Stephan

by S F Draven

  “It’s going to be okay,” I mouthed to him. Natalia’s mother stood there with her gun pointing at Stephan, her hands shaking.

  “It’s a shame that we couldn’t coexist in peace, Anastasia. I stayed out of your territory for years, and this is how you repay me. This monstrosity that you’ve unleashed on my family that once was your daughter, and now you’re going to suffer no matter what you do. If you shoot him now, I’m going to keep you alive, barely hanging on to what’s left of your life, while I torture you until you just can’t take it anymore. You have a choice, you can drop the gun, and I can kill you for what you’ve done, or you can spend the rest of your life wishing that you never came after my family,” he said.

  It was the first time I ever saw him act this way. I watched Natalia’s mother shake violently, bursting out into a hysterical cry while she let the gun fall to the ground and my father fired a clean shot to her head.

  Just like that the entire Chadov family had been wiped out, all desperate to find a painting that would secure them a fortune for generations, but instead they let their familial problems get in the way of their common goal, and now they all paid the price. I ran over to Stephan, seeing that he was barely hanging on, slipping in and out of consciousness.

  “Stephan! Stephan, I need you to tell me what to do. We have nowhere to go, we have no one to call. Tell me! Tell me! Who can I call?” I asked, remembering that kind friend of his who was a doctor, but I also remembered that the only reason he decided to help when he did was because of me. I wasn’t sure if he was going to extend the same kindness to Stephan, especially after everything he had done.

  “Stephan! Please, tell me!” I screamed, and my father tried to pull me back, so he could help him up.

  “We need to get him to someone. He’s not going to make it if we don’t,” my father said, and I wanted to burst out into tears, knowing that I had an injury of my own, but that was nothing compared to Stephan’s, and I could only hope that my father prioritized him for my sake.

  “Call. I-call,” Stephan said.

  “Call who?”

  “My brother. My brother Viktor. Please,” he said, eyeing his pockets for me to retrieve his phone.

  “Call my big brother, Viktor. Tell him, tell him I’m sorry,” he said, as I ran through his contact list to the very end dialing his brother while I instructed my father to get him back into the car.

  “Wherever Viktor is, that’s where we’re going. Stephan needs his family right now,” I said, and my father nodded. The phone rang for what felt like ages, and I worried for a moment that it was going to go straight to voicemail, as I nearly lost all hope, but at the very last second, someone picked up.

  “Now, this is a surprise. I didn’t think I’d ever hear from you again after the way you left things, Stephan,” the unfamiliar voice said on the other end of the line.

  “Viktor? I’m sorry, you have no idea who I am,” I said, trying to steady my voice, “But I have Stephan here with me and he’s barely hanging on. Something terrible happened, and I have no idea where to take him. Before he lost consciousness again, he told me to call you. He told me to tell you he was sorry.”

  “I’m going to give you a location. I need you to bring him here as fast as possible. I will have everything ready to treat him when he gets here. What is your name?” he asked.

  “Thank you very much, Viktor. My name is Annika.”

  “I’ll be looking out for you, Annika. Please, do hurry,” he replied, and I got off the phone, giving my father the location.

  The sun was starting to come up now, and I kept glancing back at Stephan’s almost lifeless body, hoping that we weren’t going to be too late. I didn’t know what to think, especially because there was no telling whether we were going to make it to Viktor’s in time to save Stephan’s life.

  The drive felt excruciatingly long, but once we finally made it up to the gate, I took a breath of relief while the gates opened and out ran two men. Immediately after the car had come to a halt, the two of them helped Stephan out, carrying him inside to be treated, while I was frantically scrambling trying to figure out what to do next.

  I followed them inside, leaving my manners at the door because I was so worried about Stephan, and I saw how pale he looked in the stream of morning light coming in through the window. I was scared, absolutely terrified that we were too late, that there would be nothing that anyone could do to help him, but I knew I had to be strong.

  He would want you to be strong right now, Annika. You can’t fall apart right now. You have to believe that he’s going to be just fine.

  They carried him off into what appeared to be a study, shutting the door behind them while a man came out to meet with me, and judging from the concerned look on his face, I assumed that it was Viktor.

  “Thank you very much for getting here as quickly as you did. My doctors and medical staff will do everything they can to save him, but I need you to tell me everything that happened. I know Stephan and I haven’t always seen eye-to-eye but he’s my brother, and I will always look out for family. I see that you’ve come with yours as well. If I’m not mistaken, you are a Novikova,” he said, and it amazed me that he even knew who I was.

  “How do you know that?”

  “My family and yours haven’t exactly seen eye-to-eye over generations either, but I have to be grateful to you for doing what you could to save my brother. I take it that you two are involved,” he said, politely.

  “Yes, we are. I’ll tell you whatever you need to know, I’m just so scared right now. I don’t know what I’m going to do if I lose him, and I hate that we had to meet this way,” I said, being honest with him, and I could already tell that he appreciated that.

  “While our families may have had their differences, I do not share those same feelings. I’ve done a lot for the woman I love, as has a lot of my other brothers in this family. I can see that you care about him a lot, and when he pulls through, we can have a proper meeting. Though, for now, I’d like you all to join me in the sun room so we can discuss the nature of what happened,” he said, moving over to shake hands with my father, and I was expecting him to be a little more apprehensive at being friendly towards a Volkov, but something seemed to have changed within my father as well.

  It was nice to see him not act so tough, softening up to the idea that his daughter had been through enough, and it wasn’t the time to riddle her about the choices she made in men. I watched while Viktor and my father walked up, jumping into the conversation before he sat us all down and offered us some tea.

  I was shaking when he eventually poured me a cup, and he made sure it was safely in my hand before he let go, holding it there for a moment, looking at me, as though he was trying to tell me that everything was going to be just fine.

  I was so worried that Stephan put his life on the line only to end up dead because of me, and that was something that I’d never be able to live with, because if I had just been smarter about my actions, he probably would’ve been alive and well.

  It should’ve been me fighting to my last breath, not Stephan. It should’ve been me.

  I felt a single tear slide down my cheek as Viktor looked at me, sharing a sympathetic look while we dove into the gory details.

  I told him everything that I’d been through over the last few weeks, and some of which I knew shocked my parents as well. I was surprised that they didn’t jump in to say anything, to criticize my actions, telling me that I should’ve known better. I thought that maybe they had passed the point of trying to discipline me, settling on the fact that I was very capable of protecting myself if the situation called for it.

  I knew that my father never expected to see me that way, to see his only daughter fight with every ounce of strength she had to save the man that had changed her life. That was the kind of love I never expected to find in my entire life, one that I was very sure never even existed to begin with, but I was proven wrong from the moment I met Stephan.

  He stuc
k around to make sure I was okay when he didn’t even know me, when I could’ve been more of a liability to him than anything else, and yet he took me in. He made me feel safe, he taught me what true love felt like, and he gave me the opportunity to explore the different areas of my life to see if I even wanted to dabble in the crime world at all.

  It didn’t take me long to decide that I wanted to be a part of his life, that I wanted to grow old with him, and learn everything I could along the way. He gave me a new perspective, he taught me the very things that my parents were supposed to teach me ages ago, but instead they left me to my own devices.

  I didn’t have it in me to blame them any longer for what I’d been through, because I knew deep down that they cared about me in a way that I would always be grateful for. I never doubted their love for me, only their decisions when it came to how they went about trying to keep me safe.

  I saw how Natalia’s family treated her, how they left her there to die in her final moments, not even bothering to acknowledge that the one daughter they brought into this world was dying on the floor with a stab wound that I inflicted. All they ever cared about was that precious painting, the painting that was supposed to make them far more powerful than any of us due to its value, but they never managed to get to it.

  I knew the location of that painting, and Stephan had only shared it with me in case things went terribly wrong, but I wasn’t going to tell anyone until he woke up. It was not my place to say, and it was the last thing he wanted to keep a secret. I knew that his family loved him, that they wouldn’t want anything to happen to him, but they still had quite a bit of their differences to sort out.

  I didn’t want this painting to get in the middle of that, and so I decided to keep quiet about it even if both my father and Viktor would sit there pressing me for its location. The only thing that was important was waiting to see if Stephan was going to pull through.

  I was gripping the cup in my hands so tightly that I genuinely thought I would break it, but I was lost in thought, thinking back to every moment Stephan and I shared together, the journey that made us who we were today. I thought about the good moments and the bad, realizing that I would never want to leave any of that behind even if it meant getting the chance to live a normal, mundane life. I loved who I was with him, I loved what we were able to do together, and I wanted nothing more than to live out the rest of my days right by his side.

  I need you to wake up, Stephan. I need to tell you that after all that has happened, we’re still in this together.

  Chapter Seventeen: Stephan

  I woke up to the soft whirring of machines next to me, the cool breeze coming through the open window as my eyes started to adjust to the warm lighting of the bedroom I’d been in. I felt so strange like my body had been through much more than it could handle, and I struggled to move around. I heard voices coming from the outside hallway, and for a moment I had no idea where I was, but then I glanced up and around at the walls of bookcases, which had a few pictures of faces I hadn’t seen in too long.

  She did it. She managed to get me here.

  All the memories began to flood back in and I wondered what happened to Annika. I didn’t know how she managed it, or if she finally got someone to look at the terrible gash in her leg, but that’s when it dawned on me that I didn’t know how long I had been out for.

  Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was the state of Annika’s house, the chaos that erupted, and the massacre that ensued. We wiped out the entire Chadov family without thinking twice, and we all managed to make it out of there alive. It felt like a miracle to me, because I remembered that single moment where I thought all hope was going to be lost.

  I remembered staring down at Annika, watching Natalia drive the knife into her thigh, leaving it there for her to suffer. I couldn’t believe how strong she was in that moment, how she was able to keep it together despite all of the things she had suffered, and she still came back for me.

  After everything we’d been through together, after I blatantly told her family to get her far away from that house, she came back for me. I was so grateful to her, but I knew the moment I laid eyes on her again, I was going to remonstrate with her for stepping foot back in that house knowing the danger.

  I was left alone for what felt like ages before someone eventually came trailing in through the double doors, with a tray in hand, nearly dropping it when she laid eyes on me. I smiled at her, noticing just how beautiful she looked, her cheeks flushed, and it was like the first time I laid eyes on her all over again.

  “Stephan! You’re awake!” she screamed, turning around to go alert everyone else to the good news, but I had to stop her. I wanted her all to myself for a few moments, I wanted to apologize to her for what she had to do in order to get out of there alive, and I needed her to know that I would’ve done anything to save her.

  “Wait,” I said, and she rested the tray down on the ottoman at the foot of the bed, sitting down, inching closer to me, and taking my hand in hers while she gazed into my eyes.

  “I can’t believe how strong you are, Annika. I can’t believe that you came back for me after everything you went through. I’m so sorry that you had to go through all of that,” I said to her, my eyes lowering to her lips just as she leaned in to kiss me.

  “You have nothing to apologize for, Stephan. You did everything you could to save me, you fought until you couldn’t fight anymore to make sure my whole family got out safely. You stayed back to finish the job even if you weren’t sure you were going to make it out alright. Now, we’re safe, now you’re safe, and that’s all that matters. I love you, Stephan,” she said, and I smiled in between her perfect little kisses.

  “I love you so much, Annika. I promise that I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep you safe. I’m never letting you out of my sight again,” I said, pressing my forehead up against hers, enjoying the moment together before I heard footsteps trail into the room.

  “It’s nice to see that you’re still alive, brother. I have a few people here that would like to say hello,” said Viktor, and in came every single one of my brothers. They all stood there in a line, watching over me, all looking incredibly relieved that I managed to pull through.

  “How did you manage to pull this one off, Viktor?” I said.

  “He brought us here against our will,” said Dominik, and everyone laughed.

  It was such a lovely moment, having everyone I ever cared about there, realizing that I shouldn’t have even left home in the first place. I went off chasing a dream that was never going to be brought to fruition because I was far too stubborn to appreciate everything I had. I let the people I loved the most nearly slip away from me, and I had to be grateful that above all else, Viktor put our family before our differences.

  I knew that we still had a bit of bad blood to work through, but nothing either of us could say or do would change the fact that we loved each other. We’d all been through so much, and yet there we all were, gathered around to support each other like it had been when father was alive. It reminded me of how happy it made him to see us all together, and I knew it would’ve made him proud.

  “Father would’ve loved to see us all here like this,” I said, and they all nodded in agreement.

  “It’s never too late to mend the bridges we burned all those years ago, Stephan. You’re still very much a part of this family, and like the rest of us, you have someone you love that you nearly died for. We know what that’s like, and thanks to you, we’ve even managed to bridge the gap and settle our differences with the Novikov family,” said Viktor, glancing over at Annika who had the biggest smile on her face.

  Both of her parents came in to join her, standing behind her, holding onto her shoulder to show support. I never thought that the day would come where we’d all be together, where we could all appreciate the fact that we won a war that none of us were expecting to fight. I was just as surprised as everyone else that we managed to pull it off, that we were able
to take out the family that brought Annika and her family such pain. I knew that Annika still had a lot to work through herself because I could tell by the way she was staring back at me that she was still running on an adrenaline rush. She hadn’t come down from the high since I had gone into a coma, and I was sure that she would have a hard time once everything started to flood back in.

  I would be there for her no matter what, and I planned on giving her everything she could ever dream of because that was what she deserved. I knew she wanted to be a part of this lifestyle for good, and I was prepared to see exactly where that would take us. She was no longer worried that she would have to choose between the good and the bad, realizing that even her parents had come to terms with the fact she was going to decide what she wanted whether they stepped in or not.

  I knew that we were going to make a great team no matter what we did, and I had a feeling that she would want to start sooner rather than later.

  Everyone eventually cleared out of the room, leaving Annika and I alone again, so she could get me up to speed on everything I had missed when I was out cold. I could tell that she was still scared I was going to slip away again, that she was worried any sudden movements would hurt me, but I had to reassure her that everything was going to be just fine. I was given clearance by the doctors Viktor had at his disposal, and I was just told to rest until I was able to start moving around again.

  “What’s on your mind, Annika?” I asked, caressing her cheek, feeling the warmth of my skin brush against the cool exterior of hers.

  “I’m still trying to figure out how I feel. After everything that has happened over the last few days, I’m surprised that I’m still even standing. I don’t know how to go about processing losing a dear friend, a friend that tried to have me killed. I sometimes find myself wondering whether she and I were ever really friends at all, or if it was all just a ploy to bleed us dry of any and all riches we had,” she said, solemnly.