We’re back to our brand new feature called “First Time” and this month we’re posting a first argument between characters. The piece is from a not-yet-published book called Entangled and it’s between Rowan Haggerty and Sergei Bukolov. They are speaking on the phone and he’s assuming all kinds of things that aren’t true. I’ll leave you all to read how Rowan handles it.  Hope you all enjoy!

 

“May I speak with Sergei Bukolov, then?”

“I’m sure the Voyevoda does not have time—”

She cut him off. “He needs to make time. This is about an extremely delicate matter, which your Knyaz will be furious about if you don’t let me speak to someone in authority.”

“Hold on one moment.”

Rowan heard clicking on the line. The fucker had better not have hung up on her.

“This is Bukolov.” A deep raspy male voice said. “Who is this?”

Rowan shivered. She was sure she knew the voice and it disturbed her now, just as it had nearly four years ago. Unless there was another man named Sergei with the same voice, this had to be the same man. Unless she was imaging it. That had to be it. There was no way the man she spoke with was the same man she’d worked with. The world wasn’t that small.

“Hello?”

Shit, get yourself together Haggerty.

“My name is Rowan Haggerty. I have a small child with me named Mikhail. He says his father is Vladimir Rodzianko.”

“What? This is impossible.”

“Mr. Bukolov, I pulled Mikhail out of a dangerous situation. He told me he was supposed to go to his grandparent’s house, but now he obviously wants to come home.”

“What do you want?”

“I want to get Mikhail back to his father safely.” She hoped the duh wasn’t too obvious in her voice.

“How much? How much do you want?”

Rowan tried not to get angry, but after everything that had happened, she was tired and pissed. She looked at the kid’s anxious face and forced a smile. “Hon, would you like to talk to Sergei?”

“Oh yes,” he nodded.

Rowan heard a quick intake of breath through the phone line as she handed it to Misha. “Here he is.”

Misha eagerly took the phone. “Sergei, it is me, Misha. I want to come home now.” He paused, obviously listening to the man on the phone. “Rowan saved me from the bad men. Aleksandr is dead. The bad men killed him. Olik, and Jaska were alive. I do not know if they are any longer. I think Jaska was a bad man too.” His eyes filled with tears and Rowan took his hand. “Rowan is like you and papa, she is a warrior. She got me away from the bad men.” He listened, shaking his head. “I don’t know.” He held the phone out to Rowan and crawled into her lap. She took the phone and held him close as he cried.

“I want this baby to come home. Are you going to help us or not?”

“Yes, I still do not understand how any of this happened but tell me where you are. I will come.”

“We can’t stay here and wait. I don’t want to take the chance. Where should we meet?”

“What do you mean?”

“People may be hunting us and I can’t stay here.”

“Fuck, I need to speak to Vlad. Give me your number so I can reach you.”

“Right now, I don’t know who to trust. So, give me your number and I’ll call you.”

He gave her a number and she memorized it. She hoped like hell this man could be trusted, but she was running out of options if she wanted to reach Rodzianko. If it came down to it, she’d kill Bukolov. She’d do whatever was necessary to protect Mikhail.

“As soon as we get some miles behind us, I’ll call.”

“By then, I will have spoken to Vlad.”

“Bukolov, don’t double cross us. If you make any move to hurt this child I’ll kill you.”

 

Ahhh, can’t you just feel the love?? Anyway go check out the other bloggers’ first arguments.

Jess      Bronwyn    Kris     Kayleigh     Siobhan