Chapter Fifty-Six



Dani

I can't believe anything that has just happened. I freaked out at Eli's mom, shouted at her, revealed that horrifying memory, and now I'm actually hugging Eli. What has happened to me? I'm scared, that's what has happened. I'm frightened that these men will find me and kill me. If I need to give Eli some information to keep him safe, then that's what I'll have to do, I guess. I just have to be brave.

I know the drugs didn't stop my panic attack, but they must be working because sitting here with Eli like this isn't sending me into a complete frenzy. I'm not going to lie and say I'm completely at ease right now, but it is getting slightly easier to be like this with Eli. The thought of anyone else being this close to me does crazy things to my mind and my body, so I know that's not going to happen any time soon. I've spent so much time with Eli in the last year and we've slowly worked on these issues, so I am more comfortable with him. I just don't think I'll ever be this comfortable with anyone else. I don't see me being able to spend this much time with anyone else.

I don't know how long we sit here, but eventually Don, Ash and Connie appear in the kitchen. I quickly jump away from Eli and start to back up. Eli reaches for my hand and I snatch it away, panicking. He looks at everyone and quickly says, “Just back up a bit. Give her a minute to adjust.”

I see everyone take a few steps back and I feel completely embarrassed. Eli holds his hand out and he whispers, “It's ok, Dani. It's just us. No one is going to hurt you...”

I hear Ash say, “We've just come to make sure you're ok. We're worried about you. You ok now, darlin'?”

“Yes sir. Sorry.”

“No worries, darlin'.”

I briefly look up at Connie and I say, “I'm so sorry, Mrs. Ramirez. I shouldn't have treated you like that. I am so sorry.”

“None of that Mrs Ramirez, dear. That's what we call my mother in law. You call me Connie. I apologize if I scared you. That was not my intention, I assure you.”

“I know. Still, I shouldn't have shouted at you. I am sorry.”

“It's quite alright, Dani. We'll just forget the whole thing ever happened, shall we?”

“Yes ma'am.”

“Good. Shall we carry on with the dinner?”

I frown at how easily she can forget about it and carry on like everything is normal. I think she guesses what I'm thinking because she says, “I've got three children, Dani. I had to learn to drop things quickly a long time ago. Otherwise I'd have spent half of my life angry at least one of these three terrors. Why don't you go get cleaned up while I sort out this rice and then we can carry on with cooking.”

“Yes ma'am. I'm sorry about the mess...”

“Don't worry about it, honestly. Go clean up. Elijah, you'll make sure she finds the restroom?”

“Yes ma'am. This way, sweetheart.”

As we leave the kitchen, I overhear Connie say, “Don, they are too cute together....”

I don't hear Don's reply, as Eli and I are out of the room by then. When we get to the bathroom, Eli asks, “You going to be ok now? Or do you want me to wait for you?”

“I think I'm ok. I'm sorry, Eli.”

“It's ok, baby. You don't need to keep apologizing. It's fine, I promise.”

I mutter, “Ok.” But I know it's not 'fine'. Nothing about this whole situation is fine. It's completely messed up on every single level. I mean, it's not normal for someone to have my background and have the issues I have. It's definitely not normal for someone to be frightened that the Bratva will get them. I'm not naïve, I know who they are, even if I don't like to call them what they are. I heard about them as a child, growing up in Russia. My poppa always told me to stay away from people like them; that they were dangerous and they have no regard for human life. He probably didn't know how right he was back then.

I go into the bathroom, blow my nose and rinse my face before taking a deep, steadying breath. I can do this. I can act like everything is ok. I can pretend I'm not upset at what I just did. I can do this. When I step out of the bathroom door, Eli is leaning against the opposite wall. I jump slightly because I'm expecting him to be there.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to make you jump. I thought you might be a bit upset or nervous, so I wanted to make sure you're ok before I go back upstairs.”

I smile a little at his consideration. “Thank you.”

He knows me better than he thinks. It's like he can read my mind sometimes.

“You ok now?”

“Nervous.”

“I checked in with my mom. She's sorry she scared you, but she's ok. She thought she'd caused the panic attack and she was very worried about it. I just told her it wasn't her and that you get moments like that. It's going to be fine, Dani. She's an expert at glossing over things, trust me. She won't even mention it again. Just go in there and talk about making food and it'll be like nothing ever happened. She loves talking about cooking.”

“Ok.”

“Share your momma's cinnamon pancake recipe with her. She'll love that. I'll walk you back.”

When Eli walks me back to the swinging door at the kitchen, where he carefully takes my hand. He whispers, “I'm only upstairs, so if you need me just call. Ok?”

“Yes sir. Thank you.”

He slowly lifts my hand to his face and brushes a soft kiss over my knuckles. My heart rate kicks up a few notches, but not completely because I'm scared. There's something more in that heartbeat, but I can't put a pin in what it is.

Instead of making a big deal out of it, Eli simply says, “Go see what awesomeness my mom is cooking up. We'll be back down here soon.”

“Yes sir.”

Eli waits until I'm inside the kitchen before he shoots me a smile and walks away. That man is something else. I don't quite know what he is yet, but he's definitely different to everyone else I've ever met.





Eli



Well, that was an unexpected turn of events. As I walk up the stairs, I am still reeling from the contact I've had with Dani. She was definitely more comfortable with me. This thought then causes me to remember why the whole thing happened in the first place. I'm back to feeling angry at the 'breathing man'. I don't know his name so that's what I'm going to refer to him as. I should really ask Dani if she remembers his name, but maybe that's something for another day.

When I get into the gym, I'm fully angry, so I put my gloves on and start hitting the punchbag. I can just about hear the muffled voices of my dad and Ash over the beat of my heart in my ears. I can't tell them what happened; I can't tell them about the 'breathing man' because they'll want to know why it freaked Dani out so much. I can't tell them that much detail for her sake. Once I've sufficiently got the anger out of my system, I grab hold of the punch bag and just cling to it, trying to catch my breath.

I hear my dad question, “Everything ok, son?”

“Yeah. I needed to get that out of my system, sorry.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“No sir. I'm ok now. Just angry that Dani has to go through that.”

“I know. The drugs will nearly be at their peak by the middle of next week. We just have to try and get that far.”

My dad and Ash know better than to ask any more questions. We finish up our training session and grab showers before my Mom calls us for dinner.

The rest of the evening is more subdued, but there are no more incidents. Dani is very quiet though, which is probably a combination of embarrassment and being caught up in her own thoughts. My dad tries to help the situation by saying, “What's for dessert, Dani?”

Dani jumps when she hears her name, but I know she didn't hear the first part of the sentence. I see the brief look of confusion on her face before she quickly covers it up. I hear her breathing change, like she's frightened my dad is going to get angry at her for not listening. I frown a little at that thought. She must have taken a beating for not listening before.

Dani whispers, “Sorry sir?”

My dad repeats the question, so Dani quickly says, “Cinnamon pancakes, sir.”

“Really?”

My Mom breaks in, “They're Dani's mom's recipe. I thought we'd give them a try. They smelled delicious as they were cooking.”

“If you don't like them, sir, please don't feel like you have to eat them. It's ok.”

My dad chuckles, “There's very few foods that I've tried and not liked, Dani. I'm sure they're going to taste great.”

It's almost 11pm when Dani and I get back home. I need to call Arrow, but I don't want Dani to overhear the conversation. I'm relieved when Dani says, “I'm going to take a shower, sir. I won't be long.”

“No problem. Take as long as you need.”

I know she wants to try to scrub herself rid of those awful memories. She thinks I don't see the rawness of her skin when she gets out of the shower, but I do. I pick up on all of these little things, I just don't say anything about it. After I hear the shower running, I put the kettle on and then grab my cell and dial Arrow's number.

“Hey man, it's me.”

“Hey LT. How's it going?”

“It's ok. How you doing?”

“Not too bad, thanks. What can I do for you?”

“I need a favor.”

“Sure, anything you want.”

“Is your cell a secure line?”

“Of course.”

“Good. I need you to tail someone.”

“Cool. Got a name and a rough location?”

“Yeah, his name is Artur Babkin and he lives in Brooklyn. I don't have an exact location though, sorry.”

“No problem. That's more than enough to go on. Anything specific I need to know?”

“Yeah. Be careful, he has links to the Bratva.”

Arrow lets out a low whistle and then asks, “How are you linked with them?”

I trust this guy with my life. In fact, we had each other's backs a number of times in combat.

“They're after one of my friends and I'm just trying to keep her safe. I need to find anything on this guy that I can bring him in on. Anything at all that will stick. He's an attorney though, so it needs to be solid.”

“Don't worry, it'll be air tight. He won't even know I'm there.”

I chuckle, knowing how true that statement is. “That's why I called you. Just keep on him until you get something. I need to put the squeeze on him to see what he knows and what I can use. Thanks man.”

“Don't mention it. I'll call you with an update as soon as I have something. It's good to hear from you, LT. How's Scott doing?”

“Yeah, he's good. You know he's on my team still, don't you?”

“Yeah. I heard you had your own team now. How's that going?”

“Really good actually. How's the private sector treating you?”

“Money is great and the jobs aren't half bad either. Sometimes you get more freedom, other times you have to bend the rules to get your results. Not everyone gets asks to head up a SWAT unit though, so I gotta take what I get I guess.”

He laughs. We both know he never wanted to run a unit, let alone become a cop. The army left him somewhat deranged. Not in a bad way; he just likes to do his own thing instead of being told orders all the time.

“Yeah, because you were so commanding material, man...”

I hear Dani call, “Eli?”

“Hang on, Arrow... Yeah, Dani?”

“Oh, sorry. I didn't know you were on the phone, sir. Sorry.”

“No worries. I won't be long. Sorry, man. Carry on.”

“Who's that? Dani? You holding out on me, LT?”

“That's something for another day. We do need to meet up though.”

“Yeah. How about dinner on Friday? Maybe you can join my stake out?”

“We'll see. Just let me know what you turn up, yeah?”

“Sure thing. Speak to you soon.”

After I hang up, I see Dani making 2 mugs of something. That's probably what she was going to ask me. She hands me a mug of hot chocolate and then holds her mug close to her. She looks troubled, so I ask, “You ok, baby? Do you want to talk about what happened today?”

She's quiet for a few minutes and then she whispers, “They auctioned me off, Eli.”

I'm actually not surprised by this. I've seen to much to be shocked by this revelation. I say nothing to see if Dani keeps talking. Thankfully, she does.

“They made me wear a school uniform and they paraded me in front of so many people. There were lights shining in my face and there was smoke everywhere. I couldn't see anything or anyone expect for those evil eyes.... Those eyes....”

She chokes back a sob so I whisper, “It's ok baby. You're safe now. I'm right here. I'm so sorry that they stole so much from you, sweetheart. I wish I could kill them all.”

She says nothing, only clutches the mug tighter to herself. I decide to ask, while we're on this subject.

“Dani? Do you know his name?”

She doesn't need to ask who I mean; she already knows who I'm talking about. She nods, but doesn't speak straight away. I don't know if she's trying to steady herself or what, but I don't push for an answer. Eventually she whispers, “He told me to call him... Petrov...”

Wow, I don't think her teeth could clench any tighter, to grind those words out. I hate him and I've never met him, so I can only imagine how much more Dani must hate him. I make Dani I promise that I fully intend to keep, “I'm going to find him, Dani. I'll find him and I'll punish him. I don't know how I will do it, but I promise you I will. It won't be enough, because I doubt I'll be able to kill him, but I'll punish him as much as I can.”

She sends me a sad smile and whispers, “You're a good man, Eli, but I don't want you to get in trouble because of me...”

“I won't get in trouble. It'll be fine, I promise. You ok to try to get some sleep?”

“I'll try.”



We head to bed, but it's quite a restless night. Dani's sleep is very disturbed, but I comfort her as best as I can. Until she falls asleep again.