26. Chapter 26
twenty-six
High Diving - A Day to Remember
Twenty-Nine Days Since Talia's Abduction
Dimitri inhaled deeply, welcoming the sharp sting of cold March air into his lungs.
He loved his dad, but his parents' dining room was too loud, filled with too many bodies and screaming kids. His and Jackie’s homes had been so quiet over the last forty-eight hours that he couldn’t take the noise anymore.
He fell hard into the Adirondack bench on the porch as the door opened again. Emil emerged, concern etched in his brow. He’d been giving Dimitri weird, concerned looks all night—doing nothing to ease Dimitri’s taut nerves.
Emil stopped in front of Dimitri and leaned against the railing.
He reached into his jacket pocket to retrieve his pack of cigarettes, slipped one into his mouth and held the pack out to Dimitri.
He didn’t look up at his brother, but reached out and took one of the offered smokes.
Em pulled out the lighter and lit his own before reaching out to light Dimitri’s.
They smoked in silence, but Dimitri could feel Em’s eyes burning holes in his head. He waited for the line of questioning he knew was coming. Emil took a long drag off his smoke before starting.
“Where’s Jackie?”
“I already said she wasn’t feeling well,” Dimitri replied, still not looking up.
“I know. So what happened?” Emil pressed.
Dimitri didn’t respond, opting to finish his cigarette in silence.
Emil let him before speaking again. “I know your girlfriend was kidnapped, and you two have been radio silent ever since. But then you show up here looking like death warmed over. So cut the shit and tell me what’s going on. Where’s Jackie?”
He finally looked up at his brother. Emil leaned back, noting how grim Dimitri’s face had become. “I watched a man rape her two days ago.”
Emil’s eyes went wide, and his jaw fell slack.
He stared at Dimitri for a long time, processing what he’d just been told.
Finally, he took a breath and turned on his heel, muttering, “I need a minute,” as he walked off the porch and into the darkness of the yard.
Dimitri listened to the receding crunch of snow under his feet before it halted, and the sound of Emil retching filled the air.
Dimitri pulled his jacket tighter around him. He knew he was a dick for being so frank and aggressive in his phrasing, but he didn’t know how to say it without sidestepping too much. His stomach rolled hearing Em throw up in the yard. He’d been nauseous since they decided to go to JP’s.
Emil finally returned and settled into the seat next to Dimitri, looking shellshocked.
He sighed shakily before speaking again. “The last time Jackie was attacked, you were half-dead and couldn’t help her,” he started quietly. “But you seem perfectly healthy now, so where the hell were you?”
Dimitri explained everything that led them to return to JP’s bedroom before stating, “Jackie keeps trying to justify what happened—that she consented. We knew what he was going to ask for, and she prepared herself for that. But we didn’t expect it to go that way.
He did everything he could to hurt her.” He leaned forward, his face falling into his hands.
“If we’d gone sooner, it probably would have been easier.
We wouldn’t have been so desperate. He wouldn’t have had the advantage to do what he wanted like that.
But I didn’t want her to have to do it. So I insisted we exhaust all other options first. All that got us was Jackie being beaten up by someone else trying to rape her, and JP actually raping her. ”
“Can you please stop saying that word when talking about my baby sister?” Emil asked stiffly.
Dimitri glanced over, noting the queasy colour of his face and distant look in Emil’s eyes.
Dimitri knew Em loved Jackie, but he hadn’t realized how much affection he had for her.
Hearing him call her his baby sister made Dimitri feel a little better.
“He really made you sit there and watch?”
“I don’t know what he got off on more,” he said, flopping back against the chair. “Hurting her, or making me watch. We should have just tortured it out of him. I would have felt a lot better about it. But Jackie insisted this would be the easier route. I wish she’d been right.”
They sat in silence for a long time, the cold air the only thing keeping their minds from spiralling.
“Is Jackie okay?” Emil finally asked quietly.
The corner of Dimitri’s mouth quirked upward. “She’s tough as nails.” He hesitated, turning pensive for a moment. The smile fell, and he glanced at his brother quickly before whispering, “No, she’s not.”
“Is there anything I can do? For either of you?”
“No.” Dimitri shook his head. “Thank you, though. I’m trying to be what she needs right now, but I don’t know how to do that anymore.
I do know I’m not what she needs or deserves.
It felt so much easier after Theo. But this is so much heavier than that ever was.
I don’t know what to do except be nearby. ”
“Maybe that's all she needs right now,” Em offered.
Dimitri shook his head. “Even that feels like too much. She yelled at me today. She’s just… shut down. Shut me out.”
“Is that why she isn’t here tonight?”
Dimitri nodded. “One of the reasons. She was already recovering from her scrap with that bratva when all this happened. She was in no shape to go anywhere, much less to a family dinner like this. Even makeup can’t cover up how bruised and swollen her face is.
You wouldn’t recognize her if you saw her.
” He shook his head. It made him sick to his stomach every time he looked at those bruises.
“She’s also convinced that JP gave us some fake information about that shipping company since we can’t seem to find it or any known associates or connections to the Bratva. ”
“Is that why she yelled?”
Dimitri grunted, releasing a heavy breath. “Yeah. I suggested looking outside of Toronto, like Hamilton or even Montreal or Quebec City, I don’t know. She said she’d already looked there but… I don’t know if I believe it. She’s starting to spiral over it again.”
“Do you think this JP guy lied to you guys?”
“I can’t even think about that.” Dimitri’s head fell back into his hands. “If he did, we’re not getting Talia back. She’ll be shipped off to god knows where, and we’ll never see her again…”
“Okay, okay. Not what I was trying to do. I’m sorry.
I don’t want you to spiral, either,” Emil said, trying to soothe his brother with an awkward sweep across the back.
“You can’t think like this. You two are going to find Talia.
You’re going to get through this. You’re just a few months away from proposing, man. You can’t lose hope now.”
Dimitri leaned back, tears welling in his eyes as he shook his head. “If she keeps me around long enough to propose.”
“Dee, she’s not going to leave you over this. It sucks, and it’s a roadblock, sure. But you’re going to find Talia, and you’re all going to be okay. Jackie loves you. She’s still going to want to be with you when this is all over.”
Tears rolled steadily down Dimitri’s face now. He desperately wanted to believe his brother’s words, but he knew better. “She deserves better than me.”
Emil stared at his brother, tears threatening his own eyes as he absorbed Dimitri’s words. He’d never seen his brother in such a bad way—not even after his breakup with Ari, and he knew that had been a very dark time for Dimitri. His brother’s hopelessness began to sink into Emil’s bones, too.
The silence returned as they sat listening to the winter wind whip around them. Tears continued to fall down Dimitri’s face, the occasional sniffle breaking up the quiet. He used the sleeve of his jacket to wipe away some tears and his nose before taking a few deep, calming breaths.
“I should have asked sooner,” Dimitri began quietly. “How’s Cam doing?”
Emil watched his brother for a moment, uncomfortable with the obvious shift in subject despite the time that had passed.
Finally, he sighed and nodded. “She’s doing good.
Not her first rodeo and all. It was rougher right off the bat, with all the complications at the end and the emergency c-section and all.
But she's doing a lot better now. I was glad when her parents offered to take the girls for the weekend, so I didn’t have to solo-parent both of them up here. ”
“That would have been a disaster,” Dimitri joked, trying to cut some of the tension.
Emil didn’t disagree. “I know I’m not a terrible parent, but two against one doesn’t sound like a good time to me.
” He sighed, shaking his head. “I think she was looking forward to having us all out of the house. I’m pretty sure she’d already planned all the take-out places she was going to order from while we’re gone.
Just hang out on the couch with éve and rest as much as possible.
That was the worst delivery she’s had, and I am so grateful she made me get that vasectomy because I don’t want her ever having to go through it again. ”
“I hope you told her not to raise a finger while you’re gone.”
“We’re hiring cleaners until the girls are old enough to pick up reliably after themselves.”
“Hey, I’m old enough to clean up after myself, and hiring cleaners was the best decision I ever made,” Dimitri joked.
Em laughed and patted Dimitri on the back, happy to hear his attempt at humour despite the shitshow his life had become.
The quiet returned momentarily, not quite as tense this time.
A shiver ran down Dimitri’s back, and he considered going back into the house to say goodbye to his family before heading back to the city.
He’d considered staying the night, since everyone else was.
He knew his mom assumed Jackie was the reason he usually drove the three hours there and back rather than spend the night.
But he also knew that Lex’s son usually took over his old room, and he didn’t feel like crashing on the couch.
He didn’t mind spending the night during the summer because either his room was free or he and Jackie could use his parents' trailer, but things were tighter during the winter.
His phone rang, startling both men out of their contemplative thoughts.
“He—” he answered, but was immediately cut off.
“I found her.”
His breath caught in his throat momentarily. “What?” he breathed.
“I found her,” Jackie repeated. “I-I found Talia. There’s this club in the Port of Toronto, it’s owned by the same guy who owns Anderson Holding and Shipping.
I had Drew run the address through his algorithm thingy, and he confirmed one of the cars went there.
Nikita has been back and forth enough times, which confirms it, as far as I’m concerned. I found her.”
He sighed in relief before scoffing. “Pretty assbackwards way of telling us where to find her.”
“Right?” Jackie scoffed back. “Probably hoped to slow us down so he’d get his commission when she sold.”
“Likely,” he agreed. He hesitated over what to say next. His mind raced with what came next. “What’s the game plan?”
“Well, even if you were here, we’re not getting her back tonight,” she said, sighing. “So, I’m going to take one of those CBD melatonin gummies, and I’m going to go the fuck to bed.”
Dimitri chuckled, unable to help the smile that broke across his face. His legs shook, and he couldn’t tell anymore if it was from the cold or adrenaline.
Jackie had found Talia. They were going to get her back.
“That sounds like a great idea, baby.”
An awkward silence followed. He hadn’t meant for the baby to slip out, but he couldn’t help it. Any time he or Jackie needed some tenderness, it just came out.
“Where are you going when you leave your parents’?” she asked quietly.
“Where do you wa—”
“Come here? I’m so sorry I yelled at you earlier,” she interrupted.
He took a shaky breath before answering, not trusting his voice. “If you’re taking an edible, you’re not even going to notice when I get in.”
“I don’t care,” she said, and he could hear the smile in her voice. “I want you here when I wake up in the morning.”
Tears began to fall again, and he knew there would be no hiding the emotion when he spoke again. “Then that’s where I’ll be.”
He heard her sigh in relief on the other side of the line. “Drive safe. I love you.”
“I’m leaving soon. I love you too.” He hung up the phone and sighed heavily before the tears began again.
He couldn’t help the way his whole body shook with the sobs.
Emil wrapped his arm around Dimitri’s shoulders—all awkwardness from earlier gone in the wake of the relief they both felt.
“Fuck, I don’t think I’ve ever cried like this in my life,” he joked as the tears finally subsided.
Emil laughed, his own eyes wet with tears, too. “Jackie is the love of your life, man. No one is ever going to make you cry as much as her. Hopefully it’s only happy crying from now on, though.”
Dimitri huffed a laugh. “Yeah.”
He desperately hoped his brother was right.
He knew better.