Chapter 32

Cassian had already realized Anastasia was missing. He knew she’d finished everything at work and was supposed to be home all day. Around lunchtime, Cassian got the urge to head home and check on her. When he walked through the door—empty house.

Cassian immediately tried her cell. Straight to voicemail. Those two assholes had powered down her phone the moment they shoved her in the van. This was weird. Where could Anastasia have gone? Middle of the day like this, she’d never just turn her phone off. Battery dead, maybe?

A knot formed in Cassian’s stomach. Something felt off. Anastasia wasn’t the type to just vanish without saying anything. Besides visiting her grandmother, where else would she go? But she’d just seen Grandma Elisabeth yesterday.

Wait—Cassian remembered Anastasia mentioning her friend Tamia. He had his assistant, Philips, dig up Tamia’s contact info right away. Finding people was nothing for Cassian. Within minutes, Philips had Tamia’s number. Cassian called her immediately.

Tamia told him Anastasia had texted her that morning about hitting the grocery store.

“And there’s no way Ana would turn her phone off,” Tamia added. “She keeps that thing charged 24/7 in case her grandmother needs her.”

So something had definitely happened. Cassian didn’t hesitate. He went into full crisis mode, telling Philips to get people moving immediately.

“Check every security camera around that grocery store area.”

Cassian’s face turned stone-cold, his jaw set like concrete. Philips called back within the hour.

“Boss, we got surveillance footage from around noon near the shopping center. Shows a woman getting dragged into a van.”

“But I can’t tell for sure if it’s her,” Philips continued. “Sending you the footage now.”

Cassian pulled it up on his phone immediately. One look and he knew—it was Anastasia. Who the hell did this? Business rivals trying to get to him?

Cassian’s eyes went ice-cold, his hands clenching into fists. Watching that surveillance footage of two masked bastards forcing Anastasia into that van made his blood boil. Whoever touched his wife had just signed their own death warrant.

“Philips, I want that van tracked down now!” Cassian’s voice was deadly quiet, the kind of calm that meant someone was about to get hurt.

“On it, boss!” Philips shot back. “Got teams pulling traffic cams from every intersection. We’ll have their route mapped out in no time.”

Cassian hung up and immediately dialed another number. A rough voice picked up: “Yeah, Mr. Rhodes?”

“Max, I need a favor.” Cassian’s tone was colder than January. “Someone grabbed my wife. I need every contact you’ve got—street level, law enforcement, doesn’t matter. Find her.”

“Say no more, boss.” Max didn’t miss a beat. “I’ll put the word out everywhere. Both sides of the law will be looking.”

Cassian ended the call and forced himself to breathe. Stay focused. Think. His phone buzzed again—Philips calling back.

“Boss, that van disappeared into the old industrial zone on the west side. Sent crews out there, but it’s a massive area. Could take a while to cover it all.”

“I’m heading out there myself.” Cassian was already walking toward his car. “Keep me posted.”

Anyone stupid enough to mess with what was his was about to learn a very painful lesson.

Chapter 33