My head was pounding and I felt like at any moment I was going to vomit; drugged, for sure. My eyes were opened, but I couldn't see; there was something over my eyes. I could hear two different sets of breathing patterns, as well as water dropping against the floor-there was a ceiling leak. It was cold and smelt of rotting flesh. It didn't take me long to reach the conclusion that I was in one of the underground facilities my father and brother used to "extract" information from targets before killing them. I heard a door opened, large and metal in material more than likely, and the familiar steps made by my father's favorite pair of John Lobb dress shoes.
"It's funny really," My father spoke in Russian, "I had your funeral just a few days ago and yet here you sit Valentina." My father snapped a finger and the blindfold was taken from my eyes. My vision was blurry at first, even though it wasn't exactly bright in the little hole he kept me in. I could barely make out my father's figure as he stood there, but I could definitely smell the cigar he was smoking and couldn't hold back the vomit from the burning sensation in my nose. From my senses overwhelmed reactions it was safe to assume I had been drugged and most likely kept so for a few days. "You can imagine my heartbreak when Mr. Duval contacted me and informed me that my daughter, my crown jewel, was in fact alive and attempting to…what was that word he uses?"
"Relocate." I answered as I coughed up more vomit.
"Vengeful fellow that Mr. Duval character. You know, he's the one who drugged you, in case you hadn't already guessed. Gave us a pretty heavy supply to continue using. Bastard wanted to see you suffer. Can't say I didn't agree with him. After all, you did fake your death and kill my only son."
"Vladimir would have killed me."
"And you would have deserved it." My father screamed as he lunged forward to backhand me across my face. My hands weren't tied, I could have easily hit back, except the drugs made me feel like a noodle and with every movement I risked vomiting again. "You are an embarrassment to our family!"
"I am the pride of this family!" I tried to shout back without vomiting again; I failed.
"Now look at you. Drugged out of your mind and covered in your own waste, and for what? Those two sad excuses for killers." Of course Bastian had told my father about the twins, I wasn't sure why I thought he hadn't. But he had. "You will pay Valentina, pay for the shame you have brought me and this heart of mine you have broken."
"What heart?" I commented. "What kind of heart must you have? To raise your daughter to be nothing more than a killer and to punish her when she stops earning you a profit. You have no heart to break."
"And do you think you do?" He almost laughed. "You, who can kill a man easier than anyone on this Earth, you can take a life without second thought and sleep a full nine hours without so much as a twitch. You were born to kill Valentina, do you think you have any more heart than me?" We fell silent as we looked at each other; my vision was starting to clear up and I could see my father's old tired face more clearly as he glared at me with such an intensity in his eyes. "If she cries…" He began, now taking to the two men in the room with us, "beat her harder. If she screams, beat her harder. Just don't kill her. Not yet." My father left on these instructions, slamming the door shut behind him.
The two men then approached me with no rude comments or remarks, they let their actions to all the talking for them. One snatched the chair from under me while the other punched me in the jaw. They broke the chair over my body after I fell to the ground and the proceeded to kick me in the face, ribs, and gut. One kneeled down to punch me continuously across my face alternating between his left and right fist. They picked me up and forced me to turn around in circled and vomit from the dizziness just before slamming my body up against the wall and twisting my arm so hard behind my back I thought they'd break it. When they were done they slammed me back into the ground and injected me with another dose of drugs before dumping a bucket of freezing cold water on me, then left me in the darkness. I never screamed. I didn't cry. I took it all, and once they were gone I remained still and silent in the freezing basement thinking it was only a matter of time before my father got his hands on the twins.
It went on for a few more days, it was hard for me to really keep track. They would come in, beat me, drug me, dump the cold water on me, and then leave me in the darkness. They didn't feed me. Give me anything to drink. Just beat me. When they would come back they'd always flash a bright light in my face that burned my eyes and made me vomit from the drugs; but at this point it was way more like dry heaving since I had no food in my stomach to really throw up. But one day there was no light. Just the familiar sound of John Lobb dress shoes.
"I've brought you a present." My father spoke in English, which sent chills down my spine. I already knew what he was going to bring through the door. He snapped his fingers, and his two men who had spent the last few days beating me to a bloody pulp walked in with two others with black bags over their heads. The men forced the two captives on their knees; their hands were tied behind their backs. My father snapped again, and to my horror I watched as the bags were removed from over the heads of the McManus brothers. "Don't worry, they're in good health, barely harmed really. Although, I obviously can't say the same for you. I just thought I'd bring them by, give them a front row seat to the show."
"What show?" I asked, trying to keep my focus away from the twins, afraid I might cry if I looked at them.
"Oh, we'll get to that." He insisted as he stepped closer to me, kneeling down to meet my eyes. "You were my favorite Valentina. Not at first, I admit. I was crushed when the doctor told me you were a girl. Then when Vladimir proved himself a sad excuse for a killer, I thought all hope was lost. If it wasn't for the ovarian cancer, your mother would have kept having babies until she finally produced me a son with some worth, but then you rose to the occasion. I showed you off, made sure the whole world feared you. You proved yourself to me and for that I loved you more than my only son, and how do you repay me? By trying to disappear after murdering your brother for these two dumb fucks." My father stood up, straightening out his suit jacket as he looked to the twins. "Do you want to know how we caught them so damn easily? Marco, tell her." My father instructed to one of the men holding a gun to Conner's head.
The one who began to speak, Marco, put his gun back in his holster as he stepped closer to me, "We told them you sent us." He spoke in Russian. "We said you wanted them to join you in Paris. They were so excited. This one," He pointed to Conner, "Didn't believe us at first, but the other convinced him. Said he wanted a chance to apologize."
I looked at them now, at Conner and Murphy with gags tied around their mouths as they looked at me with sorrowful eyes. "You're going to finish your assignment Valentina." My father spoke to me in Russian. "You are going to kill these two." As my father spoke to me, Marco grabbed a handful of hair and jerked my head back. "But first, we're going to let them see what horrors they've caused. We're going to let them see what the Volkov does to those who betray us, and they're going to know it's all because of them."