by S F Draven
“Are we here?” she asked, groggily.
“Yes we are,” I replied, glancing behind me as she took a deep breath.
My biggest fear by the end of this was that it was just going to be a dead end, that Irina’s grandfather wasn’t going to have any information about where Edik’s hideout might be, or how to track him down. I wondered if he was just willing to pay Edik off for his family’s sake, not really caring about having a relationship with her, but I supposed we were going to find out soon enough. We all got out of the car, and I motioned to my brother for him and Jack to stay behind while I took Irina inside. I didn’t want things to be more complicated than they already had to be, showing up on a stranger’s doorstep in the hopes that he was going to help us, with a band of people he didn’t recognize.
I wondered how old he was, or if he was even able to recall what was going on. I felt a headache coming on, while all the possibilities began flitting around inside my mind, worrying me to the point of exhaustion. I reached for her hand, guiding her up the long pebbled walkway up to the front door, feeling the sun beat down on the both of us. I looked up above me, feeling the air grow heavier, realizing that a storm might be brewing. The sun hid itself behind the clouds, and I could have sworn I heard a thunderclap far off in the distance. Irina glanced over at me, taking another deep breath, as I rubbed her hand reassuringly.
“Whatever happens, I’m here for you. We’re all here for you, and regardless of what your grandfather says, we will find a way to put an end to this,” I said to her, and she smiled back at me.
“I know. I honestly don’t know why I’m so afraid of what I’ll find, because it’s not like I’ve had a relationship with him all these years. It’s quite possible that he doesn’t even remember the time he spent with me as a child at all,” she said, but I didn’t think that was the case. He seemed to be very involved in all of this one way or another, and I was just hoping that he was on the right side of this fight. The last thing we needed was another surprise, but I knew that Irina was eager to learn more about where she came from.
The door slowly swung open, revealing a well-dressed, clean-shaven old man. The resemblance between them was incredible, and I could tell that he was just as shocked to see her as she was to see him.
“Oh my God, Irina?” he asked, and I was surprised to see that he was even able to recognize her. I tried to tell myself that it was quite possible that Edik had shown him proof, and that was how he was able to convince him that she was in danger, but it still seemed rather odd to me.
“Hello, Grandfather,” she said.
“I can’t believe that you’re here, and that you’re well! Please, please come in,” he said, opening up the door for us both to come inside. I took in his beautiful home, and how well-kept it appeared to be considering the fact that it seemed he resided there alone. The walls were filled with exquisite artwork, and the fixtures throughout the property were certainly French. He was living rather lavishly, that was for sure, and that only told me that he was quite the criminal in his day. I could imagine that Irina’s parents would’ve wanted to keep her out of that life, but they had to know that it was going to catch up with her sooner or later, regardless of her running off with Edik.
“Would either of you like anything to drink?” he asked, and I could tell that he was having a hard time stringing his words together. I wondered if that was because of how overwhelmed he was by the whole thing, or he was just getting too old. He certainly did have trouble walking, and I could imagine that it must’ve been very difficult for him to live alone in such conditions. Still, I promised myself that I wasn’t going to pry too much. I wanted Irina to take the floor on this one, because if there was anyone he was going to listen to, it was her.
We both shook our heads as Irina’s grandfather led us into his living room, asking for us to get comfortable so we could chat. Irina was having trouble starting the conversation, and I didn’t want us to be there for long, so I nudged her ever so slightly, watching as she took a deep breath before diving into the conversation.
“Grandfather, I know that it’s been a very long time, and that it must be a shock for me to show up uninvited like this, but I’m afraid that I’m in trouble,” she started.
“I know you are, dear. You have been for some time. I’ve been trying to do my best to get you out of that fool’s grasp from the very moment he stepped into your life. Your parents tried to convince you, telling me not to intervene because they were afraid you’d get roped into the worst of it. I’m afraid that you already have, and all your parents ever wanted was to keep you away from a life like this. It’s good to know that you’re safe, and with the Volkovs nonetheless,” he said, glancing over at me, and I was surprised he even knew who I was.
“You know who I am?”
“Oh, boy, it’s my job to know. I may be one of the last standing men in my generation, but that doesn’t mean that I’m entirely out of the loop. I knew your father quite well, and everything he stood for, I stood for right there with him. If there was anyone I’d want to protect my granddaughter, it would be the likes of you,” he said, and that warmed my heart. I could tell that he really did care about Irina, and that the only thing he’d ever wanted was to protect her. I supposed that was something we certainly had in common, but we had terrible things still left to discuss.
“Aleksandr was the one that rescued me from Edik. He was parading me around, making me do things I wish I never had to do, but I’m free now, or so I hoped. Edik has done everything in his power to get me back, and Aleksandr was the one who finally figured out why,” she said, clutching my hand in her lap, squeezing it tightly.
“You know about the money,” he said, looking down at the floor like he was ashamed.
“I knew there had to be a reason for Edik to want to keep me around, long after our relationship fizzled out. Now, I’ve learned that relationship was never real to begin with, and it’s all been a ploy to get you to pay up. I’m so sorry for any of the trouble I’ve caused, Grandfather. I know this must not have been easy for you, or for my parents. The truth is, I really couldn’t face them after what I did, getting swept up in the adventure of it all, but when I wanted to get out, it was too late,” she said, and I knew this was all hard for her to admit, but I was glad that she was being honest with him. I felt it in my gut that he was on our side, and that he was going to do what was necessary to protect her.
“I didn’t think I had any other option to get you back, but give him everything I’ve worked for my entire life. I see now that he’s still going to come after you, and he probably will never stop until that money is transferred into his name. I’m willing to do that if it’s what’s going to keep him far away from you,” he said, but I wasn’t about to let him make a sacrifice like that.
“I’m sorry, sir, but you and I both know that once he gets that money, he’s not going to stop looking for Irina. It never ends there for men like him, and there’s only one real way to deal with him...” I started.
“Put him in the ground,” he finished for me.
“That’s right, and with my family on my side, we will be able to do just that when the time is right.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“You can call in your men, and keep things going with Edik. I need you to stay in his good graces so he doesn’t suspect that we’ve learned the truth about all of this, because once he finds out that we’ve contacted you, we can kiss our upper hand goodbye,” I said, and he nodded.
“You’re right, son. I will do just that, but you have to promise me one thing,” he said.
“What’s that?”
“You have to promise me that you’re going to do whatever it takes to keep Irina safe,” he said, and I looked him straight in the eye to let him know that there was nothing else I’d rather do.
“I promise, sir. Nothing will happen to your granddaughter. Not now, not ever.”
I left them alone in the room for them to catch u
p on all the lost time, while I met Jack and Viktor outside on the porch so we could further discuss what our next steps were going to be. We had the perfect opportunity to unleash every ounce of pressure we had on Edik, backing him into a corner, gearing up to make the right strike. I was starting to think that he was doing a pretty good job of using up all of his resources himself, thinking back to all of his dead assets that were probably still littered outside and around my warehouse. I took out his hitman, and that was supposed to be his most valuable commodity. Now, he was going to have to start up his search again, find someone to do the one thing he could never do himself; find Irina.
He’d gotten quite close, being able to capture me when I was at my most vulnerable, but I was lucky to have gotten out when I did. If that nurse had administered any more drugs into my system, I most likely would’ve been a goner, never to see the love of my life again. Irina had played an integral role in the progression of all of this, and if it wasn’t for her quick-witted cleverness, we probably wouldn’t have even been this close. I had a lot to learn from a woman like her, and I was grateful to be able to call her my own.
“What’s happening in there?” asked Viktor, approaching the front door.
“It seems that they’re making up for lost time. Everything the man has said checks out, and it looks like Edik has been doing everything in his power to make sure that fortune gets turned over to him. I’ve left them alone for a little while so they could have the moment that Irina has probably been waiting for from the moment she left home. Though, I’ll head back inside in a moment to see if he can lead us straight to Edik's playground,” I answered him, and he looked quite pleased with this. I knew he had a greater appreciation for the coming together of families since his experience with the woman who had changed his life. I always thought that he was being ridiculous to spend so much time chasing a woman, but I could certainly say I’d learned my lesson.
Irina had taken me for as much as an adventure as the stories I’d heard Viktor tell me before I made the decision to leave home and never look back. I didn’t think I’d ever end up back in their company, being welcomed like nothing happened, but it reinstated a purpose in me to see this out until the very end. There was always the worry in the back of my mind that I was in way over my head, and that Edik already had the kind of artillery that would wipe us all out, but I knew we would never be able to move forward until we at least tried to get rid of him.
In any war, it truly doesn’t matter how much weaponry and manpower you have, it’s about how you’re able to put them to good use. My brother was trained in ways that would be looked down upon by the general public, learning to kill from killers unlike him, but it made him stronger. It gave him what he needed to tell right from wrong in this complicated crime world, but I always admired how he’d be able to take the high road even when his life started to crumble around him. I valued his opinion, no matter how much hatred I’d harbored for him over the years. He was still my brother, and I knew I’d have to come back at some point. Now, I was trusting Irina, trusting all of the people around me to lay down their lives because I simply fell in love with a woman who had a complicated past.
The fact that they were all willing showed me that I had a lot of bridges to mend, relationships to fix, before I could even think about moving forward with building an empire of my own. Leaders weren’t established overnight, and when I agreed to meet Edik at his home for the first time in many years, I was looking for the easy way out, relying on another to build a business that would make our enemies hide with fear. I’d begun to see now that there simply wasn’t an easy way out in this life, and it wouldn’t end when I finally had the opportunity to put a bullet in Edik’s skull. There would always be a threat waiting to take his place, but that was just something that I was going to have to get used to. It was something that Viktor had warned me about when I was a young, naïve boy looking for riches. I wish I would’ve listened to him back then, I wish I would’ve been a better brother.
Chapter Eighteen: Irina
I can’t believe that I haven’t known about my past for the entirety of my life. I’ve been living in the shadow of my grandfather’s work, while my parents tried their best to keep it from me, but it seems it’s caught up with me anyway. I suppose there was nothing I really could’ve done to avoid it, because truth be told, I involved myself in such a situation, and for a while I really didn’t think I’d be able to get out of it. I see that in a matter of just a few weeks, I’ve learned more about myself and where I’ve come from than the last few years of my life. I’m no stranger to the adrenaline, to the danger that I face every day, but something about all of this still makes me sick to my stomach. I put my trust in Edik once, and to find out that I was just a ploy in his never-ending game of trying to obtain my grandfather’s money, truly hurts. I didn’t think that I could have any more rage, but I felt my skin heat up with every word that left my grandfather’s lips, telling me that everything I’d come to know wasn’t real. The only reality I now faced was destroying Edik, going on to live a new and improved life with Aleksandr, because he was the only one who had stuck by me through all of this. He came into my life at the perfect time, making me feel loved and welcomed for who I was.
I couldn’t believe that I didn’t see any of this coming, that I didn’t pick up on any of Edik’s terrible behavior until it was far too late. I knew he had his troubles, but I never thought that I would’ve been the one to suffer because of it. It made me rethink everything he’d ever said to me, how well he played me in all of this, because at the end of the day, he really did believe he was going to get away with it. He had taken so much from me already that I’d worried there was going to be nothing left, but I quickly learned that I was slowly regaining confidence in myself. Aleksandr made sure that I knew everything I needed to protect myself, and being by his side helped me see that there was still hope. With my grandfather now being reintroduced into my life, I truly did think that the time would come when I could see my parents again.
It blew my mind how much of a trance Edik had me under when I was first living under his roof, believing the tender pleasantries that left his lips, when all he ever saw me as was another way to get rich. I couldn’t wait to have the opportunity to unravel every part of him, slowly stripping him of everything he’d worked so hard for so that I could reclaim what was rightfully mine all along. If he’s managed to do this to me for so long, I can only imagine that there were others. Impressionable young women who thought they were falling in love with a man who would protect them forever only to learn that their lives have all been a lie. I promised myself that when this was all over, I’d do everything in my power to repay those who had suffered because of him when they didn’t deserve it. I refused to stand back and let him strip innocent people of their identities like he did mine.
I sat across from my grandfather, with Aleksandr, Viktor, and Jack next to me. Together we hatched a new plan that would make sure Edik lost everything right before the final shot was taken. He had been building quite the empire for some time, taking everything that didn’t belong to him, and it was time someone put a stop to it. I believed that we were going to pull it off this time, because the worst had already happened, and the truth had been revealed. If there was anyone that knew how Edik worked it was me, and I could see Aleksandr warming up to the idea of using me in one last little scheme. It hurt him to put me in harm’s way, even if it was the only way that we were going to get Edik in the right spot at the right time. While my grandfather may have been able to set a meeting with him, pretending that he’d caved, it wasn’t going to do much good if Edik didn’t have me to hold over his head.
I had to admit that the plan itself wasn’t perfect, but it was a place to start. I squeezed Aleksandr’s hand, letting him know that everything was going to be okay. I could see the fear in his eyes. He was really starting to conceptualize what it meant to have me go back to Edik even if it was just long enough to lure him out of hiding.
“What if something happens to you before we have the chance to strike?” he asked.
“You once promised me that you’re never going to let anything happen to me. I need you to make that promise to me now. You’re going to get to me in time, and we can finally end this, Aleksandr.”
“I will not rest until we find you, until we make sure that this never comes back to haunt us again,” he said, kissing my forehead. Then he turned his attention to the band of close associates he’d put together in such a short amount of time, and under the most unpredictable circumstances. “Are you all ready?” he asked.
“It’s time,” I said, and they all nodded. I would’ve been lying if I said I wasn’t scared, but I knew this was the only way that I’d ever have a real chance at living an uninterrupted life. I didn’t want to be scared anymore, I didn’t want to feel like I was constantly on the run. If we were going to make it out of this alive, it was up to me to play the part, to play into my fear that Edik was finally going to get me back. He was going to count that as a win, but if only he knew that he had a rude awakening coming. I was surrounded by some of the strongest men I’d ever known, and I had faith in them that they were going to rescue me before Edik had the chance to put a bullet in my skull.
The air around me was thick as I slipped into a tattered t-shirt and jeans, before getting dropped off by a taxi at the corner of what was now a ghost town. It was the kind of place that no one ever went to unless it was absolutely necessary, and it was where crime truly flourished. I looked around, and all I could see were empty trash bags floating in the wind, catching on telephone poles outside of these neglected buildings. I kissed Aleksandr goodbye before coming out here, and I could’ve sworn I still felt that kiss on my lips when I closed my eyes. The longer I was out there in the cold, the more I began to realize that I was trying to play a dangerous game. I didn’t even know if Edik’s men were going to find me, nor did I know if they were going to take me straight to him before something happened. I could feel the worry and anxiety course through me like they were foreign feelings, making every step I took next feel like my last.
