Bella: The Ending: A Sagatori Family Saga

by Kimberly Soto

  “I will,” Albina whispered. “I can go. I’ll think of an excuse after my chores are completed. I’ll get in there and—”

  Unable to wait for her to finish I interrupted, “Can you give him a message? I could write something, could you get it to him?”

  Apprehension swam against her milky flesh folding her expression. “I could… try.”

  I smiled, feeling hope fill my veins like warm blood. “That’s all I want… for you to try.”

  “I can try,” she promised.

  “Albina,” the maid drawled out. “You can’t go in there, he’ll have your hide.” She huffed and dismissed herself with excuses that she needed to prepare lunch.

  Hope had filled my heart, and when she and Albina left to complete their duties, I relaxed for the first time since I’d arrived in Russia. I ate every bit of food that sat on my plate, filling my stomach beyond its limits.

  Chase and Tony rested while we waited for Albina; she’d promised to bring warm clothing. When she finally arrived, she not only brought clothing but a first aid kit as well. I could help Chase and Tony, who had a cut above his left eyebrow. They quickly showered and dressed. Lunch came after they had finished, and this time not only did she bring food but pain medication as well. She’d hidden it in her pocket, slipping it out handing it directly to Chase.

  “It will help you.”

  “I’m good, thanks.” He refused it.

  “My dentist gave them to me last month after I had surgery, I have several left over.”

  He remained hesitant.

  “Please, they will help you.” He lifted his hand, and she dropped four white oval pills into his palm. “Take two now, and in four hours take the other two. Might make you sleepy, but it’s not too bad; only ever made me drowsy.”

  “Thank you,” he said, throwing his head back and taking them down quickly.

  Albina waited impatiently for me to write a note to Jax. I lifted my eyes, unsure of what to say, to see Tony and Chase drumming their fingers along the chairs they sat in. I drew a deep breath catching Chase’s attention. He curled his fingers into his palm and looked back to me. I gave him a half smile and lowered myself onto the edge of the bed.

  All the things I needed to say weren’t going to fit on the piece of paper Albina had handed me a few minutes before.

  Jax,

  I love you…

  I couldn’t think of anything more to write as my gaze lingered on the white paper as I handed it to Albina.

  She smiled warm and genuine as she folded the paper and slipped it into her pocket. “I’ll get it to him.”

  “Thank you.” My voice was tough and tired.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  —Jax—

  “Let ‘em lay in it.” Ivan hovered, relishing in his revenge. I wasn’t responsible for taking Bella from him, but I’d be the one to pay. And I did as I sat tied to the chair with vomit spewing from me uncontrollably.

  Ivan’s men continually injected me with heroin, for who knew how long. I’d since lost contact with reality, and unfortunately time was one of those realities. My body would likely give out soon. It was just a matter of time before I overdosed, I knew it, so did he. He played with me—toyed, really—wanting me to beg for my life. I could see it in the dark orbs of his insanity. I refused to give him the satisfaction.

  His eyes looked like Bella’s. Hard to hate someone who resembled the love of your life. She was the one person in this world who understood me. She knew I wasn’t good, that I did things that were gonna send me to hell, but loved me anyway.

  I coughed the vomit from the back of my throat as I asked, “What do you intend to prove?” More vomit spilled from my mouth landing onto my pants.

  “You’re a stupid American, responsible for keeping her away from her mother and me… her country. I intend to make you suffer.”

  I blinked, trying so damn hard to stay awake. “When she learns what you’ve done she’ll never forgive you.” I coughed again, unable to keep my stomach from turning against me.

  He laughed. “She’ll never know.” He stepped back, afraid, avoiding the contents that erupted.

  “Sir,” a female voice interrupted.

  Ivan scowled. “What is it?”

  A small woman entered and slowly walked across the room clinging to her apron. She trembled, halting her steps only a foot from Ivan. “Well, go on.” He hurried her.

  She was small and as pale as the white apron she clung to. Her eyes darted to me several times before turning her attention to Ivan speaking only in Russian.

  Ivan pulled an arm back before colliding it into the girl’s face. He then yelled and threw something that shattered against the wall. “You idiots!” He spat. More Russian talk…

  “You know… you simply can’t trust anyone to do anything. Good help is so hard to find.” He leaned back resting against his desk and dropped his attention to the floor, having spotted something. His smugness had faded, letting his weakness show through. I knew it was there, hiding. He reached to the floor and picked up a small piece of paper, staring at it.

  I dropped my eyes to the poor girl who laid helpless on the floor as she cried into the palm of her hand. A tall, burly man hovered and bent to pick her up, taking her away from the room moments later.

  Whatever she had said had obviously been enough to make him furious. Ivan stood erect from the desk saying something further to his men. Moments later everyone left closing the door, leaving me unable to hear what was happening beyond the room. I fought against the restraints bounding me to the chair, but was unsuccessful in my attempts.

  I sat alone in Ivan’s office for a long while trying to escape from the bindings. I was interrupted when the door opened. I couldn’t see who had entered, but heard the click of heels and a woman clear her throat. I anchored my body to turn and inspect who it was.

  A beautiful woman, late sixties, stood in a fitting blue dress as she watched me carefully.

  “You must be Jax.”

  My head hung low. “I am. You’ll have to forgive the attire. It’s been a bad couple of days.” Any smile I had fell short.

  She nodded, swallowed, and dipped her head to her white-gloved hands. “You’re Nadia’s husband, I presume?”

  I blinked and licked my dry lips. “Bella, her name is Bella.” My eyes rolled and closed as I fought off exhaustion.

  She approached further pressing her lips into a hard line. “I certainly understand your response as I’m certain you’ll understand mine.” She lifted her head and sat into a chair a few feet away. “You see, Nadia was taken away from me just after her birth as well as her brother.”

  I dropped my jaw. “You’re… Bella’s mother?”

  She nodded. “I’ve waited a long time for my husband to bring her home. She pressed her white-gloved finger to her cheek and wiped a tear away then drew a large breath and readjusted in her seat. “However, I was unaware, until now, that she was here, against her will at that.”

  I shook my head. “I find it hard to believe that you didn’t know he took her, killed my men… Almost killed me.” I looked down to my arms as I moved them in the bindings.

  She drew another noticeable breath as she smoothed her hands over her dress. “I only just found out.” She stood and slowly walked to the window. “Jax, I want you to be aware that you’re men are here; a few were captured as they’d come to rescue you. My husband is trying to outsmart them, as he often does.” She turned from the window. “I love my daughter. I want her to know, I didn’t want this. I would never want her to be held from her family… the only family that she’s known her entire life. My husband is… How you say, angry.” She paused and looked to the ceiling. “When Nadia was taken and her brother died…” she dropped her head. “Well, let’s just say it’s been difficult these years.” Her lips pressed into a hard line once again.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to set you and my beautiful daughter free, help you both escape.” Sh
e was brave, but I caught the twitch of her left eye as the words escaped from her pale cheeks.

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Why set us free if you’ve waited all this time.” It didn’t make sense.

  She tilted her head to the right observing my reaction. “Because I love her and she loves you. And… When she’s ready to know me I’ll be there. Until then, well, I want nothing more than for her to be happy.” She dropped her head again. “I want her to be healthy.”

  I nodded into my shocked expression. “There are guards everywhere how will we get through them?” I hadn’t expected for anyone to rescue us, to save us from the all-consuming monster, Ivan.

  “Leave that to me.” She paused. “In the meanwhile, let’s untie you, shall we.” Her pale, diamond-filled fingers unwrapped both my arms. She assessed me while pressing a hand to my forearm. “Do you feel alright?”

  “I feel like anyone who’s been drugged for the last…” I looked toward the window. “I don’t know how long,” I finished, resting my eyes on my bruised arm caused by multiple injections of heroin.

  “You’ll need to receive medical attention; promise me you’ll see about that as soon as you’re home. I’m sorry, Jax, I’d offer it to you now, but I think we both know you’d be better off if we parted ways.”

  “Agreed.”

  The hard line of her lips turned soft and lax. “Alright.” She gently patted my arm and then whistled. Two men entered. “This is my good friend Jax.” her smile was gone. “I expect that you’ll see him and my daughter out safely. I’ll deal with my husband.”

  “Of course.” I blinked rapidly desperately attempting to stay awake.

  She turned with softness. “Jax, they are my guards, and only I dictate their orders. You can trust them because I trust them. They will make certain that you are both safe, do you understand?”

  “He’ll be back.”

  She smoothed her silver hair away from her face. “I suppose you’re correct. I know that he has the means; however”—she lifted a finger—“I can assure you that as long as I live, you’ll be safe from him.”

  “Thank you.”

  She released a small sigh. “I can see how you were able to capture her heart. Honestly, for you to risk coming here, to save her, it speaks volumes of your love for her.”

  “I do love her. Your husband has been trying to take that away from us.”

  “And my husband, well, I’m sure a lot of people assume his power comes from the throne of sorts, but, in fact”—she whispered—“it comes from anger.” She cleared her throat. “And we all know how very powerful anger can be, don’t we, Jax? Some say anger is just as powerful as love and then wonder how you determine one from the other. Do you know how to determine that, Jax?”

  I raised my folded eyes to answer, “No,” I didn’t.

  “Love is selfless. True love is relentless in any way that the person chooses to love. In this case, you have chosen to protect my Nadia, no fear of death. My husband is a dangerous man and yet, you sit here ready and willing to die for her.”

  “Yes.”

  “Anger is also relentless, but every cell of anger has a crutch in its shield… a weakness, a weakness that will surely at some point end with failure. Love doesn’t have a crutch.” She paused while she watched me. “I must go. I trust you’ll continue protecting my daughter?”

  “With every breath.”

  “Very well.” She smiled one last time before allowing the two to approach. She stood still, watching for a moment before leaving the room without another word.

  The two men didn’t appear any different than the other men who’d beaten and drugged me over the last few days. “We need to go.”

  “This way,” another guard spoke.

  “Where’s my wife?”

  The two men turned to each other staring with conspiring eyes. “She’s coming.”

  I stood on wobbly feet falling against Ivan’s desk supporting myself.

  “Can you walk?”

  “I’ll be fine.” I coughed through rising nausea that’d threatened at the back of my throat.

  “We need to clean you up. You can’t go anywhere like this.” The guards watched my pathetic appearance with disgust and pity. I was pitiful, that I couldn’t deny, and they were right. I couldn’t go anywhere looking this way.

  They pulled me, supported me as we left through a back door in Ivan’s office and up a flight of stairs, down a hallway, and down another four flights of stairs. This place was a maze and impossible to fathom the possibility of escape.

  I was led into an unguarded room. There was a bed in the middle of the room with huge posts at the four corners. A large window on the wall to my left allowed dull light to break through the sheer curtains.

  “Sit.”

  I did as they said, needing to rest after the long journey it’d taken to get here. I slowly looked around and wondered if this was some elaborate prank that Ivan was playing.

  Thirty minutes later one of the men who’d brought me here entered and said, “You’ll take a shower here.” He pointed to a door, the bathroom.

  I winced from the weakness in my legs. The feeling of filth and weakness were the only two things that I was sure of because they’d been rooted deep into my veins. I swayed in the chair and my vision went white. I hesitated, inching toward the room they’d pointed to.

  The two men handed me clothing, shoes, towels, and pointed toward a drawer that had everything else I’d need to look like a man and not a drug addict once more.

  One of the men followed me into the bathroom, and I threw him a death stare. “I was ordered to assist you, sir. With the amount of drugs in your body you may need it.”

  “I’ll be fine.” I tightened my jaw and pushed against the sink. It took a moment to clear the haze of dizziness that clouded my brain. Even though I probably did need help, I refused it. I would be fine. I just needed to focus, and the shower would be just the thing to get me feeling better.

  I climbed into the large stone shower grateful for the warmth of the water and the steam that fogged the entire room. I swayed and my vision went white again as I caught myself on the wall.

  I showered and dressed, slowly. I wanted to hurry, get it done as quickly as possible, but my body just wasn’t able to keep up and, quite frankly, neither was my mind. Several hours had passed since the last time I’d been given any heroin, and I could feel as my body dangerously came off the high. It didn’t feel as good as I’d hoped it would. The feeling was actually worse than the actual high. I cleared my throat as I opened the bathroom door and watched as the steam billowed into the room.

  I put a hand on the wall and supported myself as I stepped over the threshold. My hand tightened as I could feel the dangerous territory I was crossing with every minute the drug left my blood. I knew what it meant even if thinking it scared the shit out of me.

  I muttered under my breath from anger as I struggled with the weakness of my muscles and mind.

  “Where’s my wife?”

  The two looked at each other. “She’ll be with you soon enough; for now you rest.”

  My head pounded and my body ached as if someone had set acid loose in my veins; rest was definitely something I desperately needed, but I couldn’t rest knowing she was so close and in danger. “I can’t rest while she’s here with that monster.”

  “If you want to get out of here alive, you’ll rest. Trust me, you need to rest after what you’ve been through.” They pointed toward the large bed in the center of the room.

  As much as getting out of this hell hole was my top priority, I did need to rest; to sleep just a little while, close my eyes for only a minute.

  I slipped between the silk sheets and folded the heavy down comforter over my body and breathed hard, a few gasps lingering in the back of my throat, waiting for the pain that threatened in the back of my mind. I closed my eyes and waited… hoped that sleep would take me before the prowling pain devoured me. I’d feel so much b
etter if I could just get a little of it.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  —Bella—

  “Did it work?”

  “I don’t know.” Albina shrugged

  “What happened to your face?”

  She palmed her cheek and stepped back. “It’s nothing,”

  “He hit you?” I was angry with myself for putting her in a situation where she was injured just so that she could help me.

  “It’s nothing, really.”

  Chase stepped forward. “Did you see him?”

  “Yes.” She lowered her hand from her face.

  “What did he say? Is he okay?”

  “He was in a chair, tied up. I dropped the note as close to him as I could get it, but I don’t know if he saw it. I’m so sorry.”

  “Okay, so we know that he’s alive.” Chase took in a slow, deep breath. “That’s good,”

  “Miss, I have to go. I’ll be back soon,” Albina said hurriedly

  I paced. “What do we do now?”

  “We wait,” Tony shot.

  “Yeah, we wait. There’s nothing more we can do.”

  “Wait for his goons to come for you? They’re gonna know you’re gone, and eventually, they’ll come looking for you here.” I pointed toward the floor.

  Tony shook his head. “No, they didn’t check on us the entire time we were down there. What would make them check on us now?”

  “Yeah, okay.” I’d agree for now to make him happy, but I couldn’t deny the overwhelming urge to keep them safe; even if they didn’t think they needed it.

  “The only concern you need to have is for that baby.” Tony moved along the room seeming unaffected by what had happened while he’d been here. “Just calm down and let us handle it.”

  My lips pulled into a terse grin. “Cause your manhood has done you well, got you in here just as my womanhood got me here.” I rolled my eyes and turned toward the window.

  A laugh echoed in the back of his throat.

  I ignored him as I searched the yard. We were sitting ducks here. “What if what she said was all bullshit?” I asked mindlessly.