My Russian Hero (9 page)

“Please leave,” she begged. “I want to be alone.” She covered her tear-stained face, the pain so great she couldn’t bring herself to watch him leave. The moment he stood, she felt her heart lurch within her chest... her heart was breaking. When the door clicked shut, she felt utterly alone, more so than she ever had before.

“If somebody is gracious enough to give me a second chance, I
      
won’t need a third.”

- Pete Rose

CHAPTER 13

Under the shadow of night, he watched the large mansion waiting for a chance to slip across the expanse of the yard. He could blend into the lush bushes of the garden until he reached the house. It was late and very few lights were on in the home, most of its occupants now sleeping snuggly in their bed. They would not see him unless he wanted to be seen.

“Soon I will have you all to myself,” he whispered to the stars lighting his way.

Dani slipped out the front door and Trent froze in the bushes, not ten feet away, inhaling her scent. He could see the tears in her eyes and it filled him with anger. He wondered what had made his woman cry like that. It didn’t matter; he could make it all better when they were alone.

As Dani stepped off the porch, the gravel beneath her feet crunched under her weight. A slow and steady breeze rustled the branches of the nearby trees and she turned her face to the night sky. The view of the starry sky was breathtaking in the country. Living in the city most of her life, she was unable to enjoy such a simple blessing as to count the stars. As a star shot across the sky, she sighed.

Stepping from the shadows, Trent grabbed Dani, pulling her into the shrubs. Before she could make a sound, he covered her mouth with a moist cloth. Her struggling slowed and then stopped. Trent wrestled with her body, trying desperately to toss her over his shoulder. The car wasn’t that far away, but he had to move quickly before someone came looking for her.

“You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing
      
an imperfect person perfectly.”

– Sam Keen

CHAPTER 14

Sergei sat in his room with Zoe, both wishing to give Dani a little space. They knew she needed to think. 

“Do you love Dani?” Zoe asked.

Sergei looked at her, slumped in a chair across the room. “Yes, I do.”

“What are you going to do to prove it to her?”

“I don’t know. My family is different. She might not understand.”

“She can be very understanding, you know,” Zoe said. “Besides, your family doesn’t seem all that different. A little uptight, maybe, but not really different.”

Sergei sat quietly for a moment then let out a long sigh. “We are mafia, Zoe. I have done terrible things.” Things he was certain Dani wouldn’t be able to see past.

“Mafia? Really? That’s kind of cool. And it explains a lot.”

He laughed at Zoe’s openness. “Maybe you should check on her. She was pretty upset with me.”

“Okay.” she said as she left the room. Seconds later, Zoe barged through the door screaming at the top of her lungs, “She’s gone! Sergei Dani’s gone!”

Sergei didn’t even think, just reacted. He was out of the chair and running down the hall before Zoe had even finished the sentence.  He took the stairs two at a time. “Dani is gone,” he shouted.

His father ran from his bedroom and the once-quiet mansion came to life as people began looking for the missing girl. Sergei looked around for any sign that she was still in the house but found nothing.

A venom-filled voice reverberated of the walls causing everyone to look to the top of the stairs. There stood Katya, a look of triumph on her face. What had she done, Sergei wondered. It took everything in his power to control the rage chewing at him to get out. He hated Katya with everything he was. If anything happened to Dani, he would make sure Katya lived to regret it.

“She left with a man,” Katya bellowed, making sure everyone heard her. “I saw them go across the yard to the woods.” She smiled. “Serves you right, Sergei, for cheating on me with a tramp.”

Sergei ran out the front door, looking for any sign of them. He had failed Dani, and the man she feared had her in his grasp. Zoe and his father came up behind him. “I must find her,” he said, his voice laced with worry.

“How?” Zoe asked.

“Do not worry, little one,” Ivan said. “Sergei has people that will help him.”

“Your mafia men need to kill the bastard that took her,” Zoe said, her voice filled with anger. “It took her so long to rebound after the first time he attacked her, I don’t know if she can again. It may be too much for her.”

“He attacked her before?” Sergei and Ivan asked, almost in unison. Their eyes went dark and cold. To prey on women was a sign of cowardice and both father and son knew the man who had Dani would meet a swift end when they found him.

“Sergei, I will call our most trusted men,” Ivan said, pulling a cellphone from his robe pocket. “We will save her, son.”

“The fear of losing someone always bring out whats in your heart.”

- Author Unknown

CHAPTER 15

Dani came to slowly, her muscles screaming. Her eyes fluttered open, trying to focus on her surroundings. Nothing looked familiar. A familiar wave of fear enveloped her, filling her senses to the brim. She attempted to sit up, only to have her body press harshly against the restraint binding her, pulling against the rope binding her, her skin going red and raw from her efforts.

In the next few seconds her world shifted off its axis completely as a voice she had hoped to never hear again sliced through the darkness, wrapping its cold dead hands around her, strangling her as it had before. “I’ve missed you my love.”

Laying there, tied down, unable to move, Dani’s pulse pounding in her ears, racing faster with every breath she fought to take. The man she had feared for so long was here in this room with her, and she once again couldn’t protect herself. He had made sure she couldn’t escape him again.

How did this happen? Scrunching her eye closed in a failed attempt at barring him from being real, goosebumps raising on her skin. She had messed up. Stepping outside alone had been a mistake. An incredibly stupid, possibly fatal, mistake. She lay still, waiting, wondering what would happen next. She didn’t want to die She wanted to live, wanted… what did she want?

Only one word – a name – formed. Sergei! Even after everything that had happened, she still wanted him. Her lips formed his name in silence. She knew he wasn’t there, but her only hope was that her could find her and save her from this maniac from her past. She whispered his name softly, letting the sound of each letter resonate within her like a prayer. “Sergei.”

The whispered name was heard, the soft sound of another man’s name lighting a blazing inferno in Trent. “No!” He shouted, stalking out of the darkness and grabbing Dani’s jaw, jerking her face towards his. Her eyes widened, breath hitching, bile rising in her throat at his touch.

“You will not speak his name here,” Trent whispered harshly. “Do you understand, my dear sweet Caroline?” He tried desperately to reign in his anger. He didn’t wish to hurt her. She could see the internal struggle in his eyes and that was when it happened. Her ear rang and her face burned as his hand crashed into the side of her face. Dani hadn’t seen it coming, and from the look on Trent’s face, a small part of him enjoyed the frightened look on her face coupled with the pain he had caused.

She nodded, knowing she couldn’t trust herself not to piss him off even more. She swallowed the acrid bile. “Who... who are you?”

Trent smiled, his eyes meeting hers, “I am your soulmate. Don’t you remember me?”

“I... “ she hesitated, not knowing how to answer. She didn’t know this man and if they had met, she couldn’t place him. This freaky bastard ran hot and cold, his emotions swinging wildly from one extreme to the other. She had to keep him calm. The longer she could keep him talking, the greater chance she had at survival. If she was lucky, Sergei would come looking for her, or at least she hoped he would.

“We met on Thanksgiving Day… at the soup kitchen,” Trent said, a smile on his face. “You came up to my table and asked if you could join me. You were so sweet. I knew you were the one my mom told me about. My special girl.”

Dani forced a smile onto her lips, realizing just how crazy this guy was. “What is your name?” she asked cautiously, quietly.

“Trent. Trent Ferguson.”

“What will you do with me, Trent?” she asked, as her eyes trained on the bindings at her wrists.

“I’m sorry about that. It was necessary. It’s time to move forward in our relationship. I’ve waited long enough.” He crossed to the other side of the room. Dani heard a door open, and then he was back, with a wedding gown. “It is time we were married.”

“But... but I’m not ready,” Dani whispered.

“Do not worry, Caroline. I will love you and care for you forever. I promise.”

“I don’t love you, Trent,” Dani whimpered. “I don’t even know you.”

“You will!” he said forcefully.

“I can’t! I won’t! I love Sergei. He makes me feel safe and loved,” she blurted, not recognizing her own voice. What? She didn’t love Sergei, did she?

“The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost.”

- G.K. Chesterton

CHAPTER 16

In the minutes that passed after Dani’s disappearance, Sergei and his father had called all their men with orders to report in immediately. Zoe, at Sergei’s request, had shared what little details Dani had given about her history with this unknown assailant, leaving Sergei to talk with his men about how they would proceed.

“Get one thing clear,” Sergei said. “Dani’s safety is top priority. If you have a kill shot on this asshole, take it. Katya saw him take her into the forest so we’ll start there. If you find anything, notify me at once.”

The men followed Sergei and Ivan to the fountain in front of the house and began working their way to the trees. Any clue was better than nothing, and Sergei had to find Dani. If she were hurt, or worse, he would never be able to forgive himself. After hearing the disturbing details of this man’s attack on Dani years earlier, he was overcome with rage.

“Sergei, please find her,” Zoe pleaded, grasping his arm tightly.

“I promise to bring her home safe.” Sergei said as he faced his men. “Let’s head out. Keep your eyes and ears open. They could still be nearby.”

The Smirnov’s men descended on the woods like a cold, black wave crashing against the underbrush. Zoe watched as dozens of muscular men in black suits with large guns filed across the lawn, only a few feet separating them. It was quite the sight. With Sergei leading the way, she knew Dani would be found.

An hour later, the men returned with solemn faces, empty-handed. Sergei was exhausted but refused to give up hope that he would find Dani. His phone pinged, alerting him of a text message. He pulled the phone from his pocket, falling to his knees as he looked at the screen. An image of Dani, bound to a table, filled the screen, accompanied by one sentence.

DO NOT WORRY FOR ME I AM WITH THE MAN I LOVE

Sergei could make out the raw, reddened flesh on her wrists from the ropes biting into her beautiful skin. Rage boiled in his veins and the control holding back the killer inside him broke free. The man who had taken her would die at his hands. He wouldn’t allow him to breathe the same air as the precious woman he tormented.

Ivan approached his son and kneeled beside him on the gravel drive. Kneeling was usually seen as weakness but neither man cared at the moment. The men under their command respectfully looked away. Ivan slipped the phone from his son’s grasp, reading the text which told them nothing but lies. The picture, on the other hand, told much.

“I know this place,” Ivan said.

“What?” Sergei could hardly believe it. “Where?”

“A farm house. It’s just a few miles down the road.”

Everything that transpired over the next half hour was organized chaos. Sergei barked out orders to the men in black suits, weapons at the ready. Zoe couldn’t shake the feeling of seeing a military operation, only with suits instead of uniforms.

With Dani only a short distance away, there was no doubt they would get to her quickly, and nobody had to ask about prisoners. None would be taken. Sergei slid into one of the waiting black SUVs with his most trusted men. Two dozen black SUVs followed his, each carrying a handful of men willing to do whatever was asked of them. Sergei knew they would die following the orders he gave and he thanked them silently.

The plan was to approach the farm house with extreme caution from all sides, making sure the bastard didn’t escape with Dani again. The men slipped silently through the forest surrounding the house, each group taking turns easing their way into positions closer to the two-story dwelling. From Sergei’s location, he could see two windows lit up brightly on the first floor but no sign of movement. A single car sat in the driveway.

Sergei had had enough with waiting. He needed to move. The adrenaline pumping through his veins was maddening. He stepped out of the shadows, slinking toward the front door. He didn’t give orders to his men, just acted. All he could think about was Dani. As images flashed before his eyes of what could be happening to her, he began to run. A voice in his head chanted over and over
Save her! Save her!

“In the end there doesn’t have to be anyone who understands
      
you. There just has to be someone who wants to.”