As I rode in the car with Emil, I couldn’t stop the tears from leaking. Sobs tugged at my chest, and I was helpless to stem the flow. I wasn’t even conscious that I was bawling, holding on to him so tightly like the lifeline I’d been begging the universe for.
Thoughts couldn’t fit through my head. Rational convictions would have to wait. I was so overwhelmed with relief that he’d finally found me and freed me that I could only feel.
The hardness of his chest for me to lean on. The firm thickness of his arms wrapped around me so snugly. The rise and fall of his breathing steadily, guiding me to calm myself.
I felt his warmth. His power and strength. Right now, that was enough to ground myself with.
He’d come. He was here. We were alive. All three of us. Feeling my baby kick and move and grow these past weeks was thedriving point of motivation for me to continue to make sure this new life was healthy and unharmed as I struggled in captivity.
But now it wasn’t only up to me. It wasn’t solely my responsibility.
Emil was here, and he would help me. More than that, he hadn’t come alone, either. Other Dubinin men moved with us. One rode in the car, talking nonstop on his phone to order men into place for us to take over.
When we arrived at an airstrip, still hurrying, soldiers and Dubinin guards flanked us. We moved as one unit, one team, until we were on the plane. It was only now that I could get a hold of myself. Only now that I could snap out of this emotional venting and clear my head.
I was free. The hood was off my head. I could see and feel and move. Emil had saved me, and now it was time to act.
“We need to make sure the baby is okay,” I told him as he carried me down the aisle in the plane.
Details passed by in a blur, moving too fast for me to follow. The lack of passengers hinted that this was a private aircraft, not a commercial one. In the back of the plane, it was crystal clear that arrangements had been made for this mission.
Medical staff waited near a chair set to recline. A couple of nurses. A doctor. They were all waiting for me. Emil was one step ahead of me—many steps ahead of me. He’d come here, not only to whisk me to safety, but also to immediately provide care for me.
“We will,” he promised, not lowering me until I was near the cushioned chair. “We will, Sadie. I need to know both of you are safe.”
I swallowed hard, forcing the motion past the lump of emotions clogging my throat. He was too good. Too sweet. Caring for me like this, he personified every dream of a hero coming to the rescue. I felt terrible for all that time I’d wasted picturing him as nothing but the enemy.
He pissed me off when he left me in the Caymans, but with this demonstration of care, I could forgive him.
He taunted me for months when I pursued him as an agent, but with his arrival when I’d needed him the most, I could only be grateful he’d kidnapped me at all.
With the nurses’ help, he lowered me to the chair. Reclining on something other than a hard dirt floor felt like heaven. Having the luxury of being secured and belted in for hasty takeoff was much preferred over rolling around in a trunk or cargo space.
I was too weak to talk much. I was so worn down with relief that I just wanted to sleep. But the fear of whether my baby could’ve been harmed kept me awake.
While the nurses and doctors assessed me, taking a medical inventory of any wounds that showed on my body, Emil held my hand. His warm fingers didn’t release me. His watchful, dark-blue eyes locked onto me like a hawk at the ready to intervene or advocate for me if he deemed it necessary.
I licked my lips and tried to tell the doctor and nurses about my biggest concerns. It likely shocked them all that I hadn’t been beaten. A few thugs smacked me, but none of them did anything worse than that.
“They wanted you alive,” Emil guessed.
I nodded. “For whatever secrets I hold,” I added.
Secrets that would only be given to him and his father.
After I confirmed that I wasn’t raped, completely starved, drugged up, or otherwise manipulated or abused, they let me rest. Rest was a relative term. They ceased questioning me, telling me to relax as they continued their work. The doctor listened to the baby’s heartbeat. The nurses were pros at inserting an IV to begin hydrating me. And all the while, Emil sat right at my side, holding my hand without any hint that he’d ever let go.
With the lull of the plane and the strong, comforting heat of Emil touching me, I was blissed out to be safe, finally. Sleep came swiftly, but it was short-lived. I was an even touchier and lighter sleeper than before. As the men spoke on the plane about the landing, enough noise reached me that I tried to sit up and focus on the next step.
“Easy,” Emil coaxed, helping me lift the chair anyway. It was sweet how he’d want to assist me with whatever I wanted despite his wishes that I’d do the opposite. “You barely napped.”
“I’ll nap better when I’m settled down in a bed,” I admitted.
He lifted my hand and kissed the back of it. “Just any bed will do?”
I rolled my eyes as that charming smile slowly crossed over his face. “You’d joke aboutthateven now?”
He sobered up, easing up on the cocky grin to lean in and kiss me. His hands bracketed my face and added just that extra touch of tenderness to the press of his lips.
