Moving Forward
924 Words
Ari woke up screaming and drenched in sweat.
She was dreaming about that night nearly five years ago today, when she and Nik were targeted in an ambush.
The night nearly five years ago when her newly found happiness, her new family and dreams for her and Nik's future were shattered like the glass of their vehicle.
She remembers the loud ting and bangs as bullets struck the car.
She remembers the fear on Nik's face when he realized Ari was in danger.
She remembers the screams of men as they dropped to the ground in droves, either injured or dead, as Nik lived up to his tile and fought like the Devil himself to protect her.
She remembers the screeching of tires as Nik's men joined in the fray to fight of their attackers and help get them back to the safety of the Romanov estate.
She remembers trembling in shock and fear as Nik carried her into his bedroom instead of hers and insisted the family doctor yet again tend to Ari's cuts and bruises before tending to Nik's more serious injuries.
But despite all the terrifying memories of the night, the memory that still haunts her most is the events of the next morning.
She woke the morning after the attack in an empty cold bed. Nik had, as usual, held her during the night to calm her, but the bed was ice-cold, and on the nightstand was a folded piece of paper with Moya Angyel on the back of it. She knew instantly something was wrong and unfolded the note with trembling hands and tears already threatening to fall.
She could still remember the letter that broke her heart word for word, it read:
" Moya Angyel, from the moment I saw you in that alley I knew you were special.
The innocence in your gaze and the kindness and bravery you showed when, despite your own dire circumstances, you still took time to help a stranger... it thawed my icy heart and I vowed then that I would do everything in my power to love and protect you until you were old enough to be mine completely. I couldn't dream of a better woman to make my wife or raise children with and I think I fell in love with you instantly.
You deserve all the happiness and love in the world, Angyel, and I selfishly believed I could keep you and give them to you
But last night showed me that whilst I could protect you from people like the men in your old foster homes, that, as long as you were by my side, you would always be in danger and, eventually, my sins would catch up with me and you, Angyel, could be hurt because of them.
That's why I have decided the best thing for me to do is to protect you from a distance.
I will keep you safe forever from people like your foster homes and any other dangers that threaten you, but I must also protect you from the dangers that come with being to close to me.
In the envelope is the completed documentation for your emancipation. My lawyers have completed it, so legally you are free from the state and will never have to fear foster homes again.
There are details of a bank account I set up for you that will provide for you for life, keys to a house I purchased for you. And I have set up the continuation of your schooling and organized for Mishka to take you to your new home and stay with you for a while to help get you settled.
I know you are probably angry right now, but I would rather you be angry than dead and last night only proved that if you stay by my side one day you will die and that ...is not something I could ever live with.
Take care, I wish you all the happiness in the world in the future. Nik"
She remembers searching the estate desperately for Nik and finding out he ran like a coward in the night.
She packed a bag taking only the contents of her old emergency bag, the knife Nik gave her, one of Sasha's books, Mishka's gun and Dima's sparing gloves, things to remind her of them. She stubbornly left the school laptop, house key and details of the bank account, and during the next guards rotation and before Mishka could collect her, Ari ran.
Five years later, she still felt the betrayal and heart break like it was fresh every time she thought of that letter.
She had dragged herself onward in the last five years and, despite living in a mold-ridden apartment, with actual cockroaches as roomies, having dodgy neighbors who were worse than the roaches, living off ramen noodles and working three jobs... Ari was proud of herself.
She had finished school by herself and managed to achieve a scholarship to attend university in Chicago, and she was working towards becoming a teacher. She had managed to continue the training she started with Dima and was trained in a few fight styles as well as confident in self-defense and weapons handling. She had even made several close friends.
She might be broke, overworked and still a darn virgin, since she's had no luck with men, but she was happy with the life she had...even if at times her thoughts drifted towards Nik and her heart still ached for the future together that she lost.
- Writer
