Chapter 59

Hannah

I was still digesting this whole situation as I listened to Emmy’s cell phone ring until her voice mail picked up.
“Emmy, where the hell are you? I need you to call me back immediately. There is a lot of craziness going on and I have to pick you up. Are you still at school?”
I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. It wasn’t normal for Emmy to be unreachable. The only time you couldn’t get her by phone was if she was playing the harp. I suppose there was an off chance that she was at school practicing, but with everything going on, I felt nothing but paranoia and panic.
“Wait, go to Briar Ridge instead. Emmy’s not answering her phone. The only reason she does that is if she’s practicing her harp and the only harp she has is at school.” Nikolai shot me a hard look and I swallowed. I knew what he was thinking. He was thinking what I was thinking.
Something had happened to Emmy.
Nikolai stepped on the gas as he turned the car around and headed for her school. We got there in half the time it normally takes and, at one point, I was certain that we would die in this car before Nikolai’s father even got to us. We screeched to a halt in front of the well-landscaped walkway that led to the tall wooden doors that marked the entrance to Briar Ridge.
I scrambled out of the car, ran to the door, and threw it open. I hadn’t been to the school often, but I knew where the music room was.
I barreled into the music room and found a small assortment of students with varying instruments either practicing together or performing maintenance, such as fixing bow strings, changing reeds or oiling valves. I looked frantically across the group of students, barely registering the looks of irritation and bafflement I was receiving. I saw a girl with short blonde hair assembling a flute who looked vaguely familiar.
“Hey…?” I questioned, prompting her for her name.
The blond looked up and frowned and looked back to her flute. “Sarah.”
“Hi, Sarah, do you know Emmy Prescott?” I asked, practically panting in anxiety.
She looked up briefly. “Yeah.”
I sighed in exasperation. “Do you know where she is?” I asked with forced patience.
Her blond brow crinkled in irritation. “Yeah, I saw her earlier, but she was leaving with some guy.”
I gasped. “What guy?” I barked at her.
Sarah jumped slightly and frowned again, clearly not thrilled with my tone. “I don’t know, some old guy. The only reason I noticed is because we are working on a duet, and she agreed to practice today, but when I yelled her name, she just looked…I don’t know. Upset? Worried? I figured that guy was her dad and she was in trouble or something.”
I felt my breathing seize and lump form in my throat. Her dad? No, no, no. There was no way my dad came here for her. No way she would even consider going with him.
“Um, this guy, what did he look like?” I asked, my voice scratchy with fear and dread.
“I don’t know, old. Kind of fat, with gray hair. He had her by the arm, so that’s why I figured he was her dad,” Sarah responded casually.
“How long ago was this?” I demanded.
“Jesus, what are you? A cop?”
“Her sister. That man may have abducted her,” I said in a frantic tone.
Sarah looked shocked, then regretful. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry. It was about fifteen minutes ago.”
“Thanks,” I yelled over my shoulder as I ran back to the car where Nikolai was waiting. His jaw clenched when he saw that I was alone.
I sat in the seat for a minute, unable to comprehend what was happening. I felt Nikolai’s hand on the right side of my cheek, gently turning my head to face him.
“What happened, Hannah? Where is Emmy?” Nikolai asked, his arctic eyes filled with concern.
I felt tears well in my eyes as I tried to answer, but it felt like there ball of fire stuck in my throat. “He took her, Nikolai,” I croaked. “We have to get her back. Where would he take her?” I whispered.
Nikolai’s head jerked back. “My father?”
I nodded and relayed to him what Sarah had told me.
Nikolai turned and punched the steering wheel. “Fuck!”
He grabbed his cell phone and started talking almost immediately. “We have a problem. He took Hannah’s sister. Please tell me you have eyes on him, you know where the fuck he is,” Nikolai demanded.
He frowned ferociously, not liking the response.
“How soon?” Nikolai asked as he put the car in gear and started driving just as fast toward our next destination as he had getting here. “I’m dropping her off right now, then I’ll be there. We have to fucking end this now.”
Nikolai threw his phone down and continued his aggressive driving all the way to what I assumed was Katya’s house—it was just as big and elegant as Nikolai’s. It was a large, stone-faced mansion on a secluded lot with long sloping roofs that made it look like a ski chalet. Nikolai screeched to such an abrupt stop that I would have gone through the windshield if I hadn’t been wearing a seat belt.
Nikolai sat for a minute and stared out in front of him, then tipped his head back and took a deep breath. He turned to me, his icy eyes boring into mine. “Hannah, I can’t tell you how sorry I am I got you and your sister involved in this mess. This is another reason why I don’t fucking date,” he looked away for a minute, his jaw clenching. His eyes swung back to mine. “I will get her back, I promise. My dad doesn’t have that many places to go, and even fewer men left to help him. Drago has some ideas where she is. I’m meeting up with him now, and then we end this.”
Nikolai’s expression was absolutely wintry as he said this. I’d never seen someone look actually murderous, but this was how I imagined it would look. I hated how tormented he was over his father’s actions when they weren’t his fault.
“Nikolai,” I reached my hand to touch his thigh, “this isn’t your fault. It’s your father’s.”
Nikolai snorted and looked back out of the windshield. “No, Hannah, you’re in this mess because of me. And I’m going to get you out. Now, go ahead in with Katya.” He cut me a quick look as he nodded towards Katya’s front door where Drago’s men were waiting for me.
I had another sick feeling in my stomach now, completely unrelated to Emmy. When Nikolai said he was ending it, I think he was referring to more than just his father’s life.