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Enjoy ;)
Rose POV
"Rose." I turned around at the sound of his voice.
"I'm fine. I'm fine." I said before he could ask for the fifteenth thousand time. He gave me a look that said he didn't believe me.
"Why don't you get something to eat? You've been here for a while." He asked.
"Well I'm not exactly hungry and the reason, Dimitri, I've been here for a while is because my house is swarming with cops and I'd rather not get in their way so they can find my daughter." I said, anger seeping into my voice. After seeing the look on his face I immediately regretted it, after all he was only trying to help.
"Look Dimitri, I'm sorry. It's just been a long day and I'm tired and we still haven't heard anything and I know everyone's doing their very best, but-but she's out there. Stella's out there alone and terrified and I'm not there and-" I stopped my voice breaking. I turned back to the window again.
"Rose, it's okay, you don't have to apologize. I understand. But Rose, none of this is your fault, you did nothing wrong." He said, coming and standing beside me.
"We had an argument, just before I dropped her off. It was about something stupid, some clothes she didn't want to wear and I had just reached the end of my patience. I yelled at her and when she left we didn't even say goodbye."
"But Rose-"
"No Dimitri you don't understand, because years ago right before my mother died the same thing happened. I had wanted to try this new eye shadow to wear to school and she said no. Eyeliner and mascara she had no problem with but this sparkly eye shadow, she said it wasn't for school. I told her she was being unreasonable and making it a bigger deal than it was. It wasn't the biggest argument we've had but being mad at each other, that's how we ended things, you know? Is this how I'm destined to end things with people?"
"Now Rose we're going to find Stella so you won't be ending anything. And that was only once, okay? Once."
"Once huh? What about the way I ended things with you?" I looked up him. "Dimitri, I left you mad and angry, wanting to know why. Doesn't that bother you?" He paused a bit, caught off guard.
"Well...yes for a while it did bother me, it bothered me a lot. I did want to know why, why you had left. Then after not seeing you for a while it didn't bother me nearly as much, then when I did see you again the question came again. Why? Why would you just leave the way you did?" He stopped and met my gaze.
"I'm sorry Dimitri. I'm so sorry." I whispered.
"Rose. Roza please, just tell me. I promise I won't get mad or-" I flinched at the use of his nickname for me. My phone interrupted him.
"It's Adrian." I said, breathlessly.
"Answer it. I'll see if the officers have found anything." And with that, he was gone.
"Hello?" I said as I answered.
"Hello? Rose-Rose I got your message." The static coming through the phone was horrible.
"Adrian, I can barely hear you. Where are you?"
"Rose, I'm-airport." He said, static clouding his words.
"You're at the airport? When can you come home?"
"That's-problem. There's-snowstorm-no flights. I tried but-delayed."
"Oh my gosh! When do you think you can get here?"
"I don't know. I'll keep trying. How-things?"
"The police don't know. She was taken at school and now they're here, at home, looking at anything that could give them a clue as to where she is. They hooked up a phone system to track calls and stuff, if the kidnapper calls."
"Okay-God I hope she's okay. Keep me posted. I'll-there as soon-I can. I love you."
I sighed into the phone. "Okay. Bye." As soon as I hung up the phone. the doorbell rang.
"I got it." I said to no one in particular as I opened the door.
"Rose. I'm so sorry." Lissa said as I let her in. "I came as soon as you called."
"Oh Lissa, I just don't understand why someone would take her." She had Charlie with her and gave me a hug as she pushed the stroller inside.
"Hey Lissa, glad to see you again, though I wish it were under different circumstances." Dimitri said.
"Don't we all? Christian, would be here but he got really tied up at work and couldn't make it. But he will be here later." She said apologetically. "Have you called Adrian?"
"Yes. He's trying to get a flight but they're having some king of snowstorm so most of the flights are getting delayed."
"Oh sweetie I'm so sorry. Have you eaten, are you hungry?"
"Why does everyone keep asking me that? I'm fine." I looked at Dimitri. "Have the police found or said anything?"
"No. They are looking into other cases as well for a pattern or something but whoever this person is this is probably the first time they've done something like this. The sergeant said this could be good or bad. Good because a first timer is more likely to make mistakes meaning they'll catch the person faster. Bad because if this is the person's first time, well then it's probably personal and not random."
"Personal? But Stella's only 5, what could she have done to piss off a person so much that they'd kidnap her?" Lissa asked.
"Well, sometimes it's not the child the kidnapper wants but more the parent," Dimitri said.
"Me? What could someone want with me? And why would they want to take her instead of me?"
"Well, it could be Adrian too, and sometimes it's not you they want but something from you. Money? Revenge?"
I sank down into a couch that had been pushed to the side by the officers. "So you're saying Stella could be in danger because of me? But-but I haven't done anything?!"
"Rose, this is just speculations. None of this is actually 100% sure right now. The police are just looking at every prospect."
I sighed, all of it becoming suddenly unbearable. "You know what, right now all I need to do is lie down. I'll just go and take a quick breather." I got up and walked up the stairs to my room.
"You sure you don't need anything?" Lissa asked.
"No it's okay, just come and get me if anything new happens."
Up in my room, I lay on the bed and curled into the pillow. I closed my eyes and tried to drift into sleep but i kept seeing Stella's face and beyond that my parents. I had no clue why I would keep seeing them but I guess one trauma trigerred the other. When I was finally able to drift into sleep (if you could even call it that), I was whisked into the past.
I was having dinner with the Belikov family, nothing new, except it was the first time since I knew. Ever since I found out I'd been jumpy, tired, and I wouldn't let Dimitri touch me. I knew that it was sooner or later until he figured it out, I mean, I couldn't keep it a secret forever. I hadn't told anyone yet, not Aunt Alberta or Lissa, and it was tearing me apart. It kept me up at night and I also found myself eating less, which wasn't good. How was I even to broach that subject, this topic? I had to face it, I was scared, and in true Rose Hathaway style whenever I was scared of something I sat on it and hid it until it became something I couldn't hide anymore. I went to the bathroom right after dinner, suddenly feeling nauseous. I opened the toilet just in case I had to go but instead all that came out were my pants. I leaned against the wall as sweat broke out on my forehead. What I just wanted to do was go home and sleep. I splashed some cold water on my face before going out. I was surprised to see Yeva waiting patiently outside the door.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to keep you waiting." I said politely. She said nothing but stared at me with those alert, brown eyes, so similar to Dimitri's and I couldn't look away.
"Rose, you need to tell him."
My heart stared hammering in my chest. How did she know? I hadn't told anyone. "I-I can't." I said, not even bothering to deny it.
She clasped my hands. "You have been through so much in your young lifetime, and I can still tell you that this isn't it, but Rose hiding from it won't do it any good. Sooner or later you will have to face it. You don't have to do it alone, let the people that want to help you in. They just want to help."
I was on the verge of tears, "I don't know how."
"Trust. Trust them, trust yourself."
It was then that Viktoria stepped into the hallway and said that Dimitri was looking for me. Yeva let go of my hands and walked away but I hadn't forgotten what she had said.
I jolted awake at the memory, sweat coating my forehead. I put up my hand and wiped it away. It was then that I noticed someone had woken me up.
"Rose, the police found something." Dimitri said. His body loomed over me. The hand that had used to gently shake me awake was still on my shoulder.
"What? What time is it?"I said blearily.
"It's a little after one. Are you okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, it was just a dream." I said, trying to shake off my weird feeling. I followed him downstairs where the police were crowded around an object. I looked around and saw Charlie sleeping in his stroller with Lissa and Christian on the couch.
"Rose. They found something that was left on the doorstep." She said.
"Rose, I'm so sorry." Christian said, looking solemn.
"Ms. Ivashkov, this was left on your doorstep." an officer said holding up a disk. "We looked at it for prints but it seems there are none. We're going to plug it into our laptop and see it's contents."
"Okay." I said. Everyone gathered around the screen as the officers put it in.
"Mommy?! Mommy?!"
I gasped as an image of Stella popped up on the screen. She was tied with ropes to a chair in an empty room.
"I don't like this. I don't like this movie."
"But you're the star. Just tell her what I said and we'll be done." Another voice said, electronically.
Stella started to cry. "I just want my mommy!"
"Okay fine, you brat, jeez i'll do it. Rose if you want to see your little bundle of pride and joy again you will go the park down the street from your house. Don't pretend you don't know which one I'm talking about. You know exactly which one, you and Stella played over there last Saturday. You will go there tomorrow at exactly 12:45 a.m. And I already know you will bring the police so I'll warn you about doing that. I am armed and I am not afraid to dispose of those I don't like. Come alone. Goodnight Rose and sweet dreams."
And with that the screen and entire laptop shut off.
Hehehehehe :) And the plot thickens...
One thing the flashbacks, they aren't in consecutive order. Some of them are but one may come before the other. It shouldn't be too confusing though. Some of them are just common sense. You have to meet a person before you go on a date with them...unless it's a blind date, but hey that's a shade of gray :)
Thank you to my readers, followers, favoriters :)
