Chapter 6

Elijah:

I watched as Anastasia walked out of the house, heading to her car which was now parked in the garage.

Aunt Nikita who was standing beside me looked at me “are you sure this is a good idea?”

“There’s no better way to stay off the grid than to bring in the grid” I said keeping my eyes on Anastasia “she’s ruined far too many businesses for me so far, and I would rather have her in front of me, watching her before I make my next move. Plus, the case does concern Alexander, and he’s one of my men; I won’t let her or her cops leave it to die”

“The girl is smart, Elijah; she won’t just give in to what you say, nor would she fall for simple tricks” Aunt Nikita warned me. I looked at her, seeing as Anastasia entered the garage, and nodded in agreement.

“I know that she is, and that is why I chose to have her instead of one of her colleagues. Her determination is one thing that I respect, and I would rather have her by my side than theirs” I said as Yaroslav walked out of the office. He handed me the file he picked out and I nodded. He was doing his search about Anastasia, we needed everything that we could find about her as to ensure that we could somewhat trust her.

“What did you find?”

“Nothing” Yaroslav said making me frown in confusion “the woman doesn’t exist, not with that last name anyway”

“So, Sangster isn’t her name” I stated looking at the file which only had her life as a cop. Whoever she was, when she was born, anything in relation to who she was before she became a cop wasn’t there “and you found these how?”

“I accessed her officer’s file, but it also says nothing about her past. The woman seemed to appear in training, where she came from before that is unknown, to us at least” Yaroslav said and Aunt Nikita raised an eyebrow, her expression told me the words she didn’t. I nodded closing the file and handing it back to Yaroslav.

“It seems like we’re going to pay someone a nice visit, send me her house’s location to my phone” I said walking out of the house. It was a while past five in the evening, a proper time for an evening tea. I walked into the garage and entered my car.

My phone vibrated as it notified me with the location which Yaroslav sent. I smirked when I caught sight of Yaroslav, Alexei, Timur, and Ian getting inside two cars, following close behind as I drove out of the garage.

“Let’s see what you’re up to, malyshka”

********************

I knocked her front door of one of the villas and was surprised when a woman in her late fifties opened the door “I’m sorry, ma’am, I was searching for a friend’s house. Her name is Anastasia? She told me she lives on this street but…”

“Nasia? She’s my daughter, she should be on her way home by now. Do come in” she said opening the door for me. I smiled and entered the house. I looked around to find the house filled with pictures of the woman and Anastasia. Their was no picture of a man, and I noticed that there weren’t any of when Anastasia was younger than seven or eight.

“Do you have any idea when she would be coming? I don’t want to disturb you…”

“You’re not disturbing me at all, son. This is the first time she’s brought a friend home since she moved here. She usually takes a round around the city then comes home. She shouldn’t be later than an hour, if you have time, would you mind me inviting you for something to drink?” She asked politely. I couldn’t help but smile at the woman who seemed genuinely curious as to know who I was.

“Water would be fine, thank you”

“Nonsense, I was just about to heat up water for an afternoon tea, but we do have coffee, which would you prefer?” I smiled and shook my head, at least I knew who she got her stubbornness from.

“Tea would be fine” I smiled and she nodded.

“Make yourself at home, this is the remote…” she handed me the TV remote and turned on receiver “you can watch whatever it is you want. I won’t be long”

I nodded and took a seat on the couch, looking around the house they lived in. The house was spacious, yet simple. Anastasia didn’t seem to have much of an effect on it as most of the decorations seemed to be of an older style, and judging by how we saw her, nothing of her own style.

I scrolled through the TV for a few minutes before I heard a loud clatter in the direction the woman went, and I assumed that it was the kitchen. Following the noise, I was sure to keep a hand on the gun in case of anything, but I was surprised to see the woman picking up a few shards of broken mugs. She was too focused on them to notice my arrival and my eyes widened when I realized how shaky her hands were and not to mention the fact that she was bleeding.

“Ma’am, let me help you, you’re only hurting yourself” I said removing the shards from her hands. Her hands shook and I frowned, helping her stand up, her eyes were fixed on me as I did. I didn’t say a word as I carefully pulled her away from the shards. The two of us walked to the sink where I washed her hand, clearing the excess blood as to see how deep the cut was. By looking at it, it wasn’t too deep, but it needed cleaning before anything.

The kettle sounded as the water boiled and I watched as it was automatically switched off before turning to the woman who was studying my expression intently “do you have a first aid kit? Something that I can use to clean these cuts? They’re not too deep, but they need to be cleaned and covered”

My voice was calm and controlled as I spoke as not to worry the woman whose hand was still shaking, she nodded and nodded at the fridge. I let her hands go and walked to the fridge to find the aid kit and sighed when I only found sanitizer and a bandage. What the hell was a bandage doing inside the fridge? I had no idea, but I wasn’t going to question them.

I helped clean her cut, tightening my grasp around her wrist as to help steady her shaking hand as I cleaned it, covering it for her. I washed my own hands before returning the sanitizer to the fridge and placing the bandage on top of the counter. I smiled and turned to face the woman who looked down at the broken shards.

“How about I make us tea, then work on getting this mess cleaned up until Anastasia arrives?” I asked breaking whatever train she was lost in. I didn’t know what the issue with the woman was, but I could already tell that whatever the case was; the woman wasn’t entirely healthy.

“Mum…” I heard Anastasia’s voice as she called when she entered the house “I’m home”

I could hear her footsteps as she walked around as if searching the house “mum, I know I’m a tad bit late, but I got caught up with… Elijah?”

Anastasia’s eyes met mine as she walked inside the kitchen only for her eyes to widen when she saw the broken shards “bloody hell, mum! Did you hurt yourself?”

Ignoring the shards, she ran to her mother’s side to check her hands “your friend helped me clean them up, I was only trying to make tea. But I don’t know what happened…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make the tea, mum. Just go to the living room, I’ll be out with your medicine shortly, okay?” Anastasia said gently. Her mom nodded and walked out of the kitchen before Anastasia turned to glare at me “what the fuck are you doing here?”

“I believe the proper word you’re searching for is thanks” I said glaring at her.

“I swear I am not in the mood to deal with your bloody bullshit, if this is some kind of game you’re playing…”

“I’m not the one playing games here, malyshka. If I’m in your house; it’s because of the bullshit YOU’RE trying to pull off” I snapped stopping her. Anastasia frowned in confusion and I had to fight back rolling my eyes at her ignorance.

“What in the bloody world are you talking about?” Anastasia asked.

Our conversation was cut short when we heard clattering from the living room “I swear this is not the time for this. I know that this is stupid to ask, but can you please go and stay with mum for a few minutes while I clean up here? We’ll see what it is you’re on about later”

I nodded and walked towards the kitchen door without saying a word “and Elijah…”

“Yes, Anastasia?”

“Thank you”