Gleb hadn't planned on confronting her like this, he had loved her. When he saw her fleeing the press conference, he thought that maybe, just maybe, she had come to her senses and had let go of this dangerous dream. He followed closely behind her to see where she would go, hoping to speak with her. Bring her home, perhaps if he were to speak on her behalf, she would get away with a slap on the wrist. He loved her, he wanted to take care of her.
Then…then…he watched from afar as Anya, radiant and beautiful in her red dress, approached the con-man on the bridge. He watched her proudly and confidently shout, "The Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov would beg to disagree!" She hadn't let go, she hadn't come to her senses. His heart began to ice over once again as she pulled the man into a kiss, and the final blow came when the man melted into her embrace.
He had let her go before, and he had been nearly ready to do so once again. He had intended to rescue her and to bring her home, that's how it was supposed to happen. Not again though, he had a duty to fulfill. Anya had chosen her fate by declaring herself as the Grand Duchess, he had warned her and this was the consequence. She could have chosen him, and not this dream, and certainly not some lowly criminal. That was the cherry on top that Gleb needed to make up his mind. As the couple began to walk from the bridge, Gleb followed behind once more.
He followed them all the way to a shop. They had stopped briefly to get Anya a change of clothes, having realized the attention that her ballgown must be bringing.
"I'll try and get us a room for the night at the hotel next door." The con-man, Dmitry, he'd learned was his name, said to Anya outside. "I'll be right back." He promised. She nodded, leaning up to kiss him once more.
"I'll be waiting for you, Dima." She said smiling. "Don't be too long." He smirked happily at her and kissed her back before heading to the hotel as she entered the shop. Gleb entered the shop after seeing her disappear into the. back, supposedly to change. He walked around the shop, gathering supplies that could be used as potential restraints, should they be deemed necessary.
Once he felt adequately prepared, he snuck his way to the back and knocked lightly on the door.
"Just one second!" She called back politely to the knock, opening the door once she was changed. Her eyes widened upon seeing Gleb. He didn't waste a moment though in stepping into the small room, his hand immediately covering her mouth before she could speak. Her pulled her against his chest as she struggled and fought, wincing as she tried to bite and claw at him, he feet colliding with his shins. Even against the tight grip of his hand over her mouth, she managed to make too much noise as she screamed.
"Shut up and stop fighting me, Anya. Don't make this harder than it needs to be." He whispered through gritted teeth. Her screaming and fighting only seemed to worsen though, so he released his arm pinning her to him and reached for his gun, hitting her over the head. Letting her slump to the floor unconscious.
"Hard way it shall be then. I was hoping to avoid needing to restrain you…but it seems I have no choice. You seem to have a habit though of wanting to bring more trouble your way." He sighed, picking up the items he had gathered. She was quickly starting to regain consciousness, as he seemed to have just temporarily stunned her. Acting quickly, he hastily ripped into a white shirt, shoving a wad of the fabric into her mouth and then tying another strip over her mouth. She continued to protest as he tied her hands behind her with another tear from the shirt. He felt guilt starting to creep up once again suddenly as he started to see fear creeping into her eyes. She was afraid of him…she could never love him because she feared him. He was burning the imaginary bridge that he had conjured up with her, the possibility of a future with her was vanishing.
The guilt was only vanquished by remembering the kiss on the bridge, anger flooding his mind once more. It no longer felt about duty though. While finishing the job was his duty, the role he needed to play, this had now become something that felt more personal. The guilt would return though the moment he made eye contact with her once more. He noticed that she was breathing much heavier than before, tears threatening to fall from her eyes, but she still was trying to act brave. Muttering angry words at him through her gag, though they were muffled, they still managed to sting. Her eyes were beautiful, a brilliant blue. Conveying so much emotion, betraying the fear that she was trying to disguise. Beautiful beautiful eyes…
"Do not fight me or I will not only shoot you, but Dmitry when he returns for you."
He threatened suddenly, breaking from the trance he realized he got into. Her eyes were distracting, they had lived in his dreams since he first ever saw her. He watched her freeze upon hearing Dmitry's name. Her fear becoming much more apparent now as she slowly nodded. He stood her up, pulling her through the door and out a back entrance that led to the alleyway.
"I can take the gag off now if you promise to not scream. It was merely a precaution to start to guarantee our exit. I was unsure how you would react." He offered once outside, he hated seeing the gag cutting tightly into her face, as was concerned that she could suffocate. It would be a slow death if worse came to worse, and the thought pained him. She nodded once again and he reached to remove it, letting it fall on her neck and pulling the wad of fabric from her mouth.
"I warned you, Anya. I warned you that there would be consequences for being involved. I tried to tell you that anything involving the Romanov's was dangerous." He told her as she caught her breath.
"I may be her…but it's not what you think. No one needed to know that I was alive. I was going to leave Paris and that part of me behind with…"
"It doesn't matter. You want to claim and believe that you are her, and you have openly admitted to being her aloud. My orders were to finish the job should that be the case. And finish it I shall. I cannot give you any more chances." He waited in anticipation for her response, a small wish was in his mind that she would give in, beg him to take her away from this. Tell him that this criminal she seemed to love was threatening her.
However, as she stood her ground, and said nothing, he understood the only one threatening her was himself. It seemed that she had nothing to say to him, which seemed very unlike her. The anxiety he felt was painful. Maybe she had decided to just accept her fate.
"DMITRY!" She shouted quite suddenly as he was lost in thought once again, pulling away violently from his grasp. Gleb grabbed her mouth once again with his hand, releasing as she bit his hand with a painful force.
"Dmit—mmm!" She shouted once again. Gleb pinned her to the ground and forcefully pulled the gag back into her mouth, tying it even tighter than before, holding his hand over her mouth once again to further muffle her screams as he pulled her back. Once again, he had trusted her and the rug was swept underneath him.
Gleb held her as tight as he could manage for several moments, waiting to see if Dmitry would come for her. She screamed and screamed as much as she could manage. Tears began finally falling from her eyes as it became clear that her cries were not heard. He wondered if she felt betrayed that her supposed love didn't come to her rescue.
"I certainly would have…" he thought silently to himself. I love her, I love her…I can't have her…she'll never be mine. She doesn't love me. So many thoughts swirled through his mind. Time was running out, even if Dmitry had not heard her, someone would have. And leaving the alley wasn't smart either.
"Goodbye Anya…I really had hoped to see your mind changed." He said solemnly, realizing he needed to act now, pulling out his gun and holding it to her head. His finger trembled against the trigger, he had to look away as she fidgeted and squirmed, trying to plead with him. As his head turned though, he was met with a fist to his face as Dmitry tackled him away from Anya.
Gleb instinctively pulled the trigger. The sound of the shot echoed through the alleyway. Dmitry reached for the gun immediately and turned it at Gleb, hitting him forcefully over the head repeatedly until Gleb finally lost consciousness, blood was evidently coming from his head. Dmitry picked himself up to go over to Anya who was on the ground, desperately fighting to free herself. He needed to get to her…he remembered how frightened she had been of the gunshot on the train. He couldn't begin to imagine what she was feeling now.
Dmitry kneeled in front of her, releasing her and pulling her into a tight embrace as sobs escaped her. Her guard finally dropped as she screamed and sobbed into his chest. Loud, painful, and agonizing screams. He had seen her frightened…but not this…this was beyond that, and it was torture to witness. He just pulled her closer to him, circling her back with his hands. Her own were tightly gripping onto the back of his shirt.
"I've got you, you're safe." He whispered, keeping his voice low and gentle. "Breathe, Anya…just take deep breaths."
"I called for you…" she muttered through cries. "I called for you…I thought you didn't hear…"
"Anya…I'm here…you're safe now. I heard you…I heard you." He promised softly, gently holding her as she trembled. He had been coming back to the shop, hotel key in hand, when he heard her scream his name. His heart had sunk upon hearing the first scream, he wasn't gone that long. Adrenaline kicked in when the second scream came, his feet flying across the sidewalk. He had arrived and seen her fighting against Gleb, and nearly flew into a rage right then and there. He realized though that Gleb was expecting him, was waiting for him to show up. He had to wait until Gleb believed that no one heard her.
"I'm frightened…Dima…" she whispered, glancing at Gleb. Dmitry turned her head away.
"He can't hurt you anymore…just look at me." He promised, slowly lifting her to her feet. She continued to tremble, but her sobs had started to quiet. His hand that was at her side pulled away as he noticed the red that was on his palm.
"It's just a graze…" he assured her as she took notice. "I can stitch it up when we get somewhere safe. Right now we should just try and…" he stopped talking as he noticed Gleb had begun to stir, pressing his hand back to her side to cover the wound. He began walking her quickly to the hotel. Laying her down once they were in the room he had bought.
"I had some supplies in my case…" he said, opening the battered brown suitcase, the very same that she had stood upon to declare her love to him not that long ago.
"We need to leave…tonight. When he wakes up, he might know that we're here…" Dmitry spoke as he stitched her up. "I'm not leaving your side this time…no matter what."
"Dima…" Anya said softly.
"I should've killed him down there…to think what could have happened if I was even a moment later…" he continued.
"Dima." She repeated again, her voice still soft, yet commanding.
"I was stupid to leave in the first place, I should've had a better plan…I almost lost you moments after I finally found you!" he shouted, he hadn't prepared for her to come to him, he had no plan and was too caught up in the fairytale of a moment to remember that it was just that…a moment. There were still dangers that lurked and waited even when it was happily ever after in that moment. He couldn't have almost lost her so easily.
"Dmitry!" She finally yelled, her voice straining, a playful smile crossed her face though as she finally grabbed his attention. "I am right here, you couldn't get rid of me or lose me if you tried. And, as the Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov, I require that you stop this useless rambling and just kiss me." She commanded, grabbing his face, the same way she had earlier, her lips colliding with his.
"You're giving me orders now?" He asked smirking, as if to challenge her. "You should know that I don't do well with authority."
"Oh really? You didn't seem so defiant to me." She challenged back, raising an eyebrow.
"How about you kiss me again and we'll see?" He smiled, puller her closer once more in a gentle embrace.
"Sleep…tonight we shall rest and then early tomorrow we shall leave." She whispered as they laid down face to face. "We both need the rest…and then tomorrow we'll sneak away to the trains and go wherever they may take us."
"As you wish." He smiled, pressing one last kiss to her forehead as his arms wrapped around her, letting sleep overcome them.
*Two Years Later*
"What was your fathers name again?" Anya asked Dmitry, leaning back against him in their bed, together cradling their newly born son.
"Aleksandr." He answered softly, gently embracing her with his arm that was supporting her own that was holding the small baby.
"Aleksandr." She repeated. "So similar to my little brother…Alexei."
"Your best friend." He nodded.
"We should name him Aleksandr." She decided. "Alexei is perfect." Dmitry said at the same time.
"Aleksandr can be his name in full. Aleksandr Dmitriyevich Sudayev. But, we'll refer to him as Alexei. As a nickname of sorts." Dmitry suggested.
"My fathers name will then be honorary still, but he'll be better known by the name Alexei. His life was taken far too short, but our son won't have that happen. We'll protect him and he'll live a full and happy life."
Anya just nodded tearfully.
"It's perfect." She whispered.
"Alright, alright! You've had nearly an hour of the five minutes that you asked for. And I heard a name! I would like to see my godson!"Vlad laughed as he entered the room impatiently, reaching down and taking Alexei from Anya and slowly dancing him around the room. Lily rolled her eyes at him before smiling as she went over to Anya.
"The dowager would have come herself, but with her age, travel is hard. She was overjoyed with the news of your expecting though." She explained, her hand pressed over her heart from the joy that she too was experiencing.
"Nana will meet him." Anya assured. "We want to visit Paris soon, so that she can meet her newest member of the family." They had never learned of what happened to Gleb, but after two years of peace, they both decided it was time to return. If only for a small visit.
"She will be thrilled to see you, all of you. Even you Dmitry." Lily laughed.
"Ho ho! Look at that smile! Just like his father's!" Vlad loudly proclaimed, beaming as the young baby laughed and smiled. "I've always said that I have a way with children. I have so many stories to tell you, how about the time your mother and father and your uncle Vlad all decided to jump off of a train!"He said gleefully to the baby as they left the room to pace the house.
"Take some time to rest, I have a feeling you won't be getting him back for quite some time." Lily said smiling, following after Vlad.
Anya had already fallen asleep in Dmitry's arms, a smile on her face in her sleep. Years ago, if you had asked Dmitry to describe what his life would look like years from now, this would not be anything like what he would have guessed. Not even close. Out of Russia, married to a grand duchess, and a father…none of those things had ever seemed plausible or even on his radar. Anya had turned his whole life upside down and inside out, everything had changed when she walked into the room. Life kept trying to pull them apart ever since that parade when he was ten, but she was here now. Nothing would take her away. He'd do anything to protect her and Alexei.
"I love you…" he whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of her head before letting sleep overcome him as well.
