A/N: Alright, so I really don't want to post this next week. I started my new job this week and I'm tired. I want to thank everyone who is reviewing and recing this story. I have hit over 500 reviews and it makes my little heart so happy. Thanks to bitterharpy, maplestyle, agoodwitch, and LaMomo who pre-read and reread and listen to me ramble. Thanks to Alice's white rabbit who Betas. I love my girls and my readers. Anyone who hates "spoilers" in the AN look away now but I'm just letting everyone know. We have been ramping up for 12 chapters and the next few chapters will end in cliffhangers. Sorry but that's the way it was written. And on to the chapter.
EPOV
Walking out of the house and getting in the car was one of the hardest things I had ever done, and I was in the military, followed by the police academy, I had done some crazy hard shit. Nothing could bring me to my knees like those two girls I had to leave behind. They were quickly becoming the most important parts of my world, but that was why I pushed ahead. This meeting with Emmett was important to find out anything more we could on the insanity that was about to come down on us.
The drive went by faster than I expected. I had called Bella an hour into the trip. There wasn't a lot to report, but she about broke my heart by telling me that after I left, Katiya had cried until she had fallen asleep. I knew why she was worried. The last time I had left them when I had to go check things out at Seattle PD, I came back and had gotten shot. I only hoped nothing happened to me on this trip.
Emmett called me shortly before I had made it to Riley, Oregon. This is where we'd planned to meet. I let him know I should be there and set up in about fifteen minutes. He reported the tail had followed him and still was, so the plan was still a go. I got off the phone with him and found the strip of highway he had told me about. The plan was to find somewhere I could hide from sight but I would have visibility of the road. When Emmett drove by, I was to take out the tires of the car following him, effectively leaving this guy stranded. Then it was time for the interrogation. I knew the effective techniques, both legal and illegal, but it wasn't something I enjoyed.
After putting on my bulletproof vest under my T-shirt, I got into my hiding spot and waited. I got a text from Emmett that said five minutes, so I readied myself. The whole beginning of the plan went off without a hitch. Emmett's black SUV came tearing down the highway, a non-descript white van following him. I shot at the tires, bringing the van to a screeching halt. When the asshole got out of the van, that's when shit went to hell. The motherfucker must have figured out where the bullets had come from, and moments after I heard shots ring out, I felt white-hot pain explode in my shoulder and the wood from the crate I was hiding behind shattering and cracking. I fell to the asphalt, surprised by the pain I felt in my shoulder. I heard Emmett yelling my name and the sound of a fist meeting flesh, and I knew Emmett was handing out a beatdown. I rolled over on the side that wasn't injured and pushed myself up to a standing position with some trepidation and a lot of pain.
"Edward, you okay?"
I touched where the pain was, and I felt what felt like shards of something, and my hand came back with a lot of blood. "I got hit, man." I made my way over to where Emmett was holding the asshole's face to the pavement with his hand and speaking to him in a menacing voice. Emmett was a big guy and was intimidating as fuck when he was mad. Those who knew him well knew he was a big teddy bear with the mindset of an eight-year-old on a sugar rush, but in this environment, he was frightening. I took my gun and held it to the dick's temple. "Give me a reason to pull this trigger. I've been through enough the last few weeks that I really could get off on fucking blowing your brains out. You fucks messed with the wrong people."
"I don't know anything, so you're wasting your time," the guy said.
"You better hope you're lying because if you're no use to me, I would relish shooting you," Emmett said, letting the guy stand up, but we both had guns trained on him. "What's going on?"
The guy looked defiant, but then with two guys bigger than him with guns, it seemed to break down that defense. He sighed. "There's chatter a bigwig in the Bratva is coming to America to recover his property."
Emmett had to hold me back from punching the shit out of this guy. He had no emotional attachment to Katiya, but I did, and I wanted to tear him limb from limb for calling her property.
"Why were you following me?" Emmett asked.
"I'm supposed to keep you from getting in the way when he gets here and to keep you from contacting this guy," he said, gesturing to me.
"Yeah? You didn't do your job," I said. I shifted from one foot to my other and started to feel a little dizzy. I staggered a bit and righted myself immediately. "When's this bigwig getting here?"
"He's leaving Russia in the next 24 hours. Your boss is trying to figure out where you have the girls stashed for him. He's looking forward to meeting Bella."
Seeing this slimeball smile like that and the way he said Bella's name made me see red. I knew the implication. I backhanded him … hard. The dickhead turned his head to spit out the blood and sneered at me. I felt another searing flash of pain and another wave of dizziness. This time, it didn't clear, and soon my vision dimmed, and I was floating into blackness.
I came to in what I assumed was the seat of a car. I heard Emmett swear and felt the car swerve, so I could guess I was in his SUV. I groaned and Emmett looked at me from the front seat, relief flooding his face.
"Jesus, Ed, you about gave me a heart attack." He sighed.
"What's going on?" I questioned.
"We're almost to the closest clinic I can find. I'll flash my badge to get you taken care of without giving them you're name. Your shoulder's fucked up," he said.
"What about the fuck following you?" I asked.
"He's been taken care of," he said, getting that angry look on his face. "That last remark about Bella, you passing out on me, and him laughing about it, I snapped. He won't be able to report back to my boss."
"Emmett, this exposes you."
"I know. I got this, man." Emmett screeched into the parking lot of a small clinic/hospital. He helped me out of the car and into the building. Emmett started barking orders, and before I knew it, I was back in an exam room with a doctor looking at my shoulder. The reason for the blood loss was pretty obvious from my shoulder. Apparently, there were splinters of wood debris in my shoulder. I had taken a bullet to the shoulder, but the wood case I was against must have slowed the bullet a lot because it was a very shallow wound. Getting the wound debrided hurt like a bitch, and the blood loss and pain almost made me pass out again, but when the sadistic nurse shoved an IV needle in my arm, it sharply brought my focus back. They stitched up the wound, bandaged it, and made me stay hooked up to the IV for fluids and medication to help with the blood loss I suffered. The medical personnel left us alone for a little bit for the IV fluids to flow.
I saw the time on the digital clock on the wall. Bella had to be freaking out from not hearing from me. I told her I would call her when I was on my way back, and it was way past the time when I should have called her. "Man, I gotta call Bella and let her know what's going on, and you need to leave."
"Shit, I gotta call her back."
"What do you mean call her back?"
"I may have called her when I was bringing you here."
"Em, she's probably freaking out."
"What, man! You scared the shit out of me. I have never seen you pass out. I'll call her."
"Okay, but call her from the road and tell her I'll call her as soon as I get out of here. You need to get the fuck out of here. You need to get back to Portland and do damage control. If that guy isn't gonna be able to report back to your boss, you're gonna have to get really creative."
"I can't just leave you here."
"I'm fine. They're just giving me fluids, and then I'm good. I'll take a taxi back to my car. I'm gonna have to come up with a plan for a new location and other shit, so I have my own planning to do. I trust you entirely, but you can't be around for that stuff. We agreed on that."
Emmett opened his mouth as if to argue, but he knew I was right. He sighed and nodded. He gave me the complicated handshake we always did. "I hope the next time we see each other, neither of us gets shot at."
I laughed and it hurt. "I doubt it, man. This shit's far from over, and this guy isn't gonna give up as easily as the others."
"Mikhail Mikhaylova," he said.
"What?" I asked.
"That's Katiya's dad's name," he explained
I chuckled. "Fucking classic bad guy name."
Emmett smiled and saluted me before leaving. I harassed the nurses to let me out as soon as was humanly possible. They wanted to keep me longer to make sure I was okay, but I rejected all that shit and walked to the taxi they had called for me all by myself. I got back to my van and immediately called my boss. I needed to get Katiya and Bella out of the McCall house and away from the area before anyone found them. It was a race against the clock as to who got to them first, so I stressed the urgency to my boss. He had some military contacts who owed him a favor, so he was hoping he could get them flown to the next safe house. He told me he would call me back with the location of the next safe house and to let me know they had arrived safely. He was personally going to take care of it—it was too risky to pass off to someone else.
Next, I called Bella. "Edward?" she answered, the worry evident in her tone. I could tell she'd been crying. "Oh, my God, please tell me you're okay."
"I'm fine, sweetheart. It looked a lot worse than it actually was," I said, hissing as I experimentally rolled my shoulder. "It hurts, but it will heal."
She took a deep, steadying breath. "Oh, Emmett called me in a panic. Said you passed out and were bleeding heavily."
"I had some significant blood loss."
"Did they do a transfusion?" she asked, her medical training kicking in.
"No, they gave me some sort of medication and fluids. Ringer's something or other."
"Ringer's lactate. It helps deliver the medication that rebuilds your blood count."
"Okay, I don't need the medical explanation. Look, my boss is working on getting you guys a private flight to the next safe house location. You guys can't stay there—it's not safe anymore. My boss is personally going to take care of it, so you two need to pack everything up and be ready. I'll send you a picture of what he looks like. Don't answer the door for anyone but this man, okay?"
"So, then you're on your way?"
"No, sweetheart. I'm gonna have to heal because wherever he's sending you, I'm gonna have to drive."
"Edward, no. You need to get here and get on the plane with us. You're in as much danger as we are."
"Katiya's dad's leaving Russia in the next 24 hours. He'll be here soon; we don't have enough time to wait for me to drive there. They're looking for us now. I need you to get out now. Remember when this all started, I told you there may come a time when I tell you to get your shit and go without me. This is one of those times, and I will try to get to you as fast as I can."
"Yeah, well when this all started, I wasn't fucking in love with you, Edward!" she said, and finally, the damn broke and she started sobbing. I was shocked—she just said she loves me, and we're almost 300 miles apart. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that," she explained, like she could take it back.
"I'm sorry. I want to hug you so much right now and want to see your face when you tell me you love me. I will be there, Bella. I promise."
"Are you sure you're okay? They let you out kinda early if you lost enough blood to need replacement therapy."
"I should probably get some food, and I could sleep for a few hours, but I can do all that when I get to you guys."
"Edward –" she said, her voice full of warning.
"I don't know the full plan until my boss calls, sweetheart. I'll let you know when I know. Now, get off the phone and pack your stuff."
"Okay. I really am sorry I said it that way too. I want to see your face as well."
"Forgiven. I'll talk to you later."
We hung up, and I let my head fall back against the car headrest. I blew out a loud breath. "Shit!" This day really didn't go the way it was supposed to, but as shitty as it was right now, I didn't care as long as Bella and Katiya made it to safety. I distracted myself with taking care of menial tasks. I got a clean shirt that wasn't ripped and all bloody and pulled it on as best as I could without a ton of pain. I took my bulletproof vest out of the bag they gave me with my stuff and examined it. It was still intact, but I was going to have to get it cleaned. I shoved it back in the bag and put it in the trunk. I made sure I had everything and put it all away where it needed to be. Then I got in the van and drove around until I found somewhere to get some food because I was starting to feel a little dizzy again.
By the time I'd finished eating, I was getting a call.
"Masen," I barked into the phone.
"Bella and Katiya are boarding the plan now. Where are you? I have another contact in Oregon with a chopper. Drop off your rental car, send me your coordinates, and get where I tell you to go. I'm flying you to where I'm having the girls sent. Don't try to argue. Bella told me about your injury and hospital visit, and she told me under no circumstances were you to drive to the safe house. She's a pistol, isn't she?"
"That she is, sir."
He chuckled. "I expect your coordinates within the next 10 minutes."
"You got it."
He hung up, and I sighed. Well, at least this shitty trip was coming to a close.
~oOo~
After I did all the things I told my boss I would do, I was finally settling into the seat on the chopper.
"Where are we going?"
"I'm taking you to Flagstaff. Mr. Marcus is meeting us there, and he will take you where you need to go from there."
I nodded and let out a sigh of relief. He really was taking care of this whole relocation as he promised. We had to stop once to refuel, but after almost six hours, we were landing at the Flagstaff airport. Marcus jogged over to help me get my personal items off the helicopter and into his car. Soon we were getting in a newer SUV, but I knew this wasn't his car.
"Get a new car, sir?"
"No, this is your vehicle. I'm not taking you to the safe house, but I will let you know where it is. This vehicle is registered to someone who doesn't exist. We do need to chat for a minute though. Bella told me what's going on with Katiya's dad. Don't worry—it wasn't around Katiya herself. This is serious shit, Masen. I don't know if you're going to be able to stop him if he tries to take custody of her. Legally, he's her dad, and the USA and Russia are notorious for not cooperating."
"So, I'm just supposed to let him take her."
"We do have one option, but you won't like part of it."
"What?"
"You've gotta tell Katiya everything, then we need to get her application for asylum expedited. I can work with what Emmett has already given me to prove her going to Russia with her dad will put her in mortal danger. At the very least, we can give her temporary asylum status. She'll need to speak with a judge to finish the process, which is why she needs to know."
"How am I supposed to tell her everything? She's eight-fucking-years-old, Marcus."
"I get it. She's a sweet kid, she doesn't deserve this burden, but she doesn't deserve to die for her innocence."
"Fuck!"
"Look, I know the line has gotten blurred for you. This is a one-time offer—do I need to reassign you and have someone else take over?"
"No, sir. I don't trust anyone else with this, and it needs to stay with as few people as possible. Just her applying for asylum is going to blow it up bigger than it needs to be."
"I know who to trust. It won't get in anyone's hands who is going to hurt that little girl. Why do you think I've been communicating with Emmett? I'm having to do the shit his boss should be taking care of, but he's shadier than a tree."
In spite of all the recent shit, I chuckled at his bad joke. "Okay, we'll tell her. Bella's going to have to help me."
Marcus gave me a knowing smile and nodded. He gave me a piece of paper. "There's the address. I'll be in touch, and we'll get this taken care of." With that, he got out of the vehicle and a car pulled up next to the SUV, he got in, and the drove away.
I put the address he gave me into the navigation, and I was on my way to my girls. I called Bella on the way and let her know I was headed to her, and I also told her about needing to tell Katiya about everything, and she told me we would do it together. It would be hard, but it needed to be done.
After what seemed like an eternity, I pulled up to the address I was given by Marcus. It was a ranch-style home on quite a bit of land. There was plenty of room for Katiya to play around, but I imagined we wouldn't feel comfortable with her playing outside while there was the chance of her dad being in the country. I left my shit in the car because I just needed to see Bella and Katiya.
Before I could make it inside, they were both barreling into me, smothering me with kisses and hugs. I easily picked Katiya up with my good arm—she was small for an eight-year-old—and tucked Bella into my other side, and we headed into the house. For the moment, I finally felt complete.
~oOo~
After settling in, making some dinner, and getting a full check over by Bella, who still was upset the hospital let me go so soon, we decided it was time to tell Katiya what was going on. We were all seated in the living room, and Bella turned down the volume of the show we were watching.
"Pretty girl, we need to talk to you about some things we've found out since this whole thing started."
She nodded and just looked intently at us with those beautiful blue eyes.
"Well, I guess we should start with the easiest thing. Your birth name is actually Irina Antonov-Mikhaylova. Your parents, who were murdered, were actually your adoptive parents. The story they told you as a child was partially true," Bella said.
"They weren't my real parents? Where are my real parents?" she asked. She looked lost, confused, and so sad. Bella paused, and I knew I was going to have to help her out.
"Your mom's name was Tatiana, but she died in a house fire. Your dad's name is Mikhail. He's still alive. He is …" I started. This was going to be the hardest part. How did you tell someone their father was a very bad man and was a danger to her? "He's the Sovietnik of the Russian Bratva."
Before I could question if she understood what that meant, she gasped and shook her head. Tears started to fall down her cheeks. "No. Nepravda. Mne skazali, chto on lgal," she mumbled almost to herself. I didn't need to ask to know she was speaking Russian. "They told me he was lying."
"What do you mean, Katiya?"
"I met a man when I was about five—I barely remember it—but he told me … that my mom was a slut and he was my dad. He told me his name was Mikhail, and he loved me very much, but it wasn't time for me to be with him yet, so my parents were going to take care of me until he could be with me. I told my parents, and they said to not worry, that he was lying, and they were my only parents. Why did they tell me that? Why is my dad a bad man? Does that mean I'm a bad girl?"
"No, Katiya, not at all! Come here, pretty girl," Bella said.
Katiya was crying too hard to do much, so Bella got up and went over to her. She pulled the girl onto her lap and gave her a huge hug. I followed and came over, giving them both a big bear hug.
"I know this is big and it hurts, but we're still here, and we're still going to protect you from him," Bella continued.
"You won't let him take me?" she asked.
"No, we're working on trying to make sure he can't take you anywhere, Katiya," I answered.
"You don't have to start calling me Irina, do you?" she questioned.
"Only if you want us to," I said.
She shook her head. "I don't like that name. I'm Katiya."
"Yes, you are."
We spent the rest of the evening snuggled up on the couch with Katiya and watched movies. Marcus called me to let me know he started the paperwork and was going to meet with the DA in the morning so they could both pull strings to make sure this process was expedited. Everything was starting to look up. Of course, that's when things always go wrong. I had just gotten off the phone with Marcus when I got a call from Emmett. Katiya was in bed, and Bella and I were sitting on the couch.
"Emmett, man, how're you?" I asked, putting the phone on speaker.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Emmett is indisposed at the moment, but I feel we have so much to talk about Edward," a deep voice answered.
"Who is this?" I asked, feeling fear skitter down my spine. I could guess, but it couldn't be right.
"I think you can guess. You have something of mine, and I want it back. Now just to make sure I have your attention, I'm going to break your friend's arm." There was a sickening crunching sound and a muffled scream on the line. "Now, do I have your attention?"
A/N: I want to go hide now. Thanks for reading and we will be back soon. I may try to post before the two weeks is up. Let me know how you feel and leave some love.
