Chapter Nineteen: Stephan
Ican’t believe that Ivan would do this to us. I know he was angry at me for duping him back when I was running with Eduard and Feliks, but this was the last thing I thought he would do. I wondered how he even managed to find out where I hid it in the first place because even though I had my doubts, I didn’t believe that he would be capable of finding it.
I can’t wait to get face-to-face with him again, so I can ask him why he would do this, why he would jeopardize the future he knew I was planning for the sake of some petty cash.
I was well aware that he wouldn’t know how to flip a piece like that to make the maximum profit because he would have no idea how much it was worth. Annika and I spent weeks finding out everything we could about that painting, and we still weren’t sure if we could go for higher figures. It was such a prized possession, and I wanted it back so I could give it to Annika, so she could have the painting she always dreamed of, but now it had been stolen right from under our noses.
I was fuming at the thought that he was just going to hand it off to someone who probably knew next to nothing about its worth just like he did, coming up with some figures, lying to whomever he was handing it to that it was an offer he couldn’t refuse. He was certainly good at that, but it began to dawn on me that he couldn’t possibly have pulled all of this off himself. He had to have had help in order to know where I hid it, to fish for information, and keep an eye on us the same way Natalia did.
I suppose we had more than one stalker at the time. I should’ve known. I should’ve been smarter about all of this.
I wondered why Ivan didn’t try to get rid of the painting sooner, but I already knew the answer to that question. It probably took him a few days to find someone who would even take the bait, who would even want something like that, and I was trying to think which other one of Ivan’s clients would’ve been helping him track down the piece.
The thought crossed my mind that he had stolen it just to spite me, reminding me that I should’ve never been disloyal to him in the past, but I had been working petty crimes back then, and it was nothing compared to what he had done. The only thing I ever did to Ivan was evade payment after he had given me what I needed to succeed at my job, but I made sure I gave him back everything I owed him over the years, and from what I gathered, he was grateful to receive it all.
So grateful in fact that he got a bit too cocky, deciding that he could steal one of my most prized possessions right out from under me. I’m going to get that painting back for the love of my life so we can finally have the happy ending we’ve been wanting for far too long. I’m not going to rest until that painting is hanging proudly in her gallery, with us both clinking our champagne glasses together on opening night.
I knew how badly she wanted that, even if she was trying to convince me that she had given up the normal part of her life. She was still human, and she still had a dream that was certainly possible no matter what kind of work she was doing in secret. She had been through enough, and this was the one thing that was going to kickstart the rest of our lives, so I had to get it back for her.
She deserved the world, and she was right when she said that painting meant something special to the both of us. It was what brought us together, and it was what nearly tore us apart, and I couldn’t let it slip away knowing that we had a chance to get it back.
“Annika, I have to thank you for being so level headed about this, for not letting me give up looking for it,” I said to her, planting a kiss on her soft lips.
“It’s too important to the both of us to just let it disappear into the wind. If Ivan did double-cross you after you went out of your way to pay him back for the mistakes you made when you were younger, then he certainly has a lot more to answer for than just stealing the painting. When we find him and get it back, we’ll be sure to ask him ourselves,” she said, and I couldn’t wait for that moment.
“There’s no way that he would’ve been able to find out where I hid it without help, especially because he knew that I was always moving it around. That was the very last place I decided to hide it, because I honestly thought that he never would’ve guessed it would be back there right under his nose,” I said, throwing around a few possible theories as to how he managed to get it out of there, especially because he had no way of knowing the code to the lockbox either.
“If he had help, then we have our work cut out for us, don’t we? I know we just got out of something quite terrible, something that started over this very painting, but I want you to know that I’m stronger now, and we have help. We’re going to get through this without anyone else getting hurt,” she said.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Just a hunch, but you better keep driving. The sirens are starting to die down,” she said, and I smiled, realizing that I had gotten myself the perfect partner in crime. I wouldn’t be giving that up for anything, nor would I ever let anything get in the way of what we were trying to build together.
We’re coming for you, Ivan. You’re not going to be able to hide out for much longer. We’re hot on your trail this time, and I can only hope that your informants issue you a warning because we’re not going to leave until you pay for what you’ve done.
We arrived at an underpass,hearing the cars whirring above us, speeding past, completely oblivious to what was happening right underneath them. I put the car in park, eyeing the glove compartment as Annika reached in and grabbed the two guns that were there. She handed me one and I cocked it back, getting out of the car, making sure she was following close behind me.
We’d been through this so many times that we could read each other’s minds, and no words had to be exchanged when it came to being on the same page. She knew when to react, she knew when to step in, but I was glad that we were both just observing and staying out of sight as much as possible.
I could barely see the exchange that was taking place, and even though I wasn’t sure if Ivan was present, the one thing I was sure of was that the car in front of me certainly belonged to him. I could see that there were two men with their backs turned to us, discussing something at the window of the other car, just before it drove off into the distance.
“Fuck!”
“It’s okay, whoever these guys are, I’m sure they’re going to have the information we’re looking for,” she said, and I agreed.
I looked over at her and nodded, getting my gun ready to take the first shot while she followed suit right after. We hit them both in the kneecaps, watching as they fell to the ground trying to reach for their weapons to protect themselves, but we managed to get close enough to kick them away. I was ready to start interrogating them on the spot, getting ready to bleed them dry of all the information they had, but when I got a good look at both of their faces, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
“What the fuck are you two doing here?” I asked, looking down at the two faces I believed I was never going to see again.
“Stephan? Stephan, what are you doing?” asked Eduard, looking incredibly surprised to see me, but it was when he turned to see Annika wielding a gun of her own that he began to put the pieces together.
“What do you think I’m doing here, Eduard? Something tells me that you just got rid of something that belongs to me, and I’m going to need you to tell me where it’s going if you want to save what’s left of your pathetic life,” I threatened.
“Are you talking about the painting that you found the day we did the robbery, Stephan? The day we were supposed to split everything we found right down the middle? Or are you forgetting how these things work?” he asked, even though he was well aware that I wanted out for a long time, that I was tired of the small jobs, and wanted to swim with the sharks for a change.
“I know you well enough to know you would’ve done the very same thing in my position, Eduard. You would’ve kept it to yourself, and I never would’ve learned about its existence,” I said, realizing that none of us knew what the word loyalty meant back then, and we were all just looking out for ourselves.
“You’re right about that, Stephan. That’s why we’ve been tracking you for a while, and I have to say that you really did get yourself in a bit of a mess with everything that happened with that girl’s friend. It’s such a shame that you just had to get caught up in her drama, that you couldn’t see the potential that we would’ve had if we stuck together,” he said.
