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Iosif stirred when he heard voices in the living room area. His arms tightened around his woman. He didn’t want to wake her but he knew it was time. He had joined her an hour ago and held her close while she struggled in her sleep. She had cried herself into a restless daze a couple of hours ago.
“Is it time?” she asked in a whisper, breaking the uneasy silence of the room.
“Yeah, it’s time.”
Jaden tightened her hold on him briefly. With her head on his chest she could hear the echo of his heart under her ear. The steady thump of his heart matched her own heartbeat and that small sound gave her hope.
Turning her head, she laid her lips over the spot on his chest where she could feel the steady beating coming from. Then she raised her eyes to meet his. “I don’t know what’s coming out there, but I want you know that—that I think I love you.” When he would have repeated the words back to her she laid her fingers on his mouth.
She had to get this out there before they went to face whatever waited for them. “I know it’s too soon to say those words, but I do love you. You complete me. You are the other half of my soul. I don’t know your world but if you give me a chance I can learn it. I don’t want you for your money or the security you can offer me. I just want you. Life for me has always been a struggle but I’m not afraid to work hard for what I want. Please think about keeping me?” With her whispered words, she laid her mouth over his and kissed him.
The kiss lit a fire in his soul and Iosif knew he would never get this passion from anyone else. Out of all the women in the world he could search and search and never find what this small woman was giving him right now. She told him he completed her? Well, she more than completed him too. “I won’t ever give you up.” He swore as the kiss broke. He kissed her again then swung away from her and got to his feet. He put his shoes on and waited for her to get ready.
She went and washed her face. Then put a brush through her red hair.
He watched and thought of how beautiful she was. He couldn’t figure out how she ever thought she was plain or some outsider. He would show her everyday how precious she was. No one would stop him either. His body grew tight with determination. Keep her at all costs was his mantra now.
Taking her hand in his, they walked to the door and went out to the living room together. Iosif found his father Timor glaring at him from a chair at the kitchen table, while Sergi and Misha were going over the papers they had found in the bank deposit box.
Sergi looked up when he noticed the room went quiet. He looked at Iosif first then swung his gaze to Jaden. His own eyes widened and he surged to his feet, whispering, “Annika.”
“No, I am her daughter, Jaden.” Jaden raised her head a little higher as if she were proud of who she was. “Your Annika was murdered a long time ago.”
Sergi nodded. “So I understand from these letters. You just look so much like her. Her family never knew her fate. We hoped and prayed she was still alive, somewhere, thinking about us too, but we never knew for sure.”
“The man that took her away from you ended up killing her and almost killing me. I never knew her. Or at least I don’t remember her. I was only three when she died. I never knew my father, never even knew his name until yesterday when your men told me who he was.”
“I know,” Sergi told her quietly. “It’s been too many years between then and now and most of our family is gone. I am an old man myself and I wasn’t sure if Nikoli was telling the truth when he said he found you.” He moved toward her half a step. “Did she still have the necklace her father gave her?”
Jaden’s hand reached for the collar of her shirt and brought out the necklace she was wearing. Slipping it off her neck, she handed it to Sergi.
Sergi felt the warm metal in his hand and he stared down at the heirloom he thought he’d never see again.
Misha got up and quietly stood at his father’s side as he gazed down at the necklace he held. Misha had only seen pictures of the heirloom. It was first worn by his mother’s sister then when her daughter was kidnapped the family thought the priceless heirloom was gone, lost forever.
Sergi’s own father’s brother had married his mother’s much younger sister, a scandal in the family decades ago. Annika was born of that marriage and after she’d been snatched the family never recovered from the grief.
Now at least a small part of Annika had been returned to them. Sergi gave her the necklace back and as she slipped it around her neck Timor growled his displeasure at her act.
“Nikoli and Yuri both tell me you have a bastard looking for you. What can you tell me about this man, Billy Jo Walker?” Sergi asked her.
“Billy Jo hates me, he’s shown that over and over for the last five years. I first met him in high school. He belonged, I didn’t. He made sure I knew that every day. Then he offered me a pity date, a way to be more accepted in the popular groups. When I refused he took it personal.” She shrugged. “Then he made his displeasure known again and again. I had to leave school and start over on my own. He hunted me down like a rat and when he found me he let me know with his fists that he wasn’t happy.”
She met his gaze and told him the rest, “He found me again three days ago.” Turning her head, she looked at Iosif and smiled. Reaching out she took his hand and he tightened their hold. “But this time I wasn’t alone. Iosif was there.” She turned back to Sergi. “Roman got us both out of there and has been giving us protection since then. I think you know the rest.”
Sergi stared at the girl in front of him but didn’t say a word.
“Well, I for one am not happy about this whole thing.” Timor surged to his feet and took a step toward them. “You did your homework little girl, didn’t you? Bet you really had to dig deep to find a connection to worm your way into my son’s life, didn’t you?” he growled as he got closer enough to get into her face.
Jaden wanted to shrink behind Iosif but she wouldn’t. He tightened his hold of her and wouldn’t let her go. “No sir, I didn’t have to do anything. Iosif stood up for me against the likes of Billy Jo and his goons. I never asked him too nor wanted him to get involved but he did what he thought was right.” She turned to him and stared at the man who changed her life. “I’ve never met a man quite like him before.”
“That’s because I raised him to be a gentleman.” Timor growled. “An honorable man, one that would keep his word, but also one that belongs to a world you would never understand.”
“Father!” Iosif interrupted Timor’s rant. “Zatknis.”
“No, I will not shut up!” Timor snapped. “This little bitch has you convinced she’s your woman. She’s anything but your woman and I will not allow this pretense to go on. Can’t you see she’s playing you for a fool?”
“Maxim,” Sergi growled. “I suggest you shut your fucking mouth before I shut it for you.”
“Bah!” Timor threw his hands up in the air. “You’re falling under her spell as well. You should know better Sergi. She’s nothing but a whore and a con artist. She will do and say anything to get her foot in the door.”
“Timor,” Roman began. “This girl has asked for nothing from us. She had no idea she who she even was until we told her. And I don’t think she is a whore or a con artist.”
“She was not a whore, in fact she was pure until our first time.” Iosif admitted. “But even before that I claimed her in front of my brothers.”
“You only have one brother,” Timor reminded him cruelly.
Iosif glared at his father. “Now I have six brothers, as Yuri has accepted me as one of theirs. Because I belong with Roman and he belongs to them, they have accepted me as one of them. Whether you like it or not.”
“You and Roman are my sons and as such you belong to no one but me!” Timor roared.
Iosif rose to his full height and looked down at the man who claimed to be his father. “I was born a Salazar and I’m taking my name back. Your blood may run through my veins but like Roman, I am proud of who I am. I am Iosif Vlad Salazar.”
No one noticed when Jaden slipped her hand out of Iosif’s and stepped back. She ended up at the widows looking out over the city. Tears ran down her face at the ugliness going on behind her. She had a flashback of memory, a part of her nightmare coming back. A tiny bit of her past she had forgotten a long time ago. Harsh words spit out in hate.
She closed out the sounds of today as the memory unfolded in her mind. The shouting of words and the screams of terror. Screams from her mother, then the sight of the snake grabbing her mother’s throat. The blood of her mother’s wounds and then the silence as the snake smothered her mother’s last gasp of breath.
She had been too young back then to realize what was going on. She had only been three years old but now with the things being said in anger, it was bringing back the ugliness she’d witnessed back then.
When hands touched her shoulder, Jaden let out a terrified scream and collapsed to her knees, she begged him not to hurt her. She didn’t realize it but she was speaking in Russian but everyone there understood her words of terror.
Iosif was reaching for her when Roman stopped him. They had to play this out, everyone needed to know what happened to try to understand it.
He struggled against his brother’s hold as Roman ordered him to wait.
They both watched as she repeated word for word what she lived through once upon a time. Everyone heard the child beg for her life, calling out for her mother to save her, to help her. She begged the snake not to hurt her like he had her mother. Her tears, terror and pain were as real today as they had been back then.
Then Jaden couldn’t take it anymore and she passed out screaming. She’d kept grabbing her throat as if to prevent the hand that was squeezing it from killing her.
Only when her hands dropped down to her side and she was silent did Roman let his brother go to her.
Iosif gathered her in his arms, with tears streaming down his own face and carried her back to the bedroom they shared.
Sergi turned to face Timor. His eyes were cold and deadly. “You are done here, old man. Get out and do not show yourself here again.”
Timor was shaken, his skin looked grey and his hands shook, not with fear of Sergi but from the events Jaden had described. Even he could tell she was reliving a piece of her past, something that she had witnessed. The murder of her mother and almost her own murder. He looked over at Roman but his son wouldn’t acknowledge him at all. He looked right through his father. “Will she be all right?” Timor broke the silence in the room with his question.
Roman glared at Timor. “Would you even care?” he asked the man with dispassion.
Timor stared at his son. “Of course, I would care. I’m not a complete monster.”
“I told you to leave this place.” Sergi scowled at him. “You aren’t wanted here.”
Timor turned and walked to the door. He couldn’t face the rest of them but he did say, “I hope she will be okay.” Then he opened the door and walked through it. Closing the door behind him, the whole room went silent.
Sergi went to the bedroom door. Looking in he saw Iosif kneel beside the bed where Jaden was laying. She was still unconscious, and he was trying to wake her up. He was stroking her head and calling her name gently. He kept telling her he loved her and that she had to come back to him, that he couldn’t live without her in his life.
Sergi searched her body looking for any signs of life. Only when he saw her chest rise and fall did he know she lived. He turned and went back to the living room.
Yuri, Roman, NIkoli, Misha and Kosta all looked at him with a question in their eyes.
“She’ll live I hope.” Running his fingers through his hair he turned to Nikoli and Yuri, “Who is this snake she spoke of?”
“We think the man’s name is Walter Frank,” Yuri told him. “He’s well known for the tattoo on his left wrist of an open mouth snake, ready to strike.” He paused then added, “He is also Jaden’s father. He is the man who stole your cousin off the streets and brought her to this country. He taught her to be a whore and he pimped her out to his clients. Then we think she witnessed him killing one of his clients, a Senator and he told her she would go to jail for the murder if she didn’t keep her mouth shut. That happened just before she took off on him.”
Sergi looked fit to kill at this story. His fists were clenched at his sides.
“The reason she took off was because she was carrying the man’s baby and he would have made her get rid of the child,” Nikoli took up the story. “He found them four years later and well, I guess we all know what happened then.”
“You should also know that Franks is married to Helene Vogalan,” Yuri told the other man.
Sergi tossed his hands in the air. “Why doesn’t that surprise me a bit? She is every bit the monster as he is.” He looked over at both men, “The question is what are you going to do about stopping him? For him to live another day seems a waste of time to me.”
“We’ve been discussing that.” Yuri glanced over at Nikoli then back to Sergi. “We would like to bring down his entire empire. Take everything the man owns and burn it to the ground. Put him, Helene and everyone on his payroll in prison for the rest of their lives.”
“I want his blood.” Sergi growled lowly. “I want him to suffer as Annika has suffered, as Jaden still suffers.”
Yuri nodded as his eyes held pure rage. “So do I and da, we usually do away with this kind of scum, but I think this way is better. Death is permanent. To grant him a swift death would be a mercy he doesn’t deserve. I think a few years in prison would give the man a taste of the hell Annika went through. We could arrange his time there to be nothing more than a living hell, he would be the one pimped out. He would be someone’s bitch. He will almost welcome death but never quite see it. We will make sure of this.”
Sergi smiled for the first time since he’d arrived. “Yuri... you always were a beast, just like me.”
Then men in the room snickered a little.
“I agree. Set your plan in motion.” Sergi looked over at Roman. “And this Billy Jo bastard? What do you know of him?”
Roman shrugged. “With Jaden’s help we were able to name the men he runs with and we got them at Sazon’s gym. They don’t know much about his reasons for hating Jaden but they do know he spoke to Franks about Jaden already. They even bragged how Billy Jo thought to blackmail Franks about letting word out that Jaden is his daughter and that he tried to kill her eighteen years ago when he murdered Jaden’s mother. In this country, there is no limitations on murder. Franks could still go to jail if Billy Jo’s charges could be confirmed. We don’t think Walter Franks will allow Billy Jo to blackmail him or tell anyone what he knows. We have someone watching him even as we speak.”
“Good, I want that young man to feel the burn of my rage. What he has done to Jaden is inexcusable.” Sergi told them, as he looked enraged again. “Bring him in before Franks has him killed. I want this bastard to know why he’s dying.”
Roman nodded and turned to Kosta who moved away to make the call.
Sergi turned to Yuri. “Did you really accept Iosif as one of your own?”
“I did.” Yuri nodded.
“Da, this is good.” He nodded. “Iosif will be happy here as long as he has her in his life.” He looked over at Nikoli. “How close are you to finding all the players on Franks’ payroll?”
“We’ve only gotten started but we can move along a bit faster if you like.”
“Oh, I like that very much,” Sergi assured them. “I don’t want that child to live one more day in fear. She has endured too much pain already. She deserves some happiness in her life and I plan to give that to her.” He rubbed his hands together. “Now did you say something about having custody of the men Billy Jo runs with? I think I’d like to talk to them in person. If you please?”
The men in the room knew what this meant. This man was the deadliest of them all. No one ever crossed him that he hadn’t squashed like a bug under his Russian boots.