Crossing Boundaries

Chapter 19: Past

"Everything's ready," Hotch says to me a little while later. I rise from the couch next to Spencer's desk, unsure of this upcoming encounter. Hotch leads me down to interrogation, but pauses outside the door. "We'll all be in the observation side if you need anything…"

I place a hand on his arm. "I'll be fine. Just listen carefully so you can learn what you need." Suddenly, all of this seems like a terribly bad idea. My hand is frozen on the doorknob, unwilling to open the portal to misery. Then, there is a gentle warmth of reassurance on my free hand. I look back to find Spencer, who has taken my hand in his. Comforted, I proceed forward.

Upon my entrance, Drenik looks up and smiles ferally at me. "Anika, 'cao."

"Pawel," my voice is hard like stone. I do not take the chair opposite him; instead, I stand with my back against the wall.

"Ja znam ti volja vratise me, mojo draga milina." (I know you would come back to me, my dear sweet Anika.)

"You will speak in English…"

He cuts me off sharply. "Oh? You are American now? Forgetting your people?"

In one fluid motion, I step forward and slam my hands on the table. "I will never forget my people. It is you who has forgotten your people."

Drenik causally leans back in his metal chair, unaffected by my outburst. "I missed your fire."

"You will not speak to me like that."

"Oh but I can, and will, because you are mine!"

I back away, shaking slightly. His possessive attitude towards me is unnerving. "I am no man's. I refused to marry you, and still do."

"Wanton whore! I will have you!" He lurches forward, only to be held down by the chains attached to the chair. I am glad for the restraints. The gods only know what he might try if he had free mobility.

"What is all of this about? You followed me from Croatia to America just to claim me as property?"

Drenik looks at me through slitted eyelids. "You are so innocent." He settles back into a lounging position in the chair as best he can. "You were not easy to find, whore. You're eldest brother, though, was willing to talk."

I can feel my face flush in anger. "What have you done to my family?" I grind out between clenched teeth.

Drenik laughs at me, his tone cold and heartless. Before speaking, he grins wickedly. "Your family is quite stubborn. But after some, convincing, your eldest brother told me where you planned to go. Sadly, he did not survive my intense questioning. Apparently, the rest of your family is cut from better cloth than he."

Tears well in my eyes. While my brothers had been abusive towards me, they were still my brothers and I loved them. I touch my neck where my eldest brother, Jatin, had left a scar. Drenik's next words pull me sharply from my introspection.

"I will have you, Anika. You cannot fight it. You have been bought and paid for. I come to collect what is due."

"I am not property!" My anger has now bubbled over, pouring out of me in violent torrents. Once again, I slam my hands against the table. "You have no right to me, Pawel Drenik." It is now my turn to grin at him wickedly. "The magistrate did not accept the bribe. I remain as free as the day I was born. You have no legal claim to me; you have not placed a ring on my finger nor have you gotten me with child."

He stares at me, dumbfounded. "The magistrate…"

"You should have known the magistrate was a more honorable man than that," I snap. "He is after all, my uncle." With a sick sort of satisfaction, I watch as Drenik realizes he was beaten at his own game. I then decide to suddenly change the topic. "What about Nadya?"

"It was supposed to me you that walked home at that time…"

I let loose a harsh laugh. "Did you not notice that I had quit that hotel job? Did you not notice that we had moved? You are not as swift as you claim to be."

Defeated, Drenik places his head in his hands. "This was supposed to have worked. The magistrate was supposed to have made the marriage certificate. I was supposed to have you."

Tilting my head to the side, allowing my waves of dark hair to spill over my shoulder, I ask the question I have wanted to ask for a year. "Why me?"

His answer sickens me. "Because you have a strong spirit I wanted to break. But instead, you've picked yourself up and become stronger. Your quiet strength makes me feel less of a man. If I could destroy that, I could be more of a man."

I look up and peer at the one way window. Even though I cannot see them, I know that they have all the information they need. From the pocket of my jeans, I remove a black ribbon. It is the armband of a condemned man.

As I tie it around Drenik's forearm, I recite the traditional sentencing speech. "Ja, Anika Paranosz, naboj ti kraj, Pawel Drenik, silovanje i ubiti Nadya Czajkawski i Jatin Paranosz. Mo'ci bogs suditi ti kao one razumjeti pogadan." When I am finished, I walk out of the interrogation room, leaving my painful past behind me.

Translation:

"Ja, Anika Paranosz, naboj ti kraj, Pawel Drenik, silovanje i ubiti Nadya Czajkawski i Jatin Paranosz. Mo'ci bogs suditi ti kao one razumjeti pogadan."

Means:

I, Anika Paranosz, charge thee, Pawel Drenik, with rape and the murders of Nadya Czajkawski and Jatin Paranosz. May the gods judge thee as they see fit."