Chapter 53 – The Past Becomes the Present
AN: Fantasy sweetie, you know that Drama I was making you wait so (not) patiently for? Well, enjoy...You're all gonna hate me, wmahahaha! This is about where the ride gets really bumpy. Twisted, who is now Scorching...Welcome back! Review please everyone.
Kat came home from Connor's around 4am. She tried to go to bed but she couldn't sleep. It felt like someone was tip toeing in her mind, stirring up her memories, things she'd rather leave locked in the recesses of her mind, things she didn't want to think about. It was unsettling. Not to mention Sean wasn't home and she hadn't seen him since races. No, she reminded herself. That wasn't quite true. She'd seen him at Voodoo for a time but he hadn't gone to Connor's afterward. She got up and went to the window of her room.
She crawled into the window seat and stared out at the moon. She tipped her head back against the wall and allowed herself the luxury of a few quiet tears.
"Mom, what should I do?" She asked. But there were no answers forthcoming. "I need you so much!" The tears came freely then, coursing down her face in moon gilded trails of silver. No one, heavenly body or otherwise designed to answer her heartfelt questions.
*~*
Leon looked up at Kat's house and thought he saw a shadowy face in the window of Kat's room. He convinced himself he must be imagining things and sat back down on his porch, staring up at the moon.
*~*
Kat finally fell into a fitful sleep around 5am. It felt like no time later when she was being shaken awake. Her eyes blinked open to confront the person who dared to wake her the morning after a party.
"What do you want Stacy? I didn't get to sleep till 5am." Kat rasped.
Stacy sat on the side of Kat's bed.
"It's like 5pm now Kat. I think that's lots of sleep. We were getting worried. Aren't you hungry? You're too thin, even for you. I can't hardly remember the last time I saw you eat anything."
"Yeah, I am hungry, now that you woke me. Where's Sean and Kale?" Kat chose to ignore the comment on her weight. Stacy was right, she hadn't been taking care of herself properly and she knew she had to start.
"Kale's downstairs. I was hoping you'd know where Sean was. He never came home with you last night?"
"No. Connor drove me home around 4. Sean wasn't around Connor's. I just figured he came home from Voodoo instead of going back to C's."
"Nope. I haven't seen him since Voodoo, but he didn't come back here." Stacy looked puzzled.
"Well, maybe he just met a girl or something." Kat grinned and sat up in bed. She'd be happy for her friend if that was the case.
"Yeah, maybe. Well, get up and take me out for supper." Stacy laughed and tugged the blankets away from Kat to try and force her into getting up.
"'Cuse me?" Kat asked in mock anger.
"Ya heard me. Make me supper or take me out somewhere for it." Stacy chuckled out. Kat slowly reached up behind her head like she was stretching but grabbed a pillow off her bed and hit Stacy in the face with it.
"Take that!" She laughed as she continued to hit him with her pillow.
"Oh it's on!" Stacy called and pounced. It took him a minute to get her pinned down but he managed and started to tickle her into laughing submission.
"I give! I give." Kat gasped out after a very short time of being tickled.
"Good to see you know what's good for ya." Stacy said as he released Kat and let her up.
"Whatever. Get out of my room so I can get dressed." Kat started to push her friend to the door.
"Ok, but hurry, I'm hungry now!" Stacy whined as he allowed himself to be shoved out of the room and watched the door close in his face.
Kat got dressed after taking a quick shower, wonder about where Sean was heavy on her mind. He never did stuff like disappear without telling someone where he was. He always let one of them know. So that if he didn't come home by the time he said he would someone could go searching for him. It just wasn't like him to just up and take off for days at a time. If he wasn't home soon then Kat would really be worried about where he was.
She tied her wet hair up into a messy ponytail and left her room. She looked sort of scruffy chic in a worn pair of white denim shorts with rainbow coloured inserts along the side seams and a black hoodie over a black tank top. She slid her feet into a pair of platform flip flops and noticed that her feet were losing all their calluses from her lack of practising her dance. She noted with a grimace that if she ever put her toe shoes back on it was going to hurt. A lot.
She ran lightly down the stairs and stopped at the bottom. She didn't see either Stacy or Kale.
"Guys? I'm ready!" She called out, heading toward the back of the house. "Guys?"
She walked past the door to the dining room on her way to the kitchen. Someone grabbed her from the darkened dining room.
"Gotcha!" Her attacker yelled.
"ARGH!" Kat screamed and started to fight to get away.
She was abruptly released by a laughing, gasping Stacy.
"Man, you should see the look on your face!" Stacy laughed.
Kale joined him in laughter from deeper in the dining room.
"It was pretty priceless."
"I'm going to dinner alone. No way am I going with a couple of dirty, low life..." Kat began to rant.
"We're sorry!" Stacy looked immediately contrite. "It was just a joke. Don't make us fend for ourselves in the kitchen. Please?"
"Yeah Kat, you know we'll burn the house down or poison each other. You can't let us loose in the kitchen baby girl. You know what happens then." Kale pouted at her.
Kat's chin came up.
"Maybe I don't care. I'm so scared by what you two did to me."
"It was just a joke baby. Come on girl." Stacy tried to win Kat over.
"Don't baby me. You scared the life outta me."
"I'm sorry." Stacy said.
He wasn't sorry at all and Kat could tell but the look on his face while he tried to pretend he was sorry was so funny that Kat cracked up laughing.
"Come on, let's go eat." She headed for the front door.
"That's my girl!" Kale called and scooped her up into his arms, carrying her by wrapping his arms around her waist and holding her up so their heads were at a similar height, leaving Kat's feet hanging a good 8 inches off the ground.
"Put me down." Kat laughed.
Kale didn't comply and Stacy opened the door with a flourish and Kale carried Kat out through the open door and set her down beside the Eclipse.
"I take it one of you is driving then?" Kat asked. She didn't really want to anyway.
"Sure." Stacy answered and slid into the driver's seat. Kale slid into the back seat, leaving the front for Kat. She got in and they left.
By the time they got home it was dark outside. It was around 9pm. Kat's mood had improved over diner while she'd been joking and kidding around with Stacy and Kale. Stacy always had the ability to pull her out of bad moods.
Kat pulled her house keys out of her pocket and struggled to get the front door open. As the lock tumbled over and she shoved the door open she heard the phone ringing incessantly from inside the house.
"Hold your horses!" She called as she raced for the phone before whoever was on the other end gave up on them. "Shit! I'm coming. I'm coming." Just in case it was Sean, whom she assumed still was not back due to the fact that no lights were on in the house and there was no sign of him yet. She heard the guys close the front door as she snatched up the phone.
"Hello?" Her voice came out high and breathless from her dash to the phone.
"Do I have the girl they call Kat?" A strange, accented male voice asked, disembodied over the telephone line.
"Yeah, I'm Kat. Who's this?" Kat asked, puzzlement warring with fear on her face. The Voice was accented in tones of Kat's past and it scared the hell out of her.
"I'm the person who has your friend Sean." The Voice laughed.
"What do you mean you have Sean? Who is this?" Kat raised her voice as she asked.
"I should be hurt you don't recognize my voice Ð¼Ð¾Ñ Ð´Ð¾ÑÑ[1]."
Realization started to don on Kat. She had a fairly good idea who was on the phone.
"What do you want with Sean оÑÐµÑ Ñага[2]" Kat snarled into the phone.
Stacy and Kale had picked up on the general aura of anger around Kat and the fact that someone had just told her they had Sean. But they didn't know what the strange language Kat was speaking was and they didn't understand.
Kat had hoped the day her past would find her would never come. She'd been so careful when she'd run away to hide her tracks. She'd changed her name, never spoke of her family using their real names. She didn't know how Sergei had found her but since he had she was going to have to deal with him. Her step dad made Connor look like a pussy cat.
"What I wanted when you took off on us you маленÑÐºÐ°Ñ ÑÑка[3]. I have a client most interested in making your acquaintance."
"That was 5 years ago. Why show up in my life again now?" Kat growled.
"Because you messed up a deal I had planned and when you did you threw a lot of my hard work out the window Ð¼Ð¾Ñ Ð¼Ð°Ð»ÐµÐ½ÑÐºÐ°Ñ Ð´ÐµÐ²ÑÑка[4] and now I have a chance to put things right."
"What do you want from me?" Kat asked. She had a sinking feeling she knew where Sergei was going with his diatribe.
"I want you to surrender to me and in exchange I let the man you call Sean go free."
"I'm not going to..." With a look at Stacy and Kale, who were watching her on the phone she again switched into Russian. "дайÑе к вам Ñак, ÑÑо Ð²Ñ Ð±ÑдеÑе моÑÑ Ð¿ÑодаÑÑ Ð¼ÐµÐ½Ñ Ð² деле[5]"
"Then I will have to kill this man." Sergei retorted. "Then I will hunt you down and take you anyway."
"Ðолжно бÑÑÑ Ð´ÑÑÐ³Ð°Ñ Ð´Ð¾Ñога ÑÑÑановиÑÑ ÑÑо[6]" Kat implored. "I have a new life here. I've left my past behind. Surely after 5 years there is nothing about me to interest anyone now. I'm not a little girl anymore." Kat was starting to get hysterical.
"My partner, the very one whom you caused Ð²Ð°Ñ Ð±ÑаÑ[7] to let down saw your pictures in some каÑÑеÑа[8] about fast cars or some nonsense and recognized your face. He is very much still interested in you and willing to end война[9] that your disappearance caused. You will come to me and I will let the large man you call Sean go."
"I." Kat didn't know what to say. She knew what would happen if she gave in to his demands. But she also knew if she didn't her step father was just the man to go through with what he said. He would kill her best friend.
The man to whom she owed her life.
Her rock.
Her Protector.
Her Brother.
She didn't know what to say to the man on the phone with her. She wanted to tell him to go to hell. She wanted to tell him to tell her where to show up if he'd just free Sean unharmed.
How was a girl to decide between her free life and her innocence and the life of her very best friend? Her brother.
"Я пеÑедам вам 20 4 ÑаÑов Ð´Ð»Ñ Ñого ÑÑÐ¾Ð±Ñ ÑеÑиÑÑ. Я бÑÐ´Ñ Ð²ÑзÑваÑÑ Ð²Ð°Ñ Ñнова ÑÑо вÑÐµÐ¼Ñ Ð·Ð°Ð²ÑÑа. ÐмейÑе Ð²Ð°Ñ Ð¾ÑÐ²ÐµÑ Ð³Ð¾ÑовÑй Ð´Ð»Ñ Ð¼ÐµÐ½Ñ Ð¿Ð¾Ñле ÑÑого.[10]" Sergei hung up without waiting for her to reply to his ultimatum.
Kat dropped the phone out of her lifeless fingers. She stood beside the phone table and just shook with a vacant look on her face. Her step father had found her. He knew where she lived, he'd found her phone number. He knew how important Sean was to her.
He had Sean.
She had to run. She had to go on the run again. It was the only thing that entered her mind. If she ran away, like into Mexico or Cuba her step father wouldn't be able to find her. She could build yet another new life for herself.
Then she looked into the faces of Stacy and Kale, standing in front of her, looking so concerned and shocked for her. And for Sean.
"What's going on Kitten? Who was that?" Stacy asked.
"Kitten, what's wrong?" Kale asked and moved closer to Kat, to comfort her.
"He...He...Oh my god. He has Sean." She gasped out and crumpled to the ground. "He has Sean." She wailed.
"Who does Kitten? What language were you speaking?" Stacy asked. Kat talking in a foreign tongue had bothered him more then anything. It sounded so strange coming from Kat. He hadn't known she spoke anything but English and a bit of high school Spanish.
"My step father has Sean. And that was Russian. My step dad is Russian." Kat sobbed out.
"Why does your step dad have Sean?"
"Well, you know why I told you I had to run away from home? About how my brother Josef was involved in the Russian mob?"
"Yeah, and he wanted to give you to a bad man." Kale filled in.
"Yeah, right. Well, I guess my running away messed up a big deal for him and caused a mob war within the Russian mob. My brothers and step father have been fighting this war ever since I ran away. Then the guy I was supposed to be sold to saw me in those magazines and recognized me. Then he told my step dad if he could get me back and give me to the original man then everything would be forgiven and the war would be over."
"How does Sean fit into this whole thing?" Stacy asked.
"My step dad knows how much you guys mean to me and he had the chance to grab Sean would be my guess. He says that Sean goes free and unharmed if I turn myself over to him. He wants a decision by this time tomorrow."
"Well, what are we gonna do?" Kale asked. "We should call Connor. He'll have some ideas what we can do to get Sean back."
"We're not gonna call Connor. I'm gonna give myself to them. If I don't they'll kill Sean and I won't have it. I just won't. If I give myself to them then Sean goes free and no one gets hurt." Kat stood up. "It's all that I can do. I'll let Sean go free."
"Kat you can't do that. Sean wouldn't want that. There must be a better way!" Stacy shouted. "I won't have it Kat. You can't give yourself to some asshole for the rest of your life. You don't know what he'll do to you."
"Stacy. I brought you guys into a situation you had no call to be involved in. These guys are bad news. They're the worst of the Russian mob. High up the ladder bosses. There's nothing that Connor can do against that kind of firepower."
"I won't let them take your life from you either Kat." Stacy pleaded.
"You guys gave me the best 5 years I could have asked for. You gave me my dream. I got to race my car in the best circles and I could have been the best if I'd gotten to keep going. I had your love and care. I had a real family. I'll be able to hold that 5 years in my heart and I'll survive whatever life throws at me now. I'll find a way to escape and by then Sean will be back with you guys and you'll all be safe. I'll get free and run to Mexico or Africa or Japan. Somewhere that my step dad has no reach."
"Kitten, we can't let you do that. There must be a better way. Don't do it." Kale implored.
"I have to."
And with that Kat took off for the front door. The two men were so startled they didn't have time to catch her before she was out the door and running off down the road on foot.
----------------------- [1] My daughter [2] Step father [3] Little bitch [4] My little girl [5] Give myself to you so that you might sell me in a deal [6] There must be another way to settle this [7] Your brother [8] magazine [9] The war [10] I will give you 24 hours to make up your mind. I will call you at this time tomorrow for your answer.
AN: Fantasy sweetie, you know that Drama I was making you wait so (not) patiently for? Well, enjoy...You're all gonna hate me, wmahahaha! This is about where the ride gets really bumpy. Twisted, who is now Scorching...Welcome back! Review please everyone.
Kat came home from Connor's around 4am. She tried to go to bed but she couldn't sleep. It felt like someone was tip toeing in her mind, stirring up her memories, things she'd rather leave locked in the recesses of her mind, things she didn't want to think about. It was unsettling. Not to mention Sean wasn't home and she hadn't seen him since races. No, she reminded herself. That wasn't quite true. She'd seen him at Voodoo for a time but he hadn't gone to Connor's afterward. She got up and went to the window of her room.
She crawled into the window seat and stared out at the moon. She tipped her head back against the wall and allowed herself the luxury of a few quiet tears.
"Mom, what should I do?" She asked. But there were no answers forthcoming. "I need you so much!" The tears came freely then, coursing down her face in moon gilded trails of silver. No one, heavenly body or otherwise designed to answer her heartfelt questions.
*~*
Leon looked up at Kat's house and thought he saw a shadowy face in the window of Kat's room. He convinced himself he must be imagining things and sat back down on his porch, staring up at the moon.
*~*
Kat finally fell into a fitful sleep around 5am. It felt like no time later when she was being shaken awake. Her eyes blinked open to confront the person who dared to wake her the morning after a party.
"What do you want Stacy? I didn't get to sleep till 5am." Kat rasped.
Stacy sat on the side of Kat's bed.
"It's like 5pm now Kat. I think that's lots of sleep. We were getting worried. Aren't you hungry? You're too thin, even for you. I can't hardly remember the last time I saw you eat anything."
"Yeah, I am hungry, now that you woke me. Where's Sean and Kale?" Kat chose to ignore the comment on her weight. Stacy was right, she hadn't been taking care of herself properly and she knew she had to start.
"Kale's downstairs. I was hoping you'd know where Sean was. He never came home with you last night?"
"No. Connor drove me home around 4. Sean wasn't around Connor's. I just figured he came home from Voodoo instead of going back to C's."
"Nope. I haven't seen him since Voodoo, but he didn't come back here." Stacy looked puzzled.
"Well, maybe he just met a girl or something." Kat grinned and sat up in bed. She'd be happy for her friend if that was the case.
"Yeah, maybe. Well, get up and take me out for supper." Stacy laughed and tugged the blankets away from Kat to try and force her into getting up.
"'Cuse me?" Kat asked in mock anger.
"Ya heard me. Make me supper or take me out somewhere for it." Stacy chuckled out. Kat slowly reached up behind her head like she was stretching but grabbed a pillow off her bed and hit Stacy in the face with it.
"Take that!" She laughed as she continued to hit him with her pillow.
"Oh it's on!" Stacy called and pounced. It took him a minute to get her pinned down but he managed and started to tickle her into laughing submission.
"I give! I give." Kat gasped out after a very short time of being tickled.
"Good to see you know what's good for ya." Stacy said as he released Kat and let her up.
"Whatever. Get out of my room so I can get dressed." Kat started to push her friend to the door.
"Ok, but hurry, I'm hungry now!" Stacy whined as he allowed himself to be shoved out of the room and watched the door close in his face.
Kat got dressed after taking a quick shower, wonder about where Sean was heavy on her mind. He never did stuff like disappear without telling someone where he was. He always let one of them know. So that if he didn't come home by the time he said he would someone could go searching for him. It just wasn't like him to just up and take off for days at a time. If he wasn't home soon then Kat would really be worried about where he was.
She tied her wet hair up into a messy ponytail and left her room. She looked sort of scruffy chic in a worn pair of white denim shorts with rainbow coloured inserts along the side seams and a black hoodie over a black tank top. She slid her feet into a pair of platform flip flops and noticed that her feet were losing all their calluses from her lack of practising her dance. She noted with a grimace that if she ever put her toe shoes back on it was going to hurt. A lot.
She ran lightly down the stairs and stopped at the bottom. She didn't see either Stacy or Kale.
"Guys? I'm ready!" She called out, heading toward the back of the house. "Guys?"
She walked past the door to the dining room on her way to the kitchen. Someone grabbed her from the darkened dining room.
"Gotcha!" Her attacker yelled.
"ARGH!" Kat screamed and started to fight to get away.
She was abruptly released by a laughing, gasping Stacy.
"Man, you should see the look on your face!" Stacy laughed.
Kale joined him in laughter from deeper in the dining room.
"It was pretty priceless."
"I'm going to dinner alone. No way am I going with a couple of dirty, low life..." Kat began to rant.
"We're sorry!" Stacy looked immediately contrite. "It was just a joke. Don't make us fend for ourselves in the kitchen. Please?"
"Yeah Kat, you know we'll burn the house down or poison each other. You can't let us loose in the kitchen baby girl. You know what happens then." Kale pouted at her.
Kat's chin came up.
"Maybe I don't care. I'm so scared by what you two did to me."
"It was just a joke baby. Come on girl." Stacy tried to win Kat over.
"Don't baby me. You scared the life outta me."
"I'm sorry." Stacy said.
He wasn't sorry at all and Kat could tell but the look on his face while he tried to pretend he was sorry was so funny that Kat cracked up laughing.
"Come on, let's go eat." She headed for the front door.
"That's my girl!" Kale called and scooped her up into his arms, carrying her by wrapping his arms around her waist and holding her up so their heads were at a similar height, leaving Kat's feet hanging a good 8 inches off the ground.
"Put me down." Kat laughed.
Kale didn't comply and Stacy opened the door with a flourish and Kale carried Kat out through the open door and set her down beside the Eclipse.
"I take it one of you is driving then?" Kat asked. She didn't really want to anyway.
"Sure." Stacy answered and slid into the driver's seat. Kale slid into the back seat, leaving the front for Kat. She got in and they left.
By the time they got home it was dark outside. It was around 9pm. Kat's mood had improved over diner while she'd been joking and kidding around with Stacy and Kale. Stacy always had the ability to pull her out of bad moods.
Kat pulled her house keys out of her pocket and struggled to get the front door open. As the lock tumbled over and she shoved the door open she heard the phone ringing incessantly from inside the house.
"Hold your horses!" She called as she raced for the phone before whoever was on the other end gave up on them. "Shit! I'm coming. I'm coming." Just in case it was Sean, whom she assumed still was not back due to the fact that no lights were on in the house and there was no sign of him yet. She heard the guys close the front door as she snatched up the phone.
"Hello?" Her voice came out high and breathless from her dash to the phone.
"Do I have the girl they call Kat?" A strange, accented male voice asked, disembodied over the telephone line.
"Yeah, I'm Kat. Who's this?" Kat asked, puzzlement warring with fear on her face. The Voice was accented in tones of Kat's past and it scared the hell out of her.
"I'm the person who has your friend Sean." The Voice laughed.
"What do you mean you have Sean? Who is this?" Kat raised her voice as she asked.
"I should be hurt you don't recognize my voice Ð¼Ð¾Ñ Ð´Ð¾ÑÑ[1]."
Realization started to don on Kat. She had a fairly good idea who was on the phone.
"What do you want with Sean оÑÐµÑ Ñага[2]" Kat snarled into the phone.
Stacy and Kale had picked up on the general aura of anger around Kat and the fact that someone had just told her they had Sean. But they didn't know what the strange language Kat was speaking was and they didn't understand.
Kat had hoped the day her past would find her would never come. She'd been so careful when she'd run away to hide her tracks. She'd changed her name, never spoke of her family using their real names. She didn't know how Sergei had found her but since he had she was going to have to deal with him. Her step dad made Connor look like a pussy cat.
"What I wanted when you took off on us you маленÑÐºÐ°Ñ ÑÑка[3]. I have a client most interested in making your acquaintance."
"That was 5 years ago. Why show up in my life again now?" Kat growled.
"Because you messed up a deal I had planned and when you did you threw a lot of my hard work out the window Ð¼Ð¾Ñ Ð¼Ð°Ð»ÐµÐ½ÑÐºÐ°Ñ Ð´ÐµÐ²ÑÑка[4] and now I have a chance to put things right."
"What do you want from me?" Kat asked. She had a sinking feeling she knew where Sergei was going with his diatribe.
"I want you to surrender to me and in exchange I let the man you call Sean go free."
"I'm not going to..." With a look at Stacy and Kale, who were watching her on the phone she again switched into Russian. "дайÑе к вам Ñак, ÑÑо Ð²Ñ Ð±ÑдеÑе моÑÑ Ð¿ÑодаÑÑ Ð¼ÐµÐ½Ñ Ð² деле[5]"
"Then I will have to kill this man." Sergei retorted. "Then I will hunt you down and take you anyway."
"Ðолжно бÑÑÑ Ð´ÑÑÐ³Ð°Ñ Ð´Ð¾Ñога ÑÑÑановиÑÑ ÑÑо[6]" Kat implored. "I have a new life here. I've left my past behind. Surely after 5 years there is nothing about me to interest anyone now. I'm not a little girl anymore." Kat was starting to get hysterical.
"My partner, the very one whom you caused Ð²Ð°Ñ Ð±ÑаÑ[7] to let down saw your pictures in some каÑÑеÑа[8] about fast cars or some nonsense and recognized your face. He is very much still interested in you and willing to end война[9] that your disappearance caused. You will come to me and I will let the large man you call Sean go."
"I." Kat didn't know what to say. She knew what would happen if she gave in to his demands. But she also knew if she didn't her step father was just the man to go through with what he said. He would kill her best friend.
The man to whom she owed her life.
Her rock.
Her Protector.
Her Brother.
She didn't know what to say to the man on the phone with her. She wanted to tell him to go to hell. She wanted to tell him to tell her where to show up if he'd just free Sean unharmed.
How was a girl to decide between her free life and her innocence and the life of her very best friend? Her brother.
"Я пеÑедам вам 20 4 ÑаÑов Ð´Ð»Ñ Ñого ÑÑÐ¾Ð±Ñ ÑеÑиÑÑ. Я бÑÐ´Ñ Ð²ÑзÑваÑÑ Ð²Ð°Ñ Ñнова ÑÑо вÑÐµÐ¼Ñ Ð·Ð°Ð²ÑÑа. ÐмейÑе Ð²Ð°Ñ Ð¾ÑÐ²ÐµÑ Ð³Ð¾ÑовÑй Ð´Ð»Ñ Ð¼ÐµÐ½Ñ Ð¿Ð¾Ñле ÑÑого.[10]" Sergei hung up without waiting for her to reply to his ultimatum.
Kat dropped the phone out of her lifeless fingers. She stood beside the phone table and just shook with a vacant look on her face. Her step father had found her. He knew where she lived, he'd found her phone number. He knew how important Sean was to her.
He had Sean.
She had to run. She had to go on the run again. It was the only thing that entered her mind. If she ran away, like into Mexico or Cuba her step father wouldn't be able to find her. She could build yet another new life for herself.
Then she looked into the faces of Stacy and Kale, standing in front of her, looking so concerned and shocked for her. And for Sean.
"What's going on Kitten? Who was that?" Stacy asked.
"Kitten, what's wrong?" Kale asked and moved closer to Kat, to comfort her.
"He...He...Oh my god. He has Sean." She gasped out and crumpled to the ground. "He has Sean." She wailed.
"Who does Kitten? What language were you speaking?" Stacy asked. Kat talking in a foreign tongue had bothered him more then anything. It sounded so strange coming from Kat. He hadn't known she spoke anything but English and a bit of high school Spanish.
"My step father has Sean. And that was Russian. My step dad is Russian." Kat sobbed out.
"Why does your step dad have Sean?"
"Well, you know why I told you I had to run away from home? About how my brother Josef was involved in the Russian mob?"
"Yeah, and he wanted to give you to a bad man." Kale filled in.
"Yeah, right. Well, I guess my running away messed up a big deal for him and caused a mob war within the Russian mob. My brothers and step father have been fighting this war ever since I ran away. Then the guy I was supposed to be sold to saw me in those magazines and recognized me. Then he told my step dad if he could get me back and give me to the original man then everything would be forgiven and the war would be over."
"How does Sean fit into this whole thing?" Stacy asked.
"My step dad knows how much you guys mean to me and he had the chance to grab Sean would be my guess. He says that Sean goes free and unharmed if I turn myself over to him. He wants a decision by this time tomorrow."
"Well, what are we gonna do?" Kale asked. "We should call Connor. He'll have some ideas what we can do to get Sean back."
"We're not gonna call Connor. I'm gonna give myself to them. If I don't they'll kill Sean and I won't have it. I just won't. If I give myself to them then Sean goes free and no one gets hurt." Kat stood up. "It's all that I can do. I'll let Sean go free."
"Kat you can't do that. Sean wouldn't want that. There must be a better way!" Stacy shouted. "I won't have it Kat. You can't give yourself to some asshole for the rest of your life. You don't know what he'll do to you."
"Stacy. I brought you guys into a situation you had no call to be involved in. These guys are bad news. They're the worst of the Russian mob. High up the ladder bosses. There's nothing that Connor can do against that kind of firepower."
"I won't let them take your life from you either Kat." Stacy pleaded.
"You guys gave me the best 5 years I could have asked for. You gave me my dream. I got to race my car in the best circles and I could have been the best if I'd gotten to keep going. I had your love and care. I had a real family. I'll be able to hold that 5 years in my heart and I'll survive whatever life throws at me now. I'll find a way to escape and by then Sean will be back with you guys and you'll all be safe. I'll get free and run to Mexico or Africa or Japan. Somewhere that my step dad has no reach."
"Kitten, we can't let you do that. There must be a better way. Don't do it." Kale implored.
"I have to."
And with that Kat took off for the front door. The two men were so startled they didn't have time to catch her before she was out the door and running off down the road on foot.
----------------------- [1] My daughter [2] Step father [3] Little bitch [4] My little girl [5] Give myself to you so that you might sell me in a deal [6] There must be another way to settle this [7] Your brother [8] magazine [9] The war [10] I will give you 24 hours to make up your mind. I will call you at this time tomorrow for your answer.