Chapter Sixteen: Annika
Come on, Stephan, I need you to come back to me. I need to see you again.
I was sittingin the passenger seat of his car, barely able to stay conscious, but I was holding onto what little strength I had left, hoping that he was going to make it out of that front door alive.
“Sweetheart, we have to get going. It doesn’t look like he’s going to make it, and I have to get you to safety,” my father said, but I didn’t have it in me to listen to him, not while Stephan was in there fending off everyone that came at him just so he could protect us.
I felt a sudden surge of adrenaline rush through me, telling me that I was going to be able to make it if I tried. I reached into the glove compartment, retrieving Stephan’s emergency pistol, taking it between my fingers before I got out of the car.
“Annika, no! Get back in the car!” my father screamed.
“You have no right to tell me what to do, Father.” I stood by the open car door, looking my father in the eye. “You have no idea what happened when you were gone, leaving me alone like a sitting duck when you were well aware of all the things that could’ve happened to me. You left me without security, without anyone to watch over me knowing what you do for a living. If I had known more, if I had known how to protect myself, I wouldn’t be in this mess. The man I love wouldn’t be fighting for his life trying to protect all of us.”
“How do you even know he can be trusted, Annika? He’s a Volkov.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Father, don’t you see what’s going on here? Your judgment is clouded, and your problem is that you believe that everyone is always out to get you. Stephan Volkov just saved your life, he just saved your entire family, so either you reach into the backseat and grab a weapon to help me, or you and mother can take off never to see me again. The choice is yours, but I’m going back in there.”
“Fine,” he said, reaching over to retrieve a piece, and I stumbled up to the front door, with him right behind me, wondering how long my leg was going to be usable before it gave out entirely. I peered in at all the dead bodies that were scattered across my home, looking over to see both Natalia and her father laying there dead, their eyes wide open, but entirely lifeless. I didn’t see any sign of Stephan, but right as I was about to head to the back of the house in search of him, I heard rustling coming from upstairs.
“Go, Father. You’re going to get to him much faster than I will,” I instructed, and I knew that even though he had quite a bit of hatred for the Volkovs, he was doing the right thing for once and I had to be grateful to him for that.
He rushed up the stairs, and I climbed them right after him, struggling to get my leg to cooperate. I felt like I had begun to lug around dead weight, but I eventually made it up to see my father have the gun cocked back, and ready to shoot at the one who had nearly killed Stephan. I could see the blood trickle out of him, how desperate he was trying to cling to whatever energy he had left, and right before he began to keel over, his eyes locked with mine.
“It’s going to be okay,” I mouthed to him. Natalia’s mother stood there with her gun pointing at Stephan, her hands shaking.
“It’s a shame that we couldn’t coexist in peace, Anastasia. I stayed out of your territory for years, and this is how you repay me. This monstrosity that you’ve unleashed on my family that once was your daughter, and now you’re going to suffer no matter what you do. If you shoot him now, I’m going to keep you alive, barely hanging on to what’s left of your life, while I torture you until you just can’t take it anymore. You have a choice, you can drop the gun, and I can kill you for what you’ve done, or you can spend the rest of your life wishing that you never came after my family,” he said.
It was the first time I ever saw him act this way. I watched Natalia’s mother shake violently, bursting out into a hysterical cry while she let the gun fall to the ground and my father fired a clean shot to her head.
Just like that the entire Chadov family had been wiped out, all desperate to find a painting that would secure them a fortune for generations, but instead they let their familial problems get in the way of their common goal, and now they all paid the price. I ran over to Stephan, seeing that he was barely hanging on, slipping in and out of consciousness.
“Stephan! Stephan, I need you to tell me what to do. We have nowhere to go, we have no one to call. Tell me! Tell me! Who can I call?” I asked, remembering that kind friend of his who was a doctor, but I also remembered that the only reason he decided to help when he did was because of me. I wasn’t sure if he was going to extend the same kindness to Stephan, especially after everything he had done.
“Stephan! Please, tell me!” I screamed, and my father tried to pull me back, so he could help him up.
“We need to get him to someone. He’s not going to make it if we don’t,” my father said, and I wanted to burst out into tears, knowing that I had an injury of my own, but that was nothing compared to Stephan’s, and I could only hope that my father prioritized him for my sake.
“Call. I-call,” Stephan said.
“Call who?”
“My brother. My brother Viktor. Please,” he said, eyeing his pockets for me to retrieve his phone.
“Call my big brother, Viktor. Tell him, tell him I’m sorry,” he said, as I ran through his contact list to the very end dialing his brother while I instructed my father to get him back into the car.
“Wherever Viktor is, that’s where we’re going. Stephan needs his family right now,” I said, and my father nodded. The phone rang for what felt like ages, and I worried for a moment that it was going to go straight to voicemail, as I nearly lost all hope, but at the very last second, someone picked up.
“Now, this is a surprise. I didn’t think I’d ever hear from you again after the way you left things, Stephan,” the unfamiliar voice said on the other end of the line.
“Viktor? I’m sorry, you have no idea who I am,” I said, trying to steady my voice, “But I have Stephan here with me and he’s barely hanging on. Something terrible happened, and I have no idea where to take him. Before he lost consciousness again, he told me to call you. He told me to tell you he was sorry.”
“I’m going to give you a location. I need you to bring him here as fast as possible. I will have everything ready to treat him when he gets here. What is your name?” he asked.
“Thank you very much, Viktor. My name is Annika.”
“I’ll be looking out for you, Annika. Please, do hurry,” he replied, and I got off the phone, giving my father the location.
The sun was starting to come up now, and I kept glancing back at Stephan’s almost lifeless body, hoping that we weren’t going to be too late. I didn’t know what to think, especially because there was no telling whether we were going to make it to Viktor’s in time to save Stephan’s life.
