by S F Draven
“Uh, I didn’t think anyone was in here. All of the party liquor is outside,” she said, and I instantly recognized her voice. I turned around to see Annika’s stunning face staring back at me, and I watched her eyes widen when she recognized who I was.
“Oh my God, what are you doing here?” she asked, and I could tell that she was a bit taken aback by my presence, probably worried that I followed her here or something.
“I was dragged by my friend who is here to meet a lovely woman who he seems to be very taken with. Uh, Natalia I think her name was.” I watched her loosen up, coming down from that moment of stress where she almost looked as though she was going to run in the opposite direction.
“That’s my best friend. I’m hoping that your friend isn’t going to cause any trouble for her, because she has terrible taste in guys,” she said, with a chuckle.
“He’s harmless, and to my surprise, he’s on his best behavior. I’ve never seen him like this with anyone, and I genuinely think he likes her,” I replied.
“That’s good. What about you? Here to see anyone in particular?”
“You know, I had no plans to, but I was hoping I’d run into you again at some point. I didn’t think it would be tonight,” I said, teasingly.
“Neither did I.”
“Whoever owns this house has an incredible taste in artwork. I cannot believe how many lovely pieces of Russian history are hanging on these walls,” I said, gazing up at the framed art.
“You’re into art?” she asked, and I could sense the shock in her voice.
“I don’t collect much, but I’ve always been captivated by it.”
“The house is mine, well it’s my family’s. My father loves to collect artwork, and he has been for decades. He’s been trying to hunt down every last piece he could find to complete each collection.” Annika poured herself a glass so she could join me.
“Isn’t that marvelous? He’s got a great eye, your father,” I said.
“Well, he’s had help. I’ve been studying art all my life, and it’s probably the only thing my father and I have in common. I helped him pick out a few of these pieces, and just today I acquired a little place to open up my own gallery.”
“That’s amazing. I’ll have to swing by there sometime when you open,” I said, inching closer to her.
“I would love that. My father has been generous enough to loan me some of the pieces he doesn’t care too much about, but I’ve been trying to convince him to let me show some of the more notable ones.” She smiled and I could see her blushing skin under the soft, warm lighting over the bar.
“I’ll have to pick your brains sometime about some art work I’ve been quite interested in myself,” I said.
“Anytime,” she responded, but before we had the chance to let our conversation continue, it was interrupted by a sound I didn’t expect to hear tonight. Gunshots? I leaped into action, motioning for Annika to get behind me while I retrieved the gun that was in the holster fastened to my dress pants.
This is the last place I expected to hear anything like that, and I can only hope that it’s a burglary or something, because if those gunshots have anything to do with me, I’m fucked.
“What the fuck was that?” Annika asked, and I could see a sudden look of fear wash over her when she looked down to see the gun in my hand.
“I have no idea, but I want you to stay behind me, and don’t move, okay?”
“Why do you have a gun?” she asked, her body starting to shake.
“I keep it around for times like this. Now, let me help you,” I said, and she nodded at me, ducking behind the bar so she would be out of sight for the intruders. I could hear the screams tumbling in from the living room, and everyone who knew what was best for them started to clear out before they became collateral damage.
I know I was looking for a bit of excitement tonight but this isn’t exactly what I had in mind.
I started to inch closer to the double doors separating me from the action taking place right outside. I could hear the soft sound of Annika whimpering, and I found myself wanting to comfort her, even though I was better suited to find out who would break into her home. I needed to know what they were after because it seemed that there were many people watching this place from afar, waiting for the right moment to strike.
The living room erupted into complete chaos with people running for their lives, and a few masked men gathering with their guns, who finally turned their attention to me. A few of them were searching the property, looking for something in particular because they didn’t take any of the valuables that were sitting right under their noses.
“Volkov, I think you have what we’re looking for.” One of the men addressed me directly, his voice muffled underneath the fabric of his full face mask.
“Whatever it is, it’s probably not here. I came here for a night off, and nothing in this place belongs to me, but from the looks of it, you’re better off leaving everything right where it is. Anyone with this much money will hunt you down and take care of you. That much I can say.”
“I can’t find it anywhere,” another one said, stomping down the grand staircase, frustrated and ready to kill.
“Volkov, we’ve been on your tail for some time, and at first we were thinking about the possibility of recruiting you, but now we see that you’ll be of no use to us. If you have no idea the value of what you stole, then you’re better off dead. You can’t survive in a world like this one,” the masked man said, and before I could offer up anything else, I heard five clear shots fire off in the kitchen, followed by the harrowing screams of who I believed to be one of my friends.
“That’s to let you know that we’re serious. We’re going to keep taking your friends out one by one until you decide to tell us where the fucking painting is,” he said again.
“You’re not going to touch anyone else. If you think I have what you want, then you better pack up your weapons and get the fuck off this property. We’ll make a deal like men, not like animals. Understood?” My gun was still pointing in his direction and he knew I could take him out before anyone got to me.
“Fine. We’ll give you two days. If we don’t have the painting by then, we’re going to have to resort to desperate measures,” he said, and his eyes averted over to the double doors I came out from, and at that moment I realized he had been talking about Annika. I had no relation to her, but now she was in danger because of me, because I decided to steal a painting I didn’t even know the true value of.
The men cleared out of there, honoring their word for the time being, while I rushed into the kitchen to see Adrian laid out on the kitchen floor, his head resting in a pool of his own blood. I felt a sudden pang in my heart, reminding myself that this was all my fault, and if I had just left that painting right where it was, Adrian might’ve still been alive.
This is a tragic moment, and I lost a dear friend of mine, but something tells me that giving up that painting is going to be a mistake. I’m going to hold onto it until I can figure out who wants it so badly to tear this place apart looking for it. Though now I have other things to worry about. If those men know who Annika is and that this house belongs to her, I have to consider her marked. I didn’t want to drag her or anyone into this mess, and I certainly wasn’t aware that a single painting would cause so much commotion, but I feel like I owe it to her to offer my protection. I don’t want her knowing that I have it either, at least not for now.
I glanced around at the horrific scene before me, looking over my shoulder to see if I could spot Eduard or Feliks, but they were nowhere to be found. I called out for them, and I heard them shout from upstairs, rushing down to see what happened.
Good, they didn’t hear any of that. That’s going to make things a bit easier on me.
“What the fuck happened, Stephan?” asked Eduard.
“Where were you guys?”
“There were men climbing up through the balconies, and we took out the few we could before we were sur
rounded. Eventually, they got word and left, but I don’t know why,” replied Feliks.
“I’ll show you why,” I said, leading them into the kitchen where they looked down to see our friend laying there absolutely lifeless. They all went white with shock, and I stood there shaking my head, trying not to let on that I knew exactly what this was about.
“Oh my God! Adrian?” We heard a voice call out, rushing over, and it was Natalia. I watched as Annika came out of hiding to embrace her friend, and we all stood there overlooking the tragedy, trying to figure out what to do next. I glanced over at Annika, and she had tears in her eyes. I knew this was not how she expected her evening to go, and in that moment I just wanted to make things better for her.
Chapter Four: Annika
I could hear the sound of my heart beating in my ears, staring down at the dead body on my kitchen floor, wondering how this could’ve even happened. It felt like just a few moments ago that everyone was having a wonderful time, like we were all just enjoying the evening the way it was meant to go.
I felt terrified to be at home alone, knowing that my parents weren’t going to be back for a few days, but I didn’t know what to do. I’d never been met with a situation like this, and my first instinct was to call the police, but my father had always warned me about that. I knew enough about his criminal activity to know that calling the police was out of the question no matter what the circumstances were, and our only other option was to get rid of the body.
I held onto Natalia, feeling her tears soak into the fabric of my dress, while I listened to the boys bicker about how they were going to get their friend out of my house.
“We have to take him back home, and decide what we’re going to do once we’ve all calmed down, Stephan,” one of them said, turning his attention to the handsome stranger I barely knew, finally able to hear his name.
“I suppose so,” said Stephan, turning to look at me again, inching closer to me, but I leaped back out of fear. I didn’t understand why, but it was just the way his entire expression had changed the moment he pulled out his gun, ready to dive headfirst into whatever the threat might’ve been. I didn’t hear much of anything while I was hiding under the bar, but it seemed that Stephan was able to get rid of the men that had broken into my home. That was enough for me to want to trust him, even if I was making a terrible mistake.
For him to pull something like that off, there has to be more about this man than he’s letting on. If seeing my father’s business practices have taught me anything, he probably knows his way around the crime world himself.
Going to bed tonight like nothing happened was not going to be possible, because even if we were left alone, I don’t think Natalia and I would be able to sleep at all after what we’d seen. Stephan rose from hovering over his dead friend to corner me for a moment, and something about his gentle mannerisms made me want him to stick around. I couldn’t explain it, but he was the reason that we were safe now, and I had to thank him properly for that.
I don’t know what I would’ve done if those intruders had hurt anyone I loved. I don’t know how I would’ve lived knowing I didn’t do anything to stop them.
“Annika, I know this all must be quite a shock to you, but it’s possible that they might come back once they know that most of the people have cleared out. I know you barely know me, and offering this may be too far fetched for you to entertain, but I’d like you to come with us,” he said. Even though I was afraid after what had happened, I was far more scared of the men that had broken in than him.
“O-okay. Okay, but just until we can figure out what’s going on. Oh my God, I don’t know how I’m going to tell my parents what happened here. They’re going to lose their minds,” I said, realizing that I had no experience dealing with these kinds of situations, but I had an inkling that Stephan had an idea of what to do.
“Don’t worry, Annika. I promise that we can have everything fixed before your parents return. Uh, when exactly are they returning?” he asked.
“In four days,” I replied, and he nodded his head.
“We’ll get it taken care of, I promise you. You and Natalia are welcome to stay with us for the evening and go about your lives the way you normally would, but we’ll offer you any protection you may need,” said Stephan.
“How do we know you’re not going to kill us the minute we walk out the front door?” Natalia asked, and I glared at her, even though she certainly had a point.
“You don’t, but you probably won’t want to sit around here waiting for that pack of neanderthals to come back, do you?”
“Point taken,” she said, and just like that Stephan began to instruct us to get any cleaning supplies we had around the house. It took me a while to find them because I’d never had to lift a finger under my parents’ roof, which was just the way they liked it.
Stephan and his friends managed to move Adrian’s body, cleaning him up the best they could before returning to help me restore my home to the way it was before everything happened. Stephan let me know that it was going to take at least a day to replace the broken glass and anything else that might have been caught in the crossfire, but I was just grateful that there’d be a possibility my family wouldn’t find out about what happened here tonight.
I still had no idea why someone would want to break in, what they would even want with me. It was then that I realized that I was living in a bubble, that my father had been conducting criminal activities right under my nose, and by turning a blind eye to it all these years, I wasn’t prepared to take care of myself when I needed to the most.
I don’t know how I would’ve been able to survive if Stephan hadn’t been here. After all he’s done, and even losing his friend, he’s still stuck around to help me. That’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me, and I’ve never been more grateful.
It was certainly a wakeup call for me, because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to go back to living my normal life if there was a chance I was still in danger. It was quite possible that the intruders had something to do with my father, a business deal gone bad or an enemy that got a bit too cocky, but for them to make it past our security and get into the house, they had to have much more information than any of us realized.
My parents allowed me to stay here alone because they thought that it was safe, but what if they were wrong? What if they don’t even know about this threat at all?
I debated whether it would be a good idea to tell them or not. I decided to leave it until they were back home, because at least by then I would’ve hopefully figured out a bit more. I felt like a scared child, unable to shake how startled I was by the entire ordeal. I started to worry about what leaving with Stephan tonight would mean, because while it seemed like the only sensible option right now, it was quite possible that we were walking into a trap. There was nothing in the house that I was aware of that I could’ve used to protect myself, and I knew that if I was ever caught in a situation like this again, I’d want to be able to stand on my own two feet and defend myself.
If all goes well, and we are safe with them, I’m going to ask Stephan to teach me a few of his tricks. Hopefully they’ll put me at a better advantage next time we’re caught in the middle of a fight like that.
I never liked to be the kind to run and hide, to listen and be disciplined like a small child because I got enough of that when I was younger. My parents didn’t even want to acknowledge the fact that I was getting older, that I needed to start my life on my own, and I knew they had a plan for me. They were going to tell me whatever I wanted to hear until they deemed me ready to start paying more attention to the family business, and even then I was scared I wouldn’t be able to make them proud the way they wanted me to.
I spent the next few hours scrubbing blood off of the floor with a sponge, wringing it out into the mop bucket, watching it turn a light shade of pink. I wiped the sweat from my forehead, looking around to see the kitchen fully restored to its former glory before everything happened. For
a moment, I sat there on the tiles, imagining how good I’d felt just a few hours prior. Now, everything was such a mess, and I was struggling to keep it together.
Natalia must be even more of a mess than I am because this was the guy she’d been going crazy about for quite a while, and I didn’t even get the chance to exchange two words with him before he was killed. I should go check on her to make sure she’s alright because if there’s one thing we needed to do, it was to stick together right now.
Reaching into my dress’ pockets I pulled out my cell phone and I clicked through a few of my text messages. There was one from my friend Lara telling me that she wasn’t able to make it tonight, but I was glad she hadn’t come. Natalia and I both were so traumatized by what happened, I didn’t even know if sharing that information with Lara was a good idea.
My head was starting to hurt with all of the stressful decisions I was going to have to make soon, and when I reached the very top of my text messages, I noticed there had been one from my mother letting me know that they were doing alright.
If only you knew what happened here in your kitchen tonight, mother.
Putting away the last of the cleaning supplies, and taking one last look at the kitchen before I switched off the lights, I was overcome with a wave of exhaustion as I met back up with everyone in the foyer.
I had to rush upstairs to pack a few things before we headed out. I was far too tired to entertain the fear that settled beneath my skin, and I had to believe that putting my trust in Stephan was the right move to make for now.
I looked around, noticing that everyone was there except for Natalia, and one of Stephan’s friends pointed to the staircase. I headed up to meet her, worried that she was having second thoughts about going. She was hiding out in my bedroom, and from the moment the door swung open, I could see the familiar sense of fear in her eyes. She was clutching one of my pillows, looking up at me right as she shook her head.
