Chapter Three - Saving Private Dove

Dimitri’s POV

The plane journey to London from New York took around 7 hours. In that time, my father had found everything he could about this Judge. His wife, Iliana Granger, was Adrian's bitch of a mother, so we knew now that it was our little white Dove that we were on our way to claim.

The name white dove had come from my mother, Nina. She said her coos always reminded her of a dove, and her soft white hair was as white as snow, and since then, the name White Dove had stuck. My mother was more of a mum to the five Vassilev children, and it broke her when Vi was taken, she felt like her own daughter had been taken from her. Their mother didn’t give a shit about the family; she just wanted the money and the lifestyle that came with being a part of the mafia. She had never been much of a mother to her children, and she was so jealous when Vi came along that she treated her even worse than she treated the boys, all because the baby was getting more attention than she was. It was a surprise when we found out that Iliana had taken off with Vi, but she was vindictive. I dreaded to see how Vi had been living whilst in her care. I knew it wasn't going to be good from what little the Orlov's had told us.

The Judge was a whole other story. He was a close friend of Alfonso Ilaria, the head of the British contingent of the Italian Mafia. He did a lot of under the table dealings with the Italians, and being that he was a Duke son as well, he had a lot of backing, even if a lot of it was illegal. There was little to be found about him, which means he was protected in more ways than one and meant if anyone went against him, then he would have a way to hide any of it happening to cover himself.

“I think maybe we need to take the two who own the café as well,” Adrian suddenly piped up as he read the same file I was reading.

“What?” I asked, looking up from the file I was reading on my laptop.

“The ones who rang us, from reading between the lines about this judge, he will know who contacted us.” He said. “They won’t be safe.”

“I agree,” I said. “They have one daughter, Violet Granger.”

“Well, being that it is that bitch of a mother, I know that Violet is little Violetta. It’s too much of a coincidence that it isn’t.” Adrian said through gritted teeth.

“I agree,” I repeated. “They talked like she was beaten often, but there are no hospital records for the girl. There is a report to Social Services but very little information on it. It also appears that the teacher who reported it disappeared three days later.”

“Yeah, something doesn’t sit right. We need to get this girl out, even if it isn’t little Violetta.” He responded.

When the plane finally landed and the door had been let down, we walked out and met with Sergei, the second in command of the Russian mafia who resided in England.

“Dimitri.” He said, holding out a hand. “How is your father?”

“As well as ever, has he told you why we are here?” I asked the man. His black hair was slicked back, and you couldn't see his eyes through the sunglasses he wore. I thin coiled wire was at his ear, telling me he was connected to his closest men. He handed some to both Adrian and me, and we fitted them to our ears so we were connected to their comms.

“Yes, we have some men keeping an eye on both the café she works in and the house she lives in.” He said. “There is a woman who fits the description, but we weren’t 100% sure. She has blue eyes.”

“It's contacts we think,” Adrian said, his tone holding its usual gruffness. "Where is Ivan?" Ivan was the head of the English faction; he was also one of my cousins.

"Watching Alfonso, we have been working on him for a while now. We knew of this Duke, but didn't make the connection with his wife and who she was." He responded as he guided us over to two black SUV’s, which were waiting for us. "Ivan apologises for not being here, he's been away for some time now watching Alfonso."

"Tell him it's not an issue; he is where he needs to be. I trust him." I said.

“Is your Grandfather aware?” I sighed and shook my head. My Grandfather was the Head of the Russian Mafia. He resided in Russia and looked after every faction throughout the world. He was raging when he found out what had happened to Violetta and had helped to try and find her.

“No, I have only informed my father,” I said. “We wanted to make sure it was her first.”

“Your father was adamant it was her; his gut has never been wrong before,” Sergei said as the driver started the car and pulled out. We made our way to the café; it was now four o’clock, so we had to do this quickly before she left. As we pulled up, I saw the most beautiful girl through the window. Her white, blonde hair was pulled back so tightly into a bun on the back of her head; I was surprised she didn’t have a headache. She was too thin, and even from where I sat in the car, I could see the shape of the bones on her face and neck. The rest of her skin was covered. I got out of the car with Adrian close behind me and we made our way into the café. When we opened the door, a bell rang, alerting the staff to a newcomer. The girl looked up from where she had been cleaning a tabletop to greet us. She smiled, which faltered slightly when she saw Adrians Purple eyes and white, blonde mop of hair. She shook her head and smiled again.

“Welcome to Orlov’s, please find a seat, and I will get a menu for you and take your order.” Her voice was like angels singing.

“Little Dove,” Adrien said as she started to walk away, her head snapped around to face us.

“My father used to call me White Dove, until he banished us.” She muttered, more to herself than to us.

“What?” I said. Banished? What was she talking about?

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that out loud. I sometimes forget to use my inside voice, but it brought back a memory. Well, a dream."

“What is your name?” I asked her as I saw a woman walk out. She gasped when she saw who we were.

“Violet.” She smiled at us.

“Violet, my dear, why don’t we take these gentlemen to the office?” The woman said, taking Violet's hand into hers and smiling warmly at the girl.

“Oh, sorry, are they here to see you? I thought they were customers. Sorry Mrs Orlov.”

“No, no darling, they are here to see you. I promise you are safe.” Mrs Orlov said, fitting a loose strand of hair behind Violet's ear as she smiled warmly down at her as a loving mother would.

“What? Why would they be here to see me? Did my stepfather send you? I said I would be home for five, I have time yet.” She said, starting to panic.

“Violet, calm down. They aren’t to do with your stepfather. Please follow me, gentleman. Thank you for getting here so fast.” We followed them through to the back office. “Violet. This man is Dimitri Koslov.”

“I’ve heard that name before, why do I know that name?” She mumbled, a slight furrow to her brow as she thought.

“Violetta, Vi?” I said as I sat in a chair in front of her. She looked at me with a frown.

“Sorry, my name is Violet.” She mumbled, but something like recognition at the name flitted across her face.

“No, Malishka, your name is Violetta Vassilev,” Adrien said to her. “You were taken by our mother when you were four.”

“No, I was thrown out for being a girl.” She mumbled. “My mother said that they didn’t want girls in the family, so they were either killed or banished.”

I could feel my anger beginning to surface at her words. What crap had this woman been feeding her all these years? I looked at Adrien, and you could see the fire behind his eyes. He was angry. I turned back to Vi, who was fidgeting in her seat and looking at the floor. I pulled the picture out of my pocket. I had taken it from the frame at the last minute. I handed it to her. She took it and looked at it.

“That’s me.” She whispered.

“Yes, that was the day before you were taken, Little dove,” I told her. She stared at the photo.

“I looked so happy, but why would I be happy if my father didn’t want me?” She asked, I wasn't sure if she was asking herself or us, her voice was so soft and filled with confusion.

“Because whatever your mother told you was a lie.” Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and Sergei came in.

“Sir, you need to get the girl out of here. Ivan has informed me that Alfonso has appeared at the Judge's house; they heard him talking about buying the girl off of him.” Sergei said. “Get her in the car, and we will get you in the air before they find out she is even gone.”

I heard Vi gasp and turned back to her; her face was covered in tears.

“I knew that man was up to something.” The woman said. “Vi, my sweet, you must go with this man.”

“No, I can’t, he will come here.” She said. “He will hurt you if he doesn’t find you.”

“Don’t you worry your little head over us. We can look after ourselves. It is you who needs to be kept safe.”

“We want you and your husband to come with us. You helped us find the missing Princess; we want to protect you as well.” I said as I stood up. Violetta was still holding on to the photo.

“Oh. No, we couldn’t leave the shop.” She said.

“We will look after the shop,” Sergei said. "It is the least we can do for your help."

“You don’t know what it means to us that you got in contact with us,” Adrien said. “Please let us take you and keep you safe until we can be rid of the man.”

“We should go, my love.” The large man said. He was obviously Vitaly. She nodded and stood. She handed the keys over to Sergei, and we all walked out to the cars and got in.

“Vi, could you do something for me?” Adrien asked. We had positioned ourselves on either side of her to keep her safe. She nodded shyly. “Would you remove the contacts for me?”

“Mother said I shouldn’t let people see my ugly eyes, as they would put a stain on the family. One fell out this morning, and I am worried people saw.” She mumbled.

“Your eyes are what we were looking for, Melishka.” He said. “They are from our bloodline; see, I have Purple eyes as well. So do our brothers and father and our Grandfather.”

She looked at him and tilted her head to the side in thought, before leaning forward and taking them out. She looked at Adrien. I heard him gasp, and his eyes softened. He smiled at her, the first smile I had seen on him since Vi had first been taken.

“Beautiful.” He said. “They should never be covered, sweet girl.”

She turned to look at me, and I gasped. Her eyes were the deepest purple I had ever seen, and my heart melted even more.

“He is right, Solnishko. They should never be hidden.” I said as I pushed some hair behind her ear. Her cheeks flushed pink.

“Sir.” Came the driver’s voice. “We are being followed.”