The Don And His Flower

Prologue

"I'm scared of what this may turn you into. I'm scared of what you'll be afterwards."

The wind breezed as she looked at the view in front of her. The blue skies and white clouds were changing above the willow tree.

Just how her husband was. Her sweater covered arms still sent a shiver up her spine. Cold fingertips wiped away her tears as she looked at her husband's back.

He remained on his knees, unspoken. His hands moved back and forth, left to right. Wiping away any unwanted leaves and weeds around the memory they had stuck into the ground.

She sighed, letting the crisp fall wind tickle her face. Another tear fell as she looked at the view. The clouds got darker, merging with one another as distanced thunder claps shook the grounds slightly.

"You would think this would be enough. For you to walk away, to leave all of this in our past as I wanted you to from the beginning." She continued talking to the tense man.

He said nothing to her. Hands still wiping off the in ground monument that they had underneath their familiar willow tree that was losing its green.

His neck flexed slightly, red as the hoodie rubbed against his flesh. "I don't want you to leave me. Not like this. Not when you just found me." She whispered.

The fresh wound on her neck was three weeks old. Stitches from behind the tip of her ear to the ridge of her collarbone, stung as she touched the thick bandages. The dirt underneath her nails remained, no matter how many times she attempted to wipe it on her jeans.

Small droplets matched her loose tears as they hit her shirt.

"I'll kill them."

The soft howls of the wind collided with another clap of  the slowly approaching thunder.

"Every single person. Every soul who took you from me...every soul who took you from your mother.. I'll kill them all."

His voice was deep and soft. Soothing and full of promise as he sniffled. Imani remained in the wheelchair, eyes glossy as she listened to his promise.

"They hurt you, before you got the chance to even feel. They hurt your mother. I promise, as I live and breathe for you. I promise, my deceased child."

Valis Kholodov sniffled again, vision glossy as he looked at the carved angel wings into the stone that was in the ground. Fresh grass slowly grew through the small rectangular dirt that covered the secured box.

"Valis.." Imani whispered again, her husband keeping his back to her as he made this oath.

He failed them. Failed to protect the not one, but two people who depended on him. The man not only failed to protect his wife, he failed to protect his best friend.

"I broke her heat, ruined her the day we conceived you. We knew it was a chance, a risk I was forcing her to take. For that, I'm sorry. Imani."

Her strained breaths hitched, caught in her torn throat as she looked at the gray sky. The rain droplets picked up. Reminiscing on the burning night of the amusement park. Reminiscing how they conceived their buried child.

"Are you crying too, baby?" She whispered to the smoke-colored clouds.

Valis let Imani down.

A woman who knew and trusted him more than anything. And he let her down too many times to repent.

She had no way of proving to the man how what happened wasn't his fault. Her kidnapping, the assaults she endured, the tortures, her near death.

The miscarriage.

Imani couldn't explain to her husband how none of it was his fault.

"I just," his words shuttered in his chest. Eyes glossy as more tears fell, racing on his cheeks. The man heard his wife whimpers, her soft cries as he remained unsure of how he can fix the damages he's caused. How to rid the hollow burning in his chest.

How can he fix this?

"I promise to never fail you or your mother again."

Valis stood to his feet, walking a few steps and went back down to his knees. His hands grabbed Imani's, warming her fingertips as he kissed them over and over.

"Forgive me, Imani.. for what I may become. Forgive the man who you'll see in such little time."

Her bottom lip quivered, sweater damp as the rain attacked them at a slow speed. Thunder clapped again, blocking his hearing from hearing her call his name.

"Valis.." she repeated, hands moving to the back of the man's head as he gripped the armrests of her wheelchair. His cries were drowned from the rain, hair now damp as she fingered some from his forehead.

He looked up at her, the woman he worshipped daily the moment he found her. Clenched jawline was relaxed as she trailed her wedded hand against his face, thumb wiping underneath his eye. Through the pouring rain and cold dark clouds, she still found his tears.

She let the sob crawl from her lips, throat aching as she whimpered in substitute. Rain-soaked eyelids fluttered close as her lips are molded into her husband's.

"The men who harmed you will drown, they'll feel the burning of their lungs as they claw for air. I swear, Imani Kholodov." He rasped as he pulled away slightly. When he assumed she had enough air, he kissed her again, tongue taking hers as he sealed this oath with their child above as the witness.

Her hands found his face again, holding him as he swallowed her pain, her fears. All in the hope of him fighting for her will to live.

"But none of it," he rasped, her cries hitting his chest as she nodded against his face. That was what she needed from this man. She needed her husband to save her. To save her from such thoughts, such memories that scarred her mind, soul and body.

"I promise, my flower. None of it will be compared to what the bastard who ordered the hit will face. He will know death by my hands, Imani Kholodov. My dearest wife, I will burn this world to ash if it means you survive another day for me. All I request, is that you forgive the man who I have to be to do this. That is all I ask, Imani Kholodov."

Her chest heaved, teeth nearly chattering as he kissed her once more.

He finally stood, his hoodie off his body and over her head as she slipped her arms through the thick fabric.

Slight warmth filled her as she spared another look at her buried baby. It was an oath. An oath that was made to her child, to her.

As Valis pushed his wife's wheelchair back to the compound, the storm went still. Light greys of the clouds remained as only a few droplets fell.

Valis repeated this oath in his head, the vengeance cracking open a door he had only wished to keep locked up.

Lives will burn for this.

All in the name of their child.

All in the name of Imani Kholodov.