Conall Reid's POV
"What do you mean that you guys are the key to the time travel?" I asked as I don't think that I can handle the truth that my machine was not the one that responsible for our trip but merely because Katrina was holding the emerald at that time. Valerie looked at me before she looked at her daughter. I thought lady Kuznetsov of the present was deceased. Katrina also said that she had not been with her since she was 5 years old.
"Not everything can be explained by science, Conall. sometimes, God has another plan for His creation. Like you met Katrina and now you have discovered that we are time-traveling bloodline that has been going for generation," Valerie said as she looked at me. Katrina has been quiet for quite some time now.
"Don't you have anything to say about this?" I hissed as I turned to look at Katrina. She was holding her head down. Her auburn mane was flowing in front of her face. Then I heard something coming from her. A sob?
"Katrina—" I said before her mother went rushing toward her.
"Hey, hey, peanut. It's okay. I'm here. What's wrong?" Valerie asked as she was looking at Katrina, smoothing her arms.
"I thought…I thought you were dead. Dad told me that you're crashed in a car accident. I don't think that I might see you here," she said as she held up her head, looking at her mother. Valerie was smiling sadly at her before pulling her into a hug.
"Oh honey, I'm not dead and we will find a way to get out of this stupid time," Valerie said as she looked at me. I just stood there as I don't know what to do. I don't want to ruin this delicate moment with my question.
"promise?" Katrina asked as she looked at her mother with all the love that I never had guess that she had in her. Valerie wiped her tears and hugged her.
"I promise," she said as she looked at me. I knew from that moment that she would never get to keep that promise.
"Okay, so here's how things are right now," Valerie said as she looked at us.
"the emerald was in the hands of the duchess. I need to get it back if we want to make it out alive from this," she said as Katrina and I were listening attentively.
"just one problem," Katrina said as she took out the guns from our previous fight the other day. She put it in front of her mother and Valerie took a look at it.
"I think that Father might have found out about the blood that can travel through time and space. I once saw something in his notebook that he was planning to change the course of history," Katrina said as she looked at us.
"the man that we fought was Russians as they have the combat skills that I used as well. But I have some more advantages than them," Katrina said as she explained what happened to us that particular event. Valerie leaned in the chair as she was listening to our story and thinking deeply.
"now that's troublesome. And you're sure that you were the only one that was developing the time machine at this moment in the future?" Valerie asked me as I looked at her. I nodded. She sighed as she knew that in some way, Vaughn Kuznetsov has found the way to travel back to the past.
"do you have any idea what he might want to change, like big events?" Valerie asked as she looked at Katrina. Katrina was thinking hard about the information that she saw back in Russia. Then, she gasped as she looked at us.
"I think I know what it is. This is the 1950s right. He might want to change the outcome of the Cold War," she said before we looked at her, shocked. Valerie nodded as she had suspected about this.
"your father was obsessed with Communism that made no surprise to me to see that he would love to change the outcome of the Cold War," she said as she sighed before rubbing her temple.
"Now, all we need to do was to find the emerald that can bring us home and forget all this," she said as she looked at me.
"I was supposed to receive that today but I think the duchess has another plan for that gem," she said as I was looking at her, confused.
"What do you mean?" I asked. She leaned in her chair. She raised an eyebrow at me.
"What do you think?" She asked. I can feel the palms of my hands were sweating. I might don't like the answer to that question.
Katrina Kuznetsov's POV
I looked at my mother and Conall as they were having telepathy of each other's minds. I don't know what they were thinking but I know that I was not included in that private conversation.
"Okay, can somebody please explain to me what was going on?" I exclaimed as I looked at them. They turned their heads at me as they just realized I was in the same room with them.
"do you want to tell her or should I?" Mum said as she looked at Conall. He sighed as I looked at him.
"well?" I asked before Conall stood up from his seating and offered his hand at me.
"will you take a walk with me?" He asked as he offered his hand in front of me.
"what's the big deal? Can you just tell me?" I said as I took his hand, nonetheless, when he urged me to get to the door.
"thank you, Valerie," he said before I looked at my mum.
"mum, what's going on?" I asked as Conall held the door for me,
"you'll see sweetie," my mum said as she stood up and pulled me into one last hug. I hugged her back as I took on her scent of rose.
"I'll see you later, okay?" She said as she looked at me before kissing my forehead.
"what are you talking about?" I asked her before Conall dragged me out of the estate. We were running around as I don't see Jack or that duchess around the estate, as well as the servants.
"what's going on?" I asked as I was running side by side with Conall. He was huffing and breathing heavily.
"No time to explain, let's just get out of here first," he said as he went to get the front door and I was running down the stairs before Conall came beside me and we were running as far as possible from the estate that we can. Suddenly I heard it, loud and clear.
Bang!
As I felt everything in slow motion, I turned around to look that the estate was in flames and the fires were everywhere.
"NO!" I screamed as I was about to run towards it. Conall held me by the waist as I was writhing under his arms.
"No! Mother! NO!" I shouted again and again as I looked at the burning flames that were shooting into the sky. I don't know what came over me but I was thinking where was everyone that was supposed to be here? The firefighters? Where were they? Why they don't come and put out the fire?
"We have to go now, Katrina!" Conall shouted at me before I was crying while my feet went toward the direction that Conall was dragging me.
I just met my mother and don't have time to reconcile with her. I thought she was gone since I was 5 years old. But now I know, she was truly gone. And I know who to blame it on.
Back in Present Day
Vaughn Kuznetsov's POV
"well, that's a shame. I thought I could use more of her blood to do the change," I said as I was sipping on my vodka. Volkov came inside my office to tell me that my beloved Valerie has gone inside the burning estate.
"I'm sorry on your lost, sire," Volkov said as he bowed at me. I waved my hand at him dismissively.
"No need to mourn for the loss of one of my pawns. We better get the sufficient blood or we might get the same result even after years of research and fundings that have been developed into this project," I said as I stood from my chair and went to look at the balcony.
"yes, sire," Volkov said before he went to get his work done. I looked at the computer screens that were showing all the fires of the estate and live feed. I don't know how they got out but I'm sure that Katrina has known the truth about my scheme.
"Well, I guess I have to move forward the plan now," I said as I looked at my second daughter, Karla, Katrina's twin. They looked like their mother, auburn hair but Katrina has her eyes meanwhile Karla has mine, green eyes.
"let's move it, people," Volkov's loud voice was shouting orders in Russian toward my employees as I went to get ready and this time, I will be facing them myself.