Chapter Thirty-One
Six months later
There had been no blowback from Viktor's death. Aliannah had returned to work and been offered a permanent contract by Mr Wright; he also promoted her to front desk manager. Ivan worked between home and his headquarters. He was always busy with his many avenues of business, but he always collected Aliannah from work and drove her home. Home, their home, they had settled in well, living together.
Christmas had been magical. They had gone ice skating in Central Park, dropped off a bottle of whiskey for Harry for Christmas, and Ivan had even gone as far as hosting Michelle and Gavin for Christmas day dinner. Gilda had cooked up a storm. They spent New Year’s Eve celebrating on their roof terrace with Aliannah's friends, Igor and some of Igor’s drinking buddies. It was lovely. The view of the fireworks was spectacular. You would not get a better view anywhere else. As the clock struck midnight, Ivan pulled Aliannah close for a deep kiss. Aliannah was happy. She had everything she wanted: her friends, her man, her job. Nothing could beat this feeling of contentment at that moment. Ivan promised her that this would be ‘their year’. She did not know what this meant, but she was excited to see what the New Year would bring.
It had been six months since everything had gone to hell and back again. June had just begun, and the weather in New York was sweltering. What was it about concrete jungles amplifying the temperature of the air? Aliannah was very thankful for the air conditioning. She had considered bumping Michelle off the top spot and replacing her best friend with the air conditioning systems she had at work and home. However, she doubted Michelle would be too happy with such an idea. It was the end of the business day, and Aliannah was preparing to close up the museum for the night when a man entered. He was dressed in a black suit and wore a security earpiece.
“Are you Miss Aliannah?” He asked her when he approached her desk. Aliannah looked around to see if anyone else was there. There was no one. She swallowed a lump in her throat.
“Who wants to know?” she said firmly. She tried to appear confident, but on the inside, alarm bells were ringing. Was this it? Was it the blowback from Viktor’s death? Where was Ivan? He is usually here by now.
“Mr Kozlov sent me to drive you home. He sends his deepest apologies for being pulled into a last-minute meeting at work. My name is Lorenzo. I understand if you do not trust in my word. Mr Kozlov said you might wish to contact him to confirm this to be true.” Lorenzo gestures towards the phone on her desk. Aliannah hesitates for a moment before picking up the phone to dial Ivan.
“Darling, is everything ok?” Ivan’s voice was smooth and unwavering.
“Did you send a Lorenzo to pick me up? Tall, dark hair looks and sounds Italian?” She looked Lorenzo up and down as she described him. Lorenzo seemed unfazed by her description.
“Yes, Darling, he is one of my guys. You are safe with him. I will be late tonight. I am sorry.” A wave of relief flooded Aliannah’s veins as Ivan reassured her safety. She ended the call and gathered her things to leave. She paused.
“Lorenzo, show me your ID.” Lorenzo reached into his jacket pocket and handed her his ID. Aliannah held it up, comparing it to Lorenzo's face. They did indeed match. She held up her phone in the other hand and took a photo of Lorenzo and his ID before handing it back to him. She sent the photo to Ivan and Michelle.
“After everything I have been through, I now take extra precautions.” She finally took a breath before walking around her desk to leave.
“I understand, Miss. Mr Kozlov debriefed me before sending me.” Lorenzo followed her out the door to the Range Rover waiting by the curb. He motioned for her to stop before he completed a sweep of the car, and then he opened the rear door for her to climb in. Aliannah was relieved to see there had been a screen installed between the front and back rows. Maybe she did need to see a therapist; Michelle had been relentless in her efforts to get Aliannah to go.
She shook her head. She was right to be cautious. Trust no one on a whim. The last time she did, it almost got her killed. No, she was right; she was not crazy, and she did not have PTSD. This was a perfectly normal way to behave after a near-death experience. This was just the first time Ivan had not been there to bring her home.
“You ok, Miss?” Lorenzo interrupted her internal spiral. She nodded and let out a breath. She was glad for the interruption. She looked out the window; they were almost at their building. Lorenzo opened the door for her when they pulled up outside and escorted her to the front door before returning to the car. Aliannah thanked him.
Harry awkwardly waved hello from his desk; he held the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he wrote something. Aliannah waved back before taking the elevator up to the penthouse.
“Good evening, Miss,” Gilda greeted her as she entered the penthouse. She could smell garlic bread and pesto pasta. Gilda’s cooking was phenomenal. Aliannah plopped down at the kitchen table while Gilda plated her dinner.
“Thanks, Gilda, this smells amazing!” Aliannah dived in. She had not realised how hungry she was. When she had her fill, Aliannah went to her bedroom and ran a hot shower. She wanted nothing more than to feel fresh and get into some comfy pyjamas.
She felt so much better afterwards. The grime of the inventory warehouse washed off. Even though she was the front desk manager, she still catalogued the new imports for the museum. She noticed a note on her nightstand when she returned to the bedroom.
Pack for two weeks. We leave tomorrow. – I
Yes, I already cleared it with your boss
Aliannah squealed. They had been talking about going to Europe again for the past month but had not made any set plans. She was so excited to swim in the Adriatic Sea again. The blues, the glitter, the sun, the peace—oh, it was exactly what she needed. She ran to her wardrobe and began choosing what she would need. The bonus of Ivan having his own private jet meant she did not have to worry about weight restrictions or bag allowance.
A few hours later, she was set. She had chosen fourteen bikinis, twenty dresses, a hundred pairs of shoes, plenty of handbags, and, of course, her underwear. She had filled two large suitcases. She was struggling to zip the second one when Ivan walked in laughing.
“Let me help, Darling. You do know we can buy stuff over there, right? You didn’t have to pack everything?” He laughed as he closed the zip on the case.
“I know… I just got too excited and could not decide between things, so I thought, screw it, I’ll pack it anyway,” she shrugged her shoulders in innocence. Ivan stood up, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her on the cheek. Aliannah would never lose the butterfly feeling this gave her.
“I can’t wait to escape this concrete jungle and feel the sun on my skin again.” Aliannah closed her eyes before continuing, “And to swim in the Adriatic…. Heavenly….”
Ivan took her hand and spun her around before kissing her again, which made her giggle. She loved it when he did little things like this. He let go to prepare his own suitcase.
“Good thing we are taking the jet, darling; those cases of yours weigh a tonne!” Aliannah laughed as Ivan lifted her cases out into the hall.
Aliannah could hardly sleep a wink that night; she was so hyped to leave everything behind. At 4 a.m., she gave up trying and decided she would try to sleep on the plane. She slipped out from under Ivan’s arm and headed for the kitchen. Gilda was not there, so she made herself a coffee and headed up to the rooftop. She sat on her favourite chair, the swing bench and took in the morning air. The sun was just beginning to rise, and it was a wonderful sight. She must have dozed off at some point; she was awoken by Ivan putting a blanket over her.
“Morning, Darling, what has you out here so early?” He said as he lifted her legs onto his lap.
“Oh, nothing. I am just so excited to get away for a while. I need it” She smiled and curled into Ivan. The sun was well and truly up now, and that area of the roof terrace was a lovely little sun trap first thing in the morning.
“The jet will be ready at 8 a.m., so we can leave whenever we want,” Ivan kissed the top of her head and pulled her closer.
Aliannah stood and stretched to wake up. She followed Ivan to the kitchen for some breakfast. She decided to wear comfortable clothes for the long flight ahead of her. She chose a navy blue Tommy Hilfiger lounge set. People who can sit in jeans for long-haul flights had to be suffering from some form of psychopathy; there was no other reason for that level of voluntary discomfort. She skipped out of the wardrobe room to find Ivan waiting by the elevator, smiling at her.
“Shall we?” He gestured to the elevator door. Aliannah smiled and pushed the button. Gilda would keep the penthouse ticking over in their absence, and Igor would pop by, too, just to be sure. The drive to the airport was quick; Lorenzo drove them. Aliannah looked around as they pulled in past the security gates.
“This isn’t JFK? Where are we?” she noted they were at a small airstrip that hosted a littering of private jets neatly parked.
“Darling, we don’t need a JFK runway to get the jet off the ground. These private strips are perfect and less crowded.” He lifted her hand to kiss it and then guided her out of the car towards the jet.
“Morning, Mr Kozlov, Miss Stackton” The flight crew greeted them at the bottom of the stairs. Aliannah giggled as she boarded the jet. The flight to Europe would take nine hours, but being on the jet gave her freedom to move about, and there was a bed in the back so she could have a proper sleep if she wanted to; this definitely beat flying in economy. They were going back to Croatia. The Serenity was currently docked in Dubrovnik. Once the pilots had completed all their checks, they were taxi-ing to the runway for take-off. Aliannah squealed as the plane hurtled down the runway.
The difference between private jets and commercial jumbo planes is you can feel more ground movement on the jet as it is significantly smaller and closer to the ground. They were air-bound in seconds. Aliannah looked over at Ivan with a Cheshire cat-size smile on her face. He rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand. She could feel the weight of the world leaving her as they climbed into the clouds.
She let out a sigh of relief and embraced the peace of 38,000 feet in the sky. This view would inspire her to recreate it on a canvas if she were a painter. Soon, she would be back in paradise. She looked forward to it all—the sun, the heat, and the views—she loved absolutely everything. This was going to be a very long flight. Ivan reached over and unbuckled her seatbelt. He took her hand and brought her to the bedroom.
“You should get some sleep now, darling. I will be right out here dealing with some business calls.” He kissed her as she climbed into the bed. The anticipation of wanting to get away finally hit her. She was exhausted. It did not take long for her to drift off to sleep.
She woke with a jolt and a sense of falling. Ivan burst through the door and jumped on top of her as the plane dropped again.
“What is happening?!?” Aliannah was scared.
“We're just going through some turbulence over the Alps. It's nothing serious.” Ivan reached around the bed, grabbed the straps on either side and buckled them both to the bed. Aliannah raised a brow and looked at him.
“It is a safety regulation to have these belts attached to the bed. Get your mind out of the gutter.” He laughed.
“Yeah, as if! This has Igor written all over it,” she laughed. Ivan couldn’t argue anything in return. They knew Igor, and this was his style. As soon as they cleared the turbulence, they unbuckled from the bed and returned to the main cabin of the jet. They would begin their descent soon. The pilot was not fond of passengers being in the bed on take-off and landing.
Ivan respected the craft of flying and landing planes too much to argue with the pilot. The landing was smooth, and they were through the airport quickly. The perks of a private jet are that you get a private passport control desk, no more long queues, and thorough visa checks. There was a limo waiting outside for them. The driver was loading their luggage into the boot as they approached.
Aliannah greeted him as she climbed into the limo's back seat and put her belt on. She knew how winding some of these roads could get as they got deeper into the town. She did not want a repeat of Viktor’s car being rammed multiple times. Aliannah knew the likelihood of that happening again was slim, but she was still very aware of everything happening around her. She took this moment to appreciate what it means to be alive, to have this opportunity to see and experience such splendour in both luxury and nature. She decided that Croatia was definitely her favourite place to visit.