Anatoly's Retribution: Book One (The Medlov Men 5)

by Latrivia Welch

  Anya was a lot less emotional than her mother. The young girl, tall and uncompromisingly beautiful with ice blue eyes, caramel skin and raven black hair, was very much a Medlov.

  Groomed by her father since she was born, she had become a spitting image of his concrete resolve. She hugged Renee warmly, but no tears were shed. Anatoly knew it was because all of this reminded her of her dear belated bodyguard and Godfather Davyd, who only a few short years ago was murdered in front of her.

  The rest of the family moved along in much of the same fashion, making sure to view the body and pay their respects. One at a time, they hugged Renee, letting her know she was not alone.

  When everyone was finally seated, the service officially began, cued by the organ player who finally stopped with his previous tune.

  Grateful, Anatoly picked up the glossy program with a picture of Big Momma in her youth and name embossed in gold at the bottom and flipped it open. He had seen the program a hundred times, helped Renee with the layout and wording, but he stared blankly at it now to occupy his time and his attention.

  While he was looking down fiddling with the program, the large choir behind the preacher stood up. He could hear the shuffle of their robes as they moved into position. The piano and organist started a melody first. Then a heavy-set black woman with braids wearing a purple robe stepped up to the microphone. Picking it up in her right hand, she smiled and looked around the church, like she was about to share a very big secret.

  “How many of you are grateful to be in God’s presences today?” she asked, voice as clear a bell. “This is truly a day that God has made. And we are here to celebrate the life of Mrs. Bernice Hattie Mae Cooper or as I loved to call her, Big Momma.”

  The large congregation clapped in unison, cheering up instantly. A loud, joyful Amen erupted in the back of the room. Then suddenly, the music stopped.

  The woman holding the mic took a deep breath, closed her eyes and opened her mouth. A voice so angelic, so powerful and so beautiful began to sing.

  “Amazing grace. How sweet the sound. That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost. But now I’m found. Was blind, but now I see.”

  The choir joined in and began to sing. Their collective voice washed over the room like a cool breeze.

  Anatoly’s head popped up, feeling what seemed to be electricity over his skin as the goosebumps formed. The sound was so beautiful until he couldn’t help but close his eyes and listen. It was captivating, sucking all the tension out of the room and filling it with something unexplainable.

  He could feel his wife rocking beside him while she held Alexandria. Opening his eyes, he caught himself before he began to rock as well. When the song ended, he sat up straight and pulled at his tie. It was getting hot in the room from all the bodies. Maybe they needed to crank up the air.

  Renee’s aunt, Whitney, was sitting to his immediate left. She leaned into him and winked. “That’s the Holy Spirit,” she said, fanning her face. It was the first time since arriving in Atlanta three days ago that she had said a word to him. Most of the time, she looked at him like he had a horn growing out of his forehead.

  Anatoly smiled sarcastically. “I’ve heard of it,” he said, rolling his eyes. What did she think that he was a heathen? Evidently, even though she didn’t think much of him, she didn’t mind his money, but she didn’t offer a dollar towards the funeral.

  Renee rubbed over his hand and shook her head. “Don’t pay any attention to her.”

  Anatoly leaned toward his wife. “Want to switch seats?”

  Renee laughed.

  Thirty minutes later, the pastor of the church finally got up and made his way to the microphone. As he did, the choir and all the congregants stood up to receive him. Respectfully, Anatoly did the same.

  “You may have a seat,” the pastor said, giving a big insinuating smile. After acknowledging a long list of people, thanking the choir and offering a few words to the bereaved, he flipped open his Bible and took a sip of water from the glass beside him on the acrylic podium. The crowd seated themselves and waited.

  Anatoly wiped a hand over his mouth and beard, eyeing the pastor cynically. He had never been one for organized religion, but the man of God better bring it with his sermon after Renee’s very gracious gift to the church in her grandmother’s name to complete the renovation fund.

  “Touch someone beside you and tell them, GOD AIN’T DONE WITH YOU YET,” the pastor said loudly into the microphone, straightening his purple tie.

  Anatoly immediately gave Aunt Whitney a cautionary scowl that caused her to turn from him and reach over to Renee’s father, Jesse, who sitting on her opposite side. He’d had enough of her shit for one day. One more condescending statement and he’d shove her right into the coffin with her sister.

  At the same moment of giving Aunt Whitney a little of her own medicine, he felt the chilled little fingers of his wife on his hand. He turned to look at her, relaxing the tension in his face.

  “God ain’t done with you yet,” Renee said with a smile.

  Anatoly smiled back, but didn’t repeat the words.

  “That’s right,” the pastor continued, pleased with the crowd’s participation. “God is not done…with you yet.” He looked down at his sermon. “In this house of worship, we are not mourning the loss of Mrs. Cooper. She had been in this place long enough. Her body was tired. Her work was done, and the Lord was ready to call her home. I truly believe that she will hear the words we all long for. Job well done, good and faithful servant. But for you, all of you, who sit in this church right now, you must know that if you woke up this morning, there is something that He wants you to do. You. Have. A. Purpose.”

  “Amen,” Renee said, nodding her head.

  “Amen,” Alexandria mimicked her mother.

  Anatoly grinned at their daughter. She was cute, always trying to be like Mommy.

  “Death comes for us all, ladies and gentlemen. We are born into the world, and so we must all leave this world to move on to the next part of our journey, that everlasting eternal place where we will either be rewarded or damned. The choice is yours.” The pastor gazed out at the crowd and all the faces staring back at him. “What we can rejoice in is the fact that the sting of death, Hallelujah, was removed by the blood of Jesus and by His stripes we are healed, delivered and set free.”

  Amidst the affirmations, Anatoly pushed back in the pew, unbuttoned his black suit jacket and crossed his legs. He might as well get comfortable. From what Renee had warned, black church services could take a while, even though Renee had asked to keep it short and sweet. He glanced over his shoulder out of habit and noticed that a few eyes were trained on him instead of the good reverend. Looking forward, he rolled his eyes and huffed.

  “My sermon, and I’m not going to make this long,” the pastor glanced over at Renee and Anatoly with a smirk, “is about purpose. The Hebrew root word means to give counsel, to deliberate or determine. God has a purpose for all of us, deliberate in its design and only when we walk in that purpose are we truly free.” His voice elevated as he pointed out at the congregation. “Someone in this room is going to lead a soul to Jesus. Someone in this room is going to give birth to a leader. Someone in this very room is going to save a life. Why? Because it is their purpose.”

  So far, Anatoly wasn’t impressed. The look of utter aggravation that he tried hard to repress emphasized it. He didn’t want to offend Renee, so he pretended to be absorbing all of this, but not one sermon he had ever heard in all his years of going to mass with his mother as a child had ever changed his life or his circumstance. It was all a bunch of ultimatums and scripture that felt like verbal pile drivers designed to keep him scared and compliant. There was never once that he felt like the message was meant for him.

  Today, however, he might be surprised.

  The pastor’s powerful voice echoed through the sanctuary. “No man is an island. No matter how tough you think you are, no matter how much power you think you have, you can�
�t exist in this world by yourself. Every once in a while, you are going to have to ask someone for help.” The pastor chuckled. “And you never know who that person is going to be, which is why, saints, we have to be mindful of how we treat people. Love thy neighbor. You never know when their purpose and yours might intersect. Life has a strange way of getting our attention. God has a way of reminding us that He is in charge.”

  People clapped at the man’s words.

  “Say it,” a woman behind Anatoly shouted out.

  “We are set upon this world to do His will, to serve His will, to teach His will. God doesn’t make mistakes. You are where you are in your life at this very moment for a purpose. He brought someone in here out sickness. He brought someone in here out of danger. Amen. He delivered someone here from a destitute situation. But He did all for a purpose. He is the creator of heaven and earth, the universe and everything beyond it. He places you in circumstances not only so that you’ll rise above them, but so that you will do His work. Amen. There are no coincidences. How you got here is no coincidence. The person you are today is by design. He will put you on a path, Amen, because on that road there is someone He wants you to meet, a life He wants you to change and job that is specifically for you and no one else. The question is when He calls on you to serve your purpose, will you answer?”

  He looked over at Anatoly, who was looking at him now, not with the skepticism he had before but with curiosity.

  Anatoly had to admit. The man had his attention. He pushed up in his seat, ears perked up, eyes planted on him, taking in every word.

  “It doesn’t matter who you were yesterday or what you did yesterday. No man is without sin. If he only used those who were sinless, the streets of heaven would be empty. The pages of the Bible would be empty. If you have a heartbeat, He can use you.”

  The crowd clapped.

  “It doesn’t matter what your name is or who your parents are or are not. It doesn’t matter if you talk to your family every day or you haven’t spoken to them in years. It doesn’t matter if you have a million dollars in the bank or if you are in the red. God doesn’t discriminate. If you let Him, He will use you, no matter your sins, no matter your transgressions. But you must understand your purpose. You are not a mistake, saints. You didn’t arrive here by mistake, saints. Stop letting something that happened to you ten years ago hold you down, hurt you, bind you. Remember that the devil is a lie. But Jesus came so that we may have life and have it more abundantly. What you need to ask yourself is what is my purpose today? Because today is all that matters, saints. Today is going to be key to the rest of your life.”

  Anatoly adjusted in his seat, uncomfortable by the man’s message. It felt personal, like it was meant for him and him only. His eyes darted around the front of the church, feeling profoundly exposed. Realizing that his body language was giving him away, he relaxed his shoulders and exhaled the trapped breath caught in his chest.

  Scratching his brow, he felt his wife’s eyes burning through him. She had stopped looking at the preacher and was watching him.

  “What?” Anatoly shrugged as the preacher continued with his sermon.

  Renee shook her head. “Nothing,” she said with a grin, turning her attention back to the pastor.

  Chapter Seven

  The Gang’s All Here…

  A fter the burial, Renee felt like a 1,000-pound weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Her grandmother was finally laid to rest and all her suffering with it. Now it was time to move on.

  She’d say her goodbyes to this side of her family and try her best to keep in touch on holidays, but for the most part she was going to give up this life. It was best after all.

  Not only did her family always have their hand out, which often got on her last nerves. She had also married into the Russian mafia - a world that posed a threat to anyone who wasn’t protected by guards and walls.

  Staying close to family here would only put them in danger eventually. She had contemplated that fact, since the moment Big Momma fell ill, and she had shown up with a team of security just to take care of her.

  This wasn’t for show, regardless of what some of her family thought. This was a necessity because of the lifestyle she had accepted and the lifestyle her husband led. The money had come with problems. And the problems were not going away.

  The other women in the Medlov family didn’t have that concern to contend with. Royal was an orphan who only reconnected with her mother late in life and only did so sparingly. Valeriya came from a family of freedom fighters who could take care of themselves, and Lilly had walked away from her family in New York, never to look back. Their family was right here in this bathroom along with the men who waited for them downstairs.

  But she had walked a different path. She had a family full of people to account for – people who at some point, if they were not careful could serve as collateral damage. She had seen it happen before and simply was not willing to allow it to happen again.

  Flushing the toilet, she stepped out of the bathroom stall and saw her girls congregating around the sink. They had all changed clothes, relieving themselves of their restricting but refined dresses to slip on slacks, flat shoes and cotton T-shirts, so that they could help serve the guests downstairs in the banquet hall.

  Royal reapplied her red matte lipstick in the mirror while Lilly slipped her red-bottom heels into her overnight bag. They both looked up at Renee when she came out.

  “You feeling better, Ma?” Royal asked, setting down her tube of lipstick. She turned from the mirror and gave Renee a hug.

  “Much better,” Renee said, wiping the bottom of her eye with her index finger as Royal released her. She looked around the room at the women. “I can’t thank you all enough for coming. I know there were other things that you were working on.”

  Royal waved off the notion. “Other things can wait.”

  “Not the thing Peaches was working on.” Renee hated that she had missed their first real project. Everyone had been working so hard while she was away.

  Royal couldn’t wait to tell her the good news. “It went off without a hitch. Peaches saved those girls and got rid of the problem.”

  Renee still felt uncomfortable about the idea of killing people, even if they deserved it. There was something unsettling about it happening at her hand. Her response was less than explosive. “Well, that’s good.”

  Royal sensed Renee’s hesitation, but didn’t press the issue. Today wasn’t about that. “You had your hands full. Being here was what mattered. We came down here, because you matter.”

  “I appreciate it so much. You just don’t know how much better I felt when I saw your faces.”

  Valeriya was in the corner of the bathroom sitting in a chair, feeding her son. “You don’t have to thank us. This is what family is for.” Her Ukrainian accent stuck out in the room. She looked down at the baby and rubbed his head. “If you don’t have family, what do you have?”

  “I couldn’t agree more,” Royal said, pulling her long black natural tresses up in a ponytail.

  Lilly passed Renee a bottle of water. “Whatever you need, sis.”

  “What she needs is something a little stronger,” Royal joked. “But we can take care of that when we all get back to the hotel.”

  Renee smiled. Now was as good of a time as any. “I can’t drink…at least for the next seven months.”

  Lilly frowned and turned to Royal.

  Royal, having been pregnant a hundred times, already knew what that meant. Putting her hands over her mouth, she screamed. “Oh my God!”

  Valeriya stood up and walked over with the baby in her arms. They all exclaimed happily, encircling Renee and hugging her.

  “Does Anatoly know?” Royal asked, touching Renee’s stomach. “He is going to freak.”

  “Yes, I told him a week ago. He’s happy.” Renee’s cheeks began to burn.

  “I know he is,” Lilly giggled. “You know how that man loves kids.”

  “We
are a baby making factory,” Valeriya joked.

  “That we are,” Royal said, stepping back. “Well, shit, girl. We need to really celebrate. You know what they say. God takes a life, he gives a life. It’s the balance of things.”

  Renee nodded, wiping tears of both joy and sadness. “I told Big Momma before she passed. She couldn’t have been happier. Said she had a dream the week before I got here about fish and knew somebody in the family was going to have a baby.” Sniffling, she took a napkin from Royal and wiped her tears.

  “She won’t miss a thing,” Lilly said, rubbing Renee’s hair. “She’ll be right here looking down, watching over you.”

  The room became silent, seeing the emotions overwhelm Renee. This was a lot to deal with all at once and she had the women’s sincerest sympathies.

  “I said I wouldn’t cry,” Renee said, tears starting to stream down her face faster than she could wipe them. Finally, giving in to the day’s events, she sobbed into her hands. “I just miss her so much.”

  The girls hugged Renee tightly. Rubbing her back and running hands through her hair, they comforted her through the tears and pain.

  “It’s okay to cry,” Royal said, wiping her own tears as she patted Renee. It pained her to see Renee suffer such a great loss. “We’re here for you. We always will be.”

  ***

  Downstairs the somberness of the occasion had passed. Soft jazz played over the speakers just enough to drown out the conversations. Mood lighting danced around the space in purple and gold. A full-service staff in all white uniforms worked the tables, while the bartender manned the bar station in the corner. Guards walked the property to ensure that no uninvited guests or threats interrupted the gathering. And the room slowly packed with people, most of whom Anatoly didn’t know.

  Renee had made sure every detail of the repass was upscale including black linen tables with black skirts topped with votive candles, chocolate mints, flower arrangements and pictures of Big Momma through the years in dainty little frames for the guests to take home as a memento.