Saving Anya (12 page)

“
Exactly.” Anatoly smiled. “I may not have put it quite so
poetically
, but I know what you mean.”

Dmitry smiled finally. His son had a way of making him do that despite himself. “Well, the women have each other now. So, we’ll leave them to that, and we focus now on our jobs. So are you all here with me?”

Anatoly nodded. “
Da, da,
papa. I’m all here.”

Chapter 10

Royal felt as though her tear ducts had dried out after sobbing for nearly a day and a half straight. Unable to cry anymore and refusing to feel sorry for herself a second longer, she sat in the twin’s room still in her pajamas and drained of life, pumping her breasts for their feeding and staring blankly out of the window.

With regret, Dmitry had sent her nanny away for the family’s safety and had explained to Royal that help would be on the way in the form of her friends and mother soon.

“
Just hold on,” he had said with a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll help in any way possible.”

But Royal knew where he needed to focus his efforts. Without a fret, she had resigned herself to do silently what women all over the world did on their own every day. Tired and exhausted, she labored over her children thankful that they too hadn’t been taken from her.

She sat now in silence, listening to the radio that played classical music in the corner while the children slept peacefully in their cribs.

Both Briggy and Renee set out as soon as they arrived at the chateau to find her. Walking in-step with one another, they searched the second floor room-by-room until they came across the new nursery. It really was a little dream inside, painted in baby blue with tall giraffes and all manner of jungle animal under a large vaulted ceiling and a custom-made chandelier designed to light up at night with crystals that were engraved with stars that when hit just right reflected on the walls.

The room was beautifully decorated with the two large oak cribs as the focal point and an abundance of stuffed animals and shelves of baby books all over the room. It would have been a stunning sight to behold had it not been for the absence of her first child, the reason that this entire lifestyle had come to past.

Royal shook her head as she thought about her. She was empty without Anya. Her entire life had been shaped around that little girl – both failures and successes alike. Now what?

Dmitry simply had to get her back. There was no other answer.

“
Royal?” a familiar voice said from behind.

She turned in her seat after first covering her breast with her coverlet and saw her girls standing at the door with tears in their eyes.

“
Renee…Briggy.” She pushed up from her seat and went to walk towards them, but they both quickly moved into the room.

“
No. Sit,” Briggy said.

“
Here, let us help you,” Renee said, grabbing Royal’s arm.

They walked with her back over to the rocking chair and sat down beside her on the floor.

“
I’m so glad you’re here,” Royal said, sincerely. She looked down at her two friends and felt for the first time in the last two days a semblance of hope.

“
We’re family,” Briggy reminded, touching Royal’s hand. “We are all we have.”

Renee looked over at two of her friends and felt nothing but love for them. All
they
did have were the Medlov men and each other, but she had so much more…all of her family in Atlanta and now the baby growing inside of her. She was surrounded by love, and yet she felt so vulnerable. If this could happen to Royal, of all people, what would happen to her child? She knew all too well that Anatoly had enemies. And she had known it well before sleeping with him, but she had chosen this and maybe she had chosen the same fate for her child.

“
Oh my God,” Renee said aloud before she knew it.

“
What’s wrong?” Royal asked, stopping her conversation with Briggy.

Renee realized that she had zoned out and quickly recovered from her frantic thoughts. “Nothing, I just…can’t believe what is happening.” In that statement, at least she wasn’t lying.

Briggy shared Renee’s concern. Nodding she returned to Royal. “When was the last time that you took a hot bath and a nap?”

The idea was preposterous to Royal. “Oh, I can’t sleep,” she said with dark circles under her blood shot eyes. “I have to stay up and take care of the boys. I mean, look at what all of this has done to them. What kind of homecoming is this? And me… I’m so stressed out and absent…they deserve more than this.” Flustered, she put her hands on her face and wiped the tears now freely flowing.

“
That’s what we’re here for,” Renee said, standing up. “Come on. We’ll listen on the monitors. If they wake up while we’re tending to you then one of us will take care of them.”

“
I don’t know,” Royal said concerned.

“
Trust us,” Briggy begged.

Just then, the house phone rang loud throughout the house. Dmitry had it hooked up to an intercom assuming that the kidnappers would be most likely to call it.

All three women went deathly still.

Running to the phone, Royal picked it up and clicked the talk button.

“
Hello…hello,” she answered, voice quivering.

A man’s voice dubbed over a machine responded. “Let’s not act surprised. You know who this is. Where is Dmitry Medlov?”

Royal’s heart nearly exploded out of her chest. Looking over at Renee, who clasped her hands to her mouth, she felt herself nearly collapse. “Where is my daughter? Where is my baby?”

“
This is Dmitry,” Dmitry answered on the other phone. His voice was rough and curt, and sounded like he felt, ready to kill. He stood in the war room with his men while they tried to track the call.

“
Tell your bitch to hang up now; otherwise, we send your a darling little finger in a box,” the voice said devilishly.

Chills zipped down Royal’s spine. Hanging up before Dmitry could speak, she headed out of the room towards the war room to hear the call with the others. Renee ran after her while Briggy stayed behind to watch the twins.

More in control of his feelings, at least on the outside, Dmitry looked over at his men and cupped the phone tighter to his ear. “She’s off the phone. Now talk,” he said, refusing to give the man an ounce of respect.

“
Got your affairs in order over there?” The man asked with a grin in his voice.

“
Just waiting on a call from you to tell me what you want to get my daughter back,” Dmitry said, taking a notepad to write down anything that he could hear in the background.

“
Here are the rules. You answer the phone by the second ring every time that we call or you cost your daughter a digit, a limb, an eye, whatever we feel like cutting off of her. Only you answer the phone. We’ll contact you regarding what we want, how we want it and when we want it. Anything funny and the girl dies.”

“
Understood,” Dmitry answered with a growl.

“
No police involved. Otherwise, the girl dies.”

“
Understood,” Dmitry answered again.

“
And liquidate everything. Your first payment will be due the day after tomorrow in the amount of 250 million in U.S. dollars to an account that will be specified in the morning. Then we’ll give you another 48 hours to come up with the other $250 million. That’s a total of $500 million in the next four days. Be grateful that we’re giving you that much time, but we’re not ignorant. We know how hard it is to funnel that much cash.”

The money didn’t bother Dmitry. He just wanted his daughter back. “I need proof of life. Let me hear her voice,” Dmitry demanded.

“
I don’t think that you’re in a place to negotiate,” the voice taunted.

“
You’re not dealing with my wife. I know how these things go. You let me hear my daughter or the deal’s off.”

“
Fine. You can
hear
your daughter, but the price just went up to $260 million day after tomorrow.”

“
For an additional ten fucking million, I want to talk to her
now
,” Dmitry growled. His men eyed him carefully, not expecting his outburst and afraid of what the outcome would yield, but Dmitry did not back down. He walked over to the window and regained his composure. “Look, if you think that you have me by the balls, then I assure you, you’re wrong. I want to hear her fucking voice right now or the deal is off before it can start. Do I make myself clear?”

“
It just went up to $260 million,” the man snarled.

“
Why don’t we make it a cool $300 million so you can stop jerking my dick around? Put my fucking daughter on the phone. Now!”

Abruptly, there was silence on the line.

Dmitry waited silently, still looking out of the window and waiting. He knew that they would do as he asked. They had no choice.

Anya’s voice was clear as a bell when she came to the phone. “Daddy,” she said crying. “Is that you? I want to come home!” she begged.

“
Anya,” Dmitry said, holding back tears. “Everything is going to be alright, baby. Are you untouched? Are you near anything that you recognize?”

“
Yes, I’m okay. I’m just scared,” she answered. “It’s sunny here,” she said right before the man snatched the phone.

Pushing Anya to the ground, Balthazar pointed at her. “One more little move like that you little smart shit, and I’ll slice that pretty little face of yours.”

Dmitry could hear their interaction, but he still would not give the man the satisfaction of crying out for her.

“
You still there chief?” the voice asked, surprised that Dmitry didn’t lose his cool.

Dmitry’s voice was even and low, hiding his true hysteria. “Still here. $300 million. Done. When do I get my daughter back?”

“
When you meet all of our demands,” the voice snapped. “And if you’re thinking of doing anything stupid, don’t bother. Your daughter is far way and could be sold or killed in seconds. Tread carefully or get prepared to hold a vigil in her memory.”

Dmitry wanted to threaten the man, but he kept quietly only by biting into his tongue. The blood ran down the side of his lip as he willed himself to control his ramping anger.

“
I understand,” Dmitry finally said, face blank.

“
Good. Then wait for the next call to tell you where to wire the money. And if I were you, I wouldn’t sleep. You wouldn’t want to miss our call.”

With that, the man hung up the phone. After a second, Dmitry set his phone back on the receiver right as Royal came running towards him.

“
Dmitry!” she screamed when she saw that she had missed the entire call. “What did they say? Is she alright?”

Anatoly went to Royal before she could get to Dmitry and held her. “Let him think,” he whispered softly in her ear. He felt Royal holding him tightly to keep from falling. She clenched his sides as she cried. It was painful, even for him. “Renee, please take her back upstairs,” Anatoly said, reaching for his girlfriend. “She doesn’t…she doesn’t need to see this shit.”

Renee went quickly to her. “Come on, Royal. Let’s get you upstairs.”

“
Go back upstairs my ass! Dmitry what did that motherfucker say about my baby?” Royal screamed as she snatched away. “Answer me!” Her hair fell down out of its clamp onto her shoulders. Eyes red from tears, she shook apart. “Dmitry!”

“
She’s okay, baby. Go back upstairs,” Dmitry said, trying to control his feelings. He bit down harder on his bleeding tongue.

Gabriel watched on knowing that his uncle was about to boil over. He could see it about to happen. The man was close to losing his control over the situation. He had just heard his daughter hit and threatened; she was being held captive by kidnappers and there wasn’t a damn thing that he could do about it but pay. It was enough to make him boil over. “Renee, please,” Gabriel urged also. “Take her upstairs.” It was just too hard to watch.

“
Dmitry talk to me!” Royal demanded. Her voice shrieked in pain. “Talk to me, dammit!”

Snapping out of his daze, Dmitry looked across the room at Royal and took a deep breath. As calmly as he could, he asked again. “Royal, please go upstairs with Renee now,” he said gripping the table. The whites of his knuckles showed as he quietly broke the end of the table off.

Hysterical, Royal screamed out in frustration. “Where is my baby? Where is she? Why aren’t you people doing anything? Why are you here instead of out there looking for her? What the fuck are you doing to get her back?” She sobbed profusely, breaking down in front of everyone.

The sound of her voice seemed to dig into Dmitry’s temples. Everyone saw the explosion about to happen but no one knew how to stop it.

Anatoly finally walked over and picked Royal up, forcefully carrying her out of the room. With her arms around his neck, she nuzzled her head into his shoulder and cried aloud.

“
Just fucking let it out,” Anatoly said, holding the back of her head as she cried. “Let it out.”

Unable to do anything but, she did let it out. Crying hard and loud, she collapsed in her stepson’s arms as Renee followed, unable to do anything but helplessly watch with tears in her own eyes.