We're nearing the end. Hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think!
Disclaimer- All characters belong to Richelle Mead.
Rose POV
It wasn't a surprise that Dimitri didn't stay down for longer than a handful of hours. Everything had happened in the early hours in the morning so by the time it was mid-afternoon, Dimitri was up and ready to go to work again.
"Dimitri you need to rest," I tried to reason with him. He looked haggard, rough stubble on his face and dark bags under his eyes.
"No time," he said, brushing me off.
"You've barely slept 5 hours in the past two days. You're not going to be any good like this."
Dimitri halted by the front door and turned in my direction. Cupping my face in his large hands, he softened his voice tremendously. "He has my sister. He took my brother away from me. I can't rest."
Tears pooled in my eyes at the pain I heard in Dimitri's voice and I nodded my head.
It was a shock to me when I was told that Nathan had taken Viktoria. Sydney called me in a panic and said that Adrian had told her in an emotional conversation that Dimitri's baby sister had been kidnapped.
Even though it was stupid, I blamed myself completely. I was ultimately the reason she was taken by him. If I had been with Nathan or if Dimitri had never gotten involved with me, then his baby sister would be safe.
I had one thought running through my head since Ivan died and I found out about Viktoria, and it was that I wasn't worth it.
I was not worth the pain Dimitri and Adrian felt for losing Ivan and I was not worth the worry Dimitri's family was going through over the taking of their youngest sister, and I sure as hell wasn't worth whatever sick shit Nathan might be putting that innocent girl through.
I just wasn't worth it.
A honk outside pulled Dimitri and I away from each other.
"Who's here?"
"Adrian, we're going to ride to work together. Nathan had told Tasha he would be calling today. I want a chance to talk to her and see if I can get any information from her."
"I'm coming."
"Rose-"
"You can't stop me Dimitri." I quickly put on my shoes and jacket. Half the reason I wanted to go was so I could drive the boys. They went through something extremely traumatic today, and that combined with how little they slept did not mix well with driving.
I guess Sydney had the same thought I did, because when we stepped outside, she was behind the wheel.
I was making my way to the backseat, when Adrian got out. He looked just as rough as Dimitri and it broke my heart even more, because I had never seen him without his easy-going smile before.
"I'll sit in the back with Dimitri," he said and didn't even give me the chance to object before he sat himself in the back.
I buckled myself in and took a discreet look in the rearview mirror. Dimitri and Adrian had unconsciously moved towards the middle of the seat until their arms were pressed against each other. Not even a moment later, they both leaned towards each other and rested their head against one another.
They were now connected through this tragedy and no one would be able to understand what they went through fully and completely more than the other could.
I released a shaky breath and noticed Sydney rub the sleeve of her shirt against her eyes.
The drive to the headquarters was a silent one, with Sydney and I pointedly ignoring the sniffles we heard from the back.
Dimitri POV
I didn't waste a second after Sydney parked, before I made my way to the interrogation room, where I demanded Tasha be.
As I reached the door, I paused. I was so angry and I knew the sight of her would set me off. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down before I walked into the room.
Tasha had always been a beautiful woman. From the time I met her as a teenager, there was never a hair out of place and she carried herself with a certain poise that very few woman could.
That was not the Tasha that was sitting in front of me right now.
I don't know what I expected to feel, but a deep sense of sadness wasn't one of them.
Tasha looked a wreck, tears streaking her face, hair a wild mess, and she was holding herself and continuing to cry silently, not realizing it was me that walked in here.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and spoke out to her. "Tasha."
Her head whipped up in my direction, and she seemed surprised to see me there.
"Dimka, I didn't think I would see you again."
"Why, hoping I was dead, too?" I bit out harshly.
She shook her head quickly, her raven-colored hair sticking to the wetness on her cheeks. "No, no, no why would I want that?" She wiped the hair and tears from her face and tried to take a breath, composing herself. "They told me that Ivan is…that Ivan is dead. That's not true, right? I mean that can't be true."
I swallowed hard once again, feeling my eyes stinging as I thought back to what happened just earlier this morning.
"Dimka, tell me it's not true."
My silence was the answer she needed. Tasha dropped her head into her hands and openly wept.
"This wasn't supposed to happen. He wasn't supposed to die."
I took the seat in front of Tasha and leaned forward.
"Who was supposed to die, then? Was it Rose? Or how about Vika?"
"No!" She exclaimed. "No one was supposed to die. I swear Dimka you have to believe me."
"You don't get to say that to me. You lost your right to ask me to believe you the moment you chose Nathan over us."
"You don't understand," she pleaded.
"Then explain it to me."
"Nathan is…he's someone really special to me." Tasha had a faraway and wistful expression on her face as she spoke. "I met him when I was just a child at the orphanage. No one in my life before that had loved me or cared about me, nobody except for Nathan."
She took a deep shaky breath, bringing herself back to the present.
"I know he's done some horrible things in his life, but he's not a bad person, I swear."
"Are you aware of what he put Rose through?"
For the first time since I got there, Tasha's expression hardened, as if I had personally offended her with my question. The look on her face only spurred me on.
"Did Nathan have a chance to tell you that I was the one who found Rose? Yeah, I found her shoved inside a cabinet with next to nothing covering her body. Every inch of her skin was covered in bruises Tasha. To this day, she has mental and physical scars that will never go away! Why? Because of Nathan." I clenched my fists in anger and the woman in front of me at least had the decency to look away in shame, but I wasn't done yet.
"It took her four months to finally let her own parents give her a hug. That's how much he had fucked her up. So how are you going to sit here and tell me that Nathan isn't a bad person?"
"And now, that same person has my baby sister," my voice cracked. Folding my hands in front of her, I bared all vulnerability to the woman in front of me. "You took Ivan away from me, please don't take my sister. Tell me where Vika is, I'm begging you."
"I don't know anything-"
"Tasha please! You know enough that you were able to contact him and deliver Vika to him. Don't do this to me."
Tasha closed her eyes and shook her head, mumbling, "No, no, no."
"Tasha."
"No! I am sorry for everything Dimka, I am, but I can't betray Nathan. I won't."
I leaned back in my chair, seething in anger. I regretted softening up and showing her even an ounce of compassion, because she didn't deserve it. She deserved to rot in prison, alongside Ethan and Nathan.
There was no point in continuing this conversation, and I knew when I walked out of here, it would be the last time I would ever talk to Tasha again.
Seeing as there was nothing left to say to her, I pushed the chair back and stood up.
"I have no other choice, please forgive me," I heard her whimper softly behind me.
Gripping the door handle so tightly, I'm shocked it didn't break off in my hand, I turned towards her one last time.
"Good bye Tasha," I told her, and left.
XXXX
"Did you get anything out of her?" Adrian inquired the moment he saw me.
I shook my head, finding no reason to say anything Tasha had told me since it wasn't important in helping me find my sister.
Rose, who had been sitting in my chair, stood up wordlessly and reached for my hand. I wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, but she understood that and instead pushed me into my seat and perched herself up onto my desk.
"You didn't have to get up."
"I'm okay here," she told me, smiling softly.
"We have to wait a while to talk to Ethan, he's in surgery right now to get the bullet removed," Adrian told me regretfully. I held my head in my hands, feeling my temples throbbing in pain from the stress of the last few days and lack of sleep. I was in a bad shape right now and I needed some type glimmer of hope to get me through the day.
"Are you both hungry? Rose and I can bring you guys something to eat," I heard Sydney say and felt Rose get up.
I was going to say no, but felt my phone vibrate, taking my attention away from the doting females.
I looked at my phone, seeing that the call was coming from an Unknown number.
Usually I ignored these types of calls, but something possessed me to pick it up anyway.
"Hello."
I heard deep breathing on the other end, and I repeated myself.
I was about to hang up, until the voice on the other end finally spoke up.
"Dimka," the voice trembled and I immediately shot out of my seat, startling everyone around me.
"Vika, baby where are you? Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" I shot question after question at her.
"I'm okay, I'm just scared Dimka," I heard her sobbing, breaking my heart into a million pieces. "I miss mama, I want to go home."
"You'll be home soon Vika, I promise. Can you tell me anything about where you are?" I asked her urgently. I rifled through my desk looking for a pen and paper to write down any details Vika could tell me. Rose noticed and quickly found both. I gave her a grateful look and waited for my sister to speak again.
"I'm not sure, but-"
Her voice got cut off and I could hear muffled arguing in the back.
"Vika are you there? Vika answer me please!"
I heard an eerie silence, and then a male voice spoke up.
"Dimitri Belikov."
My whole body coiled tight in anger as I heard the familiar man.
"You son of a bitch, if there's even a hair out place-"
"Save it, she's not the one I want. Give me Rose and you can have your sister back."
Beside me, I could see Adrian trying to find the location from where the call was being made.
"Not going to happen. Give me Vika and I'll try to make sure Tasha gets the least amount of years behind bars."
There was a pause in conversation and I smirked, loving that I took the asshole by surprise.
"You have Natasha?"
"She's in a cold holding cell as we speak. Give me Viktoria and I'll make sure Tasha gets the easiest punishment." Adrian glared in my direction and I shook my head. She could rot in there till she died, but I wasn't going to tell Nathan that.
"Not happening. I want Rose for your sister." I gritted my teeth in anger. I was about to spew every Russian and English curse word that I knew until I felt a soft hand wrap around my wrist.
Rose held out her other hand, silently asking me to let her talk to Nathan.
I shook my head, because there was no one way I would expose her to Nathan ever again.
Rose gave me such a sad smile that I was momentarily rooted at my spot. She took that opportunity and grabbed the phone out of my hand before I had the chance to object.
"Nathan," she whispered.
"Roza-" I tried to object, but she held her hand up, fending me off.
Thankfully for my state of mind, Rose put the speaker on, allowing me to hear what he said.
"Rose," Nathan said in wonderment and I saw Rose close her eyes in disgust. "Look at all of the trouble you caused, because you went behind my back. Where are you?"
"You know where I am. Where are you?" she said in a hard voice, and I wanted to kiss her at how brave she sounded because one look at her face, and I could tell she was scared.
I moved beside her and ran my fingers through her hair and she instantly relaxed into me.
"She has nothing to do with this. This is between you and me, please let her go," Rose pleaded.
"You're right, it's always been between the two of us, but since you got Belikov involved, I thought I'd do the same."
Rose grabbed my hand tightly, not allowing me to speak out.
"Fine, where do you want me to meet you."
I quickly moved in front of her. "Don't."
She completely ignored me and bought the cellphone closer to herself.
"Where it all began," Nathan answered and Rose furrowed her eyebrows. "Come there and Belikov can have his sister back."
"Wait Nathan," but Rose was cut off by the dial tone; Nathan had hung up.
"Where it all began," she mumbled to herself. Suddenly, Rose's eyebrows shot up and she looked at me beaming. "I know where he is!"
Rose POV
Hours later, I splashed some cold water on my face, trying to calm my nerves.
I was back at Dimitri's place, after the search for Nathan came up empty-handed. Not only was Adrian unable to place a location for where Nathan had called from because he had been using something called a burner phone, but I had been wrong, too.
When Nathan said 'where it all began,' I instantly thought about St. Vlads, because that was where he had taken me from almost a year ago.
The school, and the area surrounding it had been empty, so either Nathan had been lying or he truly was smarter than all of us had anticipated.
It was so creepy hearing Nathan's voice again. I was shocked I kept my composure in front of everyone, because the whole time, I felt two seconds away from throwing up.
A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts and I immediately shut the water off.
I opened the door, seeing it was Dimitri.
We hadn't spoken to each other the whole way home, because there was nothing to say to each other.
"I-I," Dimitri inhaled deeply. "I wanted to shower."
"Yeah, sure I'm done in here." Dimitri walked in and began stripping his clothes, his movements seeming mechanical. There was a brief moment where I wondered if he even realized I was still standing here.
"Do you want me to leave?" I asked quietly, once he was completely nude.
Dimitri shook his head and replied back just a quietly, "Please stay."
He stepped into the shower, and a moment later I heard the water turn on. Not thinking too much about it, I quickly stripped out of my own clothes and stepped in behind him.
There was nothing sensual or erotic about this shower. Dimitri was soft and I wasn't turned on, either. Instead, I felt a deep wave of sadness as I looked at him.
I couldn't fathom how difficult this must be for him, having to choose between giving me up or sacrificing his sister. We were nowhere near being close to finding Nathan and though he might not have touched Viktoria yet, I wouldn't put anything past him.
I grabbed the soap out of Dimitri's hand and took over in cleaning him, seeing as he looked so out of it. He didn't object or comment, instead allowing me to do as I pleased. After cleaning him from his hair down to his feet, I stood in front of him silently, hoping he would say something, anything to let me know he was okay.
When he didn't, I hesitantly stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his waist. I placed my head against his chest, and after a moment of hesitation, his arms came around me.
"It's over," I heard him whisper. "There's nothing I can do."
Not if I had anything to do with it.
"We'll figure something out." There was a long moment where Dimitri didn't say anything, and then he gripped me to his chest so tightly, I had to bite down my lip from making a sound.
"I'm not strong enough for this Roza," he sobbed into my neck. "I'm not strong enough for this."
Feeling a surge of inner strength that I had never felt before, I held onto Dimitri just as hard. "But I am."
XXXXX
After Dimitri had gone to sleep, I quietly crept to the room that had originially been mine when I had moved in here months ago. When my parents had made me move back home, they weren't able to pack all of my belongings.
Luckily, the clothes that they left behind were the ones that would work best for me. I threw on a pair of tights and a long-sleeved dark blue shirt with St. Vlad's logo on the back.
Looking at the logo, I thought back to the phone conversation I had with Nathan earlier today. He said he wanted me to come back to the place where it all started.
Not Dimitri, and certainly not a crew of police officers like the ones who went there looking for him today.
No, he wanted me.
I threw my long hair up and slid into a pair of sneakers. Then, I made my way back to Dimitri's room one last time.
I felt my breath hitch in my throat and my eyes pooled with tears as I looked at his beautiful face.
From the moment I met Dimitri, he had been the strong one out of the two of us. Every weak moment I had, from allowing him to see my scars to starting school once again, he had been there to lend me his strength.
And now, for the first time since I met him, he told me that he no longer felt strong enough to go through this.
And for the very first time in our relationship, I would be the strong one for him. For us.
I tiptoed into the room and stood by the bed. As silent tears made their way down my face, I took off the gold, promise ring Dimitri had gotten me and placed it on the pillow next to him.
There was so much I wanted to say to him, but I couldn't risk him getting up and trying to stop me. So I closed my eyes, and silently told myself everything I wish I could say to Dimitri.
"I wish I never showed up in your life. I wish you didn't love me, I wish you never loved me. I thought my life would start getting better once you came into it, but this is isn't fair. We didn't get enough time with each other; we didn't get enough time loving each other. You made me feel beautiful and protected, two things that seemed impossible to me. And I know without a doubt in my mind that there is no one I will ever love more than I love you."
I opened my eyes and bit down hard on my lip so I wouldn't cry out. I carefully took in my surroundings so this moment, my last moment with Dimitri, would be permanently etched into my mind forever.
Taking one last look at his sleeping form, I quietly left the room.
I wasn't just leaving the promise ring with him. I had left my heart there, too.
