It's been two days and we are still coming up short. We have employed all our resources to this, and we are still getting nothing. Not a peep, not a squeak.

Every second that passes without her feels like my mind is descending into more chaos. The steady grip on my sanity is hanging by a faux thread, but I know I need to hold on for my girl and our boy.

Regrets. Regrets. I have so many fucking regrets. It goes back to me even regretting meeting her again. If she never came to our school, then she'd still be safe. Damn her mother and wanting us to come back in her life. Damn her wanting peace for her sake. Damn her for not hating us. and damn her for thinking we were any good for Zara.

Zara would be oblivious living her life as a politician's kid, safe. She'd be planning med school next year like she always wanted. Not pregnant, heartbroken, kidnapped and abused.

My brothers have taken my gun from me temporarily after I killed two of our soldiers. When I remember her bruised face, I can't help the rage, the searing rage I feel. All the emotions fight for dominance. Rage. Guilt. Regret. Loathing. And bloody rampage. I want to kill anyone I see. If she isn't safe back with us, then no one deserves any fucking peace.

Not that I'm better, Leo shot one of the hackers he found sleeping on duty. None of us give a fuck that they've been awake for over 48 hours. No one is fucking getting rest until she comes home.

The image of her haunts all of us.

It is all our fault.

We may say we have had no choice, but we did. We actively chose power over her. Even when we fell for her. We can never say we were clueless. After that we didn't even give her any space. No. We followed her to Switzerland and stalked her everyday.

We constantly pushed our agenda on her. Even when it was clear she was trying to have some peace. But I could never accept what she needed. I could never accept her not being with us. I thought she belonged to us, and she would have no choice but see that soon.

If it wasn't for all that - my stubbornness - she would have never ran out of that restaurant. She would have never felt the need to hurt us to get us to back off.

I look to the black endless night. I stare at the stars who are fucking still shining like all is well on earth. If it were up to me, they wouldn't shine at all until she comes back. The whole world should be shrouded with darkness. I would extinguish even the suns light until she comes back. Why should the world continue while we are suffering?

If there is a god out there, fucking make this right.

If you give this to me, then I will let her go. I will give her what she wants. I will give her peace.

My chest tightens as I feel the pain that has been my sustenance all the hours she's been gone.

Someone comes behind me and they stand next to me on the balcony. Its Leo. We both stand there in silence for many minutes.

"She has to come back to us." he starts

Silence from me. I hear the agony in his voice. I don't respond, not because I have no answer, but I have no voice at the moment as emotion clogs my pipes, preventing me from spitting anything that isn't rampage and death.

Bas and Jose join us on the balcony after a while and we all stand in silence.

"The universe sucks." Bas says before the light clicks, and he lights a cigarette. Although none of us are really into ciggies but we have picked it up since most of our men smoke them.

"It isn't the universe, it's us. we fucking suck." Leo answers

"You remember that first day we saw her when she arrived with the cab, and she struggled with her bags?" Jose says.

A sad smile graces my lips. She had looked like the sun only shines for her. After 9 years, I knew I was in trouble.

"And the Bastard wanted to go and help her with them?" Leo chuckles lightly.

"She needed help, asshole."

"She was so beautiful. I wonder why she cut her dreadlocks. I've never asked." I mutter thoughtfully

"I did. She said the kids who bullied her would pull at them a lot and her mother shaved her after they pulled one out." Leo answers and a devastated quiet falls on us.

After everything she had been through, we added to that too. We really don't deserve her. And that fact she still gave us a chance after what we did to her. My own saliva tastes like bile in my mouth. I am a despicable human. A sorry excuse of a man. It is time I took what I deserve.

"I am letting her go when she returns. I won't bother her anymore." I say, a lone tear riding down my face.

Silence.

Silence.

Pain, and dead silence.

We are hurdled in the conference room after midnight. We got a message half an hour ago from one of Darrell's accomplices and it is Zahara's father's contact. Something about this contact doesn't settle me but we are grasping at empty straws, and we have been shooting blanks for days.

We have to explore all the avenues, pull at all the threads. My body feels the weariness of having no sleep in over 48 hours, but I can't rest. Not until she and our son are back home. They have to be back home.

The audio cackles, and a Russian accent fills the room. The video comes on next.

"Old friends, new enemies." They chuckle a small, confident but dark chuckle. whoever it is, they can't be trusted, and they sound like someone who is in a position of advantage.

"Viktor." Zahara's father answers

"How does it feel that I delivered on my promise?"

"She has nothing to do with that, Viktor. She is a child." Bas's father mutters

"There are no innocents in our world, gentlemen. You know that."

"You fucking rat. That's not the fucking game and you know it." my father grits out.

I look around and it seems it's just me and the boys who have no clue what's happening. We seem to be left out of many loops these days. And it is really pissing me off.

"You should have agreed to my proposal when I came to you." Viktor says, glee evident in his voice. He knows he's got us and whatever game he was playing with our fathers, he knows he's won. This makes me remember that everything we've gone through has been their fault.

They are the reasons we were at odds with Zara even in the first place. They are the reason and the authors of all our suffering. Their ambitions and thirst for revenge is the author of all our suffering.

It makes me look at all of them with different eyes. Men I once wanted to be like are nothing like I imagined. They didn't protect us, their kids, and they have only brought us suffering.

I need to talk to my brothers after this, we have some major decisions to make. We need to rethink all our plans. I don't know how that will be possible but even as I love the mob, but I know we can't have both, or at least not right now while she's still pregnant. And my priorities are different now.

"You were always just a loser who was nothing under the shadow of your brother."

"Careful, Clark."

"You had your own brother killed; don't tell me you expect me to respect that." Clark says and the whole room turns to him. I hope I'm hearing this wrong.

"Look, we are not here for this little reunion. We want her back. And you will hand her over." I say

The dead man bellows a laugh from the other side. "You must be the one called Mason. Or what, boy?"

"Or your little lover gets it, and I will mow through your family with my knife. Don't test us, Viktor."

He scoffs. "Go ahead, boy. Do what you must. But I'd be careful at how you speak; I do hold your life in my hands."

"Popov's boy, does he know you killed his father?" Jose's father asks

He sighs. "That fucking broker, I knew he was a loose end; I suspected he'd snitch. The boy thinks he has what it takes in this world. I should have killed him that night. But he hasn't been completely useless, he's been resourceful. He is the one who came with the idea of taking the girl and I thought he couldn't do it, but I guess the little whore just can't help herself when she sees a cock."

My jaw ticks as I zero in on his face, trying to imagine all the things I will do to him when I get my hands on him. maybe I'll skin his face as he begs for death or pull his teeth and stuff them down his throat.

"She's a child, Viktor, and you will not speak of her like that." Leo's father says

"Enough of this. What do you want?" Bas grits out

"It is simple, boy. I want the ports but a little more also. I want Havana too." He says simply. The man is really certifiable. The room is quiet for a second.

"Viktor, you know that that's impossible. That's all our business. Even if we wanted to, we can't." My father says coolly. My rage gallops as I glare at the man who I once loved more than anything as he stumps over my heart. This is Zara and our unborn child. No price is too high.

"We can give you money. $100 million, we let you go with protection, we will never bother you." Jose's father says

"We'll double that." Bas's father says that

"Take one of us instead."

"I love listening to you beg. Clark, I don't hear your offer. Your child not worth much to you, ah?" he taunts

"Viktor, I'd suggest you take what's offered because not even hell will be able to hide you if something happens to my child." Clark oozes lethal calm.

"Seeing that we aren't reaching an agreement, I guess this will be all. I have other bidders."

Then the line goes dead.

No one moves or speaks for a few moments.

"I will carve his heart out." Leo says in an even, cool tone.

Jose gets up and he stares at our fathers. "What is the deal with him, and Adrik's father?"

The fathers all look at Clark.

"Viktor hated his brother, but Gregor was the obvious leader. They fought side by side, Viktor the brains and Gregor the brawn. So, when Gregor had made it into the inner circle of the high bratva table, Viktor wanted everything he had for himself.

"The Syndicate remained a force, a stumbling block for all the organizations in the Americas as we expanded even internationally but Gregor thought he could take us. Gregor set his sights on wiping us out, and he convinced the high table to band together with the yakuza and the Sicilian mafia for pooling of resources to shut us down.

"When that happened Viktor also saw his opportunity to take out his own problem. No one would ever suspect it was him and he could take his brother's seat. When Gregor planned to go to Cuba, Viktor contacted the broker, and he gave me details on his brother's movements.

"That's how I knew he planned to go to Cuba for Mateo, when they went to his uncle's funeral, and my team was able to intercept them in time in Cuba before Gregor got to them."

A disgusted shiver runs through my body. The kind of people who have her have no code. A man who can kill his brother is capable of anything.

I get up. Tired of all this. It's time to get back to work.

Everybody goes in different directions, and we all go back to doing what we were busy with. I follow Bas back to where all the assembled team that sweeping surveillance is.

Our team returns from Cuba, and they found his family. I am a bit anxious now that Adrik probably knows we took them. I just hope the bastard has some love for them and we can use that to bring them home.

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