The Don And His Flower

61

Valis paced back and forth. 

His hand trembling with such pain as he swung it again and again. Each time, it connected to the face of a man. A man who had smuggled himself into the lands of Russia. Stalked every outside routine that Valis Kholodov had made.

He watched him.

This man watched Valis bring his son back and forth to this private school. He watched Valis treat his twin girls to their own spa days. He watched as Valis treated his wife to a private night dinner. This man stalked the Russian Don, all without being spotted once for it. 

Now the man was locked away into the familiar stained walls of the Kholodov compound. The basement was still the same, just replaced with different guards. Different sink and bucket. Different mattress.

Valis seethed, cursing at the sudden strike of his fist actually caused him to wince. The man was barely responsive, face completely soaked with his own blood as he tried to see out from his swollen eyes. Valis gagged, hands on his knees as he failed to console his spiraling emotions. 

"DADDY!!"

Faina and Fedora screamed aloud. Multiple people running and screaming from the sudden explosion. The Kholodov soldiers came running from different directions. Four of them tended to the shaken five-year-olds as two of them ran inside to retrieve the son. 

"Vytashchite ikh otsuda! a teper, chert vozmi!" He yelled, hands over his wifes body as he inspected her. Once assuring she was free of any wounds, his gun came out. A man came from around the smoked car at a distance. Hands raised with a shaking grip on the knife he held.
Get them out of here! Now dammit!

Valis was quick, removing himself from his wife as he lunged at the attacker. His hits were relentless. Only stopping as his wife whimpered once more. Valis looked over his shoulder, looking at the guard that tried to help her up. "My stomach, I can't." She shook her head at the man. The guard gave an unsure to his Don, switching places with him as he held down the attacker. 

Valis ignored her soft cries. Putting her away to a separate car from their kids as they were all taken back to their home. 

The Don cursed, foot swinging up as he connected it to the frail middle aged man. "Who sent you?!" 

Valis had been trying to get answers from this man for hours. There was nothing but assurance from his soldiers that this man had come here from Europe. Vengeance in his own eyes as he attempted to take the Don's life. Vengeance from the attack on Sontarc that had happened from his deceased fathers orchestration. 

The night Imani was taken from him.

This man left Sontarc, left Russia. He went to Europe, and lived there for years. Suddenly deciding to come back unseen, watching and waiting. This bold man who cried in such pain before Valis Kholodov.

He tried to kill the Don's daughters.

Tried to kill his wife.

His wife.

Imani.

The small buzz in his pocket made his hands shake. Whether it was from need of bloodshed or anticipation of his wife's condition, he remained unsure.

Valis stepped to the side, letting such disgusted tortures continue to the man. Pulling out his phone, Valis let his vision get momentarily blurry. 

Imani: Come back to me. 

Imani looked at the text on her phone. Body warm as she gripped the cold water bottle in her hand. Faina had finished crying herself to sleep, being scared of the sudden explosion. She was even more scared of the doctors who begged to check her for injuries. Xander remained in her bedroom with her, sleeping besides his little sister with his arms around her. 

Imani looked at Fedora. Sitting in her father's side of the bed as the doctor was crouched before her. 

The tears fell out one by one. Pain increasing in her chest as she looked at her baby girl. The twins she carried inside her were perfectly fine. The had only suffered slightly from their mother's sudden cramping. The bedroom door opened, Valis comes in with a void look in his eyes. 

He tried to force a smile to his lips, failing horribly as he walked further into the room. The large window shard of glass remained on layers of blood stained tissue. The man fell to his knees, hands clasped together as he looked at his five year old baby girl, Fedora. 

She had a thick bandage on the right side of her neck.

The glass had lodged itself into her neck badly. "Try it again, Fedora. The moment you feel pain, stop." The doctor urged her again. The Don looked at his wounded daughter with glossed eyes. She nodded slowly, the directions to try and talk was out the window as she cried out in pain instead. The doctor nodded, hand on her back as he urged her to drink some water. 

Imani wrapped her arms around her daughter, consoling the nearly muted girl as she tried to talk. "Her vocal cords aren't damaged. She's just really scared to do it. I'll drop by later with her pain meds..I'm sorry." 

Valis bowed to his daughter, ashamed to look at her as he apologized over and over. "I'm sorry, my sweet girl. I am so sorry." He grabbed her hands, kissing the dark skin of her fingers as she silently cried in her mother's arms. 

Almost another hour had passed. The parents looked at their three kids, all sleeping in the center of their large bed. Valis closed the door behind him, joining his silent wife into the hall. "Oh my God." She gasped, hands over her trembling lips. 

"I know." Valis nodded, his hands grabbing her for another embrace. He needed to know she was alive. That she was there, really there with him. "Valis." She whispered his name. Nervous hands squeezing his body as he apologized through such many familiar guilted kisses. "He's dead, flower. No one will hurt you. None of you..Never again, please flower." Valis fell to his knees, hands on her waist as he kissed her slowly growing stomach. Her fingers through his hair with a blurred vision.

"Forgive me."