Chapter 292

Chapter 292
ISAIAH

Something is wrong.

“Maybe she’s not back from work yet?” Baba tried again, softer this time, like tone alone could calm the storm clawing at my chest as I dialed Tamara’s number for the seventh time.

Straight to voicemail.

I shook my head, jaw grinding. “She doesn’t stay this long at work.” I stood, pacing, running a hand through my hair. The room felt too small. My skin felt tight.

This wasn’t ordinary. My instincts were screaming now, loud and violent.

“What about Isaac?” Baba asked carefully. “You left him in charge of watching her, didn’t you?”

The words hit me hard.

I didn’t answer. I was already pulling my phone out, dialing. He picked up on the first ring.

“Boss.”

“My wife,” I snapped. “Where is she?”

“She’s, uh—”

My grip tightened around the phone. “Are you dumb?”

“No, boss— but I think she’s inside. The last time I saw her, she was speaking with her mother and a guy outside.”

A guy.

My vision tunneled.

“You think?” I said slowly, dangerously. “Do I pay you to think, Isaac? You haven’t seen Tamara and you think she’s inside?”

I heard scrambling. A car door. Panic creeping into his breathing.

“I—I apologize, boss. I’ll get her immediately.”

I ended the call.

“What did he say?” Baba asked, already knowing the answer wouldn’t be good.

I stared at my dark screen long after it went black. “I need to go.”

Baba grabbed my forearm. “And go where? You don’t even know where she is.”

Anger surged, hot and blinding. I yanked my hand free. “I can’t sit here while Isaac ‘thinks’ she’s inside.” “I’ll be quick,” I added, already moving. “You won’t even know I’m gone.”

“I might not,” Baba snapped, stepping in front of me, “but the pakhan will. Tom will. Every bastard waiting for you to slip will. I know you’re restless, but let’s wait—trust Isaac. She’s probably at h—”

My phone vibrated. I froze.

Every nerve in my body lit up as I double-tapped the message.

The video loaded.

Blood.

So much blood it didn’t register at first—just red, everywhere, smeared across the ground, soaking fabric, glistening under harsh light. My breath punched out of my lungs, my vision narrowing until there was only one thing left on the screen.

Her. Tamara.

Crying. Shouting. On her knees.

My wife.
Something primal tore through me. My body locked, then seized, fear wrapping tight around my spine, crushing, vicious. I couldn’t hear anything anymore—not Baba, not the room, not even my own breathing.

This is where the fun is at, brother. Come join us.

I didn’t think. I acted. I turned and ran.

Baba was shouting behind me, cursing, calling my name, but his voice dissolved into nothing as my feet carried me forward. I burst through the doors and almost collided with Fabian and Ian outside.

“Whoa—where are we going?” Fabian asked, his voice rough, smoke still clinging to him.

I shoved past them, my bones coiled so tight it felt like they might snap. Ian caught my arm before I could reach the car.

I swung around, murder in my eyes.

He froze.

One look was all it took.

He released me immediately, nodding once, sharp and understanding. “What do you need?”

My throat burned. My vision blurred. If I stood still one more second, I was going to fold in on myself, right there in the open. I swallowed hard, forcing the words out through a voice I didn’t recognize as my own.

“Ten men,” I said. “And a big truck.”

His brows drew together. “A truck?”

“I need to end this,” I snapped. “Once and for all.”

I didn’t wait for his reply. Didn’t wait for questions. I was already moving, already yanking the car door open, already sliding into the driver’s seat.

The engine roared to life.

As I peeled out, my hands shook on the wheel, my chest tight to the point of pain.

Please be okay, I begged silently. Please be okay, baby.

I drove like hell itself was chasing me, the road blurring beneath my tires.

If there is a God, I prayed, desperation clawing at my ribs, I’ll do anything. I’ll give anything.

Just save her. Please.
I could sight the cars I’d requested from my friends in my rearview, black beasts cutting through traffic behind me, but I didn’t have time to feel relief. Not even a sliver. My chest was too tight, my pulse too loud in my ears.

My phone rang through the speakers.

I glanced down, already bracing myself for Tom’s voice.

Instead, Isabel’s name flashed on the screen.

“Now’s not the time, Isabel,” I snapped, not slowing down.

“I think something is going on with mama, Isaiah,” she cried, her voice sharp with panic. “She just sent me to come to some place on the outskirts of town, saying I have to meet family.” Her breath hitched. “What does that even mean?”

My jaw locked.

It means your mother is a fucking snake.
It means she has been selling my blood for years.
It means you’re bait.

But I didn’t say any of that.

“Don’t listen to her,” I said instead, cold and fast. “Turn off your phone. Skip town if you can. Don’t call anyone. Don’t tell anyone where you’re going.”

“What?” she gasped. “Isaiah, what’s happening? I don’t understand.”

“I’m in the middle of something way more important, Isabel,” I barked, my grip tightening on the wheel. “Just do what I said and stop fucking bitching about it.”

There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end. Silence. I knew that tone—I knew I’d hurt her. I knew she was shocked.

I didn’t care.

I was trying to save her life.

“I–I’m sorry,” she whispered finally. “I’ll… I’ll do what you said, but—” Her voice trembled. “Will I ever hear from you again?”

The road blurred. My throat burned.

I thought of Tamara’s face on that screen. Blood. Screams. Her on her knees.

I tightened my jaw until it ached.

“No,” I said flatly. “Goodbye, Isabel.”

I ended the call before she could respond.

The silence that followed was deafening.

I floored the accelerator.

The cars behind me closed in tighter, my men falling into formation like they already knew—like they could feel it too. Whatever waited for me out there wasn’t a negotiation. It wasn’t a rescue.

It was a war.
I got to the location in record time, gravel screaming beneath my tires as I skidded to a stop. I stepped out of the car slowly, bypassing the grinning face of Tom—who still had the audacity to call himself my brother—and the snake standing beside him, the woman who had lied to my face for years.

My eyes swept the field once.
Twice.

No Tamara.

Just blood.

Wet. Dark. Still glistening against the earth.

My chest tightened painfully. Were they hers? I forced the thought down before it could finish forming. I couldn’t afford it.

“There’s my brother,” Tom purred, arms spreading wide like he was welcoming me home for Christmas.