Chapter 4: Olivia

My eyes snap wide, and I shake my head because I can’t believe it.

My gaze snaps to Mom, who looks so shocked her skin is paler than its usual alabaster.

“No, he would never. Eric wouldn’t get mixed up with anyone like that.”

Eric was the wild child, the rebel in every sense, but we’re talking about terrorists here. He wouldn’t be part of something like that.

Would he?

The discomfort in her eyes deepens. “The evidence suggests he was.”

“How do you know he was associated with these people?”

“This.” She opens the folder, pulls out a picture of Eric, and points to a tattoo on his forearm.

It’s an inky black dagger with a snake going around the handle. “This tattoo marks him as a member.”

“His tattoo?” Mom narrows her eyes.

“Yes. Did you ever see it?”

“I did, but I thought it was like his others.”

“I didn’t notice it,” I cut in. I think if I had, I wouldn’t have noticed because Eric was always getting tattoos. That was probably how he was able to make that one blend in.

“We were able to hack one of Eric’s virtual files. I don’t even know how my contact was able to do it, but he did. That’s where we found that picture.”

I get that light-headed sensation again because I’m having trouble believing we’re talking about the same man, and nothing is really making sense.

“Why would he get involved with people like that?” Mom asks in a weak voice.

“The Order recruits people from significant wealth or people with above-board skills. Eric has the type of skills that would attract a group like that.”

“What does this mean, Amy? I don’t understand,” I say.

“I think what’s happened is as we suspected, and he’s being held captive.”

I swallow hard at the thought of Eric in captivity for five years. What torture must he have endured?

“Why would they take Eric if he’s a member?” Mom says.

“I think Eric did something to piss them off, and that opened the door for whatever Jude is scheming.” She nods. “We found an email to Robert in Eric’s files. It said, ‘They’re coming for me. Please take care of my mother and sister.’ The email was sent two days before he disappeared.”

I slip my hand over my mouth. That was when I last saw him, and he asked me to do something important for him.

I was to deliver a letter to L.A. A very strange letter I made a copy of. It was when I got back I was told he was missing, and so was Robert.

“Robert died in that crash with someone. Maybe that’s how they got to him. From that message.”

Amy nods, and a tear runs down Mom’s cheek. The last thing we would have wanted was for Robert to die the way he did. He wasn’t from our world. He worked at the company with Eric and always took care of me.

“I was also able to get a name from Jude’s personal files. A name from L.A.,” Amy states interrupting my thoughts.

“L.A.?” Mom breathes.

“L.A., as in the hub for the Syndicate?” I add.

“Yes.”

“Who?”

“Aiden Romanov, Pakhan of the L.A. Brotherhood, and also part of the new Syndicate.”

My soul quivers as the words fall from her lips. “What part does he play in this?”

“Jude has him listed as a former enforcer for the Order. We all know what enforcers do. Either they kill, or they take.”

My lungs constrict. I’ve never heard of Aiden Romanov, but what Amy said is enough to tell me everything I need to know.

Danger.

That’s what that man is.

Aiden Romanov is dangerous, and all those credentials after his name are a warning to stay the fuck away.

He’s a Bratva Pakhan. The actual boss of his Brotherhood, and to add to that, he’s a member of the Syndicate.

And a former enforcer for the Order.

A killer. A man who killed for a living.

God, Eric, what did you get yourself into?

“What are you thinking, Amy?” I ask. “Do you think Aiden might know where Eric is?”

“Maybe. I think we should factor in all possibilities at this point. Jude wouldn’t have him listed for no reason. There was nothing to suggest he still works for the Order, but that doesn’t mean he’s not.” Amy nods, pulling in a deep breath.

“Why are they keeping Eric alive?” Mom asks.

“I think it’s the same reason they recruited him. It’s got to be because of what he can do. Eric is a genius like your grandfather,” Amy adds.

I couldn’t agree more. My grandfather was a man of many talents but also a man with secrets. “He might have acted like the badass rebel on the regular, but he is a duplicate of your grandfather. Markov Tech is a weapon and cyber technology company. Imagine what people like them could do with a company like yours and a man like Eric.”

“What can we do now?” Mom asks. “Where do we go from here? Where do we even start?”

That is the real problem. What do we do with this information?

“My best guess is that our next move should be to go to L.A. and find a way to see what Aiden Romanov knows,” Amy replies.

“But who can go?” Mom rasps.

It’s another good question.

“I thought I could—” Amy begins, but I cut her off by raising my hand.

“No. If your next words were to go to L.A., then it’s a no,” I answer, and Mom nods.

“We are not putting you in any more danger,” Mom agrees.

“I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you,” I say. “Please tell me Jude won’t know you helped us.”

“No, he won’t. My contact works outside the realms of everything, and that’s why I didn’t use any of my devices at work or at home. He will never know.”

“Good. I think that’s it. You should stop helping now.”

“I can’t just stop helping. What are you going to do?” Her brows pinch, and the worry I saw earlier in her bright green eyes intensifies.

What am I going to do?

That’s such a good question.

Eric’s in captivity, and if I marry Jude, the same fate awaits me. Marrying him will be the anchor to my hell.

I will be in captivity, and what do I think is going to happen to Mom?

If Jude can threaten my life so easily and tell me fucked up shit about not wanting something to happen to me after the wedding, what do I really think he’ll do to my mother?

If he can make my brother disappear for five years, can I be foolish enough to think worse won’t happen to me?

This is just the tip of the shit, and… I have a really bad idea.

An idea that takes residence in my soul with each passing second.

“I’ll go,” I say, and they both look at me as if I’ve just lost my mind.

It’s laughable because I wonder the same.

Have I gone crazy?

Do I really think I can save Eric and change things?

Stop Jude?

Find Aiden and do what?

I have no plan, and I’m just me.

Olivia Markov.

There’s nothing special about me.

But I’d sure as fuck prefer to walk in the valley of the shadow of death, in the lair of beasts, than sign my life away to Jude Kuzmin.

“No,” Mom blurts. “Olivia, no.”

“Then what? What should we do? Leave things as they are? Leave Eric to die in captivity? You want me to marry Jude so he can accidentally kill me, then kill you?”

“Olivia, it’s dangerous.”

“Don’t you think I know that?”

“Olivia, I have to agree with your mother,” Amy says. “Aiden Romanov is a very dangerous man, and we have no idea what the newly found Syndicate members are like.”

“You’re telling me this, and you were offering to go?”

“Eric is my friend. I just want to help.”

“You have babies.”

“I know, and I… I just feel bad I can’t do more.”

“You’ve helped enough.”

“But we’re stuck. How are you even going to escape? There are guards everywhere, and they’re with you twenty-four seven.”

And if I escape Mom’s dead. There must be a way around this.

When I think about yesterday when I saw Jude and the way he treated me, I shudder inwardly.

He wants us to focus on that fucking wedding, and every time the word is mentioned, I feel like I want to die.

I close my eyes, and the thought of the wedding stirs an idea in my mind.

An idea that just might work.

My eyes snap open, and I look at Amy and then at Mom.

“I think I might have come up with something. Something that will get me to Aiden Romanov.”