Chapter 20
Having the entire day with the woman he loved was perfect. It was by far one of the best days in his life.
They weren’t due to pick up Simona at Crystal’s until around five, and he was looking forward to spending the following day on the boat with both of his ladies.
Riding with Olivia into the city once more, they talked about how likely it was that Eric had broken into her place and hadn’t touched a thing.
Since they were in town, they stopped off and purchased new locks for all of her doors, as well as a doorbell camera kit.
When they walked into the kids’ store, he was a little overwhelmed until Olivia told him that half of the store was the boy’s section and half was for girls. Then it was broken down by age groups. Which meant, there was only five aisles for them to wander through to pick something out for Simona.
He was looking at toys and dolls of all her favorite characters when he spotted the camera. It was a version of the old Polaroids but made for kids, and it was the color of Elsa’s dress.
He remembered how much Simona had enjoyed using his phone to take pictures previous weekend when he’d been working in the yard. The camera was a perfect gift.
“That’s perfect,” Olivia said when he showed it to her.
“I purchased a few packs of film for her too.” He showed her the handful of extra film he’d grabbed.
Olivia laughed. “A few? You have a dozen.”
He shrugged. “I don’t want you to have to come back here anytime soon.”
“I can probably order them online,” she suggested.
“True, but this way you don’t have to for a while.”
“She’s going to love it.” Olivia smiled as she set a box of cookie cutters in the shape of her favorite characters in the cart. “I was going to make sugar cookies and have all of her friends decorate them during the party.”
“Great idea. I guess I never asked you how many kids were actually coming to the party.”
Olivia took a deep breath. “Twenty. So far.”
“Twenty?” he exclaimed. How are we going to keep track of them all?”
She laughed. “Luckily, their parents are all going to be there too. Sarah has arranged access for the adults, so we won’t be bombarded with other people’s kids.”
“Not that I couldn’t handle a few. I mean, watching Kayla and Rowan’s kids with Simona was nice.” He pulled her close to him in the middle of the aisle. “Made me realize that three kids, two girls and one boy, is the perfect dynamics for a family,” he said easily.
She was quiet for a while. “You… want three kids?”
“Sure,” he said as he started walking down the toy aisle again. “Don’t you want more?”
She caught up with him, and he could tell she was unsure of what to say. “I… suppose. I mean, sure.” She shrugged casually.
He turned down the boy aisle and smiled at all the trucks and building blocks. “You know, girls like playing with these things too.”
“Sure, they do. I don’t really think the stores have caught on though,” Olivia joked.
“They make pink guns and power tools; you’d think they could easily make pink GI Joes,” he suggested.
“They do. It’s called GI Jane.” She motioned to the action figures.
“Yeah, but… It’s not the same.” He leaned closer to her. “Unless you buy both. Then…” He wiggled his eyebrows, and she laughed.
They stopped in town for burgers for lunch and then went back to her place. She wrapped up the gifts while he replaced her front door handle and installed her new doorbell camera system.
“You know, you two could come stay at my place tonight?” he offered when she was about to leave to go pick up Simona from Crystal’s place.
“Thank you, but I think we’re okay.” She wrapped her arms around his waist. “We wouldn’t say no to you staying here though.”
“I’ll head home and grab everything we need for our trip tomorrow.” He smiled. “I’m really looking forward to sailing again. It’s been years since I’ve been out on the water.”
“Adam’s boat is amazing. Not to mention there is always some amazing food to go along with it. He usually catches lunch, then grills it up right there,” Olivia said. “Oh, and grand-mère Sonya will be there. I hear she’s been looking forward to seeing how your French has progressed.”
He chuckled and in fluent French, said. “I’ll have to impress her with it then.”
Olivia shrugged. “You have me beat.”
“Since there will be four kids, we decided on turkey sandwiches. But Adam was going to make a couple sides to go with it all. There was mention of salad noodles of some kind.” He tried to remember what Adam had called it.
“Asian noodle salad?” Olivia smiled. “Yum.”
“I’ll trust you.” He smiled. “Go get our girl. I’ll go home and grab what we need.” Bending, he kissed her. “Be back soon.”
Floating on a high, he drove back to his place. He loved this time of night, coming home to the house when the sun was setting behind the garage, which bathed his home in bright colors.
Someday soon, he was going to ask Olivia and Simona to move in with him. He wanted more than anything for this to be their home. To have those two extra kids he’d talked to her about. Their kids. All three of them, since he already thought of Simona as his.
He stepped in the back door, removed his shoes, and put them in the cubbies below the bench that he’d built in the mudroom.
He was so proud of the work that he’d done around the place.
It was finally starting to feel like home.
Maybe it was because Olivia and Simona were spending more and more time there.
He was so preoccupied with dreaming about his perfect life with Olivia and Simona that he didn’t register something was wrong until he felt the sharp pain in his side.
Instantly, his heart began to race as the electric current charged through his entire body, forcing all his limbs to freeze up until, finally, he felt himself fading into blackness.
When he woke, he was groggy and unsure of what had happened. That changed quickly when he tried to move and realized that his hands were tied down. His entire body jumped to alert.
Looking around, he realized he was no longer in his home.
Even though it was dark, he knew that he had to be on a boat somewhere, since the entire room was slowly swaying with the movement of the ocean.
Either that or the taser he’d been shocked with had extra high voltage and had done some damage to his brain.
If this was a boat, it had to be a fairly large one since the room was easily as big as his bedroom.
He listened for any sounds other than water lapping outside but didn’t hear anything.
No boat motors, which meant he’d been out for a time.
Long enough for whoever had taken him to drag him out of the house and onto a boat.
Had they docked the boat behind his place?
Or loaded him in a van and then hauled him into a boat at the town’s docks?
If it were the latter, he could still be at the docks.
He tried wiggling his way out of his restraints, which by the feel of them were thick wiry ropes tied very tightly around not only his wrists and arms, but his thighs, calves, and ankles. He realized he was still shoeless.
He continued to fight against his restraints, letting the ropes cut into his skin in a desperate attempt to break free.
Hearing a noise, he looked up and saw a dark figure step into the room from the door directly in front of him. He could see a flash of dim light coming from the other room or from outside.
He waited a heartbeat, then a light flashed on in the room and he knew he was screwed.
Standing across from him in a flowing red jumpsuit stood Kimber Ivanov, daughter of Maxim Ivanov, oligarch of the Chukotka Province in Russia.
Well, ex-oligarch, at any rate, since the man had been killed by his team shortly after he’d escaped the family’s clutches.
“Kimber.” He smiled, knowing that his situation couldn’t get any worse.
Scratch that, he thought quickly. Kimber could have gone after Olivia or Simona.
His mind jumped back to the door handle he’d replaced at Olivia’s place and knew that he should have guessed that it was Kimber who had broken in.
After all, that was how he’d broken into her place years ago.
“Adrian.” She narrowed her eyes. “Or should I say, Todd O’Brien.” She said his name as if it tasted bad in her mouth. She leaned on a table and looked down at her perfectly manicured fingernails, the same color red as her outfit. “Don’t you think it’s about time we had a little chat?”
“If I remember correctly, last time we chatted… you tried to kill me,” he said smoothly. There was always a way out. There had to be a way out this time. His future with Olivia and Simona depended on it. He just had to think.
“You were spying on my father.” She shifted slightly.
Her thick Russian accent didn’t hinder his understanding of her words.
After all, he’d spent more than six months living with her.
Sleeping with her. Watching every move that she and her family made.
“I don’t suppose you had anything to do with his death, two weeks after you disappeared? ”
“Your father’s dead?” he asked, trying to sound surprised.
Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and he understood that she didn’t believe him.
“No,” he replied, meaning it. “I was still in the hospital when I got word of his death.”
Her eyes relaxed and she nodded. “Yes, I know this to be true.”
“Why come after me?” He glanced down at the ropes. “Can’t we be civil?” He smiled. “Like old times?” He tried for charm.
Her eyes narrowed again. “You are with this other woman now, no?” she asked, watching him closely.
He froze. His heart jumped in his chest, no doubt beating loud enough that she could hear it clearly across the room.
Now that the room was fully lit, he could see it was a suite on a yacht.
He had no doubt that more money had been spent decorating this one space than he’d spent redoing his entire house.