Once I picked her up we were on our way to Portland, it was a little over 3 hours of driving, I wasn't sure if it would be far enough away but I did have a few friends there because I was going to college in Portland at the time my parents died. Once we were in town, the first thing I did was admit Olie to the hospital to resume treatment and meet the staff that would be caring for her.
I made it to my hotel and crashed for the night, I was too exhausted to think, I took a shower and stood letting the water wash away the day, it softened my wounds which would help in cleaning them and re-bandaging them. I laid on the bed and pulled out my dads old laptop I had gotten from storage and started it up, it took me a few try's but I got his password which was my moms middle name June, I hooked it up to wifi and started my search, I searched for news of Daniel but there wasn't anything. There wasn't anything the next day, or the day after that, or the week after that The only thing I could think was that they killed him and were waiting till a surrogate had his baby before saying he died. They owned the city so it wasn't that much of a stretch to believe that they could do that, hell they could make it seem like he was alive for years No, Daniels dead I knew that I would obsess until I was dragged into a pit, just like I did when Olie was taken from me, the only way out of it was to put it out of my mind, and I couldnt do that if I kept looking at the news waiting to hear something. After a week staying in the hotel obsessing about Daniel I decided to move on, with a baby on the way and Olie on her way to remission Fingers crossed I wasn't going to live if I held on to the memory of a dying man. I gave myself the weekend to cry as much as I needed to and I did, I cried in the shower, on my way to and from the hospital and in bed every night. On Monday I had to "Put my big girl panties on" as my mother would say and look for a house to rent, I had roughly 65,000 left so I would be able to pay in advance. I found a 2 bedroom house for $1,800 per month it was in a shitty neighborhood and but there was a small bonus room that would act as a 3rd bedroom. I met with the owner and offered to pay the entire year in advance if he would drop it down to $1,500 per month and he greedily agreed.
I filled the house with secondhand furniture and hired a couple teenage neighbor boys to move everything I needed. The house was full and ready for the baby and Olie to return.
Daniels POV
"Daniel, I'm sorry… I love you!"
"LIZZIE!" I was too weak to do anything, she was beaten and drug out of the room in front of me and I laid helpless to do anything about it, I tried to get to my chair but fell to the ground I tried to drag myself to the closet where my father's hunting rifle was, it wasn't loaded but maybe the mere sight of it pointed in one's direction would make them think twice. I drug myself across the floor slowly and through Lizzie's blood, the sight of it made me sick.
I could hear two men talking and then the bald man returned; to finish me off no doubt, he grabbed my shoulder and side and rolled me to my back. He put his thick hands around my neck and squeezed, I tried with all of my strength to pull his hands from me but to no avail, I tried choking him back but he just chuckled, I tried shoving my fingers into his eye sockets and he let me go momentarily before punching me in the face and returning his hands to my neck, my vision started to blur and everything started to go dark and I felt weightless. Suddenly the light returned, and my vision started to clear slowly, and my lungs started to fill, as I sucked in air and coughed it out again repeatedly.
Once my vision was completely clear I could see Vlad, he had the man by his throat. The man pulled a small knife from his pocket and stabbed Vlad in the shoulder, but the mammoth of a man didn't hardly move, a deep guttural growl came from his chest as he pulled the knife out and jabbed it into the man's neck dropping him to the ground as he gurgled on his own blood and twitched as he lay dying.
"NO!" I tried to scream but it came out more like a whimper and Vlad looked at me confused: He's the only one who knew where they took her… Lizzie.
Vlad picked me up and set me in the chair, it was only then did he look around the room his eyes filled with horror as he bent down to one knee and looked at me, his face stern as he asked in his thick Russian accent: What happened here?
I knew then and there that Vlad was the only one that I could trust. I had him get me supplies and I cleaned and bandaged his shoulder while I told him everything leading up to this moment. I told him how I was being poisoned, how I believed my father had been as well. I told him how we switched the medication and what the man did to Lizzie, I even told him she was pregnant, I choked on the words trying to leave my mouth as tears streamed down my face. He put a hand on my shoulder and said: We will find her, but first we must leave here, you're no good to her dead.
Vlad gathered everything we would need and loaded me and everything else in the SUV. I knew whoever it was orchestrating this entire thing most likely had the ability to freeze my accounts, so the first stop was to the bank to pull out the necessary funds in order to lay low and get healthy while waiting for news of Lizzie.
Vlad had a few family members who were involved in organized crime and although he hadn't been a part of that world since he was a teenager, or so he said, he was willing to contact them for help.
I had one friend who I knew, or hoped rather, would be loyal to me from the police department. Before I got sick I had been stopped by a police officer, he didn't know how to get a hold of me so he pulled me over to make a request. He knew my family owned the hospital and his mother was there. They were trying to kick her out due to lack of insurance. They told him that she was fine to leave but he was convinced she wouldn't last a week outside the hospital without care. His story was touching and I ended up sending his mother home with a full healthcare team so she could be comfortable in her own home without putting her at risk.
The truth is greed has a way of making a person do things they normally wouldn't do so I wasn't willing to risk him turning on Lizzie and I, but now I have nothing to lose. I called him up: Officer Ramsey?
"Yeah, who's this?"
"This is Daniel Whitney; do you have a moment to talk?
"Sir I will always have time to talk to you"
"Well, you may change your mind when you hear what I have to say, do you think you can meet me tonight?"
"Name the place and time and I'll be there"
"Okay, meet me at The Whiskey Bar on 2nd Ave at 9:30 tonight, and Ramsey, don't mention this to anyone."
"Got it! I'll be there sir" I hung up the phone and nodded to Vlad to prepare his cousins, they were to arrive an hour early and watch the place in case he brought anyone with him.
Vlad's cousins Dimitri and Ivan called to tell him that Ramsey was alone, and it was safe to enter, Vlad pushed me in my wheelchair through the doors and right up to Ramsey who looked wide eyed at the large Russian man who now stood near the wall watching Ramsey as if he would jump at him any moment. Ramsey pried his eyes away to look at me: Uh… what can I do for you sir?