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Looking miserable, Cooper handed him a letter Nikos scanned it quickly

Nikos

I’ve realized that sharing custody will never work I’ with him for South Auess you were right Trying to keep our baby safe and ould be tooto find me Raise our son well

Anna

“Boss?” Cooper repeated unhappily His voice echoed in the private outside hallway against the steel of the elevator doors “What do you want me to do?”

Nikos’s heart was pounding She’d left him The moment he’d realized he loved her with all his heart, she’d left him His worst fear had come true

But so the pain, and he read the letter again A mere hour after she’d left Nikos she’d decided to leave both him and Misha behind for a life with Victor Sinistyn?

Maybe it was her handwriting, but he didn’t believe a word of it

“She’s in trouble,” Nikos said slowly “Someone forced her to write this letter”

“You think she’s been kidnapped?”

“Sinistyn,” he breathed The man had made it clear he wanted Anna, and when Nikos had shoved her out of L’Heruards he’d handed her to him on a silver plate He cursed himself under his breath “Get the plane ready”

“It’s ready now—for your trip to Asia”

“Screw Singapore Let Haverstock take the bid,” he said, throwing away the billion-dollar deal to his chief rival without a thought

“Where are we going to look for her? South America?”

Nikos shook his head “Sinistyn put that in to throw us off the track No He’s going someplace else Somewhere private Solanced down at the letter, forcing hiain slowly

You once said I was no kind of mother…

Trying to keep our baby safe and ould be too …

He sucked in his breath She was trying to tell hi the letter, he shoved it at Cooper “They’re going to Russia”

“Let uess, boss,” Cooper said sourly “You want to handle this alone”

Nikos gently handed the baby to Mrs Burbridge Kissing his son goodbye, he turned to face Cooper with rage surging through his veins “Hell, no I want every et Yuri Andropov on the phone It’s time to call in a favor”

CHAPTER NINE

ANNA shifted slightly in her chair, trying to shift the cords that bound her wrists without attracting the attention of Victor or his goons Her hands felt hot and sweaty with the effort, but the rest of her felt like ice as she worked the broken tines of her great-grandainst the rope

On the car ride fro sun on her face, but the backroom of the Rostov Palace felt cold as ever Especially as she’d listened to Victor’sher lip, she watched as Victor and one of his men set up an old black-and-white television near the fire

“It’s not working We’llto position the antenna

“It’ll be fine,” Victor snapped in the sa that there was no electricity, dropped it in disgust “Go help with dinner”

“Why can’t sheat Anna “Make the woman useful for once”

Victor glanced back at her, and she froze

“Oh, she will be useful But only to me Get out, I said I want some time with my future bride”

As Victor approached she pressed her wrists against her T-shirt, hoping he wouldn’t notice that one of the cords binding her to the chair was finally starting to fray

She’d been praying that customs officials would discover her when they arrived in St Petersburg, but Victor’s connections, along with a well-placed bribe, had allowed his private plane to arrive unmolested