Page 80 of Bought to Bear Bratva Heir

"Boss."

"I want them found, quickly and quietly, but," chewing on my lip, I stared at him. If someone I knew personally was working against me, then there were very few people I could trust. "I don’t want anyone to know I know they were taken." I met his eyes steadily. "I want everyone to think she kidnapped Alec and I want him back. I don’t care what it takes."

There was a heartbeat of a pause as he digested my words, and then he nodded. "I’ll make sure everyone thinks you want her alive so you can deal with her yourself. Someone will talk. I’ll put it out there that there’s a handsome reward for information."

"I know. Good idea." Pinching the skin between my eyebrows, I stood. Someone somewhere would talk and give us a lead if we offered enough money, and honestly, I would payanything to get them both back. All I could do was hope that we got that information before something happened to them.

The thought made me feel sick. Was the only woman I had ever loved and my son being tortured even as I sat here talking about them? Was Daisy in pain? Because I knew she would protect Alec until her dying breath.

Fuck.

"And when we find out who took them, what do you want us to do?"

I didn’t even pause. Usually, I would have dealt with this kind of thing myself. Slowly and painfully until they begged for death, but all that mattered right now was that I got Alec and his mother back.

"Kill them." I swept out of the door, my feet heading towards the elevator because there was someone I needed to see. "Kill them all."

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Daisy

"Daisy."

I blinked my eyes open, blearily staring down at the pale face cradled in my lap, and without thinking, I reached down to smooth my fingers through his knotted hair. "Hey." I forced myself to smile. "You should sleep some more; it’s not morning yet."

Alec continued to stare at me, his eyes round and terrified. "I’m thirsty," he croaked, and my fingers stilled. Of course he was. I was thirsty as well. Not that I mattered.

Just him.

"Okay, I’ll get you some water." Slowly, I placed his little frame on the filthy mattress and went to look for the water bottle they had left us with when we had arrived here. How many days ago had that been?

I couldn’t be sure, but I knew at least two mornings had gone by because I had seen the orange glow of the sun streaking through the boarded-up windows.

It might have been more. We slept a lot. Or at least Alec did. I tried to, but my body just wouldn’t let me rest. No matter how exhausted I was.

On my hands and knees, I searched the darkened floor, almost knocking over the bucket that had been thrown at us for us to relieve ourselves in. Wrinkling my nose at the smell, I finally found the water bottle and crawled back towards my son.

Holding him on my lap, I helped him take a sip and then another.

"Easy. We have to drink slowly." I hated that I had to ration his water, but there wasn’t much left, and I wasn’t sure they would bring us another bottle. It wasn’t like they had brought us food since we had arrived.

"You have some." He pushed the bottle towards me. Instead of taking the drink my body was begging for, I screwed the cap back on with a slight shake of my head.

"I’m fine," I lied. "Not thirsty at all."

Alec looked at me from beneath his eyelashes. "I’m scared, Mama." His bottom lip began to tremble. Not once since we had been brought here had he cried. He had been brave, telling me he would protect us both and looking just like his father the entire time, but that bravado broke now.

God, I hated the look on his tiny face. It wasn’t just fear. It was abject terror, and there wasn’t much I could do to make him feel more at ease.

Instead, I did the only thing I could think of: I wrapped him in my arms, rocking him back and forth and whispering a lullaby into his ear.

"It’s okay. It’s all going to be okay," I lied when he continued to sob. "I’m going to protect you. Daisy will—"

"I’m sorry I called you Mama," he hiccuped into my shirt, soaking it with his tears.

For a second, I couldn’t say anything. I just held him tighter. "You can call me Mama," I said finally. "It makes me very happy when you do."

Wasn’t that the truth. My heart kind of felt lighter just for a second when he slipped up and called me that. It was only for a moment before the weight of our situation came crashing back down, but it was a second of happiness in this crappy time.