Chapter 29

Jill leaves us smiling from ear to ear as she leaves the studio. She is just such a happy person and I think her happiness is contagious. Lissa has five other girls lined up for the interview between today and tomorrow.

"Did you hear about the daycare opening up in the building?" I ask Lissa. I just finished my last shoot for the morning, I only have one left at one-thirty.

"No, what daycare." I tell Lissa what Sonya told me. She agrees with me that it is a great idea to open one up in the building and she will feel much better about leaving Rosalie with someone if she can be close by. They say all first-time mothers are like that. They can't handle being away from their babies for too long. Lissa planned to be a stay at home mother until I roped her into being my business partner. I could never just be a house wife. I need to do something with my life. I want to. And I think helping the victims of abuse will be a good thing to focus on.

"Do you mind if I leave early today? Christian and I want to go look at a few houses." Lissa has mentioned before that they need to find a bigger home because of the new baby. She and I have a dual doctor's appointment tomorrow to see how everything is looking. She hasn't been to one again since her first scan where the doctor said her baby is a bit bigger than normal. I hope everything is fine with her baby.

"Sure, you know you don't need my permission, right. We are partners." I tell her. I love that she lets me know where she is going and stuff like that but she needs to understand that we are in this together as equals.

"I know. But with Mason being gone, I just want to make sure you don't need any help." Lissa has been a big help with shoots, but I can do it alone. I need to start looking for a personal assistant as well as a receptionist.

"I'll be fine. What time are you going?" I ask. I wish I could go with her and see the houses they are interested in, but I need to edit a boat load of pictures.

"I want to leave at three." She says after she looks in her day planner.

"I'll look after Ro for you. I just need to edit some photos and then I will drop her off where ever you two are. It will help you really look at the houses without having an adorable distraction." I say. I want to help her out by taking Rosalie off her hands but I also want to spend some time with my god-daughter. Soon I will have two babies of my own who will need my attention and I can't guarantee that I will be available all the time to take care of her.

"It's not necessary Rose." I hold up my hand to stop anything else she wants to say.

"I know it is not, but I want to. We haven't spent some time together in a long time." Lissa nods her head at me. The next candidate enters the studio for her interview. I make sure to ask if they have any experience assisting a photographer. The only interviewee who seemed interested in the job was Angeline Dawes. She is a short girl with blue eyes and strawberry blond hair. She seems to have a fire in her that is not tamed yet. She speaks whatever she thinks and she could come across as mean and disrespectful. I got all that by talking to her for forty-five minutes. We can work on manners if I decide to hire her. Lissa leaves just before three. It's just me and Rosalie, who is playing quietly with some soft toys in her playpen. My phone rings, it's Detective Andrews. He was the detective assigned to my case.

"Hello Ms. Mazur. We just received a trial date. It's next Thursday." Detective Andrews says. He is not a very social person. He gets to the point as fast as he can.

"Thank you, Detective. I'll have a talk with my lawyer about the trial." I know the trial was coming up but next Thursday is so soon. I'm glad it is now though and not in a couple of months where I will have a noticeable baby bump. Adrian cannot know.

"You're welcome Ms. Mazur." He hangs up the phone after a quick good-bye. In a few short days I will have to face Adrian again. I dial my lawyer's number. Arthur Schoenberg picks up on the second ring. He has been our lawyer for years now, even before I was born. I was going to do an internship under him when I was still interested in law. He immediately took on my case when my father asked him.

"Rose, my favorite almost intern." Arthur answers with an amused tone. He has always been like an uncle to me. I haven't seen much of him since I dropped out of law school and I heard that he has been super busy with important cases.

"Arthur, my favorite almost boss. How are you?" I ask. Rosalie starts to cry softly. I pick her up from the playpen and start to pace with her in my arms.

"Always busy but good. When are we going to start on your case?" He asks. We should have started prepping a long time ago, but I just didn't want to. I wanted to go on with my life.

"That is why I was calling. The trial date is next week Thursday. When can we meet up to talk about it?" I ask. I just want to get this out of the way.

"How about tomorrow? Come to my office at 12."

"Okay, I'll see you then. That bastard will pay Rose, I will make sure of it." I hang up the phone and slide it back into my pocket. Rosalie pulls at my hair.

"Hey baby girl, do you want to get out of here?" I ask her in a baby-voice. She makes a small laughing noise. I put her back into the playpen and then I begin to pack up my stuff. I take Rosalie to the park across the street and put her in the baby swing. I snap a couple of pictures and send then to Lissa.

I miss her already, thanks for doing this. ~L

We stay at the park for thirty minutes more and then I take her to the training center.

"Oh, she is so precious. Can I hold her?" Mia asks as soon as we enter. I hand her over to the exciting blond behind the counter.

"Is Dimitri in a class?" I ask her. She nods her head as she coos at Rosalie. I walk to the private room Dimitri and I always train in and look through the small glass window. I see him and Tasha in the middle of a sparring match. She is good, really good. I would love to spar against her. I look back to Mia to see her still playing with Rosalie. I look back to Dimitri and Tasha. She swings out and Dimitri blocks her perfectly but she gets him by surprise and punch him on the cheek. I have to say that I'm impressed. I can't get a hit in on him no matter how hard I try. She starts to apologize profusely; I can see him waving it away but she continues. She reaches out and takes his face in her hands. It feels like slow motion. She pulls him closer to her and their lips lock. I'm about to burst through the door and attack her but Dimitri pushes her away. I can see him talking to her in a stern way. I hate it when he does that with me. I scurry away from the door and stand by Mia. Dimitri comes into the reception area a second later with Tasha following hot on his heels. He stops when he sees me.

"Roza, you are here early." He says. I'm not going to say anything about the kiss until he tells me. I know what happened and I'm proud of Dimitri for pushing her away.

"Yeah, Ro and I wanted to surprise her uncle Dimitri." I take Rosalie from Mia and walk over to Dimitri. I give him a kiss on the lips just to spite Tasha. Dimitri kisses Rosalie on the top of her head. He is going to be such an amazing father. I notice that Tasha is not looking me in the eyes. She knows she did something wrong.

"And soon I will be surprising you with your own little one." I whisper into Dimitri's ear, maybe a bit louder than I should have. I hear Tasha gasp. We agreed to not tell everyone about the pregnancy yet. Not until we know that Adrian is locked up for good and can't get out. Well, I don't think she is going to run around town and tell everyone that I'm carrying Dimitri's baby.

"Thanks for the lesson, I need to go." Tasha almost runs out of the training center. I guess I shouldn't be so hard on her. She is just unfortunate enough to fall for a guy who doesn't love her. You can't stop your heart from loving someone. If I was in her shoes, I would probably try my luck as well. I wouldn't go kissing him behind her back but I would make sure he knows how I feel and then he can make his own decision.

"I just have one more class and then I'm done for the day until our session later. Do you want to go get some ice cream?" Dimitri asks. I nod my head and Rosalie makes a sound of approval. Spending some time with just Dimitri and Rosalie gives me something to look forward to. I can't wait for Sunday mornings when its just him and me and the twins lying in bed together and watching a movie. Or Dimitri teaching his son how to play a sport. Just being a family is something to look forward to. I'm going to be a mother soon. I'm going to be responsible for someone else. That thought is scary. But exciting at the same time. I just hope a smooth life for my children. I'll lose it if something happens to them. I don't know how my mother survived me getting kidnapped twice and my fake death. I have this image in my head that Dimitri will go all Liam Neeson from Taken and hunt the kidnappers down. I know that our little family will be safe in Dimitri's hands. He almost killed Adrian to safe me. He will do much more to protect his own children.

Xxx

"Mr. Schoenberg will see you now." Arthur's assistant leads me into his office. I'm nervous about doing this alone but it's something I have to do by myself. Dimitri and Lissa both offered to come with me, but I declined them. I know my father was very unhappy that I didn't ask him to come with and he will probably take Arthur out for a dink to fish about what we talked about. I smile brightly as I take in the man who I considered a mentor once upon a time. His hair is greyer than the I saw him but his brown eyes are still as sharp as ever. He greets me with a hug and then we both sit down.

"I got all the information I needed for the case this morning. It seemed pretty straight forward until I saw who his lawyer is." Arthur leans back in his chair and runs his hands through his hair.

"What does that mean?" I ask.

"It should have been a straight forward case. You would have just given me a written statement about what happened and I would have given them all the evidence we have but his lawyer is Tatiana Ivashkov." Ivashkov? That is his family. His great aunt if I remember correctly. But she is old.

"Why does that matter? And is it legal to have a family member represent you?" I ask. I don't see what makes this influence the case so much.

"It is legal. And it matters because Tatiana is ruthless and cruel and she plays dirty to win. She hasn't lost a case in years." I swallow the lump that formed in my throat. Does that mean that he could get off? Does this mean that this is not over like I thought it was?

"But neither have you, right? You are the best." I say. Arthur looks concerned for a slight second which just adds to my worry.

"I haven't, but I haven't gone up against her before. This just means that you need to be candor with me Rose. I need to know every detail about this case and about what you know of Adrian." I was planning on doing that anyway. A dishonest client is the hardest to defend. I learned that when I assisted on a case in my first year of law school. The woman wanted to divorce her husband because he was cheating but she never disclosed that she was cheating as well. She lost a lot more than she gained by lying.

"Adrian was obsessed with me. His cousin use to be in some of my classes…" I tell Arthur everything. From where his obsession started to our first encounter that I forgot to the day he took me at the movies. I told him ever sick and twisted detail of the first seven months when this nightmare started. All the beatings and the rape and the things he said to me. I told Arthur about how Adrian got my case at the station and how he wormed his way into my family as a concerned detective and then became a friend. I make sure to tell him all the details of how he tried to frame Dimitri and get him locked up. Telling him about the time we dated was hard. Realizing the fact that I actually dated the man who hurt me for so long was terrible. I told him about his anger when I didn't send time with him and how he would always be near me.

"And nothing about his clingy behavior seemed strange to you?" Arthur asks. I shake my head. I can feel the tears start to burn my eyes.

"No, he told me that he clings to people he loved because so many of his loved ones has left him. I just pushed it to the side." I wipe the tears off my face quickly. I hate that he still makes me cry. I never want to shed another tear over that bastard but I can't help it. I cry when I get angry and I'm so angry at him. He took so much away from me.

"He started to pay off an old friend of mine to do some of his bidding. Mason Ashford. He developed a drug addiction after his father died and Adrian took advantage of that." Arthur writes down everything I say to him. When I mention Mason, he looks up at me with a questioning look.

"Is he the boy they found in the factory that exploded?" He asks. I nod my head. My heart starts to ache as the memories of my last time with Mason floods my mind.

"Yes, but the explosion didn't kill him. Adrian did. Mason took me to the factory to tell me that Adrian paid him to do some things when Adrian shot him. He blew up the factory to cover up his murder." Arthur looks at me for a minute before he starts to write again.

"Go on please. With all you are telling me, he will be locked away for a long time." I tell Arthur about him wanting to make a baby with me the last time he took me.

"I almost escaped again but he got me. I told him that I didn't love him and that I love Dimitri. He freaked out and called Dimitri over to his house for a fight." Arthur stops me again.

"Dimitri, that boy you are seeing? Will he be willing to testify in court." He asks me. I nod my head, knowing that Dimitri will do it in a heartbeat. I continue on with the story about how Dimitri and I got out. Reliving the time, I fought Adrian and won is the best part of retelling my story. It is almost worth telling the whole story from the start just to hear how I beat him in the end. How I came out a survivor.

"This is really good Rose. With all the evidence they took from his house and your story and Dimitri's, he should get him for everything." Arthur says as he checks over the notes he made.

"There is one more thing that I need to tell you but it isn't public knowledge just yet." I tell Arthur about the pregnancy and that Adrian is the father of one of the babies.

"Well, that is interesting. He could try to get claims on the child." My blood runs cold. How is that even possible? He is in jail for rape and kidnapping. Arthur sees the question mark on my face.

"Tatiana has gotten a man in jail for murder, custody over a child." That can't happen. No matter what I decide to do with the baby, Adrian can't have him or her. I won't allow it.

"I'm thinking of giving the baby up for adoption after birth." I say. It pains me to say it, but it is still a possibility.

"No, don't. If you do that and he finds out. That child will be his faster than you can blink an eye." I should have known that would happen. Adrian will do anything to get the baby and me leaving it defenseless in the system will not help keep it away from him.

"Okay, so we keep it to ourselves?" I ask. Arthur tugs on his greying beard for a bit while he thinks.

"No, I think we should make it known. If he finds out later by some chance, he can play it to his favor. He might be a criminal but he is wealthy and has an aunt that plays very dirty." I usually don't question Arthur's opinion but I don't see how telling Adrian he succeeded in impregnating me is the right call. What if he finds out they are twins and he try to take Dimitri's baby to?

"Arthur…"

"Trust me Rose, that would be for the better. If the court finds out you are hiding anything, you will lose your credibility." This just feels so unfair. Adrian is guilty. I saw his face the last time he took me. I know it was him the previous time thanks to his confession and the rose tattoo on his hip. It's not like we are going through a divorce where I need to show the court that I was wronged.

"This is just so frustrating." I say as I lean back in my chair and cross my arms over my chest.

"I know Rose, I know. Is there anything else you can think of with the case?" I run through the last year and a half in my head. I'm pretty sure I told him everything.

"No, not that I can think of now. I'll call you if there is anything." I say. Arthur closes his not book and sits back.

"Okay, I will need you to come in again with Dimitri. can you get me a few people who will do a character testimony for Adrian?" I nod my head. I'm sure I can ask my family to do that. There must be some times they noticed something strange about him.

"Good, now, what can you tell me that is good?" Arthur asks. I lean forward and put my elbows on his desk and rest my chin in my hands.

"I'm going to help victims of abuse…"

...

I hoped you liked it.