Daniel

by KJ Dahlen

  Daniel froze at her words and stared at her in shock. “Why would I rape you?”

  She paused then looked at him. “You don’t want me that way?”

  Daniel growled. “Yes, I want you in that way but when we come together, it will not be rape. I would never take a woman against her will.” Shaking his head in disgust at the very idea, he claimed, “That’s not the kind of man I am sweet thing. I would never force a woman, that’s just so wrong on so many levels I can’t even tell you.”

  She shivered as she admitted. “I am sorry I insulted you. It’s just that Begian’s men are not so civilized. They would see no problem with taking a woman against her will.”

  Daniel tipped her face to his. “I’m not a man like that. Most men aren’t.”

  “I believe you. I don’t know why but I believe you. And I’m sorry I said that. You have been nothing but kind to me and I repay you like that. I’m so sorry.”

  Daniel smiled then leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “I forgive you.” He chuckled then leaned back and smiled. “I have a feeling Ivan is going to love you.” He got to his feet and held out his hand. “Come on, let’s go get some breakfast. I hear some eggs calling our name.”

  Rani frowned and stared at him. “You are strange do you know that? How can eggs talk?”

  Daniel threw back his head and laughed. “I’ve been called worse, I suppose.”

  “Can I have a shower before breakfast?” Rani asked.

  “Of course, you can. I should have thought about that.” He walked over and grabbed her backpack. “ I made sure to pick this up for you at that park. Well, I sure hope it’s yours or I am a thief?”

  She giggled. “No, it is mine.”

  He grinned. “Well, that’s a relief. If you need other clothes just let me know. I’m sure I can find something around here.”

  Rani closed her eyes and whispered, “That would be wonderful. I appreciate it very much. It’s been too long since I’ve had clean clothes.”

  “When you’re done, we can rebandage your cut.”

  He left but came back a few minutes later with a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. “This was all I could find.”

  “It’ll do.” She smiled. “I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

  “Take your time sweet thing.” Daniel smiled.

  Daniel went out to the kitchen and began preparing breakfast. He didn’t know what the day would bring but he knew Ivan would be on the road already. He smiled. He knew how the other man was feeling. They had held many late night sessions on what happened that brought him here. Ivan had said he’d known that this stepbrother had left Russia and he tracked him here. Then in all his searches, he never found them.

  Daniel agreed with him on one point, he did need to find out where his stepbrother had taken his wife and try to get her back. Ivan told him she loved him, not Begian and the fact that Begian didn’t realize this was on him and no one else. Now, Ivan he knew his wife was still alive, he would go to the ends of the earth to find her again. And Daniel knew Begian would pay the full price for his sins.

  Daniel couldn’t help himself. He didn’t feel a bit sorry for Begian. There are some things a man just doesn’t do and he did all of them.

  When Rani joined him, her hair was wet but she looked a little better. He glanced her over and could see the signs that she was nervous but she was trying. “Relax. No one here is going to hurt you.”

  She sat down on a stool at the island and nodded. “I know that in my head...” She motioned toward her forehead. “But it’s a little hard to feel it in my heart. It just doesn’t seem real to me yet.”

  Daniel smiled. “You will feel it in your heart soon.”

  “Can you tell me more about this Ivan?” she asked. “I’m not sure I can go from one dictator to another. I just can’t go back to living that life.”

  He chuckled. “Oh, don’t get me wrong, Ivan can be a hard taskmaster but he’s a fair man. You know exactly where you stand with him.”

  “But I don’t know him.”

  “Not yet you don’t and he doesn’t know you either. All I am asking is that you give him a chance. Don’t shut him out and don’t compare him to Begian. He is nothing like Begian.”

  Rani stared at him for a moment then nodded. “I can try.”

  Chapter Five

  Daniel walked around the island and came to a stop beside her. “I’ll be here with you and I’ll stand between the two of you if I have to. I got you, sweet thing.”

  Rani turned to him. “I’m going to hold you to that big guy.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and held him close. “How long will it take him to get here?” she asked softly.

  “About three or four hours, give or take. Knowing Ivan though, it will be closer to three than four. He’s been looking for information on Anya for a very long time.” He looked down at her and smiled. “And I know he didn’t know about you until this morning. You, he won’t be able to wait to meet.”

  Rani held out her wrist and looked down at the birthmark. “Begian would stare at this mark and grow so enraged. He hated the fact that I had it.”

  Daniel snorted. “He knew that was the mark of the Antosha family. He was ten years old when his mother married Ivan’s father. He thought he should be accepted into the family from day one, but he had his own family. His parents were divorced but his father was still very much alive. Ivan’s father treated him well but he was never a true son. He kept his father’s name the whole time, he even spent time with his father and his first family. But whenever he came back to the Antosha house, he did nothing but play Ivan against his father. He expected to be named as a son in old man Antosha’s will but when the old man gathered the family together to discuss this and he found out that he wasn’t named in the will, Begian grew enraged. The older Antosha explained that he had his own family to profit from.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, I know all about that. He didn’t know it at the time but his own father had pissed away all his inheritance. He was left broke by his own father and from Mr. Antosha. That didn’t go over well.”

  “Don’t believe everything he told you.” Daniel scoffed as he cooked the scrambled eggs then moved them to the plates. “He got money from his mother. A lot of money. Money, Ivan found out she’d siphoned from his father’s estate, after his father had died.” Daniel moved away to get out the bread for toast as he poke, “She went to prison for her actions in helping him get away, along with helping Begian murder her husband for profit. He’s still wanted in Russia for Ivan’s dad’s murder.”

  Rani shivered. “I guess the apple doesn’t fall from the tree does it?”

  “No it doesn’t, but Ivan is not a man that forgets his enemies,” Daniel assured her as he popped the toast from the toaster and buttered it.

  “Can he free my mom?” she asked in a hopeful whisper.

  “I have no idea. But if I were a betting man... I say yes, he will.” He set her plate down in front of her. “Do you like orange juice?”

  She stared at him. “Oh, I do. And it has been so long sconce I had any.”

  He paused. The poor girl had been a prisoner. He wanted to go over and hold her again. But he knew he would just scare her. He went and got her juice instead.

  He set it down and noticed she was eating like a starved person. “Well, those eggs did call your name.”

  She paused with her fork in midair and then smiled. “You are just a good cook!”

  “And you were too hungry.” He stared at her. “When did you last eat?”

  She chewed her eggs, swallowed then took a long gulp of the juice. Setting the glass down, she finally replied, “Maybe 2 days?”

  He blinked at her. “Two days?” he exclaimed.

  At his tone, she gazed over at him.

  He sighed and sat down to eat. “I...I am sorry for what you have been through.”

  She swiped her mouth with the paper towel next to her plate and looked at him. “You must be the sweetest man I’ve ever met.”


  He paused with his fork in midair now. “Oh, man. No guy wants to hear that!”

  She stared at him and then laughed.

  He chuckled and ate his breakfast.

  Just then, they heard the sound of a helicopter flying low. Daniel frowned then looked at Rani.” Stay here and stay low until I come back.”

  Rani nodded.

  He got up to rush to the front door. As he went out to the porch, he and all the Lost Sons brothers his dad had put into place, gathered around the house as the copter landed in the field they all called the back forty. They all held their weapons ready

  One of the brothers put in an emergency call to the clubhouse and Daniel was told to go back inside the house.

  Shaking his head, Daniel smiled when he saw who got out of the copter, he turned to the brothers and told them, “Get a truck out there and pick them up. They were invited but I thought they would come by car.”

  The brothers just shook their heads and one of them ran to get his pickup. He took off for the field.

  Daniel heard the front door open behind him. He looked back at Rani. “I told you to stay.”

  I heard what was said. I knew it was safe.” She stood there, watching the men coming toward the house.

  Daniel held out his hand and she took it. Entwining her fingers in his, he pulled her close to him.

  “That’s him isn’t it?” she asked softly as she stared at an older man.

  He seemed to be tall, wide shouldered and distinguished looking. He strode with purpose as he got into the waiting truck. He wasn’t anything like Begian.

  “Yes sweet Rani, that’s Ivan and his friends.

  “I thought you said I had a few hours before he would get here.” She panicked suddenly and tried to pull away.

  “Rani...” Daniel pulled her close as he wrapped one hand at the back of her head and the other at her waist. “Hush now. Please don’t fight this.”

  She looked up at him and with tears in her eyes, she asked him softly, “Will you kiss me please? For once in my life, I want to feel something that might not happen again.”

  Daniel put both of his hands around her face and stared at her for a few seconds then lowered his face to hers and crushed his mouth on hers.

  At first touch, they both felt the zing of electricity pass between them.

  Daniel groaned as he kissed her wildly.

  Rani moaned as his lips took hers and then gasped when his tongue invaded her mouth intimating the most intimate act mankind knew.

  They were so lost in the kiss... they didn’t hear the vehicle stop at the bottom of the steps. What broke them apart was the truck door being slammed as the three men got out.

  Ivan growled and frowned at the couple standing on the porch. Ivan swore in Russian as the other two looked pissed off.

  Hearing this, Daniel lifted his mouth from hers.

  They both looked at the three men dazed, then Daniel cleared his throat. “Excuse us, gentlemen.”

  Ivan stepped forward. “I don’t think so, young Daniel. Get your hands off my daughter now!” he shouted.

  Rani growled and snarled, “You can’t tell him or me what to do, or who I can kiss. I don’t even know you and you sure as hell don’t know me.”

  Ivan was so surprised he couldn’t speak. Then he closed his eyes and shuddered. “You are like your mother. She was a little spitfire as well.” He opened his eyes and stared at her. Then he slowly walked up the steps and came to stand in front of her. His eyes roamed over her face and body then he gently reached out to take her wrist in his hand. He turned it slightly, so he could see her birthmark for himself. “What is your mother’s name child?”

  “Her name is Anya Nashovic,” Rani told him.

  Ivan shook his head. “No it’s not Nashovic, it is Anya Antosha. She is still my wife and you are most assuredly my child, not Begian’s. You have the mark every Antosha is born with.”

  Rani tried to pull her hand away from him but Ivan wouldn’t allow it.

  She cried out when his fingers crushed her wrist.

  Daniel had to pry his fingers loose.

  Ivan snapped his eyes to meet his.

  “I promised her no one here would hurt her and that includes you as well,” Daniel stared into his eyes as he spoke.

  Ivan frowned and glanced at Rani then his face fell. “I’m so sorry child. I forgot myself.”

  Pyotr and Gregori joined them on the porch.

  “Maybe we should take this inside,” Gregori suggested.

  Rani turned and stomped away.

  Daniel shook his head as the door slammed behind her as he turned to glare at Ivan. “I think you should know something here, my friend. That girl has never known a loving father figure. The only person who loved her was her mother. If you treat her like you did just now, she’ll think she’s trading one controlling asshole for another.”

  Pyotr growled.

  Daniel held up his hand. “I know you are a better man Ivan. But she doesn’t, please be gentle with her until she can find out what kind of man you really are. You need to put aside your rage for the man she knows as her father. Let her discover for herself that you are totally different from what she’s known before. She needs to know she’s got value as a person and as a daughter.”

  Ivan took a deep breath and nodded. “When you called me this morning, I didn’t want to believe it was true. I couldn’t imagine that Begian would allow my daughter to live. It must have burned his soul to allow her to grow up under his roof.”

  “He used me to control my mother,” Rani called out from the doorway. “It all makes sense now. My mother loved me and he used that against her. When I couldn’t stand his rules anymore, I stood up for myself and he always took my defiance out on her.” Looking crushed by the memories of this, she fell to her knees and cried out.

  Surprised by her sudden shift in moods from anger to grief, Daniel ran to her side. Gathering her into his arms, he carried her into the living room where he sat with her on the couch.

  Ivan and his two men followed them inside.

  Rani leaned against Daniel as tears ran down her face. “He used to beat her every time I broke his stupid rules. And when I didn’t, he would make something up just to have the chance to hurt her.”

  “How did you get away?” Ivan asked as his blue eyes raged.

  “Almost two weeks ago, my mother woke me in the middle of the night. She told me to get dressed and to get away from the compound. We had spoken about this many times but the plan was that we would go together. I knew something was wrong but I could never have guessed what Begian was going to do.” She laid her head on Daniel’s chest and sniffled.

  “What were his plans?” Ivan demanded.

  “He was going to force me into marriage with one of his goons. A man who is twice my age and a beast with women. I had to leave that night because come dawn, he was going to join us in marriage. He didn’t tell my mother until that night.”

  Ivan curled his fingers into fists and his eyes lost all their color as rage filled his heart. “What happened after that?” he snarled.

  “He sent the man to find me and drag me back. He wanted to know I would be under his thumb even if I was in another man’s house.”

  “And did this man find you again?” Pyotr asked.

  Chapter Six

  Rani nodded her head and closed her eyes. She didn’t want to remember that night but she knew they wanted to hear the details. “He found me four days after I escaped. I was in a park near San Antonio. I heard him call my name and I tried to get away but he was bigger and stronger than I was. He grabbed me by my hair and I kicked out at him. I nailed him in the balls and he let me go, falling to the ground in pain. Then the next thing I knew, he had a knife in his hands and he slashed out at me. It was weak movement for sure but the blade tore open my belly. I managed to kick him again, this time I kicked him in the head. He went down for the count.”

  Ivan studied her for a moment then asked, “How h
ard did you kick him? I didn’t think a woman could kick a man unconscious. You don’t seem to be strong enough to do that.”

  Rani shrugged. “You’d be surprised what a woman can do when it’s her life on the line and you’re wearing steel toed boots.”

  Pyotr looked over at Gregori and then they both looked over at Ivan and all three burst out laughing.

  “Da this is your child, my friend,” Pyotr managed to say as he wiped tears from his eyes. Looking over at Rani he asked, “Why were you wearing steel toed boots my child?”

  “My mother wanted me to be prepared for anything when I left the compound.” She glared at them. “We were prepared for the day when we would both leave that horrible place.”

  “You are injured?” Ivan asked as he looked down to her middle. “How bad is the cut you received?”

  “It bled some but the cut wasn’t deep. I bandaged it the best I could and tried to keep it clean but running doesn’t always give you much choice. The last few days, I haven’t been feeling the best, so when he caught up with me yesterday, I couldn’t fight him off. He knew enough to stay out of my reach.”

  “He used a fucking Tazer on her,” Daniel added. “He gave her jolt after jolt, even after she was down. He was yelling and cussing at her, so I clobbered his dumb ass.” He shook his head. “I don’t care what she did to him, he is bigger and stronger than she is and she was already down. He should have backed off. Then I got her out of there as fast as I could.”

  “Da, thank you for that.” Ivan nodded at his old employee, then he shrugged. “Me? I might have slit his throat but that’s just me.”

  “Tell us more about this compound you speak of,” Pyotr demanded.

  “It’s just over the border on the Mexican side near the town of Del Rio. He has ten acres of land behind an eight-foot stone wall. We grow most of our own food but the ground isn’t good enough to grow much. Once a week, the men go across the border for supplies, stuff like water and gasoline and staples that we need.”

  “How many people live there?” Gregori frowned.

  “There are maybe ten families living there with maybe five single men? Altogether, maybe twenty-five to thirty people?” She shrugged. “I don’t really know because mom and I weren’t allowed to mix with them all that often. Begian is the leader there and he sets the rules. He’s a harsh taskmaster and a horrible leader. The men who came there to live had no choice. We found out over the years, that they were all wanted on the American side of the border for some crime or another. Whoever they are, they are not good men.”