“A school?” Adam repeated, testing the word as if examining it for veracity, “She picks up girls from other countries and brings them to a school. No questions asked?”
“I wondered if she was just playing dumb or didn’t want to know. Desperate times.” Probably far too generous on my part. “Then she screamed something about us being too late. There was a huge sale coming, an auction, and she’d fetch a lot of money.”
Adam’s fingers dug into my hip. “The name of the school?”
“Radoslav-Tanzakademie,” I said, before translating the German. “Radoslav Dance Academy.” The name wasn’t easily found in the local information directories. “I sent the information to Fletcher.” Guilt assailed me. “I should have checked before I finished with her.”
As much as I hated to admit it, she’d pushed me too far. The impulse to strike her had been right there and I hadn’t fought it.
Now she wasn’t available for further questioning.
“It’s a name,” Adam said. “If it’s attached to anything real, Fletcher will find it. We can also do a little looking of our own.”
I twisted to look at him. “How?”
“The Mikhailovskaya head has agreed to take a meeting.” Ezra said, drawing my attention. “We just got the all clear from his people when you sent the message. It will be dinner tonight, we need to go formal and bring a gift.”
Chewing on my lower lip, I considered him and then glanced at Bodhi and Milo before returning to Ezra. “How long do we have?”
Bodhi nodded once. “And how do you want to play it?”
Just like that, the shaking left me as we tackled planning. We were closer. Not close enough, but closer.
We weren’t stopping until we found her.
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
EZRA
The apartment Bodhi arranged for us boasted some decent amenities. It was too small in my opinion, but living on top of each other while we were in Prague wasn’t a problem.
Especially not when Adam kept proving to me he could be a cuddler. I didn’t want to examine that too closely, but I’d woken up more than once, curled onto my side, with him wrapped around me.
I fucking loved it.
I reworked the tie on my tux. The black tie affair was not my idea. The Avtorityet for the Mikhailovskaya organization extended the invitation on behalf of the Sovietnik. The pakhan would not be there.
That was fine. I didn’t want to pay homage to anyone. I merely wanted to secure some support for us on the ground. Speaking fluent Russian got me a lot further than I expected.
“You’re thinking too hard,” Adam informed me as he stepped out of the bathroom shirtless. He already had his dress pants on or I would be reconsidering the knot for this tie.
I shifted a glance to the clock on the wall.
“Don’t even think about it,” Adam informed me.
“Killjoy.”
“Yes, that’s me, the slayer of all things fun for Ezra.” He smirked as he tossed the hand towel he’d been drying his face with back into the bathroom then shut off the light.
“I mean… not the worst thing I’ve ever called you.” I caught him shaking his head via the mirror as I tied the black silk one more time.
“You’re butchering that.” The dry advice had me rolling my eyes, but Adam was pulling on his own silk shirt.
Before I could respond, a light knock on the door pulled my attention. Bodhi and Milo knocked a lot harder than that. “Come on in, Kotyonok.”
Adam pivoted, drawn by that invisible tether that connected us to Lainey. An awareness of her that we always had to maintain and when she was there, that was where we focused.
The door opened to reveal her in a stunning green dress. The deep emerald shade added something almost elusive to her. I twisted around to get a good look at the dress.
It was a simple sheath with a halter top. Everything about the way the silk moved with her had me wanting to stroke my hands over her. A pair of green heels peeked out from under the dress as she moved.
Fuck me, she didn’t even have a hint of panties on under there.
She coughed lightly and I jerked my gaze up to find her watching me with amused eyes.
“You look gorgeous,” I told her. She’d styled her hair up and pinned. It emphasized the column of her throat that the halter encircled like a collar. Blood pulsed to my dick.
They were both beautiful. It wasn’t fair. I was gonna spend this whole evening with a damn hard-on.
“You do look beautiful,” Adam murmured as he closed the distance and brushed the corner of her mouth with a kiss. It was a gentle touch, possessive but not proprietary. “You sure you’re up for this tonight?”
Not an unfair question considering the news she found today. I swore, she was so damn strong it made me ache. But the sadness in her eyes and the way she’d clung to Adam left a gaping wound in my soul.
Finding news about Andrea and learning she was alive was very much a double-edged sword. She was alive. But was she safe? They were planning on selling her. Could we get there in time?
