Saving Anya

by Nelson, Latrivia

  The loud sound alerted a bodyguard standing outside the barn, who quickly opened the door and peaked inside. Getting on the radio as he looked at Balthazar, he called up to the chateau and then abruptly slammed the door shut again.

  Then suddenly, Balthazar knew without asking where he was, and it made his heart nearly stop beating. He wished at that moment that he had a way to get free, if to do nothing else but kill himself.

  A few minutes later, as he lay looking up at the rafters of the barn, the door opened and Dmitry came walking in.

  “Good, you’re awake,” Dmitry said, checking his IV drip. Leaning over the man, he smiled like a caring doctor while he checked Balthazar’s wounds. “I was beginning to get worried about you there for a minute, chief.”

  “How long have I been out?” Balthazar asked in a raspy voice. His lips were cracked and dry, his throat parched. Wishing for water, he looked around for something to drink.

  “Three days,” Dmitry answered, rising back up. “But you’re healing well. We were able to cauterize your arm socket to keep you from expiring,” he said, lightly touching Balthazar. “The arm is over there with Sven.”

  Snatching his head back, Balthazar looked over to see his dead boyfriend’s corpse beaten badly, tied to the chair, eyes rolled to the back of his head, covered in blood and naked.

  Screaming out, Balthazar cried as he called out Sven’s name. “Why don’t you just kill me?” he asked, turning his head away from Dmitry.

  “Why would I want to do that,” Dmitry asked with a frown on his face. “You and I are going to be close friends. You were supposed to have company but Vladimir didn’t last through last night. Such a pussy. He’s already been buried. I thought his screaming would wake you up considering that it woke up half of Prague, but you were out cold.” A toothy smile gave away Dmitry’s sinister intentions. “Oh and one other thing. I got in touch with Lawrence Winchester, you know the guy that you sold my daughter to in South Africa. He sends his regards… sent his regards actually. I had him put through a meat grinder yesterday.” Dmitry shook his head. “Pity. I heard that his metal plate messed up one of my augers.” Waving his hand across his face, Dmitry picked up a can of Lysol and sprayed it up in the air. “You’ll have to excuse the smell. Your boyfriend put out quite a stink. You’ll get used to it though.”

  Going insane with thoughts, Balthazar tried again to pull himself free. “How long do you plan to keep me here? Why don’t you just shoot me and get it over with already?”

  “I already shot you,” Dmitry reminded.

  “So why don’t you just kill me then?”

  “Oh, you want to hear my plans for you? Okay,” Dmitry said, clasping his hands together. “I’m going to make an example out of you, Balthazar. No one will ever think about touching another Medlov child again after I’m done with you. I plan to cut your legs off, so that you can’t run away with any more children, cut your heart out the way you cut out my wife’s heart when you took her only daughter, take out your eyes and send them to your family so they can see what has happened to you and put your head on a stake and have it bronzed. It will stay in my office as a sort of book end for my Plato collection. The rest of you will be thrown in the grave with your life mate so you can rot in hell together until the end of time. But I haven’t figured out what order I’ll be doing all this so for now, just get some rest.”

  In tears, Balthazar felt water rush down his leg. Dmitry looked at his pants and shook his head. “Did you know that you just pissed yourself?” he asked, turning up his nose.

  Balthazar said nothing.

  Dmitry smiled again and leaned close to the man’s ear. “When you’re laying here over the next few days asking yourself why this is happening to you, I want you to remember that you brought this on yourself. Just be happy that when it’s all done, I’ll give you a decent burial right beside the men that you indirectly killed, because I want them to know that they don’t have to roll over in their graves in humiliation that no one took revenge for them. I want you there by them to remind everyone what happens when you cross the wrong person. People are going to tell this story for a hundred years. And every time that they tell it, you’re going to be remembered as the man who died a hundred deaths. And my daughter’s great grandchildren will be able to walk past your gravesite and read your tombstone, and you know what it will say? Don’t fuck with Dmitry Medlov.”

  Standing up, Dmitry took a wet towel and wiped Balthazar’s cracked bloody lips then set a mason jar beside him. The jar was filled with bloody water and had a severed penis and testicles in it.

  “See anything you recognize?” Dmitry asked, setting it across from Balthazar’s good arm. “I wanted to save a little piece of Sven for you. I’m going to leave this for you, and when your thirst and hunger reaches fever pitch, you know what you’ll do.” Straightening his suit jacket, he turned his back to him and walked away whistling. “See you soon,” he said as he walked out of the barn and closed the door behind him. “See you real soon.”

  Epilogue

  7 months later

  Memphis, TN

  Alexandria Anabeth Medlov was a bubbly nine pound, 3 ounce, 21 inch baby girl born to Anatoly Medlov and Renee Cooper on a beautiful Sunday morning. Two days later, when she and her parents arrived back at the Medlov compound, everyone was ready to celebrate. Dmitry and Royal had flown in with the kids and Gabriel and Briggy had been there for a couple of months helping with all the preparations that were needed. Plus, with Gabriel being very new to the council, he had moved back stateside to Miami permanently in order to serve under the tutelage of his cousin.

  With a huge dinner underway and some of Renee’s family who had drove up from Atlanta on the way over, it looked like little Alex as Anatoly called her was going to have her very first party before she was even a week old.

  It was a mixed fanfare today of southern fried foods and old world Russian recipes and a combination of Russian mafia figures and good ole down home folk. Everyone was looking quite forward to it and being able to hold Dmitry’s first grandchild.

  Of course Dmitry and Royal had pulled out all of the stops, gifting the child with a hand-carved nursery commissioned by one of the best carpenters in the world along with a host of gifts that could barely fit in the house. In a pair of jeans and t-shirt, Dmitry carried boxes of toys and clothes out of the trunk into the mansion, while Royal chased the twin boys around the entertainment room.

  They had recently taken to walking and were a handful, but Anya was more than happy to help keep an eye on them. She watched them every moment that she was around them, fascinated by their growth.

  Plus, the wedding plans were still underway. With only five months left, Renee, Royal and Briggy were planning the biggest wedding that Memphis had ever seen and it would take place right there on the Medlov grounds.

  Basically, everything was going great. Gabriel still was staying far away from the idea of marriage or children, but he cared deeply for Briggy. Royal and Dmitry were busy raising three busy Medlovs themselves while Dmitry overhauled the council and went after new money like he was a starving teenager again. Happy to be fully back in his element, Dmitry had been reinvigorated by his new life and all the infinite possibilities.

  As far as Anatoly was concerned, he was enjoying not being the Czar anymore. There was more time for him to spend with his family, his dogs and focusing on some of the smaller ventures that he had brought before the council. Plus, he was learning by leaps and bounds under his father’s new reign. In truth, he had learned that he might not have been as ready as he thought to carry the title.

  While all the hoopla was going on around the house, there was a call from the gate. At first, Anatoly thought that it was another one of Renee’s family members, but security said that it was someone else. When he found out who, he went and got his father and cousin as had the man escorted into his study.

  Making sure that no one saw him when he entered, they closed the door and locked it. />
  Dmitry sat in the corner of the room with his legs cocked open and his elbows on his knees. Gabriel watched, confused about why the guy was so important, and Anatoly sat behind the desk amazed that out of everyone in the universe, he had chosen to come to them.

  Nicola Agosto.

  The Italian Memphis Police Department detective sat across from all of them unshaved and wearing jeans and a pullover. He looked worse than Dmitry ever recalled seeing him before.

  “I’m sure that you’ve seen what happened,” Agosto said, taking off his shades.

  “How could we miss it? You made national news and started a city-wide riot,” Dmitry said, getting up to go to the bar. “You still drinking Jack and Coke?”

  “Yeah,” Agosto said, sitting back in the chair. “Funny how shit happens, right?”

  “Real fucking funny,” Gabriel said, remembering who the guy was after he pulled off his shades. “You’re in deep shit. Why did you do it? Beat that guy up like that.”

  Agosto looked over at Gabriel. “He deserved it. Trust me. He was threatening to harm my children…sexually.”

  Anatoly looked over at his father as Dmitry passed Agosto a drink. “Here, this will take the edge off.”

  “Thanks,” Agosto said, taking a big gulp.

  “So, you’re off the force?” Dmitry asked, sitting back down.

  Agosto nodded.

  “Wow,” Anatoly said, raising his brow. “I never thought it would end this way.”

  “Oh, it’s not fucking over,” Agosto said. “That’s why I’m here. I need your help. There is a child sex ring right here in the city, and if they think just because they were able to destroy my name that they can stop me from coming after them, then they have another fucking thing coming. This only means that I get to take the gloves off. But I will get them…all of them. I will make them pay.”

  Dmitry looked over at Agosto and read his face. Nodding at Anatoly, he sat back in his chair and crossed his legs. “Da. Let’s talk.”

  The End

  The World In Reverse

  Nicola Agosto has always lived on the right side of the law, but to truly serve the just in the biggest case of his life, he’s forced to cross into a world where he must become a criminal and a killer before he can become a Saint.

  A pedophile ring has set up shop in Memphis, Tennessee. Children are abducted and found dead. But what is the link? The murder of a recent set of twins that remind him of his own sons pushes him to make a promise to a mother that will be hell to keep. Save the Children. As Agosto draws closer to busting the ring, he is set up in a brutal police attack on a young, black gang member to throw him off his investigation. A YouTube post of the beating sweeps the Internet and sends the city into racial unrest. As people protest in the streets, the entire police force divides and the city prepares to burn.

  Suspended and ridiculed, Agosto faces certain jail time and the questionable safety of his own family unless he makes a move, not be mention he’s been accused of being a racist. Even though his wife and children are African-American, his world crumbles around him and the love between he and Ivy is tested as they struggle to stay together.

  With only a few friends to turn to and even less time to act, Nicola does the unthinkable. A quick call to a local mob boss unleashes the army Nicola has always hated and exposes cops that have been in bed with organized crime the entire time, including an old friend from the Medlov case. Only Nicola is now one of them and to achieve his ultimate objective, he must pledge his allegiance to a world in reverse.

  The World In Reverse Coming Summer 2012.

  STAY IN TOUCH

  Official Author Website

  www.latrivianelson.info

  Email Latrivia Today

  Latrivia@LatriviaNelson.com

  Follow Latrivia on Twitter

  www.twitter.com/Latrivia

  Blog With Other Lonely Heart Fans

  www.thelonelyheartseries.wordpress.com

  “Like” The Lonely Heart Series

  www.facebook.com/thelonelyheartseries

  Become Friends on Facebook

  www.facebook.com/latrivia.nelson

  Visit Latrivia’s YouTube Channel

  www.youtube.com/Latrivia2009

  The Grunt

  Staff Sergeant Brett Black has a bad feeling that something is going to go terribly wrong. And as a Recon Marine, he pays attention to his gut. Only nothing can prepare him for what he encounters when he arrives at home from the base. His wife is leaving him, and there is nothing he can do about it.

  Abandoned with a kid, the super alpha-male has to become domesticated quickly or find a willing substitute to help him with his son. Only the substitute he finds is no substitution.

  Courtney Lawless is a true wild card. The budding librarian loves the classics and carries herself like a lady by day. But she also is full of life and surfs the waves of the Atlantic Ocean by night. Since her parents won’t pay for college because of bad decisions in her past, the reformed bad-girl takes a job as Brett’s live-in nanny to finish paying for school.

  Brett has never seen a woman of such complex duality. Used to a wife who won’t clean, cook or even talk to him, when he starts to live with Courtney, he realizes what he’s been missing his entire life. Educated, amazing and refreshingly honest, the only thing that that this transparent beauty hides from her new boss is that she’s also the Lieutenant Colonel’s daughter.

  Faced with another deployment to Afghanistan soon, the brooding Marine is forced to come out his shell to fight for what he loves, only this time, the war is at home.

  Enjoy the interracial must-read romance of the summer, The Grunt, the third a longest book in Latrivia S. Nelson’s Lonely Heart Series and today.

  Third Book Book In Lonely Heart Series

  ISBN: 978-0-9832186-4-7

  Retail Price: $8.99

  THE UGLY GIRLFRIEND

  LaToya Jenkins is the quintessential woman: smart, successful, grounded and determined. She only has one problem socially - she's overweight. As the "big one" of her girlfriends, she often faces rejection from the men of their social circle because of her size and/or her dark skin. And due to a painful past relationship, she gives up on love completely until, she takes on Mitchell "Mitch" O'Keefe as a new client.

  The Irish born architect needs a professional cleaning service to help him literally clean up his life after a nasty divorce, but he winds up finding a true friend in LaToya, the owner of It's An Honor Cleaning Service.

  While LaToya is handicapped emotionally by her baggage, Mitch thinks she's the strongest woman he's ever seen and a breath of fresh air in his hectic life. His only goal is to prove to her that his interest in her is more than lust sparked by curiosity.

  Read the story of two beautiful people in totally opposite ways who help each other see that beauty is not skin deep but soul deep in the first book of Latrivia S. Nelson's Lonely Heart Series, The Ugly Girlfriend.

  First Book In Lonely Heart Series

  ISBN: 978-0-9832186-4-7

  Retail Price: $9.99

  FINDING OPA!

  What does the Greek word Opa mean? According to some it is a word or pronouncement of celebration; the celebration of life itself. It is another way of expressing joy and gratitude to God, life, and others, for bringing one into the state of ultimate wisdom.

  Stacey Lane Bryant has three rules. She doesn’t drive; she doesn’t travel; and she most definitely will not date. From the outside, this odd-ball, thirties-something, single black woman is simply a creature of habit who has been beaten down by the tragedies of life. However those on the inside know that she’s the widow of esteemed astrophysicist Drew Bryant, a highly sought after best-selling romance author and a devoted cat lover. The rules are simply designed to keep her safe and keep her sane.

  However, someone didn’t tell the Greek bombshell, Dr. Hunter Fourakis, that rules weren’t meant to be broken. While at his favorite pub, he eyes Stacey and instantly falls under her spell. Only,
his rusty moves don’t get him far with the brilliant introvert, who quickly leaves just to get out of his grasp.

  What is meant to be will be, and the two run into each other in another chance encounter. This time Hunter is able to convince Stacey not only to go out on a spur-of-the-moment date with him but also to consider an unorthodox proposal that would benefit them both.