Mind's Beautiful Prison (18+)

30 - Exit Strategy

Gunnar

It took less than an hour to pull together the resources and plans I needed to get my family back. Eliana may have married Milos, but I refused to acknowledge him as an obstacle at this point. I'd been wrestling for hours with the decision to let Ellie face her consequences by watching his death, or to do it quietly, where she wouldn't have to contend with the memories of watching her lover die.

The darkest places in my soul wanted to punish her for what she had done, and the most perverse place in my being relished the idea of Ellie's pain, watching Milos' life drain from his body as she stood powerless to help him. 

The morbid fantasy had already taken root in my mind, giving me comfort as I awaited my family reunion. But I was above all else a practical man, and watching the woman I loved experience the kind of pain I'd lived in the past year would not accomplish the goals I had in the long term. I still loved her and wanted her love in return; forcing her to witness his death would not aide in repairing our relationship. 

There was no question that Milos would need to be eliminated, but I was fairly sure that I would spare her the pain of witnessing it. It would be senseless to allow other events to poison and fester in our already fragile relationship; enough damage had already been done. We had both lied to and hurt each other, but we would end this cycle and move past it so that we could raise Lily together in love.

My thoughts shifted from the nasty business of Ellie's marriage to happier thoughts. I would need to make the arrangements for new furniture and decorating to the room beside our bedroom in the space currently occupied as a guest room. I tapped my finger against my chin, considering that it might be practical to put in a door in the adjoining wall to the nursery so that we could have easier access during the night. And when Lily was older, we could move her to a new room and make space for the next child. A child whose birth and infant years I wouldn't miss this time.

Regardless of her paternity, Lily would be coming to our home, and I was excited to meet her. She was a part of Eliana, and Ellie belonged to me, so her daughter would certainly live here with us. My anger slowly drained from me as a peaceful contentment that I would soon have my family back, settled into its rightful place.

A fresh alert set off on my phone and I quickly pulled up my messages to see the photos that Benny had retrieved. This time, the information was much more personal. 

I pulled up the images and instead of the documents that had infuriated me previously, the lovingly captured photos of a beautiful baby girl filled my screen. She was perfect, so much like her Mother that my heart ached. I gazed at her beautiful ivory complexion and her vivid blue green eyes and blond locks. 

A Cheshire grin spread across my face as I touched the photo of my daughter. There was no doubt in my mind she was mine, the eyes were a mirror image of my own. Still grinning, I called my assistant and arranged for the contractor to come by the house by tomorrow morning to start work on Lily's room. 

I would spare no expense for my little angel, she would have everything she could dream of.  Filled with restless impatience, I couldn't wait to hold her for the first time, and with that thought came another pang of resentment as I was reminded that Milos and Eliana had kept her from me for the better part of a year. I had missed so many firsts in her life and I wasn't going to miss any more.

By the end of the day, we had tabs on all the properties owned by Milos and every family member and associate he had within the State and some a little further out. We had already discovered that his Mother had taken an 'Indefinite leave of absence' from work in the past week. There was little doubt that my baby was with his mother when not in Milos' care. My team were already descending on an ambiguously owned property that had been recently purchased through a shell company that belonged to Bratva associates in his family and fit the criteria of a safe house. Since I knew this time who had taken Ellie and Lily, the search moved at a frantic pace with much more immediate and fruitful results. The anxiety pulsed through my system like a live wire as I impatiently awaited further updates.