Midnight Oath (Tasarov Bratva 1)

The deep voice startles me. I ready a glass in my hand and spin around to find Stefan standing in the doorway.

He looks around the room and lets out a low whistle. “Damn, girl. You made quite a mess.”

“Where’s my daughter?!” I scream each word as I hurl the glass at him.

Stefan curses and ducks out of the way, then starts running towards me.

I round the island and grab the decorative bowl from the center, flinging it back towards him. The bowl catches him in the shoulder with a meaty thunk, but he keeps coming.

“For fuck’s sake, Emery, stop for one goddamn second! Just listen to me!”

“You took my daughter.” I throw the knife at him, though it misses by a mile, and then reach out for anything else I can throw. Unfortunately, this side of the kitchen is running low on ammunition. “I’m not listening to anything you say until you tell me where she is.”

“And I can’t tell you where she is until you listen.”

“Tell me where the fuck she is!”

“She’s with Adrik, okay?” he yells. “She’s with Adrik!”

“I know that,” I growl. “Where are they?”

“I… don’t know.”

Before he can even finish, I yank the drawer in front of me open. It’s full of spices, and I start flinging them at him.

“Fuck, Emery.” Stefan dodges a pepper grinder. “Relax!”

“Relax? He kidnapped my daughter!”

“Because you almost killed him!”

I work my way through the drawer alphabetically, grabbing cayenne pepper, chili powder, and cinnamon and hurling them all at Stefan.

Coriander catches Stefan in the jaw, and he curses. Then, all at once, he’s hurdling over the island. I don’t even have time to react. Stefan is on the ground one second, and flying towards me in midair the next.

I yell and try to twist away, but he wraps his arms neatly around me as he lands like a cat on the tile floor. He pins my hands to my sides.

“Enough.”

“Let me go.” I wriggle, but his grip is iron.

“You’ve made Adrik furious as it is,” Stefan says. “Tearing apart his kitchen won’t help.”

For the first time, I stop and look around. The tile floor is littered with shards of broken dishware and shattered glass, a silverware drawer is overturned on the counter, and bruised fruits are rolling around the floor like chickens with their heads cut off.

The dark-haired maid finally makes a run for it now that I’m restrained, kicking apples and oranges out of her way as she flees to the door.

“He can just buy more stuff,” I snap. “He can buy a new car. He can buy a whole fucking fleet of sports cars. What does he care?”

“He doesn’t give a shit about the car. But accidents aren’t a joke to him. He doesn’t have many buttons, but you pushed one. And now, he’s making you pay.”

Is Adrik scared of getting in a crash? I mean, I am. Getting in a car accident is one of those things that everyone is afraid of. Like falling off a cliff. Or drowning. Humans are hardwired for it.

I guess I kind of forgot Adrik is human. He doesn’t act like it very often.

But something tells me there’s more to the story here.

As I think, Stefan releases me slowly. “Are you calm?”

“No,” I snap. But it’s a lie. The fight has gone out of me.

My lack of sleep is catching up. The burst of adrenaline and rage is shifting to icy dread. My limbs feel cold and heavy and all I want to do is collapse on the floor and sleep forever.

“Where is she?” I ask quietly.

“I don’t know,” Stefan says. “But she’s okay. Adrik wouldn’t hurt her.”

“You don’t know that. He took her, so who’s to say he won’t—”

“I’m to say.” He bends down and looks in my face. “Trust me, Emery, okay? I know Adrik. He would never hurt a child.”

I narrow my eyes. “You’re his best friend. Of course you’d say that.”

"I'm his best friend, so I know him well enough to expect the absolute worst," Stefan says. "But I still know he wouldn't hurt Isabella."

The sincerity in his eyes is real. Somehow, that makes me feel better.

“Just… just call him and check?” I suggest. “You could call him and ask him to—”

Stefan shakes his head before I can even finish. “Adrik is my best friend, but he’s also my boss. I can’t ask him to do anything.”

I sag against the counter and cross my arms. "So I’m just supposed to sit here and wait for God-knows-how long?”

Stefan gives me a sympathetic smile. "Your best bet is to keep yourself busy." He glances around the kitchen. "I'll get someone to clean this kitchen and replace the stuff you broke before he gets home. Save us both a lecture."

I raise a brow at him. "Are you trying to be my friend now?"

"Think of me as the guardian angel of keeping Adrik from losing his shit."

"You must keep busy."

He sighs. "It's a full-time job."