by Ariel Arnold
Despite my current setting my body got hot thinking about taking Nana up against that wall in the banquet hall. I grinned, easily the best sexual experience of my life. I wasn’t going to let Nana go. I didn’t care that she had been lying to me, I didn’t care that she was a cop and I was a cops natural enemy. All I cared about was that I needed her, that me and her belonged together. There would never be anyone else for me besides Nana Valencia, now I just had to convince her of that, if I ever got out of here.
“I don’t know what the hell you are smiling about.” Detective Callahan said glaring at me. “No amount of money or fancy lawyers is going to get you out of this one Volstolv.”
“Well if I knew what you were charging me for…” I said trailing off. “Because I’m pretty sure I didn’t murder anyone.” I said with a grin knowing that the number of people I had indeed murdered was one I didn’t even want to contemplate. But I knew that there was no way these idiots had evidence on any of them, some of them hadn’t even been committed on American soil.
“Keep chuckling it up asshole. No amount of connections is going to help you in jail. How could you be sick enough to do that to a little girl?” He asked.
Frowning in confusion I asked, “What do you mean. A little girl? I’d never do anything to a child.” Unbidden images of the young girl in the abandoned building, washed over me. No, this couldn’t have anything to do with that. I left no evidence behind, nothing that would make them think I had anything to do with that. I know they had recently found her body, but they can’t tie that to me, Nikolai or Aleksandr.
“Well tell that to Alma Delgado, oh wait you can’t, because you killed her.” Callahan said acidly. I’d never seen true hate from the man. A desire to do his job and see me arrested? Yeah, but never true hate like he would kill me if he had the change. Now his partner on the other hand, I thought glancing over at O’Reilly who seemed awfully nonchalant and blasé.
O’Reilly’s cellphone rang and upon seeing who it was calling he stood. “I have to take this buddy.” He said addressing Callahan. “It’s important I’ll be right back.” Callahan nodded as O’Reilly left the interrogation room.
“Look, I don’t know what evidence you think you have, but I had nothing to do with that girl’s murder.”
“DNA evidence.” He said smugly.
I frowned. DNA evidence? My DNA? Not possible, this had to be a set up. I knew when Nikolai was called to that building it all seemed planned. Was Nikolai the initial target for this frame job but somehow it became easier to frame me? How would they have gotten my DNA. Darkly my mind conjured up one possibility.
Nana.
Was she somehow able to get my DNA without me knowing? She’s had plenty of chance. Did she wanted to see me jailed so bad that she would resort to doing something illegal. No, I don’t believe that. Nana isn’t a cold and calculating person, she wouldn’t be able to have sex with me, look at me the way she did, if it was all about framing me. She feels something for me, I know she does, and she just wouldn’t do this. There was another way they got my DNA without me knowing that didn’t include Nana.
“All we are doing is waiting for the warrant from the judge and then we will be able to take DNA samples from you, and I’m sure it’ll match what was found at the scene.” He said proudly. “I can’t believe the initial fuck up in the investigation that the DNA wasn’t put on file, all this time we could have already solved this case.” He said in a lower tone seemingly talking to himself. It was so obvious that someone on the force had planted this miraculously appearing DNA evidence and that Callahan had no clue this was a frame job. Shit this was bad, they may actually get away with this, and I would be going to jail.
For over an hour I steamed inside that interrogation room waiting for something to happen. Either the warrant that would seal my fate or some divine intervention that would save me. As I sat there I thought about all the things I wanted to say to Nana that now I probably would never get the chance to say. I wasn’t holding out hope that she would be visiting me in a maximum-security prison. Though we had connected, and I have never felt the way I do about her for anyone else, we didn’t know the simplest things about each other. I didn’t know about her childhood and she didn’t know about mine. I didn’t know what her favorite color was, her favorite restaurant, what her plans for the future were; nothing. I had been anticipating finding all of that out, I wanted to have a proper relationship with Nana that didn’t include lies, and deception.
The door to the interrogation room opened and a uniformed officer motioned for detective Callahan. I watched curiously as he left the room closing the door tightly behind him. I sighed and let my head fall back as I gazed up at the ceiling. I wonder if Nana is here at the prescient, I thought.
After about twenty minutes the door banged open with such force that it hit the back wall. Callahan looked furious as he glared at me. He stood there in the doorway for a moment before crossing over to me and uncuffing me. “Your free to go.” He said stiffly.
“What?” I asked dumbfounded.
“Mr. Volstolv.” I heard, and there standing in the doorway was Alan Moore, Nikolai’s attorney. I grinned.
“Man, you don’t know how glad I am to see you.” I rubbed my wrist as I walked over to him. “I guess I have you to thank for getting me out of here?”
“Well technically you can thank Nikolai. He was the one who found the hospital employee that admitted to giving your bloody clothes to a member of the NYPD for a profit.” He said pushing his glasses up his nose.
I guess miracles do actually happen. I glanced around me as I headed for the area were I would receive my personal items back, but Nana was nowhere in site. Was she still with Aleksandr and the others?
“Where the hell is O’Reilly?” I heard Callahan bellowing as he stomped around. I laughed aloud. I’m sure he’s pissed that I’m getting off scott free. I waited impatiently for my cellphone eager to be able to call Nana.
“Mr. Prakenski wants to speak to you.” Moore said handing me his cellphone.
“Niko.” I said happily into the phone. “Thank you man really.”
“What the hell I’ve been trying to call you.” He said urgently.
“I haven’t gotten my phone back yet, what’s wrong?” I asked noticing the worry in his voice. A sickening feeling of unease began to blossom in the pit of my stomach.
“It’s Nana. I tried calling her to tell her you’d be getting let go and heard something strange. I think she’s in trouble. I’m on my way there with a few guys but I don’t know if I’ll get there in time. You’re closer from the prescient.”
“Where. Where is she?” I asked frantically.
“At that building, the place where the girl’s body was found.”
I dropped the cellphone on the counter and turned to Moore. “Keys.” I hissed.
“What?” He asked confused.
“Your fucking car keys now!” I shouted. He quickly handed them over and sprinted out of the building leaving all of my things behind. I had to get to Nana, nothing could happen to her.
What was she even doing there? I thought angrily as I gunned the engine. I gave no care for traffic laws, other motorists or pedestrians as I sped towards my destination. If I was too late, and Nana.. I stopped myself from completing that thought. She would be fine, she had to be.
I didn’t come to a full stop, I just pushed the door opened engine running and jogged to the front of the apartment. In one try I kicked in the boarded up front door of the abandoned apartment building. “Nana.” I called out frantically; when I received no response, I ran up the stairs. On the first floor landing I stopped short almost tripping over a body. It was dark, but whoever the person was couldn’t be Nana, they were too large. I bent down to get a closer look and came face to face with the dead body of detective O’Reilly.
“Nana!?” I called out again even more frantically this time as I stepped over the body. I began pushing open the doors of every apartment on the
first floor continuously calling out her name. My heart was beating in a rapid tempo and I began to sweat in pure terror. Nothing had ever made me afraid but in this moment, right now, I was terrified. Then it clicked. Nana most likely had come here to investigate, so naturally she would start with the apartment the girl’s body was found in. I bolted up the steps to the third floor and rushed into the apartment. “Na…” I started to say before my throat closed up. There lying on the ground was Nana, my heart stalled.
I took a step forward and she looked at me, my heart regained its rapid tempo as relief spread through me. But it was short lived as she uttered one word before closing them again. I dropped to my knees in front of her and checked for a pulse, her heart was still beating, but it might not be for long. I grimaced at the pile of blood surrounding her. I gently lifted her into my arms, bridal style and carried her out of the apartment. She had to live, if anything happened to her, I don’t think I would survive.
Chapter Eighteen: Nana
I jerked awake violently, sitting up right I glanced around frantically. I didn’t, couldn’t process where I was yet, I only frantically looked for one person. The last person I had seen. “Nana.” Ilya said grasping my shoulders as he stared into my face worriedly.
“Are you really here? Am I really here?” I asked sure that I was dead. I saw a small smile play across Ilya’s lips even as his eyes were still filled with a dark worry. He gently pushed me back down and my head rested against a soft pillow. “Where am I?” I asked looking around again, this time my eyes registering the heart monitor, and hospital bed I was laying on. “How did I get to the hospital?”
Ilya ran his fingers through his hair and sighed heavily. “Shit Nana, you don’t know how afraid I was when I saw you bleeding out on the ground. I thought you were going to die.” He said sounding pained.
“I thought I was going to die too.” I admitted. “But how did you know I was there? How the hell did you even leave the police station?” I asked confused.
Ilya sat down in the chair that was pushed up to the side of my bed and grabbed my hand in his large one. “First things first, how do you feel? Do you want me to call Amanda in?”
“I feel fine.” I said lying about the dull pain I still felt. I attributed the fact that I wasn’t huddled in a ball crying to whatever pain medicine they were pumping into my veins through the tube attached to my veins. “Now answer my questions.”
“Nikolai got someone at the hospital to admit that they were paid to provide the police department with my bloody clothing from when I was stabbed. They were using those clothes, saying they were found at that building where the girl was killed.”
“It was O’Reilly.” I said urgently. I tried to sit up again but was held down by Ilya. “We have to tell everyone it was him, he set you up, he killed Alma Delgado, everything was him. He fucking shot me!” I said in outrage. Oh he was definitely going to pay. He’d tried to kill me, I most likely attributed my survival to the fact that I passed out, he probably thought I was dead before leaving.
“We know Nana. Stop trying to get up. O’Reilly isn’t a problem anymore. He’s dead.”
My mouth gaped open in shock as I stuttered. “Dead? Dead how? How is he dead?” I didn’t care per se that the evil man was dead. Not after all the shit I had read he’d done, not after he’d killed an innocent young girl, but I wanted him to pay, to go to jail and suffer. “You shot him Nana.” He said shocking me further.
“I did?” And even as I said this I remember firing off a round just after he shot me, but I hadn’t thought I hit him.
“Yeah, I found him dead on the 1st floor landing when I came to find you.”
My head began to ache as I tried to process everything that had happened. So everyone knew that Detective O’Reilly was dirty, and he was now dead. That meant Ilya wasn’t going to go to jail for something he didn’t do. I turned to look at him and smiled. He smiled back and me and laughed. “What’s that look for?”
“I love you.” I blurted out. Once the words were out of my mouth I cringed in embarrassment.
I can’t believe you just said that! I admonished myself. Grabbing the hospital blanket I pulled it up to cover my head, completely hiding my face from view. Ilya tugged on it but I held on firmly. Why the hell had I gone and said that? It must be the pain medicines talking.
Yeah I’ll just blame it on the pain medicine.
I let go of my death grip on the blanket and allowed Ilya to pull it down. He was watching me intently, his beautiful eyes searching mines with intent. “Did you mean that?” He asked gruffly.
I nodded my head without a seconds thought. “Yes.” I said softly. I had planned on blaming it on the drugs but I guess my mouth was intent on being truthful today. Ilya smiled brilliantly, and caressed my cheek with his knuckles.
“Good, because I was wondering how the hell I was going to tell you I wasn’t letting you go once you woke up.” I smiled just as he leaned over and kissed me tenderly. “I love you Nana Valencia.”
I grinned happily. “Really?” Even though he had said it, it was hard to believe that we were both on the same page. He opened his mouth to say something when the room door was pushed opened, interrupting him.
“Why didn’t you tell me she was awake?” Amanda asked angrily. She stalked over to my bed, Yazmeen, Aleksandr and Nikolai right behind her.
“She just woke up.” He said defensively. “Excuse me for wanting a moment alone with her.” Amanda rolled her eyes and then promptly ignored him. Yazmeen practically threw herself on top of me.
“Oh my god, I am so glad that you are okay. “Her eyes began to water. “I would have been devastated if you died, you’re like a baby sister to me.”
Those words had a damn inside of me breaking open. I sobbed because Yazmeen had felt like an older sister to me. I thought our relationship would never be repaired after she had found out about my lies. So to know she felt the same really went a long way to ease some of that fear, someday I knew that she would be able to forgive me and we would be inseparable again.
“Okay everyone out. That’s enough emotion for right now.” Amanda said going into doctors mode. “She needs rest.” As everyone filled out of the room Ilya remained seated at my side. When Amanda gave him a look he just watched her questioningly. She sighed annoyed. “You too big guy.”
I laughed as Ilya reluctantly listened to Amanda’s orders, but not before giving me a soft lingering kiss on the lips. “I’ll be right outside.” He informed me lowly.
I must have dozed off because once I opened my eyes again the room was noticeably darker; not dark enough that I couldn’t see anything, but dimmed so that I noted that passing of time. I turned my head to the right, feeling someone’s presence in the room. “It’s just me.” Detective Callahan said. He stood about a foot away from my bed and I tensed up. Noticing my stiff body posture, he put his hands up. “It’s all right, I just wanted to talk to you. Volstolv let me in.” He said. Knowing that Ilya had allowed him to come in went a long way to reassuring me. Ilya wouldn’t have let him inside if he thought Callahan would harm me.
I didn’t want to think badly of Callahan, he had always been a good detective. But how could he have not known what his partner was up to? Almost as if he had heard my thoughts Callahan began to speak.
“I didn’t know what O’Reilly was doing. I didn’t know he was dirty Valencia.” He said earnestly. He looked defeated as he gripped the back of his neck. “God, I wouldn’t have stood idly by, not knowing what he had done to that poor girl.” He started to pace and I saw the conflict and guilt welling up in his green eyes. “I definitely wouldn’t have allowed him to try and kill you.” He said finally.
“I believe you.” And I did. Callahan just wasn’t that type of man, he might have become jaded working this job does that to people, but he would never do the things O’Reilly had.
He nodded, the relief evident on his face. “I’ve been put on leave while internal affairs investigate everythin
g.” He chuckled drily. “I haven’t had a vacation in years, I don’t know what I am going to do with myself.”
“You’ll be fine. Just enjoy it.”
He nodded and turned for the door, he stopped just in front of it. I couldn’t see his face as he spoke. “I hope you’ll be happy Valencia.” He said earnestly. “And no matter what stay true to yourself, don’t compromise your values and what you know is right. And make sure to keep Volstolv in line.” He said before opening the door and leaving.
As soon as he exited the room Ilya ghosted to my side. I laughed. “How are you always so quick and quiet at the same time?”
“It’s a talent.” He said with a grin. He took my hand in his and held it tightly. “You know that man is in love with you right?”
I scuffed. “Yeah right.”
“He is.” He insisted.
I rolled my eyes and sat up. I grabbed Ilya by his collar and pulled him down to eye level. “Who cares. Because the only man I love is you.” And I kissed him passionately showing him just how much that was true.
Epilogue: Nana
Four weeks later
“Have you seen that tie I always wear?” Ilya called out from my bedroom.
I was standing in front of my front door tapping my foot impatiently. Real specific, as if I am supposed to know what tie he’s talking about. I rolled my eyes even as I called out. “It’s in the second drawer.” The man was driving me insane. His nervousness was making me want to cancel this whole dinner.
“How do I look?” He asked exiting the room.
“You look fine, now lets go.”
“You barely even looked at me!” He complained.
“I swear to god Ilya.” I said warningly. He grinned and took two steps forward picking me up, placing a light peck against my neck.
