Kir looked over his shoulder and pushed out a breath. “I think we’ll be able to make it.” Again, he was more talking to himself than her.
She almost asked where he was taking her and who he was bringing her to, but she didn’t think he’d answer. She was nothing to him. If Viktor or one his guys didn’t figure out where she was being forced to drive, she was going to have to get out of this on her own.
*
Ten minutes earlier
“Explain this as simply as possible,” Viktor said to Lyosha, who’d just rushed them into his office because he said he had news. Both Lyosha and his brother could take forever to get to the point, especially when it had to do with Lyosha showing off his computer skills.
“All of the dead men were paid from a business account owned by a shell company.” Lyosha set his laptop on Viktor’s desk so he could see the spread of financial records.
Viktor only glanced at it. “You narrow down the owner yet?” Because that was all that mattered. Once Viktor had a name, the person who’d put Dominique in danger would pay.
“No, but I’m running a program that should help with that.”
Viktor scrubbed a hand over his face. He’d been making calls the past hour, reaching out to contacts and calling in favors as he tried to narrow down who’d been stupid enough to attack him in his own hotel. So far his three top suspects weren’t panning out. Two weren’t even in the country and he knew without a doubt that if either had decided to make a move, they’d be here in person.
The third was dealing with the FBI on suspicion of fraud and illegal smuggling. According to the digging Viktor had done, the man was under almost twenty-four-hour surveillance so it seemed unlikely he was the one behind it either.
“Tell me you have something, then.” Lyosha had called him in here—away from Dominique. He knew he needed to be focusing on finding who’d targeted him, but he didn’t like being away from her even for a moment. Not after last night. Now that he’d gotten a taste of her he wasn’t letting her go and he wasn’t above binding her to him with sex.
“Maybe. I got some interesting hits on the financials I ran. Nothing on the phone records but I really didn’t expect any. Even these financial records can be explained away, but you still need to see what I’ve found.”
Viktor just grunted. If someone was going to betray him, they wouldn’t be stupid enough to use their own phone.
Lyosha started to pull up another screen when his computer dinged. “Hold on,” he murmured, his fingers moving quickly across the keyboard. His expression grew tighter, putting Viktor on alert.
They’d worked together a long, damn time. Something was wrong. He knew better than to ask though, until Lyosha was done working.
“Fuck,” the other man growled. “Kir’s the owner of one of the accounts from the unknown shell corporations.”
Viktor froze. “Kir?” Their regular driver? A man he trusted.
Lyosha’s expression was grim. “It’s not on any of my current financials for him. He was careful to hide it but he’s definitely receiving deposits from the same account the dead hit men did.”
“Who’s the owner?” he demanded, pulling out his cell phone to alert the rest of his security team. Kir was on the premises and he was going to be dealt with now.
“Still don’t know—”
His phone buzzed in his hand. It was Dima, in charge of the perimeter security. He answered immediately. “What?”
“She’s gone! I don’t know if she was willing or not but I don’t think she was. Kir and the woman came barreling out of the garage.”
The bottom of his stomach fell out.
Viktor grabbed Lyosha’s arm and motioned that he should follow. Lyosha was already on the phone, likely with another one of his guys. He grabbed his laptop and fell in behind Viktor.
Dima continued as Viktor raced through his house, his heart pounding out of control. Dominique was gone; she’d been taken. Because no way had she left willingly. He needed to know where that bastard Kir had taken her—and why.
“Brady went to stop the SUV and she gunned it, tearing out of here. Brady thinks Kir meant to shoot him but can’t be sure. He said she looked terrified. I managed to shoot out one of the tires.”
“Where are you now?” he demanded as he burst through the door to the garage. Two of his security guys were standing in the driveway on their phones. He ignored them and got into the car. Lyosha slid into the passenger seat.
He was vaguely aware of Lyosha barking out orders to someone but he ignored him and focused on Dima as he tore out of the garage in his Tesla.
“I took off after them in one of the SUVs. I’ve got two guys with me. There’s only one way he could have gone to escape… Shit.”
Bolts of adrenaline pumped through his system. He clenched his fingers around the wheel, surprised he hadn’t ripped the thing off the dash. “What?”
“Just found the SUV. It’s abandoned.”
“Where are you?”