Chapter 28 - Daria
Pieces of reality ebbed and flowed within the scope of my recognition, and a dull ache behind my eyes was the first thing to fully register.
Whether hours or minutes passed between regaining a semblance of consciousness and fully opening my eyes, I had no idea, but my surroundings left me with more questions than answers.
Concrete surrounded me on all sides, and the chill it sent through my body made me shiver faintly. It was fairly dark, too...from what I could tell, there either weren't any windows nearby or it was already dark out.
Either way, I was disoriented, cold, and stuck in the relative darkness.
But none of that mattered when I blinked through the haze of my confusion to find him standing there.
Suddenly, the hard floor couldn't hold a candle to how deeply the sight of my brother froze me.
"Good, you're finally awake," Rurik muttered, stepping forward enough to nudge my leg with his boot, eyes not overly caring at all. "And here I was worried Matvey fucked up and poisoned you or something...or as you knew him, Sergei Belov."
Swallowing hard, a rush of anger pulsed through me at the reminder of what happened. The fake potential buyer, the realization of what was going on, and him snuffing me out with that cloth over my nose and mouth. I could practically taste those fumes still.
Keeping my eyes on Rurik, not trusting anything he had planned, I muttered, "Why did you do this? What do you want?"
He grinned to himself before crouching in front of me, clad in his usual expensive clothes. His body language was incredibly relaxed and overly confident, aware that I couldn't do anything while he had me tied up.
"I warned you beforehand that I'd pick for you if you couldn't make up your mind. It was either me or the Fokins, and since you didn't choose...I did."
The reminder that he did in fact follow through with that threat only fuelled my anger more.
"And why did you want me back so badly? Why couldn't you just continue your plans and forget all about me?"
"Do you really need me to answer that?"
My brows furrowed at his nonchalant response. "Yes, I do. You never really cared about me, so why would you go through all of that trouble?"
He didn't exactly deny my claim when he sighed, looking more inconvenienced than anything else. "You never were the brightest...but I guess I can spell it out for you."
I bristled at his words, hating how callous he was about it all, despite knowing that was his default.
Rurik focused his gaze entirely on me while he spoke, "Despite me not having to do anything, you found yourself in the perfect position...the perfect vantage point. When I first reached out, I wanted every piece of information you had on the Fokins. I wanted to know the ins and outs to find an angle I could exploit. But then I realized something..."
At his pause, I grit my teeth and muttered, "What?"
"I realized I could use you to blackmail them instead. I figure you're suitable leverage to make them bend for me, given how that one seems to have taken quite the liking to you. You're something special to him, aren't you?" He asked with a knowing lilt to his voice before continuing, "I'm sure with you under my thumb, he'd be willing to offer me whatever I want...money, power, the like...yes, you'll be more useful to me than any information I could've hoped to get from you."
"You're an idiot if you think they'd ever cooperate with your demands," I returned, scowling at him and his plans.
I half expected him to lash out at my words, but Rurik only smirked and chuckled. "An idiot? I hardly think so. I'm just looking at the bigger picture...and that picture involves tarnishing their infamous name by making them submit to me."
"You know it'll never work...even with me as your hostage, they're too powerful for you," I said, doubling down.
Rurik looked me over for a moment, then hummed as if he knew something I didn't. "They might be powerful, but when we leave, and they can't find us, he'll be so desperate to get you back that he'll be more than willing to negotiate." He tilted his head slightly and glanced down at my stomach, letting his amusement spread. He pointed a finger at me absently. "Especially with that little monster growing inside you."
Fear raced through me at his acknowledgment of my pregnancy, aware that there were too many ways he could use that to his advantage.
"You'll see soon enough, little sis...just sit back and keep your mouth shut until I tell you to speak."
I narrowed my eyes at him all the while; he stoked the flames of my anger all over again. His words were far too reminiscent of the mocking ones he used on me all the time before, and I hated it.
With a chuckle at my reaction, Rurik stood to his full height again and glanced down at his watch. "Those idiots should still be running in circles trying to find us, but we'll head out soon—"
The words died in his throat as the sound of tires on gravel punctuated the otherwise quiet building, making my brother swivel his head to look toward the closed bay doors.
He glanced at some of his men while they stood around inside, suddenly tensing at the intrusion.
"What the hell is going on?"
But before they could answer him, a volley of heavy gunfire rang out from the other side of that metal siding, with a few bullets piercing the steel.
Heart pounding, I curled my body up as best as I could to make myself smaller, silently praying none of those bullets would find me.
Rurik growled under his breath while he pulled his gun out and took a step back while the men inside prepared themselves.
"Damn Fokins..." he muttered with a dangerous gleam in his eyes.
It felt like a lifetime stretched on while shouting, and more gunfire rang out in the surrounding area before Rurik shouted a command to the men inside.
One pulled on the heavy chains, lifting the bay doors up to expose us to the outside world again.
Alongside them, Rurik aimed at the intruders, firing wildly, as if well aware that his numbers were far too low to carry his plan into fruition.
Even with all of his bravado, it seemed he was completely caught off-guard by the sudden turnaround. He likely expected to be already gone before the Fokins even set foot on the property.
The tension in his gun arm was telling of the deeply rooted stress coursing through him as if he was actively watching everything fall apart at his feet.
"Damn it," he muttered, firing until he was surely almost out of rounds.
Despite curling myself up as best as I could, regardless of the ropes around me, I caught glimpses of those men dressed in fatigues while they pressed towards the open door, picking his security off one by one.
Then, with a mix of rage and resigned fear in his eyes, Rurik glanced at me, and, in a split second, raised his pistol in my direction.
My heart was in my throat, threatening to choke me before he'd even get the chance to shoot me. With the feeling of pure ice in my veins, I could only look at him, wide-eyed and wondering where it all went wrong. How he became the person that he was. How he could see me as nothing but a tool to be discarded when he felt like it.
The breath caught in my throat at the sound of that shot—the bullet meant for me.
But the conviction in Rurik's eyes gave way to a glassy emptiness that made my stomach turn while blood seeped into the front of his shirt, and more bubbled up from his mouth.
Everything seemed to go still for a moment, and it was just me and him. My brother's vacant stare while the light slowly dimmed, and he gradually lost his footing. With a final sway, Rurik fell forward until he hit the hard floor in a heap.
I felt entirely numb while I stared at his lifeless body, unable to look away despite how much I wanted to.
Then, everything moved around me in a blur. The shouting grew more distant while I tried to process everything that happened, along with the footfalls as the building was cleared.
He was dead.
After everything, Rurik was gone, and he couldn't control me anymore.
A rush of heavy footsteps registered in my mind before my vision was shadowed by him. His hand gently held my chin, tilting my face up to get a better look at me.
I still couldn't manage the words when Ivan's face came into focus, but a flicker of relief moved through me. Both at seeing him again and at the way his frame blocked out my view of Rurik on the floor.
"Are you hurt anywhere?" Ivan asked, words rushed while he looked me over, carefully feeling for any injuries.
When I weakly shook my head, unsure if that was the truth, I eventually felt the tension in the rope against my skin go slack, and his arms were under me while he scooped me up like I weighed nothing.
Most of it was a blur, but when I eventually felt the breeze on my skin and the trunk of the SUV beneath me, I blinked back at Ivan, and he seemed to come into focus again.
The concern written on his face said it all. At first, he seemed to struggle with the words while he gently gripped my arms, stopping and starting to speak before articulating himself.
"Daria...I'm so sorry," he said just above a whisper, tone dripping with regret. His hands gently stroked the bare skin of my arms. "I never should've given him the chance...this never should've happened."
Swallowing hard, I couldn't shake the emotions that pricked the corners of my eyes at his remorse. "You didn't know..."
"I should've. I should've been ahead of him," he murmured, letting go of a shaky breath before placing a hand against my cheek while he looked me over. "But it's not just that...I doubted you...doubted your loyalty to me when I saw you were gone. I thought you deceived me...I thought I fell for another trick."
"A trick?" I echoed, brows pinched together slightly at the words before I shook my head. "I wouldn't...not after everything."
Ivan let go of another breath to try and stabilize himself again. "I know...I should've known that earlier. I'm sorry. I should've trusted you."
Hating how the agony in his eyes made my stomach churn, I leaned forward in search of any semblance of comfort. "Please...don't apologize."
I could tell that he wanted to protest for the sake of his pride, but Ivan exhaled softly and leaned against me with his eyes closed.
Carefully, his hands dropped to my waist while he held me and took a moment to compose himself.
"From now on, I'm putting my faith in you...and in us. I won't doubt you moving forward," Ivan murmured, giving weight to every word. "You're my wife...the mother of my unborn child. You're the one I want to trust through everything."
Letting his words sink in, I gently nuzzled against him and felt the squeeze of my heart. "And I won't give you any reasons to doubt me. I don't want to be anywhere else but with you...I don't want anyone but you."
With another shaky breath, Ivan gave up on the words entirely and instead pressed his lips against mine, letting me feel every ounce of his true, unfettered emotions.
Without resistance, I relaxed into it, savoring every moment our lips remained locked. Feeling how his fingers slowly moved to my hair, gripping the back of my head lightly to keep me close.
I knew then and there that nobody else could make me feel the way Ivan did. Even after everything, he was the one person I needed, like air itself.
He wasn't perfect, but neither was I.