elementary School.
“We pulled this from the school’s security footage,” Dex says. “This is Nadia and her best friend Daniella leaving the school at lunchtime. They didn’t return to school, and they didn’t come back to our place for a sleepover as planned.”
“What did you say her best friend’s name was?” I ask.
“Daniella Greco. Why?” Dex looks up at me.
“Is she Italian? How long have they been friends?”
Kesera must pick up on the agitated tone of my voice because she jerks upright in her chair and watches me intently.
“Danni joined the school when her family moved from Italy last year, and the two girls just hit it off,” Kesera says. “They’ve spent a lot of the last year at each other’s houses, making dance videos, putting on plays, baking cookies.”
“You say that she only moved here last year? And she’s Italian. It could be a coincidence, but I don’t like it.” I look over at Dex, who nods as he pulls out a computer.
“It’s an international school. There are a lot of diplomats’ families and people from the UN, as well as the usual banker and hedge-fund kids. It’s not unusual for people to move from overseas.” Kesera’s voice sounds reedy, as if she’s trying to convince herself.
I take Kesera’s hands in mine. “I could be panicking over nothing, but her going missing with an Italian friend when the Italian Mafia are baying for my blood gives me a bad feeling.”
Dex looks up at me. “We ran checks on Daniella when we got back. There were no immediate red flags, but I agree. I don’t like it. Nadia’s been going back and forth to school, and Danni’s been meeting her here, so we minimized the risk.”
“It might be nothing, zolotaya,” I say, ignoring the churning in my gut which tells me this couldn’t possibly be nothing. I pull her chair toward mine and put my arm around her shaking shoulder.
“Or it might not,” Dex mutters, keeping the drama to a minimum but backing me up.
I pick up my phone. “Sasha. Are you in town?”
“Yes, I was heading to the banya.”
“Well, can you head over to Central Park West? I need you to meet me at an address I’ll text you. Something has come up.”
Kesera looks up, confused, and I shake my head.
“That’s not your usual part of town. Sounds serious,” Sasha says.