Chapter 1

A very tired Marina steps onto the private jet that was waiting for her, she knew her grandfather sent the jet for her, because he said that there is some good news that he wanted to tell her, and the jet would be faster than the plane. In her mind both would take the same amount of time to take her from Euriel Field Airport back to Fandendale Private Airport back home. But who is she to say no to her grandfather.

Once she is over the threshold of the jet, she sees the Pilot standing near the door looking rather nervous as she steps near him. As she looks away from the Pilot, she sees a family of 3 sitting on the seats of the jet. The look she gives both the Pilot and the family is quite a withering one. The pilot not knowing that Marina has ever given anyone a look like that, starts to stammer when he talks to her.

"I-I am so v-very sorry for the inconvenience Marina, but this is the Stamvribey family, and they are a last minute addition to this flight. We did try to contact you at the college, but they said that you have already left."

"You do realize that you could have left a message for me there, I was there until just a few minutes ago, you also do have my personal number, why didn't you just call me directly? They told me that I am to be alone on this jet, and yet you allowed strangers to be with me. You do realize that once we set down, the family will hear of this. You do know who I am right?" Marina asked the pilot, glaring at him the entire time she talked to him. She saw that he just stood there, shaking like a leaf and not even answering her. Making her sick, how can people like this work for her family?

"Just get us in the air, it's a long flight back home, and now you are just stalling, so get in gear and get moving. I do not have to repeat myself." Marina growled at the pilot and the flight attendants just stood there not knowing that she could get this mad. For each time they saw her she was always smiling and very friendly. For the pilot to make a mistake like this, the family would never forget something like this.

Marina threw herself in her chair as far from the family as possible, and once they saw who had joined them, the father paled completely and the mother just looked at her.

Once the jet was in the air, she tried to get some sleep, even though it would only be a three hour flight, she still tried to get some sleep, but it seems that sleep avoided her because of a little boy. How can a mother allow her son to run around the plain like that and not see that he is a distraction.

She moved her chair completely around so that she could at least go through the documents that were sent to her, but with each paragraph that she tried to do, the boy just kept on screaming and running up and down the aisle. It seems that the mother just gave the boy sweets to keep him quiet, guess it just made him hyperactive. She was staring to get a headache because the parents did nothing to get him to calm down. Marina looked over at the flight attendants to see if one of them is looking her way but there are not there, so she turns her chair again, only for this time to hear them talking about something.

"Can't the parents do something about the child? He has been on a sugar rush for the entire flight?" One of the attendant said, a bit of anger in her voice, only for the other one to sound the same.

"If they do not do something, I am afraid that Marina will, and she doesn't look to happy about them being here with her on this flight." Marina just smiled, nodding to what they said.

"I mean, who allowed this, the Pilot?" the first attendant asked again. Having an idea but not sure if it is true or not.

"As far as I could tell. Well, shall we make her flight a bit more comfortable, I mean we do have everything she loves here now, and I mean she can't be that upset with us right? We didn't do anything wrong." The second one said, sounding a little worried for no reason. The first one turns to see if any one needed them only to catch Marina looking at them, she smiled a bit then blushed at being caught talking about her.

Marina just smiled at that, nodding her head to show that she agree with them, both attendants saw that and smiled at her in turn, making sure she will get what she wants. Marina just turn back to the family with an evil smile on her face, scaring the mother who has been looking at her, trying to figure out who is really is. The father just sits there, not saying anything and staring to look very sick and scared.

"Severs him right. Wait, now I remember him, he worked with grandpa. But he botched up something, he ran away and took his family with him, but this is not his wife, was this the nanny he got mixed up with. She doesn't look Russian to me. Wait…wait, no way, so, this is how you will play this little game. Well. Game on Sasha." Marina whispers to herself so that they don't hear what she says

"Sergei, come here honey. We have to buckle you in, we are about to land." The mother says to the boy, now that she looked closer at them, she sees that the boy looks like her and not the father. Strange, but oh well. She gathers the papers and packs them away, her headache being more prominent now than in the beginning. The boys squirms in his seat, he would rather run around the plane tan sit down for five minutes.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we will be landing at Fandendale Private Airport in 10 minutes, please make sure that everything is stored and that your seats are in the upright positions and the trays are closed. Make sure that the seat-belts are fastened and secured." The pilots voice came over the intercom. Marina would be glad that she would be out of this damn jet and away from the family in a few short minutes.

Once they landed and were allowed to disembark form the jet, she still sat there, waiting for the family to leave first and that is what the father did rather quickly, almost pushing the one flight attendant out of his way to get away from Marina and her glare. Once they were gone, she still sat there, trying to calm herself down. Knowing that if she says something now, it will not be pleasant for any of them.

Once her hand touches the railing of the plane to take her descend, she glides her hand down, feeling the cold steel of the railing, loving the feel of it. Cold, hard and unforgiving. On the last step, she looks up seeing the sky staring to turn grey, smelling the rain that is to come and loving the feeling of it. As she turns her head away from the sky, she see the ground crew running to make sure the jet will get the fuel it needs, and the restocking, because she knows that she is not the only one who will use it soon. She sees family members waiting for her, and others waiting to board, but no one moves until she is safely inside the limo that is waiting close for her. She walk toward the limo and about half way there, she remembers that she was supposed to thank the crew for bringing her safely home, but right now, she didn't care, she was still pissed at the pilot. She will however send a thank you card to the attendants for trying to make her relaxed on the jet.

As she nears the limo, she sees a man who is walking toward her. But what she sees is a man who looks like he could rip his clothing if he moves to fast. He must work for Vlad then, and thinking about him, makes her smile a bit. She nods her head at the driver and he smiles at her.

"Donna, please make yourself comfortable, all your bags have been placed in the trunk along with your laptop bag. If you will give me your carry-on bag I can place them with the other. Just relax and I will get you to the nursing home where your grandmother is, and then the mansion. Everyone is excited to see you again." The driver says with such a deep voice and it made Marina relax instantly. He waited till she was inside, then he shut the door walks around to the driver side, gets in and start the limo.

Marina waits till he is inside and about to start the limo before she answers him.

"There is no need to rush, I just want to close my eyes for a while, I wanted to take a nap on the plane, but there was some family with me on the plane. I don't know who authorized it, but I was beyond pissed at that." Marina said with a bit of anger in her voice. The driver looked at her through the rear-view mirror and nodded his head.

"Sure thing Donna, get some rest, I will wake you when we arrive at the nursing home." Marina just nodded her head and slowly it fell to the side, letting the driver know that she already started to drift away. He decided to take the long route from the airport to the nursing home, making sure to drive extra slow. Not even caring about the angry horns going off behind him. Once at a traffic light, he looked back to see that there were dark circles around her eyes and her face was a bit to pale for his liking. Even though he drove very slow and made sure to take the long way to the nursing home, they still got there relatively quick. He stopped in the parking space, turned off the limo, got out and walked toward her door, once opened he had to shake her shoulder a little for her to wake up.

"I am sorry to disrupt your nap Donna, but we arrived at the nursing home. Do you want me to go with you, or wait here?" Marina could hear the compassion in his tone, and it touched her, but this is something that she needed to do on her own.

"It's fine, I won't be long, please let the family know that I am with my grandmother for a bit. I just need to make sure that she is still alright." The driver just nodded his head and made sure that she got out of the limo fine, walking her to the door of the nursing home where someone else from the family will get her and take her to her grandmother. It was an full 2 hours before Marina came out of the home, looking more glum than anything else. It looks that her grandmother didn't do so well. Everyone in the family is upset about it, because their "mother" was in a coma for a very long time. Some of the family still don't know that whole truth, only what was said, and Marina was never told the entire truth about it, she only knows that her grandmother fell down and hit her head while she was still a baby. That was the same day her parents and brother passed away.

Once back in the limo, the driver took an even longer route to the mansion, driving extra slow, making sure that Marina will be okay in her own way when they return home. If he as the driver feels like this about her, then how should the others feel. Vlad will kill him if anything happens to her, so he stopped peeking in the rear-view mirror at her and rather paid attention to the road. Somewhere along the road the slight see-saw of the limo on the road must have caused her to fall asleep, because when he parked in front of the mansion gates he looked back , he saw that her head was against the window and she looked smaller that frailer than he know she is.

Once the gates open and he was allowed inside the gates, he drove slowly to make sure that she doesn't wake up. He saw that Vlad was already waiting for him and once he fully stopped, Vlad walked up to him.

"Why are you almost 3 hours late?" Vlad's voice would wake the dead, and the driver didn't want to startle her awake.

"I am sorry Vlad, but can you please lower your voice, the Donna is asleep on the back seat and besides the Donna asked me to drive slowly, she was beyond tired and she was at the home, she didn't look so good when she came back out, and that bothered me. She also said that with her on the jet was a family of 3. She didn't say who it was, but from her posture and voice it sounded like someone who did something a while back. She wouldn't answer me when I asked, so I didn't prod her. I am worried about her." Vlad heard what he said, but when he mentioned the family his head turned toward the driver, he said nothing just looked at him. Their eyes doing the talking for them. Nodding his head after that, he opened the door then released the seat-belt and pulled his little Donna out of the limo. Once she was safely in his arms, he relaxed. She was safe, she was home, where she belonged.

He turned around with her in his arms, and walked away, but not even 10 steps from the limo Marina started to stir, she started to struggle, and the more she did, the more a certain scent came to her, only for her to relax in the same instant. She was safe in Vald's arms. She would remember his scent anywhere. She remembers the nights when she was young and scared, he would come to her room and make sure that she would be alright, and stayed up with her still she fell asleep, keeping her close to him. She tries to get even closer to him, to keep herself warm in his scent. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked at Vlad giving him a small kiss on his cheek. Only for him to smile at her, knowing that she is only one who would get away with something like that.

"Am I home Vlad? because it feels like it." Vlad had to laugh, a strong deep laugh, making some of the guards look at him, only to see that their Donna is home, that is why he is laughing. He hadn't laughed in the last 8 years that she was gone.

"Yes my little Donna, you are. You look tired, let me take you to your room, then we will talk business with the old man after you eat something." All she did was nod her head, there was no way that she would argue with him about that.

"Vlad, the pilot who brought me home, does he work for us?"

"Yes as far as I know, why, did something happen?"

"Yes, there was a family of 3 with me on the jet. He said that he couldn't reach me at the college, but they all have my private phone number, so why didn't he call me when he couldn't reach me at the college. When I took a closer look at the man earlier, he worked for grandpa, and I have a feeling that he did something wrong. When I checked the identities of the three, it wasn't the surname I remember of him, it was something else. The only reason why someone would do this is if they are returning illegally right?" Vlad didn't answer her at first, he had to carefully think about his answer. Then it was them. He was informed that someone wanted to board a private jet, but he didn't think it would be them. So why in the world would he come back now?

'What is going on, it wouldn't be the flight attendants, they were working for the family since Marina was a baby, they treasure her. So the only one who could have allowed that was the pilot. But why? What is his motive for this?'

Vlad was brought out of this thoughts when Marina starts to struggle in his arms, he puts her down only for her to start running toward the mansion. He hears the sirens going off, knowing that something bad is about to happen. He runs after her, pulling her against him and turns around, knowing that the blast would hit next and it did, almost knocking him off his feet.

When he allows both of them to turn around Marina tears his arms from her and she ran to the broken mansion. Only to see the carnage that followed the blast. The guards are all standing around, some helping others and the rest just with a blank face. Marina ran toward where the front door was supposed to be, pushing open what is left of it. Only to smell smoke, gasoline and something else, but not sure what it is. Once the door is fully open, she sees the dead body of her grandfather, quickly seeing that he must have taken the full hit of the explosion. She crouches next to him, slowly picking up his hand kissing the burned flesh and then slowly removing the ring from his finger.

Not sparing another glance at her grandfather she walks away, if people were looking they would think that she is stone cold, but those who know her, know that she is about to take revenge on the people who did this.

"If I ever find out who did this, I will kill them personally. Not only did they kill the only family member I had left, but they killed a very good man. They think that killing him they can take over, not so easy, I am back, taking back my rightful place as head of this family. Not caring that I have to be 21 to do so. I will take over now." Her mind was yelling out, but no one heard her. But they could see it on how she held herself, she was out for blood and sorry for the poor sap who got in her way.

"Vlad, get me all of the remaining security we have left. And get the secondary house ready. I will go to my apartment and check things out." Marina yelled out, making most of the people around her stop what they were doing and listening.

"Donna, what about the bodies, we can't just leave them here."

"I know Vlad, we will deal with that, but first I need to know what and how this happened, why now."

Vlad called all of the remaining security that was still in the compound, once all of them were assembled Vlad saw that only 4 were missing. They were either killed or they were behind it. When his eyes locked on his second in charge, he shook his head, meaning that they are not here. So, those 4 were the one's behind this attack.

As all of the men gathered around Marina and Vlad, they became a bit nervous, because this the first time that something like this has happened. No one knows what to say, to damn scare to even open their mouths.

"I want to know how could you have let this happen? I mean there are supposed to be guards around the Don at all times, so how could he walk around without them?" you could hear the anger in her voice as she shouts at them. Breathing very deep and because of this. She really wants to cry, but will not before these men, she don't know them, therefore she doesn't trust them.

"We don't know, he told us to leave him alone for a few minutes, he said that he needed to think about a few things." One of the guards said, his voice a bit uncertain.

"He told me that I should let him know when you are here, and when I knocked on the door, he raced out, without me even getting the chance to tell him. So I followed him, but it seems that he found me lurking nearby, so he sent me away." The second guard said, looking and feeling a bit guilty because of this

Vlad looked over at the broken mansion, his mind a million miles away. "He wouldn't just do that. He knows the rules, I mean he set them up in the first place. He knows he should have sent for backup. Why was he so careless?"

"Vlad, it doesn't matter now, we both know that he did want he wanted whenever he wanted to do it. We couldn't stop him no matter what, and you know that he can very easily slip by his guards. He was taught by the best. But what I want to know is how come no one knew about this bomb, go back to the security room, it should still be intact. Go back to an hour before I get here and go from there, if nothing shows go back even further. We-"

"Why should we, you can't boss us around. You come back home after being gone for 4 years, you left as a teenager after you came back from school, pretending you know what you are doing, yet you left again and now you except us to just do what you want? I am not going to do what you want. I WILL NEVER take orders from a female." One guard in particular yelled from the back. He didn't look too pleased to see that Marina has returned to the family. The other guards just looked at him like he was crazy.

"Well, boohoo. I am back now and I WILL take over once my marriage is done. If any of you want to leave, fine by me. I have other people who would want to work for this family. Just once you leave, don't come crawling back to me again, because I will not take you back. Now Vlad, get me Alexei and Jean, I need for them to know that is going on here. Plus get me a car, I need to go the apartment. I will check form there what is going on." Everyone could see that what she said, she meant business. No one would really go against her, it was just hard for them to really understand that a woman is in charge of the family and not a man. Yet some of the guards knew this, and still they just did what was told to them. For them, they have a roof over their heads, food in their stomachs and the respect of the family in a whole.

The first guard who spoke earlier just nodded his head at something while Marina was looking out at them. She neared the guard and when he looked up she was standing right in front of him

"Donna, I was just informed that the cameras were cut and the power box was tampered with. As of now, we don't know who did it, it could be sabotage, we need to get you to the secondary location and very quickly." Marina just nodded her head at that. Running back to Vlad where he was glaring at a poor guard who said something that he shouldn't.

"Vlad, the guard. Sven, just told me that he thinks there was sabotage, he wants me gone, so I need the keys to your car. I need to go the apartment, I need to go check there. Once I am done there, I will go the secondary location."

"No Donna, you will not leave here alone. You just saw what happened to your grandfather. I can't allow you to do that." Vlad almost yelled at her. But she shook her head at him, keeping her hand flat out to him.

"I know, but they don't know about the apartment, and I want to keep it that way. Please Vlad, I will be careful. You can even track me on your phone if you are that worried about me." Vlad knew not to push her, but this is not the same. He has to trust her in the end.

"Okay fine, but if you are not at your apartment within 45 minutes, I will know, and I will come and drag your ass to the secondary location. Do you understand me missy?" Marina just smiled at him. Nodding her head, kissing his cheek and ran for the car. Once she was, she started it and drove right out of the compound. Vlad looking very upset.

"Sven, call Jean and Alexei, she is their problem now, also let them know what happened here." Sven who was standing near Vlad nodded his head, got his phone and called. You could literately hear both of them yell and curse in the background. Sven could hear Jean yelling that he would get his car and driver after Marina. When the news got to them that the Don was killed, they were very upset and mad. Now only for their Donna to drive off on her own. No way is this sitting right with any of the family members, not at all.