Tony, Her Billionaire Russian: A BWWM BBW 5 Stories In 1 Bundle

by Cher Etan

  “He was leaving town, his sister is in the hospital. What was I supposed to do?” she protested in turn.

  “Assault, battery and kidnapping?” her grandmother’s gravelly tone sounded almost amused.

  “Never mind that now. I need help to get him out of here to somewhere safe.”

  “Where are you now? I’ll send Peter to find you.”

  “I’m in the laundry room,” Camille whispered.

  “Is the package secure?” her grandmother asked in that tone that wanted to be amused.

  “Yes. I have him wrapped in a sheet in one of the collection containers. I’ve bundled sheets over him so no-one can see him even if someone comes in. He’s out cold.”

  “For how long?”

  “I knocked him out. He’s out for the night.”

  “Peter will be there soon.”

  ***

  When Tony got to the hospital Sophie was already asleep the baby held loosely in her arms. He reached out a hand to touch Benjy’s finger and Sophie jerked awake at once.

  “Great reflexes,” Tony said smiling.

  “Thanks,” Sophie replied wryly, “I try.”

  “Hey, how about I hold him while you get some real sleep?” Tony asked stretching his arms out.

  Sophie handed him over with a smile but didn’t immediately close her eyes. She just smiled at both of her men like they were the greatest thing since sliced bread.

  “Y’all look so cute together like that. Have you held many babies? You’re such a natural.” She said to Tony.

  Tony just smiled and continued to hold Benjy’s hand or rather allow Benjy to squeeze his thumb for all that he was worth. His eyes were closed but he was squirming like he couldn’t get comfortable in his father’s arms. Tony adjusted his hold on Benjy trying to make him comfortable but to no avail. Benjy’s little mouth opened and he yawned widely, opening his mouth and his eyes. Tony stared at those piercing gray orbs in fascination. It was like staring at his father but in a mirror which distorted things so that all the cynicism, bitterness and anger were removed.

  “This is true immortality,” he whispered, not really expecting Sophie to hear.

  “Isn’t it?” she murmured, eyes drifting closed and a blissful smile on her face.

  Tony sat down in the rocking chair singing softly to Benjy. The baby’s eyes seemed to follow the movement of his mouth as if he actually knew what he was doing and was wondering why. Tony smiled at him and Benjy continued to look impassively back, his hands gripping his blanket with that impossibly strong baby grip his tiny fingernails long and pink. Tony stared at Benjy’s hands as he hummed fascinated by their shape and color and how strong they were, yet so tiny.

  “You look so fragile,” he whispered to Benjy. “I’m going to protect you and take care of you and love you always.”

  Benjy just looked at him with those impassive gray eyes, so like his father’s.

  ***

  Sophie didn’t so much fall asleep as drop off into a state approaching unconsciousness so fast it felt like vertigo for a moment. Her hands clenched on the sheets without her knowledge and her nails dug into the mattress. There was a wind swirling about her in the dream and she felt caught in the middle of a tornado. It had been a while since she’d had the Katrina dream and she had thought she was through with them forever. She could hear screaming in the wind; even though there were no words, the voice sounded familiar. She looked around her, wondering where it could possibly be coming from but there was nothing but wind, and that screaming. She turned herself around looking for a way out of the wall of wind that surrounded her, looking for a way toward the sound but nothing presented itself to her. Suddenly there was a body in the wind and it was flying and screaming. She looked up at it squinting to make it out but the only thing she could tell for sure is that the person was tall and male. Suddenly the wind was buffeting her from side to side and she felt dizzy and nauseous. The screaming was continuous, drilling into her brain like a nail and she would have done anything to escape it. It made her frantic with fear, wanting to help the screamer, but mostly just wanting it to stop.

  “…ophie!” she heard it faintly like a whisper in her mind but she knew it was the screamer. She turned her head frantically looking for the source but there was nothing to see except the shadow in the wind.

  “..Op…phie!” she heard and somehow she knew that this person calling to her was important to her and that she needed to find them before it was too late.

  “Who is out there?!?” she called shielding her eyes to see better.

  There was no reply but the wind seemed to whine louder in a voice more human than before. Or maybe she was imagining things, who knew?

  “Whose there!?!” she called again.

  The wind suddenly died down and disappeared and she was left alone in an endless field of green grass and dark starless sky above. The field was interspersed with tall evergreen trees that looked as old as the continent and just as gnarly. There was something in the middle of the field that could be human but Sophie was too far off to tell. Slowly and with a growing sense of trepidation, she approached the figure, heart accelerating with fear.

  “Hello?” she whispered as she got closer but there was no movement or reply from the prone figure. As she came up to him she saw that it was a man sprawled on his face. His booted feet were spread wide apart and his jean clad legs were long and lean. He was lying on his stomach and long dreadlocks spread out across his muscled back clad in a checked shirt and white vest.

  “Solomon?” she cried out in horror. Her body rose and she screamed opening her eyes to see Tony standing with the crying baby in his arms, staring at her in shock.

  “Starship’s in trouble,” she told him and then fainted.

  ***

  Tony put the crying baby down in his crib and fished out his phone. He was slightly perturbed at what had just happened. Sophie had been lying asleep and then she was sitting up in her bed and screaming, eyes still closed, apparently still asleep. Then she’d opened her eyes. Her voice had been deeper than normal as she told him that her brother was in trouble and then she just fainted. As soon as his mother had sat up, Benjy began to cry. It was the freakiest thing Tony had ever seen and he hardly knew what to do with it. So he resorted to the mundane and logical and decided to call Solomon to see where he was. The phone rang and rang and rang but no-one picked it up. He hung up and decided to call the reception and see if they would connect him to the room.

  The desk clerk called but there was no answer from the room. He stated that he hadn’t seen Solomon leave and perhaps he was asleep or something.

  “Thank you,” Tony said and hung up closing his eyes in tiredness.

  “No. Not again.” He said to himself.

  He raised his phone again and scrolled through his contacts clicked on his father’s number and listened to it ring. It went to voicemail and Tony hung up. No way would his father listen to voicemails. He clicked on the number again and called back. This time his father answered on the second ring. He sounded breathless like he’d been running or…

  “Dad?” he said.

  “Yes Anton?” his father replied.

  “Solomon’s disappeared again,” he tried very hard to keep the note of accusation out of his voice.

  “Has he? Where do you think he has gone?” his father asked. Did he sound surprised or was Tony just hoping he did?

  “I don’t know. I can’t find him anywhere, he’s not answering his phone.”

  “Do you want me to send someone?”

  “What do you mean ‘send someone’?”

  “Your uncle has people who know how to find people,” Roman said cryptically.

  Tony thought about it for a moment. Thought about Sophie screaming awake and her eyes and deep voice. Thought about the woman who was stalking Solomon and the fact that he could not be located.

  “Send someone,” he said.

  ***

  Solomon woke up slowly like he was underwater
and fighting his way to the surface while the tide tried to pull him back down. He tried to pry his eyes open but they were wedged shut by something more powerful than just sleep. He struggled, trying to move and realized that his hands were tied. He tried to move his legs but they were also confined in some way. He was on the move, he could feel it in the gentle sway of whatever vessel he was in. He opened his mouth to try to shout but found that he couldn’t even though there was no gag of any kind over it. He fought against panic which was threatening to choke him but he knew he couldn’t give in to it or else all was truly lost.

  The swaying stopped and then he was dropped on the ground. Whatever he was lying on had enough cushion to shield him from injury and he waited to see what happened next. There were noises above him as if things were being shifted and suddenly he could open both his eyes and his mouth. He did just that and shouted, “Help!”

  “Shout all you want. There ain’t nobody to hear you but coyotes and alligators,” a young man wearing coveralls drawled. The man’s hair was plaited and he wore sunglasses over his eyes even though there was not that much sunlight to speak of. He had a black mark on his cheek that could have been a birth mark or maybe the remnant of a chicken pox infection. Either way, he did not seem too bothered at Solomon seeing his face and that scared him shitless.

  “Are you going to kill me?” He asked the guy. A shadow loomed over the stooping figure of the young man and a familiar voice spoke.

  “No-one’s going to hurt you Sol. Don’t be silly,” Camille said coming around the guy who was pulling him out of some sort of large box container.

  “So why are my hands tied?” he asked her, trying to make his voice not shake.

  “We need you just for a little bit, and then we’ll let you go. Promise.” Camille said.

  “Yeah sure, of course,” Solomon nodded his head at her parodying belief. She just turned away from him and went into a small wooden shed that stood not a few yards away. Sunglasses followed her, dragging Solomon along by the rope that tied his wrists together. He threw Solomon into the room and as he fell sprawling on the floor, followed him in and dragged him to a pole in the middle of the room.

  “My grandmother will be coming soon. Just do as she says and we’ll let you go after. Okay Sol?”

  Sol said nothing, just stared into the middle distance and ignored them both. Camille opened her mouth, and then closed it again. Clearly there was nothing else to say.

  ***

  Roman called Elijah as soon as he was off the phone with Tony. They had come to an uneasy truce in their roles as in-laws but while they had their differences, they were united in putting the family interest first.

  “They have taken your grandson.” He said into the phone.

  “Who?” Elijah asked. One thing Roman liked about this man was that he did not waste time or words on futile musings.

  “I don’t know who. But he was taken in New Orleans so perhaps you do?” Roman prompted. Elijah thought about it, if the Bratva did not have Solomon – and clearly that was the implication behind Roman calling him – then…someone must have found out. Sooner or later, he had known that they would come for him. The black emerald was too valuable an heirloom for them to ignore forever. He had assumed that they would assume that it was lost in Katrina but…maybe not.

  “I might have an idea but nothing concrete.” He told Roman.

  “So what are we going to do?” Roman asked him.

  “Go to New Orleans,” Elijah said in a tone that clearly said this should be obvious to even the meanest intelligence.

  “There is a private plane waiting for us at Dulles. How fast can you be there?”

  “Give me thirty minutes,” Elijah said and hung up. He called to Katarina even as he ended the call.

  “Get Samuel please, I need to go to the airport now.” He told her. Katarina nodded, opened her mouth to ask what was wrong but Elijah was already walking away to his room to pack a bag. She called Samuel to come around; luckily he was in the garage tuning cars so he didn’t have far to go to get to the house.

  “Please ask him what’s wrong and then come tell me,” she pleaded with Samuel.

  “Now honey, you know I don’t kiss and tell,” Samuel replied chidingly.

  “Something is wrong, I just want to know what,” Katarina replied. She’d had a bad feeling all day and it had just gotten much worse. Her stomach was twisted in knots and Sam was acting strange too, hovering around her and swaying from side to side like he was anxious. He wouldn’t say a word though so she wasn’t sure if his anxiety was a result of hers, or he had his own intuitions.

  Samuel was quiet, looking at her with thoughtful eyes, and then he nodded his agreement. Elijah came out the door just then and hurried into the car. Samuel went to the other side and got in the driver’s seat and drove off in quite a hurry. Katarina watched them go, the knot in her stomach seeming to get worse.

  ***

  They called Tony as soon as the plane landed in New Orleans.

  “Have you heard anything?” Elijah inquired.

  “Nothing. No pitches for ransom or threats or anything. It’s been radio silent.”

  “Do you think he could possibly just have gone off somewhere and neglected to tell you?” Elijah asked but there was not much hope in his voice.

  “No. He wouldn’t do that. Not now.” Tony said definitely. Elijah sighed in agreement. Solomon was neither cruel nor careless. He wouldn’t just disappear. Especially not with his nephew was just born and premature at that. Elijah reluctantly had to face the fact that something…bad…must have happened to him.

  “I’ll call you if I have news,” he said. “Your father and I are headed for the French Quarter now.”

  “Be careful.” Tony replied.

  “Do you want to speak to him?” Elijah asked.

  There was a slight hesitation on the line, “Later”, Tony said. “Sophie’s just waking up; I think I have to tell her what’s happening…we promised each other honesty once.”

  Elijah sighed again but all he said was, “Alright then, see you on the other side.”

  He hung up and turned to Roman with a nod, “I think the best place to start would be Lafayette where my daughter’s store was. This Camille woman will be known there and she’s still our best bet to find Solomon.”

  Roman nodded back at him, instructing the driver where to go. They had two other men with them; one in the front seat, another following them with a second car. He kept a discreet distance between them, but they knew he was there anyway. They used the fastest route the driver could find and sooner than expected they were drawing up outside the cemetery. Roman had been on the phone the entire time, negotiating with someone on the other end of the line. As they drew up to the spot, he hung up and turned to face Elijah.

  “My people don’t really have people in this town but we are directed to see someone called Sandra who lives across from here. It is said she knows everything that’s needed to know about anything in this town.”

  Elijah nodded, “Yes I know Sandra. She runs things here.”

  “Good,” Roman replied, “she’s waiting for us.”

  They alighted from the vehicle and crossed the road to where an old woman was sitting outside a doorway.

  “It is the black emerald. I told you many times it would come back and bite you in de ass. You should have given it to me those many years ago…” Sandra began to speak as soon as Elijah was within hearing range.

  He snorted in answer shaking his head, “Because you had such benevolent intentions for it yourself…” he said.

  “Perhaps not, but there are those who would kill for it, and I am not one of them.”

  “Who took Solomon?” he asked directly. Sandra stared at him, her eyes filmy with cataracts but still seeming to stare right through him.

  “You think it’s that easy?”

  “If it’s the emerald they want, then obviously I cannot give it to you.” Elijah said logically.

  Sandra l
ooked around the empty street, “Eyes are everywhere,” she said.

  “Yet you are the one who speaks openly and in the open about this thing.” Elijah countered.

  Sandra’s eyes cut to Roman and his men, “You come ready for a fight I see. But you bring guns to a knife fight my friend – they will not help you.”

  “Perhaps; perhaps not. I will be the judge. Tell me where he is, and I will give you what you seek…once I get him back.”

  Sandra shook her head, “Keep your emerald. It seems like bad luck follows it. He’s at the Old House. You know it? In the bayou.”

  Elijah nodded, “You mean….” He said.

  Sandra nodded.

  Elijah turned away gesturing to Roman to go back to the car but then turned back, “Why do you help me?” he asked Sandra.

  She studied him, head inclined to one side as if he was some rare bird she was trying to classify. “I owe Sylvie for that time she saved my life. Consider that debt paid,” she said at last with a gentle smile. Elijah started in shock and then almost stumbled as he walked away.

  ‘Sylvie…’

  The thought of her was an arrow in his heart, his dearly departed wife and grandmother of Sophie and Solomon.

  Chapter 5

  They bundled into the car and Roman looked at Elijah expectantly waiting for direction. Elijah had to put his head between his hands for a bit, wanting to talk but lacking the breath. He had spoken to no-one of Sylvie since she died during Hurricane Katrina but the thought of her had been a light in his heart helping him to go on when he felt that he didn’t have the strength to get out of bed some mornings.

  “Elijah? Where do we go?” Roman asked bringing him back from his reverie.

  His head came up and he stared at Roman as if he did not know him, his mouth opened and then closed.

  “Elijah?” Roman said more sharply.

  Elijah shook himself as if he was a wet dog, actually it was more of a shudder, and his eyes came back into focus. “The Bayou. There is an abandoned cabin and a dirt road leading to it. At the end of the road are the remains of a plantation house and the cabin. We need to hurry in case Camille has people watching out for us; if she finds out we talked to Sandra heaven only knows what she’ll do to Solomon.”