Chained Princess

Chapter 23 : Fighting For Her

A A R O N ' S P . O . V

"And then I did a roundhouse kick and Jimmy fell down." Caitlin laughed brightly as I slotted in the house key and opened the door. "It was so cool, and now everyone everyone thinks I'm the best."

"See! I told you it'd be great, and now you can beat up weird boys who try to ask you out."

She gave me that look that Kiara always gave me whenever I said something wrong. "Nice try."

Shrugging, I set the pizza and peeled off my jacket. It was worth a try. The lights up stairs were all one and no contagious laughter echoed through the house so I was assuming that Kiara and Anastasia were napping.

I glanced up at the clock. Huh, it's six. Kiara never keeps her down this late.

"Can you please get Kiara and tell her that food is here? She's probably sleeping." Caitlin ran up the stairs, still practicing her sharp punches in the air.

Tristan was the one who suggested it, I just pay. It was really a good investment and now she can help defend herself. I wish she never has to use it, but my life is unpredictable and unfortunately Caitlin is dragged into that danger.

"She's not there." I heard Caitlin screamed from the upper landing. Where the hell was she then?

Suddenly a piercing cry broke out. "Kiara! Kiara, Anastasia is awake! Kiara!" I yelled but no response.

I checked the couch, checked the garden, the f*****g cupboards under the stairs. Anastasia still screamed, so I gave up my search and rushed upstairs. She couldn't be in the house, if she had, then she would have ran upstairs when she heard Anastasia.

The door was shut, which was strange, but nevertheless I opened it. It was dark, hardly any light coming in, and Anastasia was standing up in the crib, her hands on either side of the bars as she screamed.

Her cheeks were flames, eyes red and puffy, and she seemed exhausted. "Hi bunny," I picked her up and cradled her in my arms.

Gently rubbing her back, I waited until her cries turned into small hiccups, before lifting her up on my hip. "Stasia, where's mama?"

"Mama gone." My anxiety flared as she placed her head on my shoulder. No, no, she wouldn't have left me. Not like this, not again, not everything and definitely not without Anastasia.

Take a breath. Inhaling deeply, I forced aside any insecurities and centred my mind.

Think, Aaron. f*****g think.

The doormat when I walked in had a mud streak over it. That wasn't there this morning before we left and Kiara would have removed her shoes if they were that muddy. She hated dirt.

The pram wasn't in the hallway so it was still in the car. She moves it after she puts Anastasia down, not before, meaning that whatever happened, happened when she walked in.

The door was shut. She would have never have done that unless she suspected something, unless she was trying to protect Anastasia.

Then the picture in the hallway, it was crooked. Slightly ajar, but the difference was enough to know that something or someone knocked it, and Kiara always stays to the banister side, not the wall.

I quickly stepped out of the room and let my

eyes do a quick scan, but nothing else was wrong. There was no big clues, no evidence, no...what the f**k was that?

My eyes zeroed in on the bright red thing that caught the corner of my eye. I crouched down slowly and reached out to grab it. It was embedded deep into the carpet, and only when I held up to the light did I realise that it was a fake nail.

A fake nail? Kiara didn't wear fake nails and I hated the things as well. But she...she loved anything fake. She would have done this, just to spite me.

"That fucking..."

"Language!" A small hand clasped over my mouth. I glanced up to glare at Caitlin. She shook her head in feigned disappointment. "Not in-front of the baby."

"Someone took Kiara." I mumbled incoherently.

"What?" As if only noticing her hand was still pressed tightly over my mouth, she sighed and removed it.

"Someone took Kiara." Her eyes grew wide, flaring with panic, and I quick drew her in close. "I'll get her back. I promise you," I murmured to them both.

Anastasia whined for food and her mama, making me quickly realise she's probably been starving for two hours now. "Call Tristan, tell him that Kiara has been kidnapped by the Russian mafia."

"Wait what?"

"Do it!" I stormed downstairs and grabbed some leftover baby food from the fridge. Instead of setting her down in the high chair, I held her close to me as I fed her.

Not wanting to part in the fear of someone taking away my little girl as well.

"He's coming. What else should I do?" I noted the clear desperation in her eyes to help. She needed a distraction, someone to make her forget that Kiara was in danger.

I needed that too, if only just for a moment.

"Here, can you finish feeding Anastasia and then keep her occupied? Just play, I need to ring Rosa."

Handing her off to Caitlin, I grabbed my phone and texted Rosa to ask if she could baby sit. The doorbell ran not moments later, and Tristan, breathless and weary, was standing on the other side.

Mia was behind him, a computer tucked between her strong muscled arms. "We've got twenty four hours to find her or she's dead."

That's how this always went with Mikhail. I was no stranger to his inhuman methods of torturing, had witnessed them first hand. Kiara wouldn't physically survive, never mind mentally.

"I've ordered all our men to start tracking her, Sasha, the entire family. I can't believe you don't have security cameras."

"I wanted to maintain my privacy. I mumbled agitated and furious. "Mia, can you hack the b***h's phone? She never goes anywhere without it."

She swept her long auburn hair that was plaited into a tug braid aside. "Of course. Thank god, you got the serial number before you ended things with her. It makes this so much easier."

"I was never with her."

It was why I had found the serial number of her cell and given it to Mia. I knew one day I would need it, Sasha was crazy. Always trying to find out where I was, always following me, getting into fights with girls because they just as much as looked at me.

Rolling her eyes, she got to work, furiously tapping away at her keyboard. Tristan's phoned buzzed with a loud incessant hum. "Yeah...that sounds good...really...perfect...text me if you find anything else."'

"Who was it?"

"Martinez. He managed to get a pin on Sasha's car, it's parked at a loading dock owned by her father on the South Bay."

"Let's go get her then." As I made move, he grabbed my arm.

"I don't think Mikhail knows of this. I'm pretty sure she's acting alone or with help but...I don't think it's mafia business. It's personal."

"What the f**k does that matter?"

"It matters because doing this could start something Aaron. Something I don't know we could finish." I took a lethal threatening step towards him.

"Are you saying you don't think we could win? We're the f*****g Ghosts. We run this city and anyone who thinks differently...I eliminate. So tell me Tristan, do you think differently?"

He stayed still and silent, breathing raggedly as his nostrils flared in anger. Mia stared on in horror, until eventually he clenched his jaw and sighed.

"No...sir." Friend or not, I was his boss, his leader and always would be.

"Good. Then let's go. Mia, can you wait here for Rosa and text me anything you can find?"

"Of course." I left them both alone to say their goodbyes. When you lived the lived we did, you always had to say goodbye like it was your last.

My harsh expression softened as I entered the dining room. Anastasia babbled and laughed as Caitlin read her favourite book. This was what we were fighting so hard to persevere. Our future, our family.

I had to believe that Kiara was still fighting too.

"I'm leaving now, Rosa will be here soon." Crouched down, I pressed a kiss against Anastasia's chubby cheek and held out my hand to Caitlin.

"Promise you'll come back with Kiara." I'd never told her a fake promise before, so I said what I believed to be true.

"I promise Kiara will come back." Squeezing her hand, I let it drop and slowly retreated out of the room. Tristan threw me a gun, that I tucked deftly into the back of my pants.

The engine roared as he turned in the ignition and I pulled out my phone to gaze at my home screen. A stunning picture of Kiara smiling up at the clouds that hovered above her.

It reminded myself what was at stake to lose.

Texts from Mia came flooding through with images of Sasha's texts to her brother about the k********g. She gave him the pin which she knew from her time of stalking me and her brother was an expert in lock picking. A petty thief who got off on breaking into women's homes.

"She'll be okay." Tristan muttered. More to himself than me.

"I know." Because losing her was not an option.

***

K I A R A ' S P. O. V

Groaning, I forced my dropping head up slightly. Immediately all the tension in my spine accumulated and pulled all at once forcing a splintering pain to harbour inside my body.

My joints ached, and I could harsh rope tightly coiled around my wrists, rubbing raw against my skin. Blood stained my clothes, and the tender wound against my head oozed with blood. The slick wetness causing a blinding headache to torment me.

What the f**k happened?

The last thing I remembered was putting Anastasia down for her nap...shit no. Anastasia. I thrashed furiously against the ropes of my confinement.

"Let me out! Let me out!" I screamed despite the wretched burning that scorched my dehydrated throat.

I heard a heavy door thud open in the darkness. A stream of light filtered beneath, what I assumed to be the door, and no windows or vents filtered any air in.

I felt like I was dying. Deprived of light, air, sanity. It was dehumanising.

Suddenly a heavy clunk arose as the door creaked open, forced at the rusted hinges. My eyes squinted at the heavy harsh light that followed the arrival of two shadows.

I cringed away from it, but then a generator suddenly began whirring in the distance as lights flickered on, causing the dark to flee.

The first thing I saw was a rat nibbling away at an old decomposed body. I wretched the contents of my stomach onto the floor, gagging on the raw scent of the smell.

I thought it was the damp, persuaded myself it was anything but what I knew. The smell of a decomposing body was haunting, and up until now I had only had the horror of experiencing one.

"He was a traitor to my father." A thick Russian accent filtered from one of the shadows. "When my father found out what he had done, selling information to our enemies, then let's just say...there wasn't anything on this Earth to save this man's life."

It was her. I would recognise her mass of blonde curls anywhere, the taunting curves of her perfectly sculpted body, that grin callous smirk that stretched along her face.

Aaron fiancé. Ex...his ex fiancée.

All those deep dark feelings that I fought hard to bury were sudden being dredged back up. The way she called him hers, the way he couldn't tell me it was a lie, the guilt swarmed within the same dark blue eyes that sought solace within.

"You." Her smirk grew and she flipped her hair over her shoulder with her perfectly red nails.

Haughtily, she winked. "Me."

My eyes gazed over to the man behind her. He was tall and scantily in his build. Patches of acne greased over his face and the sickening smile he flashed me with was enough to know he wasn't it in this for anything other than to harm me.

I mustered up enough courage to murder one word. "Why?"

"Isn't obvious? You took what's mine, and I don't like sharing."

A mirthless laughter bubbled out of my chest. "Seriously? This is about Aaron, a man? You kidnapped me because Aaron's is in love me. Punished me for taking what you think is yours."

Scoffing, I met her eyes with my own bitchy grin.

"This isn't playtime sweetie. High school was over for you years ago and in the grown up world, you don't kidnap people because the boy you like, doesn't like you back. That's called being desperate."

With a shrill screech, she stomped her foot childishly. "Shut the f**k up. He was beautiful, we were going to get married and then you just ruined it with your stupid baby and your stupid face. God, you're not even pretty. You're his charity case, and soon he'll get bored."

"If you're so sure about that, then why am I here? Why not just let him leave me and come back to you?"

"Because..."

"Because you know it's not true. You're crazy."

The wolf look that flared inside her eyes stirred up a murderous rage. I needed to distract her long enough to get myself free of the binds.

I'd already managed to undo one knot, just two more remained and my right hand was close to slipping free.

I could take them both. It might take a lot, and I haven't exactly fought anyone in a long time but...the door. I could use the door to my advantage and, he had a gun. The man behind her wasn't doing a good job at keeping it stabilised on its waist. I could easily snatch it away.

"Andrei!" She snapped, causing the man behind her to stand to order. Taking a deep breath, she seemed to regain a sense of strange composure and smiled sickly. "In return for helping me kidnap, this man stealing w***e, brother, I promised you could have her."

She didn't need to elaborate. I understood her intent. This b***h was so obsessed with my boyfriend that she was willing to let her brother r**e me.

"Well, have her. Quickly, because I'm close to killing this bitch."

"Relax Sasha," I shivered in disgust at the way he gazed at her. There was something hidden beneath this sister brotherly love and for a moment I almost felt bad for her. "You'll get what you want."

A genuine smile graced her lips as she pecked his cheek, and I noted the look of longing that swarmed in his eyes. This was my chance.

There something within this strange incestuous relationship that gave me a window, and I wasn't going down without a fight.

Andrei turned to me with that sick look that lingered amid the grotesque nature of his mind. "Let's do this doll."

"Yeah, let's." I snapped free from my bonds and thrust my left leg straight up. He grunted, clasping his hands over his most prized possession and keeled over.

The pained expression on his face was enough to gratify me, so much so that I didn't register the knife soaring straight towards me. I winced at the sharp inflict of pain that jarred against my shoulder.

Gritting my teeth, I yanked it out and faced the vapid b***h who threw it at me. "Should have aimed for the head." Then I sliced it through the air.

It hit her in the chest hard. She stumbled back in her nine inch stilettos, tripping over herself and falling back. Her head smacked hard against the concrete with a horrible thud.

Andrei and I stared at her limp body. Then he turned to me with raged stare, a frantic anger crazed inside his eyes. "You..."

He charged, forcing me to duck. My bare feet slipped in the pool of blood that oozed from Sasha's head, and I skidded, tumbling towards the floor.

Andrei gripped the back of my shirt and hauled me back. We fell onto the floor, but he managed to get the upper hand, rolling us over until he was on top.

I squirmed underneath him, gripped the hands that wrapped themselves around my throat. "You killed her, you killed you, you stupid f*****g bitch..."

"She...would...have...killed...me." I could feel it. The air in my throat constricting, the blood inside my body begging to be freed, and that small fleck of lost hope that made me believe that this was it. The end at the hands of this spot faced bastard.

Memories came floating forward, Anastasia, Aaron, Caitlin, my parents. It was the kind of thing you always envisioned happening whenever you were close to death. My baby would grow up without a mother and I would miss everything.

No, no, that couldn't happen. What kind of mother was I, if I didn't fight for us?

I stopped prying at his hands, stopped fighting, and instead reached down for the gun. My only lifeline, because if I failed...that was it.

"Come on, give up. Go to the light b***h, come on." I struggled as I reached. My fingers pried forward to their brink, the ache in them becoming excruciating with the lack of oxygen.

Then I felt it. The cold of the metal barrel and I clasped my fingers around it tight, yanking it up. I saw the stunned fear in his eyes as I c****d the gun and pressed it flat against his forehead.

Tears seeped from my eyes and I felt that tiny part of my fight give up, as my fingers pressed the trigger.

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A/N: Ahh!! So thoughts on Andrei and Sasha?

What do you think Aaron will do when he finds her?