Redemption: (Dark Desires Book 3) (11 page)

*****

The day that Vladimir had been
waiting for had finally arrived. Partygoers crowded the villa that was Mehmet's
home. He cut out the power supply putting a halt to the festivities. He had
paid a few people off to help him tonight. Two college guys on vacation would
direct the crowd to another party and the red-head that had sidled up to Mehmet
throughout the night would keep him from following.

He went in as the people poured
out and walked straight to the master bedroom undetected. The first order of
business was getting rid of any weapons within reach. Maya would lead him here
then excuse herself, never to return. The only weapon Vladimir had found was a
gun in his bedside drawer. He made himself comfortable in the corner of the
room and waited. He didn't have to wait long. Their voices drew closer, and the
couple burst into the room before quickly toppling onto the bed, too caught up
in their heavy, make-out session to notice him.

“I forgot my purse downstairs,”
said Maya as she broke away from Mehmet's ravenous kisses.

“You can get it tomorrow,"
he replied kissing her neck and untying the bikini strings of her bathing suit.

“I’ll be quick I promise.” She
got up and dashed out of the room with her hands over her small, pert breasts
keeping the thin material from falling.

Mehmet crossed his arms behind
his bed and waited.
She had better be quick
. His dick had been hard from
the moment he met the little tease. He could only hope that she lived up to
every one of the tantalising promises she had whispered in his ear.

"I see you've done well
for yourself."

Mehmet shot up and stared into
the darkness. Who the hell was in his bedroom? He thought that everyone had
vacated the villa following the power failure. He rolled over and reached for
the gun he kept in his side drawer.

"Looking for this?"

Vlad waved the gun lazily in
front of him.

"Listen, if it's money
that you want, just name your price. I have cash. I could give it to you right
now, all of it."

At that point, Vlad emerged
from the shadows and walked over to Mehmet. When he'd taken Valerie had he not
said the same thing? He would have paid any price they asked for in exchange
for her safe return. No, money was not what he had come for.

"Three months ago, I made
you that same deal, and you declined. So, allow me to repay you in kind. No, I’m
not interested in your money."

Mehmet’s blood ran cold. It
couldn’t be, not now. He stood ready to bolt through the door. As he got to his
feet, his jaw exploded in pain. Vladimir had punched him. He could taste the
copper of blood in his mouth.

“How much? How much did they
pay you to take her away from me?”

“I-I’m sorry,” he stuttered. He
was hit again and this time, he fell to the floor.

“I asked you how much?” Vlad
roared.

“One million Riyal,” he
answered.

“You should have asked for
more.” He knelt over the man who had dared to touch his woman. "There are
so many things I want to do to you I don't even know where to start. How about
we count the number of hours it took for you to deliver her to your client? Or
maybe your hands? It seems that you couldn't help touching what belongs to me.
Yes, I think that’s exactly where I'll start."

Mehmet had passed out a few
times as Vladimir had broken each of his fingers. Waking the pathetic fool to
continue torturing him had become boring. As far as he was concerned, the man
didn't deserve to have balls so Vlad shot them off. By the time he dragged the
battered body downstairs, he was unconscious, again.

Stars, Mehmet found himself
staring at the stars in the sky. When had he come outside? Then he remembered,
and his entire body throbbed in pain. Everything hurt. His fingers were broken,
and he had been shot in his groin. He tried to yell out for help, but he only
managed a groan. Vladimir’s face came into his line of vision. “You know, I was
ready to put The Impaler to rest before you took her. I think it’s only fair
that your departure is at the hands of the man you resurrected.”

A stake was driven through his
gut. He wanted to scream but only managed to cough up blood.

“You met my Valerie. I don’t have
to tell you that she didn’t deserve to be brought into the affairs of men like
us. I would have let it go had I gotten her back in the same condition, but you
know what he did?” He lifted the stake with Mehmet’s body and planted it into
the ground. Mehmet’s breathing was laboured, he would die soon. Vlad held his
face up so that he was sure he got this next part. “That sick fuck raped her.
As you die, let that be your last thought.”

He then turned around and
walked back to his hotel. He had to check out and catch his next flight in a
few hours. There was no rest for the wicked.

Macy had gotten a call from
Valerie, who caught her up on the recent events that included the short trip to
see her mother, Vladimir's brother in Romania and enjoying the rest of the
honeymoon, which had come to a sudden halt, in Pushkino. When she heard that
Vlad had disappeared to attended an unplanned business trip two days after
their landing in Russia, effectively leaving her alone in a foreign country
with one of his brothers, she got angry. No, she was furious.

After describing the man Val
referred to as Andrei, Macy knew exactly who Val was with, and she didn't like
him one bit. She remembered the day that the girls went over to the beach house
in search of their friend who had been MIA for a week and how he had insisted,
not so nicely, that they keep her disappearance a secret. And when they tried
to get to the bottom of what had happened to Val, he had the gall to blame
their worry on being "emotional women".

Hanging up the call, Macy
thought about the situation that Valerie was currently in, and it disturbed her
deeply. A few years ago she had lived with a man she thought she was in love
with. She had also moved to his homeland to be with him. That's how he'd
controlled her with the emotional abuse he craftily dispensed that soon turned
physical. Was the same thing happening to her friend? At that moment, she made
the decision to book the next available flight to Moscow and check on Val.

Her friend's well-being was
more important than the classes she'd miss. If she was going to help women in
need, then she had to start somewhere. She had to go and see Val. What was the
point of attending lectures if she didn't put into practice what she had learnt
thus far? She shot Valerie a quick email asking for her address, packed her
bags and headed to the airport to wait. If everything were okay, she would only
be gone for a few days, but if the situation were dire, then she would stay for
as long as her friend needed her.

Eleven hours later, Macy landed
at Domodedovo International Airport. The temperature was much cooler than she
was used to if this is what they considered summer. Then again, she was in the
homeland of Siberia. The strange stares from the people around her set her teeth
on edge. She remembered Valerie saying that they had moved to a town outside of
Moscow called Pushkino because of the country’s widespread anti-ethnic
sentiments. She finally managed to get a cab driver who would talk to her after
being blatantly ignored by the previous two. They negotiated a fee and drove to
the address Val had e-mailed her.

*****

Andrei drove up to Vlad’s gated
mansion in his white Aston Martin. He had decided to move in until Vladimir
returned. How Valerie managed to get along with Vladimir was a mystery he was
still trying to solve. It was easy to discern what his brother saw in her; she
was hot for starters, kind to everyone around her, including the staff, and she
found joy in the simplest of things. Val was no pushover either. If Andrei said
something stupid or thoughtless, she would call him out on it.

The security knew who he was
but still insisted on checking his ID. He happily obliged, glad that they
didn't take familiarity for granted. Once they had completed the protocol, he
was let through. When he entered the house, he asked Yuri where Val was and
headed for the TV room.

“Hellllo Valiant!" he
announced bursting through the door.

“Wassup Dr Dre,” Val greeted
back.

"Not much. I was at work,
but there wasn't much for me to do. I enjoy your company and soaking in your wisdom
is far more enlightening than chilling behind a desk."

“I bet you say that to all the
girls.”

“Only the ones worthy of my
praise.” He winked and sat down next to her positioning her feet over his lap.
They had hit it off after he had assured her that Vlad was safe. Now they were
comfortable in each other’s space and had settled into a familial bliss Andrei
never knew he wanted until getting to know Valerie.

He had always wondered what it
would be like to have a little sister growing up surrounded with brothers.
Valerie's willingness to play along with his antics afforded him the
opportunity to have that kind of relationship. Mihaela was much sterner with
him. She would also lecture him on taking life more seriously and settling
down.
Not a chance in hell.
If his
brothers wanted to be wifed-up with rugrats, then kudos to them. At least Valerie
allowed him to enjoy his bachelorhood, and when he’d stuck a nickname on her,
she stuck one back without missing a beat.

“What are you watching?” he
asked.

“Geordie Shore.”

“Why on earth would you watch
that? You’d think that the people from England would at least know how to speak
their native tongue.”

“It’s entertaining. I need
mindless viewing sometimes, and it's much better than watching The
Kardashians."

“No arguments from me on that
one.”

They watched as the cast of the
show get drunk, argued about something insignificant and one of the guys
brought home a woman he had met at a club – the same thing that happened on
every episode he’d been unfortunate enough to endure. The show emulated the
party life many young adults aspired to. He should be thanking these knuckle-heads.
They were the ones keeping him in business.

Ivanka came to the door,
knocked before opening and indicated that she would like to speak to Andrei
outside. He set Valerie’s feet back on the couch and walked out.
“I’ll be right back,” he threw
over his shoulder before shutting the door behind him. He turned to hear what the
young woman had to say seeing that the staff had deferred to him in Vladimir's
absence. "What is it?"

“There is a woman at the gate
requesting to see Mrs Branza.”

*****

The cab had arrived in the town
of Pushkino and drove up a concealed road. It stopped when their path was cut
off by a large set of black, iron wrought gates. Macy got out of the cab to
check whether she had the right address. GPS’s had a knack for spazzing out at
times.

“Hi, is this Sergiyev Road?”
she asked the security guard who stood by the gate. 

“Why?” he asked her in a rough
tone.

“I’m looking for Valerie Thusi.
Black woman, about this tall, shoulder length hair…"

Nothing. The guard said nothing
and continued to stare at her as If she were speaking a foreign language.

“I’m her sister,” she tried
again hoping to evoke a response.

“Only Valerie Branza
here," was his sole answer before turning his back to her.

“Hey!” She shouted and grabbed
onto the gate. “Let me in!” she shook the bars in frustration.

“Move from gate,” he told her
over his shoulder.

"Let me in!" she
shouted again, shaking the gate with more vigour, hoping to create enough of a
commotion to draw Valerie out. She ceased her actions when the security guard
pulled out a gun and pointed it at her.

“
Pereyekhat
.”
Move.

Macy didn’t need to understand
what the guard had just said. The gun pointed at her spoke louder than words.
Things were worse that she could have imagined. Vladimir had her locked up in
this house in the middle of nowhere, and she probably didn't even know it. Macy
couldn't use her cell phone to call Val until she changed sims and she couldn't
send any emails until she found a Wi-Fi hotspot. In her haste to get to
Pushkino, she hadn’t arranged any accommodation of her own. She'd assumed that
she would stay with Val in Vladimir's absence. Her eyes welled up with tears of
frustration.

Andrei walked down the driveway
to see who Val’s visitor was. No one was supposed to know that she was here. He
stopped when he saw the security pointing a gun at a woman on the other side.
“What’s going on?” he asked the guard.

“She wants to see Mrs Branza,
but she's not on the approved list. She won’t take no for an answer,” he
replied in Russian.

The more he looked at her, the
more familiar her face became. She was one of Valerie's friends that had come
over to the beach house demanding to know her friend's whereabouts. She was the
one who had let herself in when he told her to wait as he went in search
of  Vlad. And at the end of their meeting, she looked like she was willing
to go head to head with him for no reason at all. Andrei felt a headache
forming just thinking about it. If he let her in, she would only stir up
trouble. However, Valerie would be happy to see her. She was already bored
being cooped up in the house and even though they got along like a house on
fire, a piece of home would boost her spirits.

"Let her in," he
ordered. If things went south, then Vlad would lay the blame at his feet. So be
it. He just wanted to make the woman he know considered his little sister,
happy. She needed a support system now more than ever.

The gates swung open, and
Andrei walked over to stand in front of her. "She's inside. Let him check
your ID then follow me.”

After a quick withering look,
she retrieved her suitcase and paid the cab driver. Rolling her bag up the
steep path was a bit tricky. Andrei must have noticed because he took over her
efforts. He pushed down the handle and easily lifted it off the ground. Macy
handed the passport over to the security guard who made a note and gave it back
to her. She followed behind Andrei as they walked up to the mansion.

"Thanks," she
muttered once they were inside and he settled the bag next to the door. She
still remembered their last encounter and was not about to wipe the slate clean
over this small act of kindness.

"We're watching Geordie
Shore," he said and turned to walk down the right passage. Down the hall,
he came to a stop at a closed door and pulled down the handle. When Andrei
moved out of her line of view, she saw Valerie relaxed on the couch, glued to
the screen.

“Hey Vee,” she greeted.

"Macy? OMG, you're
here!" She got up and hugged her friend as if they hadn't seen each other
in years instead of a week.

“Are you okay?” asked Macy.

“Yes, I’m fine. I was just vegetating
on the couch with Dre before he was called out.”

Macy lifted her eyebrow at the
nickname. Had she read the situation wrong? She turned to look at the arrogant
man who had settled in the space that Valerie had vacated with his thick arms
spread out across the backrest. She ground her teeth at the smirk he gave her.
Macy ignored him and turned her attention back to Val. Her sole priority was to
make sure her friend was okay and find out why her shady husband had left her
alone in a foreign country with a man Val didn't know.

“How did you get here?” Valerie
asked.

“Well, they have this
marvellous invention called a plane,” retorted Macy. Valerie rolled her eyes at
her friend's sarcasm. "Honestly, I was worried about you after our last
call, and I had to make sure that you were okay."

"I'm okay, I promise. I
still haven't heard from Vlad, but Andrei has moved in for the time being to
keep me company.  Do you have a place to stay?"

“Thing is… I was hoping you
would allow me to crash in one of the numerous guest rooms you told me about,”
she answered feeling embarrassed that she had not asked beforehand.

“Of course! I wouldn’t want it
any other way. Let me show you to your room and then we can ask Yuri to prepare
one of his delicious and exotic dishes."

Macy laughed at her friend.
Having a live-in chef must have been a dream for a woman who hated the kitchen
as much as Val did.

 They walked out and
Andrei followed behind. "Is he your bodyguard?"

“What?” Valerie wrinkled her
nose at the absurd notion. “No, Dre has been keeping me sane in this massive,
empty house.”

After getting settled in the
guest bedroom, which was opposite the hallway from Andrei and next to
Valerie’s, they went down to the kitchen. Yuri had left to go into town for a
few hours, and Andrei decided he would work his magic in the kitchen in the
meantime. If there was one thing Macy had not expected from the annoying man,
it was his talent in the kitchen. "I understand why you keep him around
you lazy slug," Macy joked elbowing Val's side.

“I’ve tried Macy but I can’t do
it. I won’t.” Valerie protested.

"Over and above my
exceptional culinary skills, I am also a masterpiece to look at and stimulating
company if I do say so myself," Andrei added with a smirk.

Yup, Valerie had figured out
what it was that Andrei had in common with Vlad. They were both confident men,
borderline arrogant, and they both wore a smug smirk – often. He seemed to
grate Macy’s nerves on purpose and derived pleasure from the annoyed looks she
threw his way. She knew him well enough by now to know that this was a sad case
of Andrei being Andrei and Macy taking things too seriously. They were both as
close as family to her, and she couldn't pick sides in this. She just hoped
they didn't kill each other in the coming days.