A/N: FRIENDS!! I am so terribly sorry about the long wait. I've been very busy with school work, and there was a horrible scare in my family, so I haven't been able to write a lot. I hope you enjoy this next chapter! AND, by the way, I was bawling 8:00-9:00. Jus' sayin'. BUT NO I DID NOT FORGET ABOUT YOU! : D
What?
That's the only word he can think of as Vladimir unties her, her hands shaking so slightly that only he notices. What the hell is happening?
They have re-gagged him, for reasons he was unsure of. Probably because they didn't want to hear his opinons.
To hear him, at all.
When she is untied, she stands, and rubs her shoulder. "I'm sorry about that, Renee," Vladimir says to her, seeing her shoulder, and gently touching it. "I told my men to be careful when they bound you."
"Its fine," she responds, gruffly. She cradles her wrists in her hands after she is freed; they are red.
He is still in the chair, bound. He is looking at her with betrayal and inquisition. How could she do this to him?
Why?
She keeps looking at him, and there is a certain flicker in her eye when she does, but before he can decipher it, it is gone, and the feeling of raw and unadulterated hurt forms in the pit of his stomach fills again.
"I'm sorry," she tells Vladimir, sharply. "About what I did to you."
"You left quite the scars, Renee," he responds back, coolly. "My men found me in the morgue and recessitated me; the eye was of no use, so I used a glass eye for a while. There was a doctor back in Russia who could give me a new, functioning one, and he did; my eyes do not match anymore, but they are both working."
He sees her look into his eyes, acknowledging them. He feels his heart absolutely shattering.
"There are other scars on my body, too, but I'm sure you know about that." Vladimir speaks to her in almost an undertone, a way of scolding her, making her feel guilty. Although he feels absolutely hurt, he wants to punch Vladimir in the face. "Maybe you'll see all of them later," he says this deviously to her, and he watches her face; it drops for a moment, but her face is blocked out of his line of sight by Vladimir's head, angling into her neck.
"Stop," she murmurs to him, "Not in front of him," her head bobs in his direction. He looks into her eyes, and for a moment, they lock. His breath catches in his throat.
He gets it.
"Later, then" Vladimir mumbles into her neck, his voice a low, groggy tone, and she nods, hesitantly.
Vladimir smiles at her, and moves toward the laptop. "What are you doing?" she asks him, slightly tentative.
"Setting up a webcam," he responds to her, coolly.
"Webcam?" she asks, her voice somewhat shaky. He noticed it, and he feared that Vladimir would notice it, too.
Vladimir looks up in slight inquisition, but thinks nothing of it. "You want the proper ransom for him? You video him to the top; the President of the United States."
His heart falls as he thinks of how she is silently, and subtly, falling into utter fear and distress. She is looking at him while Vladimir's back is turned, and silently, mouths the words "I'm so sorry,"
He gives her a slight nod, a nod which he hopes translates to something in the terms of "I understand,"
Vladimir slips on a mask, and stands next to him. "Get the camera ready," he says to her, "and patch this to the president."
I love you guys, and I hope you don't hate me too much for making you wait this long : ) My aunt is better though, so this means more updates! : D