Divorcing this man the way you did was an act of bravery deserving of a medal. One has to wonder why you’re still alive. I have a theory, but I’d really like to hear it from you. We all would. If you really want us to help you, then you’ll have to trust us, all of us, with your secrets.”
I looked up at Ryder. His eyes softened as he looked at me, and he nodded his head slightly. I sucked in another shaky breath and started to talk. The four men all had their eyes on me, and the only sound in the room—other than my voice—was their steady, even breaths as they listened.
“My brothers and I did not have a good life in Georgia. Our mother worked as a prostitute. She did nothing to hide that fact from us or anyone else. She used to tell us that it was a sin for us to be ashamed of her since she was doing all she could for us. That might have been easier to believe if when she was home, she acted at all like a mother. To my mother, every man was made to be used, and she had ideas in her head that someday she’d finally meet a rich man who wanted to take care of her and us.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
ALICIA
I took a break from talking and stood up and stretched my legs. Leif was still furiously tapping the keys of his laptop, and every so often Abrahem would look over his shoulder. Blake and Ryder were both trying not to rush me I think, but I was anxious to get this over with, so I sat back down and started talking again.
“When I was fourteen Mother met Abel Rapava at one of the clubs in Georgia. She was still fairly young, and her beauty hadn’t faded away too much at that point. He saw an opportunity and so did she. He offered her a position in one of his brothels in Moscow. She would be in charge of the girls and teaching the new ones as they came in. I didn’t find out until years later that most of the women in Abel’s places weren’t there by choice. My mother had to know that all along, yet she worked for him willingly because he not only paid her well, he supplied her with the drugs that she craved. I don’t know when she gave up on the idea of him wanting her as his wife someday, but when she did, her ideas of salvation came in the form of her then seventeen-year-old daughter. By that time, all of my brothers except Aleks worked for him. Aleks was smart, and while everyone else was wrapped up in the drug and human trafficking trade, he was studying and applying for universities and visas. He got accepted to the University of Mississippi on a visa, and when he left at eighteen, he promised he’d be back for me.
“Meanwhile my mother and older brothers had different plans. Abel showed up at our house one day and informed me that when I turned eighteen I would be his wife. I was given no room to object. I tried to run away, but I was caught the same day, beaten, and taken to Abel. I never saw the men again that beat me. My mother told me he had them killed for putting their hands on me. She thought it was something I should be proud of. It ‘proved’ he really loved me. In my mind, it only proved that he owned me.
“After we got married he put me in one of his clubs, working as the hostess. Everyone knew who I was, so even though there were rooms there that the other girls who worked for him were invited to and ‘entertained’ in, I was never approached. Everyone in Moscow lived in fear of him, and for a while, since under his protection and safe in his home, I thought that things might work out okay. We were married for about a year when he began to change toward me. He started out by saying cruel things and that advanced to physical abuse.” I felt Ryder take my hand. His tightened down on mine and gave me strength to keep going. “He told me I would be killed if I tried to leave him, but I decided that I’d rather be dead than beaten every day for the rest of my life and raped at his will. Karissa, my brother Daniel’s wife, tried to help me. That time—when I got caught Abel was the one to beat me. He beat me until I was nearly dead, and then took me to his doctor and insisted they “fix” me. I was bed-ridden for months. By the time I was healed enough to even be seen in public, it was almost a year later. That was when I found out that Karissa had disappeared. The police believed Daniel killed her, and if it came down to him admitting Abel did it or confessing, Daniel would have spent his life in prison for it.
“Abel decided then that we needed a child. He was like two different people. Some days he would tell me how having a child would “fix” what was wrong between us. Other days he would tell me that as soon as I gave him a child he was going to send me to hell with Karissa, and when that child was old enough, he was going to put her to work in one of his clubs. I was sick all the time, so when I did become pregnant, I didn’t know it right away. When my pregnancy was confirmed that was the exact moment I decided that no matter what I had to do in order to prevent it, Abel was not going to raise him or her.”
I looked up at Ryder. I expected to see judgment in his eyes, but all I saw was sadness. He seemed to understand how worried I was about what he might think of me. He bent down and whispered in my ear, “You’re doing great. Take as long as you need.” He reached for my hand, and I gave it to him. His touch energized me and gave me courage to go on.
“I grew to hate Abel the first year I lived with him before our daughter was born. Behind closed doors he was cruel and sadistic. I had no idea how to escape or where to go, but I knew if I stayed with him I would have to kill myself. Then when Natalia was born, things changed for me. I still despised Abel, but I began to think like a mother. If I took her and ran, what kind of life would I be able to offer her. Abel could give her everything, and as long as I was there to protect her, she would be okay.” I finally looked up at Ryder. Telling this man that had been abandoned by his own mother that I have a child had been one of my biggest fears. I expected to see judgment in his brown eyes. Instead, all I saw was warmth and empathy. He squeezed my hand again and gave me a little smile. I did my best to smile back and went on, “After my daughter Natalia was born Abel made me leave her with the nanny and go back to work in his club. I hardly ever got to see her and it was killing me, but being at the club did two things for me. One, it gave me access to cash. Abel’s union business was what he used to launder his money through, but there were safes full of cash at the club, and I was able to sneak around and get the passwords to two of them. I stole money a little at a time until I had a good nest egg. I still wasn’t sure how I was going to get out of the country, especially with Natalia, but I was meeting a lot of people from the U.S. in the club, and I was gaining a lot of information without coming right out and telling anyone about my plight.
“One night an older man came into the club. He sat at the bar and mostly just watched people. I asked if he was in Moscow on vacation and he started talking to me about his life. He told me that he was a high-ranking politician in Alabama. He and his wife only had one child. She was their princess, and she’d grown up sweet and beautiful and smart. He couldn’t say enough about her, but for the next three nights as he came back over and over to talk about her I wondered why he smiled while his eyes looked like he wanted to cry. I found out when he finally said, ‘When Danielle was twenty-four she came to Moscow for a global warming conference. She met a man from here and they fell in love. She came home for almost a year, and during that time this man visited a lot and we really liked him and welcomed him into the family. During that time he proposed and Danielle accepted. Her mother and I were sad that she’d be moving to Moscow once they married. Her husband owned a company that built helicopters and he’d just gotten a big military contract so he couldn’t move to the States. We worried about her naturally, but we eventually accepted that we were luckier than most. We had money and I had a job that gave me a lot of time off. I had access to a private jet so that we could visit often. Danielle and her husband lived happily in Moscow for ten years and had two beautiful children. His company became a great success, and on their tenth anniversary they went out to celebrate. They decided to take one of his company helicopters out for a flight that night on their way to dinner. He had his pilot’s license and thousands of hours under his belt, but something went wrong. The chopper crashed, and he and Danielle both died on impact.’
“Oh no! I’m so very sorry!”
“He nodded his head and said, ‘Me, too. If not for our grandchildren, my wife and I would have lost our minds. The kids are what we’re here for. We’re trying to get the paperwork done so that we can take them back to the States with us.’ I felt guilty, but in the midst of feeling bad for him I saw an opportunity for my daughter and myself.
“For the next few weeks Dante came into the club almost nightly. I got the feeling that he and his wife were finding different ways to grieve, and his seemed to be talking about his daughter. It was hard for me because I was so used to being hush-hush about my life, but I started sharing tid-bits with him here and there. Eventually I was comfortable enough to tell him that I feared for the kind of life my daughter would have if she stayed here and Abel raised her. I appealed to his paternal instincts, and one night I just outright asked him to take my daughter with him when he left Moscow.”
“Wow,” Blake said. It was the first words any of them had said. “He just agreed to that?”
I shook my head. “No. He was very kind about it, but he told me there was no way he could do that. If he was caught, it would not only ruin his career but he’d lose his own family as well. He left and went back to the States not long after—and I expected to never see him again. Almost a year passed before he came back to Moscow. This time when he came into the club he brought his wife with him and introduced us. They both had a lot of questions about Natalia and my hopes were renewed until they left once again without taking her with them. I spent my days trying to spend as much time with her as I could and my nights in that club that I hated. I was becoming more and more miserable, and that only served to piss Abel off. He thought I should be grateful to him for my ‘wonderful’ life, and whenever he caught me not smiling, he’d beat me. I’d spend weeks at home healing before he’d let me go back in public, and sadly I loved being at home with my child so much that I almost welcomed the beatings.
“After one particularly bad incident while I was still healing and still showing signs of bruises, he came home in a rage. He told me his hostess had simply, disappeared, and he needed me to go into work. I covered the bruises with makeup as well as I could, but the truth was no one at the club cared. No one that was except for Dante who was back in town that night. The sight of him reaffirmed a belief in God that I thought I’d lost long ago. We greeted each other warmly and he told me that the paperwork was finally done and he was picking up his grandchildren the following day. I kept hoping that he was there to tell me he’d changed his mind about taking Natalia, but when he left he simply hugged me and wished me luck and then he slipped an envelope into my pocket and pressed his fingers to his lips.
“Once he was gone I opened it. Inside I found a birth certificate for a child named Rebecca Rose. The odd thing about the birth certificate was that other than the name and the parents’ names, it was identical to Natalia’s. There was a note inside that said, ‘It wasn’t an easy decision but my wife and I are both willing to do this for you and that innocent child. Have her at the airport by six a.m. tomorrow if you still want to do this.’
“The nanny and Abel were still sleeping when I got home from the club early that morning. I took my beautiful daughter and met Dante and his wife at the airport. When I placed Natalia in her new grandmother’s arms, I felt like someone had shoved their fist in through my chest and ripped out my heart. But I knew I was doing the right thing. I was doing the only thing that a parent who loved their child could do. I left there and went home. I pretended I’d just gotten home from the club. I found chaos. The nanny had discovered Natalia missing, and she’d woken up Abel. Abel—of course—hadn’t called the police. He had his men there instead. I gave the performance of my life, screaming about how the police had to be called. I even faked a fainting spell. The whole time I was surviving strictly on adrenaline—and later that day when Abel’s doctor gave me a sedative, I gladly took it.
“Abel had Moscow turned upside down, and while he was doing that, I was playing the grieving mother and plotting my next move. As the months continued to pass with no sign of Natalia, Abel got meaner—and when he was home it was all focused on me. The last time he beat me, I called the police before I passed out. Somehow he was never formally charged with it, but I was able to use the photos the police and hospital took that night as leverage for my divorce. During that time, I took a job as a nanny, and that was where I met my friend who told me about the job in New Orleans. When the divorce was final, I applied for a visa and took the job. That was when I made my worst mistake ever. I’d been staying with my mother after the divorce. Once I was gone, she sold all of the things I left behind. In one of the jewelry boxes Abel had given me, I’d hidden the note from Dante in the false bottom. I don’t know why I didn’t throw it away. I was so stupid; it felt like some kind of connection to her that I could hold onto. Mother found that while she was searching for things to sell. It didn’t give away much, but it was definitely proof that Natalia’s disappearance was no ordinary kidnapping. I’m sure she got lots of money for that slip of paper. As far as I’m concerned, she sold her very soul to the devil. Now, Abel wants to kill me, but he won’t because I’m the only one who can tell him where his daughter is. So he’s decided to kill everyone close to me until I’ve had enough and tell him what he wants to know.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
RYDER
Listening to Alicia talk about that son of a bitch hurting her was killing me. When she got to the part about having her own child, I was shocked, but at the same time, it explained a lot. There was one other thing I was curious about however, “Alicia why has he left Aleks alone?”
“Aleks knows too much, and he’s smart. He allowed Abel’s men to search his house. Once they didn’t find anything that connected him to Natalia he told Abel that he has given documents to people close to him that will be delivered straight to the authorities if he or his family are hurt or harassed in any way further. He took photos of what he had and sent them to Abel. I don’t know what it is he has, but apparently Abel is afraid of it. He’s left them alone, and I’ve done my best to stay away from them as well. I guess today is proof that Abel is still watching him. That phone call I made to the university had to be how they knew where to find me.”
“So your child is in Alabama?” Blake asked.
She nodded—and that was when Leif spoke up. “While y’all were picking Alicia up, Vlad called.” That got everyone’s attention. Vlad was back in Russia, and he had a team of his men watching Abel Rapava.
“What did he say?”
“Abel is on the move. He got on a private jet early this morning in Moscow. Vlad is still working on getting that flight plan so we know where that plane was going. In the meantime, I checked the local airports and no private flights from Moscow are expected today. I didn’t check Alabama though.”
“Do that now,” Blake said. I looked at Alicia. Her pretty face had gone as white as a sheet at the mention of Abel being in the country.
“Interpol would know where he was going,” she said, flatly.
“Right!” Blake said, excitedly. He stood up and pulled out his phone. “This is actually perfect, Alicia. We need him here. It’s perfect!” It was the most excited I’d seen Blake in a long time. I was further surprised to see the glimmer of a silver dime dangling from a chain around his neck. He saw me looking at it and glared at me as he tucked it into his shirt.
I laughed to myself. Only Granny could have convinced him to wear that. I hoped it was bringing him good “mojo” as Granny would say.
Blake went on talking, “Leif, keep looking. I’ll be right back.” He pressed in a number as he left the room. I looked at Alicia again. The poor thing looked like she might implode any second.
“Why don’t you and I get some air?”
She nodded, and I stood up and took her hand. “Leif do me a favor and let Blake know we’re going to take a little walk. I have my radio on if you need me.”
“The house belongs to Abrahem. I’m honestly not sure why any of us keep our own place, we’re so rarely there.”
“Is he from the Middle East?”
“Yes, he was an officer in the Iraqi army. Once he retired, he immigrated to the U.S. and he became a citizen just last year.”
“Good for him. I need to do that.”
I smiled. “It sounds like you’ve been a little busy.”
“Ryder, do you think less of me now?”
I stopped walking and turned toward her. “Look at me, Alicia.” She brought her eyes up to mine, and I said, “I don’t know how you could think anything you just told us would make me think less of you. If anything, it’s given me even more respect for what you’ve been through and what you’ve accomplished.”
“I kidnapped my own child and I gave her away. I know that you have…issues…with your own mother leaving. I was so afraid you would hate me when you found out.”
RYDER: A Standalone Military Romance (Blake Security Book 1) Page 12
