Dragori
As I held her steady I changed my mind about what we were doing," actually let me take you to our private physician, and allow him to check you over. Head wounds can be tricky things. I'd feel better knowing you had been examined."
She pondered just a moment and nodded. I smiled in response and watched my daughter take hold of her hand like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Seeing that look of adoration on my daughter's face also helped cement the other plans I was making. Ilaria smiled down at my daughter walking towards our vehicles.
We had been at the park for two reasons today, first of all Neissa wished to play, and second, I was meeting with a business associate. My daughter had 2 guards, and my own guards were present. I never thought that someone would be so fucking stupid as to try to abduct my daughter.
As the Pekhan of the Volkov bratva, most people realized that they were begging for death to simply threaten my child. The guards who had failed to see what this woman saw from across the street sealed their fate, they would be dead very shortly.
I was sitting on a nearby bench speaking business and watching my daughter at play. Then suddenly a woman flew at her and grabbed her, wrapping her up in her arms, and curling her body around her protectively. Then the man had been right there demanding that she hand Neissa over, and hitting her to force her compliance. Her response had been to hang on even tighter no matter what he did to her.
Rarely have I seen courage and compassion such as she has shown today. For her to venture all the way here to save my daughter is amazing. Here was this beautiful goddess cradling and shielding my child from danger, then rocking and comforting her as a mother would as she cried in distress.
My daughter had immediately clung to her with no hesitation, and Ilaria's instinct was to soothe and comfort, not push her away in annoyance. She acted with a mother's heart even though she's not one.
I had looked at this courageous woman, tending my child, with her almost white blond hair, and smoky grey eyes, and was mesmerized. That had never happened before. I knew in my gut that she was mine. No matter what anyone said, even her, from right this second, she was irrevocably mine.
"Where are you from Ilaria?" I watched her face but she smiled at me completely guileless.
"Grand Rapids is where I had been attending school until just a few weeks ago, before that I lived in Ada Michigan."
"What brought you here to Russia?" I watched sadness flare across her features for a moment.
"In school, my two friends and I decided to plan this epic trip to celebrate when we graduated. We had actually been planning it for over 2 years." That actually alarmed me, would someone be looking for her?
"Should we let someone know where you are so they're not worried about you?" I needed to know quickly what I might be dealing with.
She looked so sad again, "No, they had a last-minute change of plans, so they ended up not coming on the trip with me."
She looked down at Nissa and smiled, but it was forced, "That was brave, deciding to come on the trip alone."
"It was probably pretty stupid to travel to a foreign country all alone, but my friends probably won't miss the money they paid for everything. I most definitely would have, and this was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime thing for me. So I didn't feel like I could just walk away from more than 2 years planning and dreaming about all of this and not follow through with it."
"I can understand that, and I'm sorry your friends weren't able to come with you. How about your family, did they not care you would be alone while here?"
Again with the sadness, and it tugged at something I honestly didn't think I had anymore aside from my daughter, compassion. She was hedging so she was trying to decide if she should tell me or not, which really told me what I needed to know without her saying anything. I would know everything soon anyway.
"No, they didn't care, they wanted me to take this trip." she seemed wistful about that statement.
"We will be at our house in just a few moments, then the doctor can check you over and put my mind at ease about your head, and any issues we might need to address." I was forming plans in my head every second as we got closer to my home.
"Can you come see my room? Papa made it a princess room cause he says I'm his princess." Nissa captured her attention.
"I would love to see your room sweetie. So what exactly is your name, you papa told me his name, but I didn't learn yours?" She was so sweet with my child.
Nissa giggled, "I'm Nissa and I'm 4."
"Wow, 4 years old, so many adventures to have at that age." She smiled a genuine huge smile and my heart seized looking at it.
The longer I interacted with her the stronger my belief and determination that my first instinct was totally correct. This woman was always meant to be mine. She would be a mother for Nissa, and she would be my wife. I was completely set in my decision, and I would be informing the bratva very soon.
I thought of other ways I might circumvent any objections on her part, I knew nothing really about her previous life, she could have a boyfriend waiting at home. That thought made me violently angry. I wanted to hunt down any man who had ever touched her before and tear them apart piece by piece.
Suddenly an idea occurred to me. It was sinister, but I had no problems with that. My goal was to secure her by any means necessary. If I had to resort to some not exactly legal behavior, such was part of my everyday. She would be able to do nothing against me to sway or alter my decision, but I would like to nudge her compliance along.
I continued to watch and revel in her and my daughter's interaction, while I sat here and plotted out her future beside me as my woman. I would have her and very soon, she was already mine, even if she didn't know it.
I would make her see that very soon.
Ilaria,
I had tried to be careful about how much I told Dragori about back home. I didn't want to make it blatantly obvious that I was absolutely alone. No one would blink if I went missing. There would be no Liam Neeson figure waiting to pounce and come to my rescue should I disappear.
So I was basically telling the truth, I did think my parents would have wanted me to go on this trip. I am not sure they would have been happy at the idea of my being alone, but my parents were rather more free-spirited than others, they would have demanded daily calls to reassure them of my safety, but they would have encouraged me to take this opportunity to experience life and adventure.
I was grateful for his concern about my well-being, and the longer it went, the more my head actually did hurt. So, perhaps it was a very good idea to have it checked out. It would have been a nightmare trying to get to a clinic or something, with no idea what I was doing and the language barrier.
The luxury SUV we were riding in slowed and I looked up as we passed through a huge black ornate gate, that closed behind us. we continued down a drive and then we pulled around a circular drive to the front of a huge house.
"Please come with me Ilaria and I will get you to our doctor. The guards called ahead and he is ready to see you." He smiled, and I looked over at Nissa as she unbuckled herself from her child's car seat.
Dragori got out and helped both Nissa and me to disembark before leading me into the house. It was fancy and lavishly decorated on the inside and I felt like little orphan Annie at daddy warbucks house.
He didn't pause but kept walking so I dutifully followed. I did however see a woman come into the foyer behind us and she picked up Nissa and walked away with her.
Dargori must have seen me watching," That's the Nanny. I spend as much time with Nissa as possible, but with work, it's necessary to have someone with her, and caring for her."
He led me down some stairs and the hallway where we were was much less ornate and decorated than the rest I had seen. If I had just walked into this hallway and not seen the rest of the house, I would think we were in an office building, cause that's the aesthetic in here.
We walked about halfway down and Dragori opened up a door. It honestly looked like a Dr.'s office in here. There was no waiting room but a small entryway, that Dragori walked right through, and I followed him. We entered into a room with a chair that could be used multiple ways for examinations, there was fancy equipment and medical shit everywhere.
Standing next to the counter was a smaller man, slightly balding, with a white coat and a tie. He even had wire-rimmed round glasses. He was your quintessential doctor, he totally embraced the stereotype.
His standing next to Dragori was so shocking I almost laughed out loud. Dragori had to be over 6 feet, he was incredibly tall and well built. He had dark brown hair that was currently in a man bun low on the back of his head. He was very muscular and the skin I could see was what is called sun-kissed. He had a beard but it wasn't heavy or bushy, it was well-maintained. His eyes were blue and very sharp.
He immediately spoke rapid Russian to the doctor, and the doctor replied in kind. I had no idea what they were saying, and as fast as they were talking even the few words I had learned, I wouldn't have been able to pick up. They both looked at me repeatedly while speaking, and it was starting to make me nervous.
"Please forgive me, Mr. Volkov was just explaining the situation from the park so I would know how best to treat you. If you would please sit in the chair, I will take a look at the injury on your head."
I did as the doctor requested and sat down. He immediately moved a big bright light closer to the back of my head and started to sift through my hair. He made a sound like ah ha, and then spoke in Russian again to Dragori.
"You have a large swelling knot and a slight cut here on the back of your head. You experienced dizziness, yes?"
"I got a little dizzy earlier but haven't noticed it again. My head hurts pretty good though."
He came around and shone a light in my eyes, "You have a slight concussion, but you should be monitored for the next 48 hours. Head injuries are very tricky. For the next 24 hours anytime you sleep you must not be alone and you should be woken up every two hours to make sure the concussion hasn't worsened."
My jaw was on the floor," Ah, that would be a problem as I am staying alone in my hotel room, and I don't think the desk would be willing to have someone wake me up every couple of hours."
"You will stay here in a guest room so that we can monitor you and make sure you are okay. After all, you sustained that injury while saving my daughter. I insist you allow us to thank you by making sure you are well and safe."
I watched him for a moment, I wasn't sure what else I could do," Okay, I will stay in a guest room so I am not alone."
Surely nothing bad would happen to me here just for a couple of days.