Page 125 of Sinful Betrayal
She must be referring to Nina, but I’m confused about the series of events that followed me leaving for the bar.
Is my mother having a rare moment of lucidity or is she getting confused with events that happened in the past?
I need to go and check the security footage to see what the hell happened.
“Then they came and took her. She argued with the big one, but then he grabbed her and dragged her outside. What a horrible man. Missing half his earlobe…”
My blood runs cold.
Igor was here, in my goddamned house, where my sick mother lives.
I left her unprotected because I was too busy drowning my sorrows with vodka. If something had happened…
Where the fuck were my guards? It might be the middle of the night, but that doesn’t give them the right to slack off.
Unless Igor decided to shed a little blood and once the sun comes up, I’ll find evidence of his visit scattered around my property.
The image has me grinding my teeth together so hard my jaw aches.
“Mamulichka, let’s get you back to your rooms.” I place a comforting arm around her shoulder as I start to mentally list everyone I need to call to sort this out.
“Then you’ll find Katerina? You’ll talk to her and apologize?”
“Yes, I’ll fix everything,Mamulichka, don’t you worry.”
As I lead my mother back across the foyer, I catch sight of Nina’s phone on the ground. I bend down and stuff it into my pocket, vowing to destroy it the moment my mother is safely back in her rooms. I have no doubt that there’s a tracker of some kind thatled Igor here, and I don’t want to ever risk my mother’s safety like that again.
I will do better, not just for her, but for my entire family.
It’s late, and Annie is fast asleep in her room when I bring my mother back through. Normally, I ask her to lock the door that leads to the main house in case she wanders off in the middle of the night, but these things get missed.
It just so happens that it’s the very night that Igor Ivanov decided to pay a visit to my home.
After reassuring my mother multiple times that I’m going to fix this mess, I leave her in her room and make my way into my study where I call Yakov.
“Yakov? I need you at the house. We have a situation.”
“What kind of situation?”
“The Igor Ivanov kind.”
“I’ll be right there,” he grunts, shutting off the call.
Without my mother around to help keep my rage in check, my body starts to shake from the combination of the adrenaline and alcohol coursing through my veins.
Igor was here, and he took Nina. From how my mother described the interaction, it sounds like she didn’t go willingly.
I’m not sure how to interpret that, but I don’t have time to sit and dwell on the what-ifs.
The fact of the matter is, Igor is sniffing around my property, and he might have just kidnapped my unborn child right outfrom under my nose. Regardless of what Nina and I truly mean to one another, I have a duty to protect my family.
The safe hidden beneath my desk is fully stocked with multiple handguns and replacement magazines.
I have no plan, but I know that whatever happens, I’m going to need to make sure I’m armed. So, I tuck a gun into each holster and grab all of the magazines just to be safe.
As I climb to my feet, I catch sight of a handwritten letter on my desk.
Instantly, my stomach sinks as I read the name delicately scrawled at the bottom.