Chapter 3
-Lorenzo Di Luca-
This was the longest flight I have ever taken in my life, that's what it feels for me anyway.
I need to try and relax a bit and rest, but I can't fucking bring myself to do that, it felt like my whole body was filled with adrenaline and relaxing is just simply an impossible task for me to do ever since I received that call from my Uncle Ivan. My body refuse to calm down, not until I get there to Moscow and I'll see her for myself, my piccola principessa. (little princess)
After that shocking call, I half heartedly told Nicco that our uncle has got an emergency in Moscow and needs me to go there (which is not entirely untrue), but this obviously upset and discouraged my fratellino as his signature frown once again appeared in his face and he only nod and left my office. I know I said I was going to go to his game for tomorrow and I've clearly disappointed him, but this is more important and once I tell him I know he'll understand, I bet he's going to be even happy. I'll be sure to make it up to Nicco when I return, but I know I wouldn't be returning home alone.
So after that, I quickly took my passport and headed to my private jet so that I can get to Moscow as soon as possible.
I can't believe this. We've finally found our princess. She's actually been alive all along. I was wrong. Oh, how fucking wrong I was.
I was also dying from trying my fucking best not to call my brothers and tell them about our principessa. Uncle Ivan told me not to tell them just yet. I don't know why he would tell me that, but I know he must have a good reason for not wanting them to know just yet. That old man didn't really tell me much either except that he finally found her and that I should hurry and go to Moscow and not tell my brothers about the news. That's it. He sounded almost out of breath when he called me, as if he were seething.
I became even more puzzled now, and the questions in my head were piling up like a mountain.
How did he find her? Where did he find her? Why was she in Moscow? How did she get to Moscow? How is she? What does she look like now? What happened? Where was our padre? Uncle didn't mention him at all.
"Smettila (Stop it), Enzo. It's useless to ponder with all of these questions here. Troverò tutte le risposte a Mosca." (I'm going to find out all the answers in Moscow) I whispered to myself, and before I knew it, I was once again biting my nails nervously while looking at all the fluffy clouds outside. It's a terrible bad habit of mine that I just subconsciously find myself doing whenever I get nervous. I've been doing it since I was a kid, and it used to annoy the fuck out of my mamma, but I just really couldn't stop it.
"But I know all of my questions could wait; all I really want now is to see you and hold you again, la mia bellissima piccola principessa." (my beautiful little princess)
***
The great Vasiliev Manor, the main residence of the Vasiliev family, is where my mamma and uncle were born and raised; incidentally, this is also where I was born, as my genitore (parents) were here in this manor on vacation when I surprised them and decided that it was my time to come out of the world. I remember how Ale, Gio, and I used to love coming here on special occasions with our Babushka's insistence, but after she died just months after Nicco was born, our visits here became less and less until we never did anymore. I don't quite remember when my last visit here was. But I'm glad to see everything still looks the way I remembered it to, just a little modern.
"Don Lorenzo, dobro pozhalovat'!" I was instantly greeted by Igor, my uncle's secretary. (welcome)
"Igor, I know you know why exactly I'm here. Now tell me where she is?" I hurriedly asked, my patience running thin by the minute.
I need to see my sorellina now.
"I know, sir, but unfortunately I can't tell you that. Boss says that I am to escort you to his office." He replied in his thick Russian accent while nervously looking at me.
"You know who I am, correct Igor? You know exactly what I am capable of? And you know exactly what I can do when I don't get my way?" I hissed as I felt my jaw clenching in anger.
"I know exactly, Don Lorenzo. But I am sorry to say that I do not work for you; I work for your uncle. I do not follow your orders; I only follow his, and right now I am only following his orders. So, please, allow me to escort you to my Boss' office." The young man replied to me as politely as he could, but I could tell he was almost on the verge of tears.
"No need; I know where it is." I grunted and walked to the grand staircase.
Why is he even asking me to go to his office? Is my sorellina there with him?
Without bothering to knock, I quickly slammed the doors of his office open and got inside. But I frowned as I noticed that it was only him inside, sitting at his chair behind his table with a blank expression on his face the moment he saw me.
He's got to be fucking kidding me right now.
"It's nice to see you too, dorogoy plemyannik." He said in a mocking tone while still glaring at me. (dear nephew)
I ignored him and slammed both my balled fists into his table in anger as I exclaimed,
"Where is she, Uncle? I need to see her now. Please, let me see my sorella now!"
I was more than desperate now. The anxiety and adrenaline I had been feeling since that call were too much now, especially knowing that my long-lost sorellina is just somewhere in this house.
Uncle Ivan said nothing, but he got up from his chair, walked towards me, and pulled me in his arms, embracing me much to my surprise. Before I could decide whether to hug him back or push him away, he had already let go of me and said,
"Ekaterina's here, Mikhail."
He and Kirill are the only ones who would call me and my siblings by our second names, our Russian names. Uncle said it was to remind us of our Russian blood.
"She is here, and she is safe now." My eyes narrowed as he said this.
What did he mean by she is safe now? Why? Isn't she safe before?
"I promise to take you to her, but you and I need to talk first, Mikhail. Sit down."
I immediately shook my head and pushed his hand away.
"Talk about what, Uncle? Is Papa with her? Why didn't you even tell me about him? And why won't you want me to tell my brothers? I don't care if I have to tear this house brick by brick just to see them. I want to see them, NOW."
"LUCIANO ISN'T HERE." He snapped.
What?
"How come he isn't here? I don't understand. It was Papa and our sorellina together when they disappeared." I mumbled to myself, to which my uncle could only sigh heavily, and he was seething in anger again.
"Your father isn't here; I found your sestra alone. That damn Luciano better pray to whatever God or devil he believes in that he's somewhere six feet under because when I find him, I will fucking kill him with my bare hands." He growled, and within an instant, my blood boiled in anger at the disrespect and insult he just said about my papa.
He may be my uncle, but I don't fucking tolerate anyone talking bad about my father like that, not even him.
"Don't you fucking talk about my father like that, uncle, or I swear I'm the one who you'll be up against." I hissed as I darkly glared at the raging old man, but he only sneered at me.
"Wake the fuck up, Mikhail! You're a bright man, but why couldn't you still see what kind of rubbish your father truly is? That pathetic excuse of a man literally abandoned you and your brothers, kidnapped your little sister, vanished, and never to be heard from ever again for thirteen years! What kind of father, of man, does that, you tell me." Uncle Ivan's was red now and he was almost shaking in anger.
My jaw clenched and for the first time in my life I was tongue tied, not that he was actually waiting for my response because he quickly started talking again, insulting my father even more, calling him rubbish and threatening to kill him.
"My father isn't rubbish. He's a good man, I... I'm sure he had his reasons when he left." I firmly said, but honestly, I don't even say that I believe the words I said.
Uncle let out a humourless laugh, and veins were almost popping out of the side of his head in his anger.
"Good man? Okay, let's see if you can still call that rubbish father of yours a good man when you find out where exactly did I found your sestra."
"Why? Where did you find her?" I hesitantly asked, suddenly too scared to know the answer.
Uncle Ivan stressfully rubbed his temple as he leaned his back against the table, looking at me in anguish, as if he were devoid of all happiness.
"Where did you find her, uncle?" I repeated my question as I stared back at him apprehensively.
"Yesterday I was just supposed to check the new replacements of girls I bought who will be working in my clubs."
I fucking loathed that particular business of his, even Kirill hates it and he's more than determined to shut it down when time comes and he'll be the next Russian mafia boss.
"But I went to this new business associate of mine to buy the girls this time, a Polish man named Jaworski; he's the leader of the human trafficking group in Poland. I went there to his house to check on the girls I bought."
My heart fell, and suddenly I felt a gnawing pain in my stomach.
No, please, don't fucking tell me.
Uncle kept looking at me, his dark eyes looking both angry and sad.
"Then I saw her there, my niece, your sister. There is no mistake that it's her, she's truly a spitting image of Oksana. You and her looks so much like Oksana." Trecherous tears started to stream out of the corner of his eyes, this only made me felt sick.
It felt like I was being stabbed again and again.
"Why was she there, uncle? What the fuck is my little sister doing inside the house of a fucking human trafficker?" I growled as I balled my fists again.
"She wasn't being trafficked. In fact, her condition there was worse. My plemyannitsa (niece) was treated and made as a fucking slave in that house! I don't know how she got there, but it's obvious that she has been there for years. She was severely abused, Mikhail." Uncle snapped as he covered his face with both his hands and cried.
My sorellina. My preziosa piccola principessa. (precious little princess)
Kidnapped. Slave. Abused.
Those three words rang loudly inside my head, and my heart fucking broke into pieces.
I know I said I'm a realist, but this was not the reality that I was fucking hoping for. But there was no denying now that this was indeed the fucking cold, hard truth.
"Where is she, uncle?" I asked again in a whisper as I stood there completely defeated and broken.
"She's sleeping in your mother's old bedroom." I nod.
"I need to go to her. I need to go to my sorellina. I need her. She needs me" And with that, I found myself running out of his home office and down to the second floor of this house to my mother's old bedroom.
***
I gulped the lump in my throat and blinked back the nasty tears that were trying to escape as I turned the doorknob and carefully opened the door. I quickly let myself inside and gently closed it. Uncle said she was sleeping, so I don't really want to suddenly wake her up and give her a fright when she sees me; she for sure doesn't even know me.
I'm a fucking stranger to my own sorella's eyes.
As I walked further inside the room, that's when I finally saw her. My sorellina. She was lying fast asleep in our mother's old bed.
"La mia piccola principessa." (My little princess) I bit my tongue as I stiffled a sob as I finally saw her.
I walked closer until I was finally standing beside the bed, and with my uncontrolled tears spilling out of my eyes, I knelt down beside her bed and ever so gently took her hand in mine and gave her knuckles a kiss.
"Mi sei mancata tanto, mia piccola Isabella." (I missed you so much, my little Isabella) I whispered in her ear as I leaned closer so that I could brush away her stray hairs from her face.
Uncle was right; there really was no mistaking. It's really her. I'm sure of it. She's truly the spitting image of our dear mamma.
But I frowned; my tears only flowed even more as profound anger and pain erupted inside of me as I got a closer look at my sorellina. She looks so fucking small for her age; she's so thin that her collarbones are literally potruding, and her beautiful face is pale and gaunt, and what made her condition much worse and triggered the devil inside of me even more was seeing all of the bruises, wounds, and scars that were littered all across her face and body like canvas, and I could only assume there was more of it and was only being covered by her clothing.
What happened to my sorellina all these years?
Uncle was right. Our padre is nothing but a pathetic excuse of a man. How in the hell could he fucking let this happen to Isabella, his own fucking daughter? He just suddenly left in the middle of the night, abandoning his sons, and he fucking took his daughter with him and possibly brought her and left her in the worst kind of hell there is. What kind of father does that to his children?
A soft whimper snapped me back from my dark thoughts, and I instantly looked down at my sorellina in a whiplash. She was still sleeping, but it seemed like she was having some sort of nightmare.
I frowned and softly stroked her hair, whispering soothing and reassuring words in her ears, hoping that my voice could somehow help fight off the nightmare she was having.
"You're safe now, Isabella. I'm here now; your brother is here now. I love you so much. And I promise you that you're never going to be hurt ever again. I'll fight all of them. I'll make sure all of them will pay for everything they did to you." I lastly whispered in her ear and sealed the promise I made with a soft kiss on her head.
I will fucking give them hell; I'll make sure of it. Including our padre.
***