He nodded silently, "I was able to name him before...his name was Christoph Declan. My father refused to allow what he called a half-breed carry his family name or sit at his table. I got to hold my son for only a matter of minutes before he was taken out of my arms." His head bowed towards the floor. "Listen carefully to my instructions Lombardi, I can get you a window of opportunity it'll be small and it will only work one time, so you'll have to be on point. This all happens on one condition, since I'm taking the risk to set this up."
"Name it, if your being truthful and this scheme of yours works I'll grant your request to the best of my ability."
"I assure you it will work and when it does, I'm going to need you to take me with you. Once it's found out I helped you, he'll kill me just as he'd kill anyone else to would betray him.
Once we get back to the states, I plan on changing my name and disappearing as best as I can. I have had everything set up and ready to go for months, but I've never had the opportunity to put anything into action. I need help Lombardi, and the fact that I am putting myself out in the open for you of all people I guess is my fate. So, if I have to trust the people who have more than enough reasons to put a bullet in my head as soon as we're off this property that's what I'll do." He whispered. "I'll even give you collateral as a show of good faith."
"What's the collateral? You better be offering something more than money, what I'll be trusting you with is priceless. Nothing in this world besides my children mean more to me than the person beside you."
"15202 Overton Avenue apartment 132 C New York City, New York 13657 and 581 Lightway Road Little Orleans, Pennsylvania 18024.
Once you realize what those mean to me, they'll be more than enough, it won't take long for you to understand.
I will have a small private plane waiting for you at airstrip six miles from your house, the same one my father's men used to when they came after her. It will land at approximately 1 am tomorrow morning. Be there on time, they won't wait longer than ten minutes. There will only be room for ten men if you want any comfort for the flight, twenty if you don't care. If I were you the fewer the better, less chances of a mistake. At 10:15 there will be minimum security. No one at the front gate, and no one in the camera room. I will disable the remaining security with my code. You will be able to walk straight through the front door." Dimitri looked directly at Mia and then to me. "10:35 Lombardi, 10:35, I will have your wife ready and waiting for you to walk through that door. You'll only have a five-minute window of difference to make this work. "
"What about my sister?"
"She won't be coming. My father has too much control over her now. As a matter of fact, she is the reason my son is gone. After she returned here, after roughly eight months he dissolved our marriage and took her as his own wife. When she gave birth, she told him whose child it was. He came and ripped him from my arms, while she looked at me with a smile. I'm the one who gave him his name." He answered with a smile. "I promised him the moment that I laid eyes on him that I would become a man he could be proud to call his father. Christoph was my grandfather's name on my mother's side, you obviously know where Declan came from. What my father and Irena do not know though is that he doesn't bare the Vazclav name. That's how I was able to find some of the information I told you about before."
"If he doesn't carry your name than whose name, does he carry?" Mia asked softly.
"I gave him the name that he deserved to live with. His full name would be
Christoph Declan Lombardi."
I almost choked. "You gave your son my family's name?"
"Yes, I wanted him to be respected, but not feared."
Mia looked into his eyes and then at me. Carefully she raised a hand to his cheek, resting it there for a moment. "Which address was he sent to?"
"Mia what are you talking about?" I asked.
"New York City." Dimitri answered.
"If this goes as planned, I'll do whatever I can to reunite you with your son Dimitri." She smiled.
"What do we do for the rest of the day now Dimitri? How does Mia stay safe until we arrive there?"
"Leave that in my hands." He said calmly. "I'll make sure she is safe until then. It will take some help from you Mia, but I'm sure it will work if you play along. Can you do that?"
"I can try. What do I need to do?"
"You won't need to say anything, I'll do all the talking. However, you'll need to make yourself seem broken. Like however our conversation here ended either you gave up and submitted to staying here, or that he made the choice to leave you here. Either way you have to seem distraught."
"I can do that. Until I feel his arms around me, I won't be happy anyways."
"What happens now?" I asked.
"I'm going to take her upstairs with me, at least then I can keep an eye on her at all times. You know she needs it right now as much as I do." He lightly chuckled. "Before you say it or ask, yes, I'll make sure she eats something. I still have a couple things of Irena's she refused to take because they were too much like something she would have had to wear when she had to worry about keeping an image. Her words not mine, I've actually grown to appreciate the way she was raised. If circumstances were different, I would be more than happy to do things the right way to be with her." Dimitri looked my father's way. "Sir, I humbly apologize for what has happened to her, if I could change things I would. I do hope that one day you will allow me the honor of introducing myself the proper way not how we met before."
"My boy if you can bring my daughter home, you'll have earned your forgiveness from me." My father nodded.
"I'm a man of my word, that may be the only thing my father ever taught me that meant anything." He said calmly. "Now with all this being said, I'm going to need to get her out of this room. Be warned though Mia until we get to my room, I cannot be kind to you, people talk too much in this house. I need everyone to believe that nothing has changed."
"I understand." She smiled, then turned and looked at me. "Tomorrow morning you'll be here, right? You'll all three be here, right?"
"Of course, we will be." I answered confidently. "Tomorrow you'll be wrapped in my arms from the moment I lay my eyes on you until the moment my eyes close in sleep"
Mia's POV
From the moment we exited the room I had been kept in I didn't dare look up. If I did everyone would be able to tell that there was something going on. Even though Dimitri did forewarn me that he wouldn't be kind until we got behind closed doors again, it still startled me a bit to hear him speak harshly to me again.
Once we got into his room and the door was closed and locked, we were both able to take a breath.
"Bathroom is over there. I'll put some clothes in there for you to change into after you get cleaned up."
"Thank you, Dimitri." I whispered, as I headed towards the bathroom. "You do know that you can trust Deacon, right? He won't betray you."
"I know he keeps his word, but I also would not blame him if the moment we were away from this place if he put a bullet through my head. I have done a lot of terrible things in my family's name." He sighed. "Many of which I wish now I could take back."
"Worry about those another day." I smiled. "There are more pressing issues right now to worry about."
"Of course. You go clean up."
As the steaming water rolled over my body all I could imagine was Deacon's hands wondering my body again. My hand found its way between my legs at the very thought of his touch. I could barely wait, it's all I wanted now that the thought crossed my mind. As hard as it was to do, I pulled my hand back and finished my shower.
I climbed out finding both the towel and the clothes Dimitri had left in there for me. As I exited the bathroom the smell of food flooded my senses, but even as good as it smelled it made me sick at the same time. My stomach churned as I bolted for the bathroom again, nothing came up though since there wasn't anything there to come up.
"Are you okay?" Dimitri asked as he rushed into the room.
"Yeah, I just haven't eaten for a while. That's all."
"When was the last time you ate?"
"I ate the morning they took me." I whispered looking at the floor. "Nothing since then though."
Dimitri looked at me sadly. "I'm sorry. You should eat something small." He must have seen the look on my face as my stomach turned again. "Mia, is there any chance that you're pregnant again?"
I stared at the ground and then cradled my stomach briefly. "Not unless...no, that chance is slimmer than the chance...lets just say it an unlikely prospect."
"If you don't want to answer that's fine, but what happened, or is it a natural issue?"
"It's natural, at least from what we've been told, but... we had barely officially been together, when I was taken by another group of Russians. They used me as bait to lure him into a trap." My hand went over my mouth to muffle the sound of the light sob that escaped me. "They used these handcuffs that had spikes in them so that when he moved his hands they would dig into my throat." I watched Dimitri's eyes close in disgust. "Then they...."
"You don't have to finish; I have a pretty good idea what you're going to say. Just answer me this was it Roman?"
I nodded. "I remember screaming that they were ripping me apart over and over again. It was the first and only time I've ever seen Deacon freeze in fear. He couldn't move to make a choice; his hands were tied either choice would have ended up with me hurt. So, I made the choice, I adjusted myself and then pulled his hands apart. It didn't pierce either artery, but it did pierce my voice box. I was left mute for several months, but the lasting reminder is something I'll carry with me for the rest of my life. That's why I begged them to let me call someone to come to be with the twins and why I kept asking if they were okay, Teodoro and Alessia are our miracles."
Dimitri looked at me with sympathy. "You'll see them again tomorrow Mia. I'm sure that Deacon and his family did exactly what needed to be done for them and that they are fine. We just need to focus on getting through tonight so that everything goes without a hitch tomorrow."
I nodded. "I know. After everything that has settled, I just want to be with my family and not have to worry about this being what the twins have to look forward to in their futures."
Dimitri looked at me peacefully for a moment and then focused on the door where we both heard people talking.
"10 million? You mean someone hates those Italian bastards more than we do? Boss should've asked for fucking money from them."
I looked at Dimitri fear etched on my face. "He's going to try to sell me? Dimitri...what's happening?"
"I don't know." His voiced came panicked. Quickly he reached into his pocket and tossed me a phone. "Please tell me you can call him from memory?"
I nodded quickly.
"Dial, tell him there's a change in plan. I'm bringing you to him, and that we're leaving as soon as it's dark out. Or at least dark enough to sneak out."
I stood there staring at him, frozen.
"Mia, dial the damn phone."
As quickly as I could I dialed the only number I could remember.
Deacon's POV
I was in the middle of packing a small bag for tonight when the phone in the bedroom rang. At first, I just stood there looking at it, it never rings. That's basically the number people call in the case of an emergency in the middle of the night or when they can't reach me on my cell phone. Immediately upon that thought I rushed to answer it. "Hello?"
"Deacon, Dimitri is bringing me to you. We're leaving as soon as it gets dark enough for us to sneak out."
"What's going on I thought this was all good to go?"
"We...he...we heard people talking through his door. He's going to...or he was going to try to sell me to someone. Dimitri's..."
"Mia, give him the phone."
Dimitri's POV
Mia held the phone out towards me. "He wants to talk to you." She whimpered lightly. "Please don't let them do anything to me, I can't take anything else, I just want to be home with my family Dimitri. If I can't be with them, I'd rather die fighting to get back to them."
Her words ripped at me, because I knew the feeling that she was feeling. I'd do anything to be with my son, just to hold me again and look I to his eyes. "I'm going to do everything in my power Mia, you have to trust me though okay?" I waited for an answer but she was terrified as she stared at the door just waiting for it to open. "Lombardi, say what I know you're already thinking?"
"Were you messing with me? Did you plan this as some sick joke, give her hope and then pull the fucking rug out from under her?"
"This isn't me. I got her out of the damn cell, she showered, I was giving her some food when we both heard from the other side of the door. Lombardi...Deacon I swear to you I have nothing in this, this is all my father."
"Why should I trust you again exactly?"
"If you can't there's nothing, I can say to make you. Just be at the landing strip at 2 am."
Mia suddenly grabbed the phone from me. "Deacon, baby, listen to me. If you don't want to believe him yet, then trust me. The New York address he gave you earlier, I need you to go there and get Dimitri's son."
"His son is here?"
"Yes... now do it. If he's trusting us with his child, the whole reason he's doing this. Then you can trust him to get me home, right?"
"Yes...but Mia I swear to God if something..."
"If something happens, you're going to keep Christoph safe is what you're going to do. Do you hear me?"
All I could do was look at her in shock. "You're getting home Mia; I don't care what it takes."
"Did you hear him Deacon?" She asked firmly.
"Yes, I did. I'll do what I can do here in the meantime. Give him back the phone for a minute."
"Yeah."
"Listen to me very closely Dimitri. I need to know how long until you can walk out that door? I can have my plane in the air within the next 45 minutes to rendezvous anywhere that you need me to. You name the place, they may be able to track where you go, but they can't track me. Use your brain right now."
"Shit I never thought about that. It's going to start getting dark here with in the next half an hour to forty-minutes. So, it will be after that. We're on the first floor, so we'll be sneaking out through a window. I'll call you when we're off the property. When I call you get that plane off the ground and head to Hellissandur, Iceland. When you land, go directly to roadside motel three miles outside of the town. We will meet you there." I looked back at Mia as sadness washes over me.
"Lombardi, ya ne dumayu, chto yey nuzhno eto slyshat', poetomu ya bystro perevozhu. Dlya menya eto poyezdka v odin konets. Yesli oni poymayut menya, kogda my uyezzhayem, ya otpravlyu yeye v samolet, i ona ostanetsya odna. Radi neye ostav'te na vsyakiy sluchay paru svoikh samykh nadezhnykh i trudosposobnykh muzhchin. Yesli ona vyydet iz etogo samoleta odna, yey budet strashno v neznakomom meste, i yey ponadobyatsya znakomyye bezopasnyye litsa. Nadeyus' skoro uvidet'sya s vami, no obeshchayu, chto ona blagopoluchno dobralas' do menya, dazhe yesli ya etogo ne sdelayu. Vse, o chem ya proshu, - eto to, chto yesli u menya nichego ne poluchitsya, pozhaluysta, ubedites', chto moy syn pravil'no vospitan i stal muzhchinoy, kotorym mozhno gordit'sya. Vasha sem'ya budet yedinstvennoy sem'yey, kotoruyu on znayet, poskol'ku moya ne sposobna lyubit' nikogo, krome ikh sobstvennoy krovi, yemu ne nuzhno znat' nichego, chto vy ne schitayete vazhnym obo mne, no, po krayney mere, dayte yemu znat', chto yego otets umer, v kontse kontsov ispraviv svoi oshibki."
(Lombardi, I don't think that she needs to hear this, so I translate quickly. This is a one-way trip for me. If they catch me as we're leaving, I'm putting her on that plane and she'll be alone. For her sake leave a couple of your most trusted and able-bodied men there in case. If she comes off that plane alone, she's going to be terrified in a strange place and need familiar safe faces. I hope to see you soon, but I promise you she's making it there safely even I don't. All I ask is that in the event I don't make it, please make sure my son is raised right and becomes a man to be proud of. Your family will be the only family he knows, since mine isn't capable of loving anyone not of their own blood, he doesn't need to know anything you don't deem relevant about me, but at least let him know that his father died making his wrongs right in the end.)
"I will make sure of it. And it would be our honor and privilege to do so. If that occurs Mia and I will raise him as one of our own children, but I assure he will know his father met his maker with a clean slate with us, a clear conscience and the heart of a Lombardi. I just ask that you make it here to share it with him."
"I will certainly make my best effort for it." I said quietly, as I handed the phone back to Mia. "Say whatever you need to say but do it quickly."
She nodded as she put the phone to her ear again. "Deacon, I'm scared."