Chapter 126 Despair

Chapter 126 Despair
“Yes. Something did. Like the fact that my wife can’t stay at home—especially in her delicate condition,” Kirill muttered, glaring at me irritably.
“I could get offended, you know,” I arch a brow, and he softens a little.
“Don’t worry, but… we got a call. Some anonymous caller reported that the building is mined,” he said casually, dropping the bomb like it was nothing.
“My team is almost done checking all the rooms, nothing found yet,” Mikhail added. “This office is the safest place right now. I called in additional security. We’ll handle it quickly.”
A cold, crawling feeling ran down my spine. I needed to call Marina and warn her that I might be delayed. I dial her number—no answer. I try again. And again.
My nerves start to fray, and Kirill notices.
“Vicky, what’s wrong?”
“I can’t reach Marina,” I answer with a trembling voice, and Kirill instantly tenses.
“Why do you need Marina?” he frowns.
“She came over today, and Viktor proposed to her,” I start stuttering, panic rising. “And we came here together—and she offered to walk the boys in the park while I handled things at the office.”
Kirill shot Mikhail a sharp look, and Mikhail immediately reacted.
“Don’t worry—your personal security team is always assigned to you, they stay at a distance,” Mikhail tried to reassure me while dialing someone. After a few attempts, I see his expression tighten into something grim. He calls again.
“Seryoga! Why the hell isn’t Max answering?!” Mikhail barked into the phone. “I called in all the extra units—NOT you guys! YOU are supposed to stay on personal duty! Max stayed there alone?!”
His shouting made my knees weak. I kept calling Marina nonstop, my hands shaking uncontrollably.
Finally—someone picked up. And before I could even say a word, I heard something that shattered my world.
“Hello, this is City Hospital Number Four. A young woman was admitted, and this phone was with her. She has a head injury and several contusions.”
“And the children—where are the children?!” I scream into the phone, unable to contain myself, just as Kirill snatches the phone from my hands. Before the device leaves my ear, I hear the nurse’s confused reply:
“There were no children brought in with her…”
A strangled, broken sound tore out of my throat—my scream got stuck somewhere inside, mixing with my breath.
No. No. No.
Panic. Despair. If before I thought I knew these feelings—I was horribly, painfully mistaken.
A cold, soul-chilling horror seeped into every molecule of my body, freezing the blood in my veins. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t speak. Couldn’t move. Pins and needles spread through my fingers, and the terrifying realization hit—
I had no idea where my boys were. Who they were with. And what was happening to them right now.
Are they hurt? Are they scared? Crying? Calling for me?
Of course they’re scared. And what if… what if someone—
I couldn’t finish the thought. My mind tore itself apart.
Unable to bear the avalanche of terror crashing over me, the world around me faded. My body trembled violently, my legs giving out. A sharp spasm clenched my stomach into stone. I fell into a hellish internal void—made of pain, fear, and absolute, suffocating uncertainty.
A thousand thoughts stabbed through my brain, each worse than the one before.
Why would someone take my children?! Kidnappers? Killers? Black-market surgeons? A cult? A desperate couple wanting kids? Ransom? Revenge? A sick joke?
WHERE. ARE. MY. BOYS?!
The terror was too much. My body reverted to the only defense it knew—
I just passed out.