Losing Francesca Read online

  She's only about fifteen feet away and the rock on her finger has been flickering in the sunlight since she stepped out of the car. I know what's up and I won't be like these people. If she wants to stay, then I'll say goodbye and let her go. I look over at the muscle guy and smile. "You're the fiancée?" I ask, nodding to the ring on her finger.

  Fiona gasps and looks down at the ring like she forgot it was there. I smile internally at this.

  The muscle guy says nothing.

  "Brody—"

  "It's OK, Fiona, you don't owe me an explanation." This hurts her, I can tell from her expression. She takes a few steps towards me.

  "Faina! Get. In. The. Car." It's muscle guy this time.

  She hesitates and looks back at him. "No," she says softly. Her little whisper of defiance commands everyone's attention, including her father's and the police. "I'm not going to leave him without hearing him out. I'm not walking away this time."

  She turns back to me. "I wanted to say goodbye, Brody. But the TV cameras—"

  "You do not have to explain, Fiona. I'm not mad and you're a grown-up, so you know, you're allowed to make your own choices. To decide what's best for you." I stare her father in the eyes as the last part comes out. "But your story is not over, Fee," I say looking back to her. "I think you need to hear it. I think you might even want to hear it."

  I track back to Viktor Saburov and stare at him. It's his call really. We can't move forward unless he agrees because the truth is, we don't know what happened. We're bluffing. We have some idea, but we have no proof and no details.

  "Just tell her the truth, Mr. Saburov," I say politely. "She deserves that. Just tell her the truth and let her figure it out. She knows you love her—hell, even I can see you love her. So just tell her. Tell her she's Fiona Sullivan, because she's gonna find out eventually."

  Saburov lowers his weapon and lets out a long sigh.

  "Daddy?"

  "Faina, you are my daughter. You are Faina Saburov. The DNA test came back as a match because this is a fact."

  I watch Fee's face as she takes in the words. I'm not sure if her expression is one of relief or regret. Maybe both.

  "But you are also Fiona Sullivan." He stops and nods his head. "You are Fiona Sullivan." Saburov looks over at Barker now, then lets out another long breath. "You have a place to talk privately?"

  Barker nods. "Frank and Sean Sullivan are inside though, you should know that."

  I walk over and take Fiona's hand because she looks like she might fall over. "Come on, let's go inside. Frank and Sean are probably dying to kiss you right now."

  I lead her inside and everyone follows us. Frank and Sean huddle off to the side as everyone piles into the small room. We have a conference table set up, like we're having a business meeting or something. I never figured we'd get this far, to be honest. But it's a good sign. Sitting down at a table seems very civilized. Standing out in the parking lot with guns ready, not so much.

  Fiona chooses a seat, her dad sits on one side of her and Frank on the other. I stand behind her with the muscle guy. A woman, her mother I guess, sits next to her father and Sean sits next to Frank.

  It's got a whole Hatfields and McCoys vibe going on. Us against them. That's not really how I want this to play out, so I stick my hand out to the muscle guy. "Brody Mason, nice to meet you."

  He looks at me for a second. In fact, everyone looks at me for a second. Then he shakes my hand and his American accent briefly surprises me. "Nic Cretu."

  Sean pipes up, "Nic. Ah, the go-to guy. I'm the big brother." He sticks his hand out as well and the dumbfounded mafia guy shakes it as well.

  Viktor Saburov clears his throat to bring the attention back to him, and then takes Fiona's hand and begins to speak. "I loved your mother. I need to start with that. Your real mother was the love of my life."

  Fiona clasps her other hand over his and nods.

  "But what I do…" He hesitates as he looks over to Barker.

  "Hey," Barker interjects, "we're off the record, we have no jurisdiction here, and quite frankly, I could give a shit what you do over there in your own part of the world. So please, forget I'm here."

  Viktor turns back to Fiona. "What I do is unpopular, dangerous, and illegal."

  Fiona is not surprised.

  "Everyone knew I loved Yekaterina, we were best friends before we were lovers. I was being promoted quickly, I became… dangerous to be around. To be associated with. People were threatening her so much, I had to move her to Romania just to keep her alive and when she became pregnant with you, I moved her to America."

  Fiona pats her father's hand. "I understand, Daddy," she says softly.

  "But she was very frightened and so when you were born, she decided to give you up for adoption, so no one would ever know you were my daughter. So no one could ever hurt you because of me." He looks over to Frank. "And the Sullivans adopted you. She chose them, actually."

  I look over at Frank. I never knew that and by the look on his face, neither did he.

  "We picked a nice Irish family to erase all evidence that you were Russian. We paid the adoption agency to keep track of you, we hired people to make sure you were safe, and everything was fine until the Italy vacation."

  He stops to look at Frank again. "I did not kill your wife. And I did not steal my daughter back. They found her, they found them alone that day. My enemies knew she was my daughter and they took her. They killed your wife and dumped her body in the sea. They were about to kill Faina too, but my men intervened."

  He waits to see if Frank will say anything, maybe object or contradict him, but Frank simply nods, his face a bit crumpled and his eyes red and watery over the thoughts of Mrs. Sullivan's horrific death.

  "They killed my Yekaterina, too, Mr. Sullivan. They got my wife right after she came home from America and moved in with me in my Moldova flat. So I took my daughter back. I took your daughter away. To keep her safe," he says as his gaze moves to Barker. "And all this time I have kept her safe. She would be dead without me."

  He looks back to Fiona. "I'm sorry. You had so many nightmares. They killed your adopted mother right in front of you." He shakes his head. "You had so many nightmares."

  We sit in silence.

  "Thank you," Frank says as the tears stream down. "Thank you for telling me what happened." And then he pushes back from the table and walks out of the room.

  Sean and I look at each other, then he gets up and follows his dad outside.

  Viktor looks up at me and Fiona turns to do the same. "Now what?" her father asks. "What do you want?"

  I take a deep breath and look him in the eye. "I love her." I shrug. "I love her," I say again, this time to Nic. "I've loved her since I was a little boy, I looked for her…" I stop and have to shake my head to stop the flood of emotion that wants to let loose. "You have no idea how long I looked for her."

  I find Fiona's face. "It's not fair that you're both girls. I understand. I—" I grow some balls, that's what I do, because this is my only chance. "I love you, Fiona. I want you to choose me, I want you to say you love me back and never leave me again. But I'm not going to ask you to do that. It's not fair." I look over at her dad now. "None of this is fair."

  Chapter Forty-Four - Fiona

  The entire time my dad is talking I'm reliving the nightmare. Everything he says is true. All the memories of that night in the boat come back and I feel the tight bindings around my wrists. They cut me and the blood is running all over my little orange sun dress. My mother has a gag in her mouth, as do I, but it's her gag that I'm focused on because it's preventing her from breathing or she's choking or something. She's gasping and they hit her several times, yelling in another language.

  When her face begins to turn blue I start squealing and kicking. I know, even at that age, that this is not good. Never mind the fact that we're with strangers I can't understand. My mother is turning blue and that is not normal. She is dying.

  When I look up Brody is t
alking to me, professing his love for me. Asking me, pleading with me to choose him. I need to choose. How do I choose? What does it mean to make this decision right now?

  I have no answers for these questions at the moment. No one in this room is impartial, save for Barker. I almost laugh at that thought. To think, he might be the only one worth listening to.

  "I want to choose you, Brody. I want to choose everyone." I lean over and hug my dad. "I still love you. I know you did what you thought was right."

  Barker clears his throat. "Well, I have a proposition for you, Viktor."

  I get up and stand next to Brody. He takes my hand and squeezes it. "What proposition?" I ask, redirecting Barker's attention to me because my dad looks a little lost right now and it's weird.

  He's never lost. He is always in control.

  "We found her school name," he says, addressing my father again. "She's enrolled at UCSD for the fall semester?"

  "I was," I say as I let out a sigh. "But I can't go now. I wouldn't feel safe."

  "She can't go," my father says. He sounds so defeated, it breaks my heart. "She can't go back, not after the attention she had in Ohio."

  Barker shrugs. "She could still go. Her face was never shown on TV. No one got a clear picture, but even if they did, we would've confiscated it. I've been authorized to offer a deal if you let her come back to America. We could give her a new name, reestablish her citizenship, make her American. We could smooth things over with the school, we could provide protection. You could," he says, gesturing to Nic, "have your men keep track of her. Or you can just keep her on that little island for the rest of her life. But even paradise can be a prison."

  He stops and we're all silent.

  "You don't have to decide now. The offer stands." He hands me a card. "When you're ready, Fiona." And then he turns to Brody. "Thank you for your help. I've been working this case for a dozen years and now it's closed. Good luck." He shakes Brody's hand, then proceeds to shake everyone's hand, including mine and my dad's. "And goodbye."

  And Barker walks out.

  Brody sits down in the seat next to me and there is complete silence.

  "Well," Nic says as he walks around the table to stand on the other side. He looks over at me as I fiddle with my new ring. "This is a mess."

  "No shit," Brody says sarcastically. He puts his hand on my shoulder until I turn. "Are you marrying this guy?" He jerks his thumb towards Nic.

  I take the ring off and slide it across the table. I look over at my dad and he's shaking his head. I look over at Nic and he's just staring at the ring. "I'm sorry," I tell him. "I'm sorry, but really, I have nothing to be sorry about. You guys do, because you've been lying to me."

  I stand up and turn to my dad. "I don't hate you, I don't even blame you, honestly. I'd probably do the same thing if I were you. But this is over now. That judge in Ohio was right. Frank Sullivan deserves his chance to get to know me. You've had me almost my whole life. It's not Frank's fault you're hated and dangerous. All he knew was that his wife and child were gone. He loved me, they all love me and I'm not even related to any of them. And none of this is my fault, either. Why do I have to be punished because you're—"

  I stop myself from saying the words, but I want to say them. I want to say, You're the bad guy here. You are very, very bad. You do things that make people hate you so much, they want to kill your family. You are some kind of evil criminal, and none of this is my fault.

  But I don't say any of that because he is still my father and I will always love him. Besides, he doesn't need me to tell him what he is.

  He knows.

  Brody stands and takes my hand but my dad reaches out and touches my arm before I can walk away. "You will not be safe there."

  "I won't be safe anywhere, Dad. Life is a risk. But it's my life now and I'm going to live it the way I want. I deserve time with Frank and Sean and Brody. I like them, I like what they have back there. It's a nice family, it's a nice place, and just like you could never replace them, they will never replace you."

  He remains silent as his mouth drops into a deep frown. I lean down and hug him, then whisper into his ear in my bad Russian, "I know who I am now." I switch to Romanian. "I will love all of you forever." I switch to American English. "But I'm leaving with them and I'll be back when I'm ready."

  I lean down and hug Sophia, then kiss her once on each cheek. "You know I love you, right?"

  She squeezes me tightly, then kisses me on both cheeks. "Go," she says. "Go and start your life, Faina. You know where home is."

  "Thank you," I whisper.

  I turn and look at Brody. His smile is a little too smug for such a somber moment, but hey, the guy's waited twelve years for his moment, so I let him have it. He laces his fingers in mine and we walk out of the building together.

  Epilogue - Brody

  The first surprise we got after returning to Ohio was Sean's silver filly munching hay in the front paddock, looking pretty satisfied to be hanging out with her own kind for once. Angela told us she just appeared the morning after we left for Fiji, eating random weeds alongside of the big barn, pretending she hasn't been running wild the entire summer. I'll be honest, I'll miss her morning visits begging for treats because after Fiona was taken away, that filly was like a lifeline for me. She kept me hopeful. But it's better that she went home. She's safe now.

  Fiona's mom and dad sent her boxes and boxes of shit. Just plain shit she didn't need. Like fucking seashells from Fiji, like she never saw a shell before and these seashells will be the answer to all her prayers. Or clothes. She's already got a boatload of clothes, Angela and Frank couldn't stop shopping for her once she got home. Or even housewares. Like Sophia and Viktor feel they were missing out on the whole first apartment deal and had to send a toaster.

  They took it real well though. Considering. I think they were just as relieved to have the secret out in the open as we were to get Fiona back. They still call her all those other names. She's Filia one minute, then Faina, then Fiona. But it always comes back to Fee.

  She's always been Fee.

  After the toaster gift I shouldn't have been surprised when they sent the deed to a beach house in Hawaii. Fiona decided not to go to UCSD. It freaked her out to know the FBI would have to watch her. Plus, she was anxious to get back to the South Pacific and when your dad buys you a house in Hawaii, it's pretty much settled.

  And even though that Vik is a sneaky sonofabitch, I'm cool with it. Renn and the little brothers are fine without me. Renn figured I picked up all his slack while he was getting his career started, so he owed me.

  How could I ever deny Fiona island living? Besides, her dad paid someone off and got her enrolled at the University of Hawaii starting winter term.

  Fee was like a little clam when that news came in. Happy.

  When we got back to Ohio after the big reveal in Nadi, the farm was quiet and safe. Frank always shuts the barn down when the kids go back to school, no lessons or nothing for an entire month. Gives parents a break, he said.

  Fee stayed there that month and we tried to hide her from the town, but you know how that shit goes. There was a big meeting at the fire station and we tried to explain the deal. Pretty much everyone shut up and left us alone after that.

  But it was too risky to stay there. And Vik was just a paranoid maniac. He had so much private security in Woods people actually complained about the slump in the local economy when we left for Hawaii.

  Our house is small, just a one-bedroom cottage, but it's on the beach and it's not too far from Fee's school.

  Frank is flying everyone out for Christmas and they're all staying at some resort close by. Not to be outdone, Vik is flying us all down to his island for New Year's. He can't come to Hawaii. Barker kept his word about Fiona, but all deals are off if Vik sets foot in the US.

  I skip a rock into the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean as I stand on the beach outside the back door of our house.

  I am twenty-one-year-old Bro
dy.

  And every bad thing that has ever happened to me has been wiped away.

  It took a long time. It took a lot of mistakes, and anger, and sadness, and waiting.

  But I finally found Fiona Sullivan.

  The End

  Hey readers! If you enjoyed Losing Francesca why not take a few moments to jot down a few words about the story and give it a rating on Amazon… just page forward and they ask you automatically! It's almost too easy! And I really need the reviews, because I'm an Indie and it's real hard to fight your way to the top of the pile where people can see you without a ton of reviews. So if you've got just a minute, I'd appreciate that.

  End of Book Shit, Take Three

  My next book, Rook and Ronin, Book Two, MANIC, is scheduled to release on August 1, 2013. If you haven't read TRAGIC, Book One you can pick that up here. You can add MANIC to your Goodreads shelf by clicking here and you can find me every single day over at New Adult Addiction Book Blog. That's where I post cool bookish things about books I did not write. If you want to read about me talking about me and my own books (I know, not nearly as fun as other people's bookish things) you can find me at my website here.

  If you like science fiction, I have an entire series about a psycho girl called Junco you can check out here.

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  Being a successful indie author means you work extremely hard because there's generally no team of people to thank at the end of the book. Sometimes we hire out cover artists and editors. I typically have other people make my covers, Claudia from Phatpuppy Art did a wonderful job on the front photo for Losing Francesca, so a big thank you to her. And I always hire out for editing. I have only ever used one editor, her name is RJ Locksley and she's awesome, so another big thank you to her. But that's it as far as my production team goes. I guess Lightning Source gets a nod. They make my paperbacks look fantastic.