“Get my daughter back now!” He gets right up close, pointing a finger in his face, ordering him, like it’s not the first thing on Ren’s mind.
But I can’t blame him.
I bow my head and stare at the floor, ashamed to be the reason for his suffering. It never fades, it never settles, the torture from the mind of a madman.
“We are going to get her back.” Ren places both hands on his shoulders, looking him in the eye. “I’m going to call him now. And we will work it out. He’s a fool to think he can take my sister.”
His father nods with conviction, sadness replaced with controlled rage, and we continue to the office. I follow, eyes cast on the floor until I am stopped at the office door.
“Maybe you can wait in the living room,” his father says, nodding behind me. “We will make sure everything is okay.”
“No!” Ren doesn’t wait for me to answer, he takes my hand and walks me in.
“But–”
“No!” He cuts him off, and there’s no room for arguments.
I sit on my now usual chair across from the large mahogany desk as Dante hands Ren his phone. Tommy slides up next to me, taking my hand, and giving me an encouraging smile. It means a lot he can even manage it, or even tries to comfort me. If this ends badly for me, I will forever remember the feeling of family. This feeling of love, acceptance and what it really means to belong.
The phone rings, loud and clear, for us all to hear. Ren’s father is pressed up close behind his chair. If he could, he’d sit on his lap to get closer to the phone. Ren asks us all not to talk but doesn’t move his warning eyes from his father, who nods. My gut swirls and twists with each ring, each second, each heartbeat.
And then it happens.
His voice.
“Ren,” Sergei answers with a smug and charming voice, like he doesn’t have a care in the world. “How nice of you to call.”
Ren, on the other hand, barely contains his rage. “I swear to God. If you touch one hair on her fucking head–”
“Now, now.” Sergei doesn’t let him finish. “What’s with all the hostility? If you’re just going to be rude, then I don’t want to talk to you. Why don’t you put Lilly on the phone? She was always much more mild mannered and agreeable from my experience.”
Ren’s eyes lock on mine, gripping the phone so tight it might crush in his hand. No doubt the sound of Sergei’s blasé tone grates his nerves just as much as mine.
“I’m not putting Lilly on the phone.”
“Oh, is she not there? If she is smart, she is on her way home,” he says, and I flinch at the word home.
Never. Never again.
Ren breathes deep, trying to keep his composure, and then he asks a question we already know the answer to. “What do you want?”
“I told you. I want what’s mine.” Sergei’s words make my skin prickle, my heart sink and my stomach turn. “Bring my wife back and I will let your delectable sister go. I might even send her back with her virtue still intact. That’s if I can keep my men away from her. They have taken quite a liking to her.”
That’s when it happens, Ren’s father loses his mind. He yells and screams, calling him name after name. But Sergei only laughs, a maniacal crazed laugh, then hangs up, loving every minute of the pain he’s causing.
And for the second time today, Ren takes the phone and throws it across the room hitting a painting and taking them both down.
“Oi, fuck!” Dante yells, shaking his head.
“I can’t lose my daughter.” He turns to Ren, and drops to his knees clutching at his shirt, pounding his chest, tears streaming. “Not her. Not like Grace. You get her back. This is your fault. You started this with her! Now give her back and bring my baby home.”
His sobs fill the entire room and I see the tears in Ren’s eyes, and he turns his head away from us, away from anyone that can see. I want to go to him, but his father keeps pounding away. A sight that hits all the way to the heart. My tears are falling just like them, on their own, rolling down slowly and silently.
Then his dad stands, and turns to me, looking at me with such pain, I know I will never be able to forget it.
“Please,” he pleads. “Understand, she is innocent in all this. This is not her fault. I’m begging you, please. Do the right thing.”
My breath hitches, and my heart slams against my chest. The worst part, his words are true, it’s the only way to bring her back.