by Aisha Brooks
My bodyguards blocked my car in, and dragged me out of my car, lecturing me on going on an unapproved trip without them, and even trying to leave the property without permission. I'm a prisoner in my own home.
Frustrated, I went back to the house with them and started trashing my room in disgust and anger that they all but forced me to stay like a little girl in the pink and white room that reminded me of the young girl I no longer was.
I was a grown up, yet I couldn't even go to the mall alone if I wanted too.
Riiiiiiiiip. With a smile of satisfaction, my pink and white ruffled curtains came down in a shredded mess as the curtain rod popped out of the wall and landed on the carpet with a thud. I stomped it into the ground, which satisfaction I felt at that moment of immaturity inspired me to what I did next.
With delight for complete and utter destruction I spent two to three hours just destroying everything about my room. Smashing pictures, and tearing up books, all the figurines of horses and princesses my father had collected for me over the years ended up broken and smashed against the wall. The mirror on my vanity shattered into a thousand pieces when I threw one of my books at it.
Satisfied with my handiwork, I went to find my father to tell him of my little tantrum that had put me on the warpath and that I wouldn't be sleeping in my room anymore until he fixed it.
What I wasn't expecting was the gorgeous tall man standing in my father's study with him calmly discussing family business, and how we were in the middle of a war with a rival mob family and they'd put a hit out on my life. I tried to ignore him. I had no interest in anyone associated with my father. But he sure was cute.
Then I made the mistake of trying to talk to my father. I should have known better, it never goes well for me. I never get what I want unless it was his idea.
“What do you mean?” I shrieked at my father, upset. This was exactly why I was so sick of this. He'd denied me the right to leave the grounds, even with my body guards. I could strangle him I was so mad.
“You are to stay here until further notice. No leaving, no outings. John here is going to take care of the problem.” Her father told her. “Once their hit man is out of commission, and I deal with the root of the problem, you should be safe again. It's only for a few days, or a couple weeks at the most.”
“I am so sick of this father! I want out. I don't want you to be my father anymore; I can't take this life of crime and violence. I want a life free of all of this. You cannot protect me forever, you need to let me disappear and go where no one can find me. Change my name, my appearance and be out of your life,” I told him, frustrated. “You are going to get me killed, just like you got mother killed.”
“That is not fair. I didn't kill your mother, that was the Chinese," My father told me, looking upset that I'd even brought my mother up. She'd been the only woman he'd ever loved, but his love hadn't been enough to keep her safe. And I didn't believe for a minute it would keep me safe either.
My father escorted me out of his office like I was a child and slammed the door of his office in my face, leaving me standing there, mad enough to kick something. I reached my fist up about to pound on the door just to bug him when I was startled from behind.
“What's your name?” a deep voice asked, and I twirled around to see the man my father called John standing there. Now what did he want? Couldn't he see my agitation with my father? A smart man would have stayed out of it. Maybe this man wasn't very smart.
“What do you want?” I glared at him, irritated with the situation.
“You to tell me your name, I'm John,” he told me and gave me a half grin that had me wanting to slap him. I knew my anger was misplaced, but I also didn't get involved with anyone my father worked with. If you worked with my father you weren't a good guy.
“Sofie,” I told him, I don't know why I gave him a real answer, that's not what I was expecting to say, but I looked into his blue eyes and I got lost. He had that golden skin that showed he spent a lot of time outdoors, and his blue eyes had just a hint of sea foam green in them that reminded me of ocean waves.
I was tall, but he made me feel feminine and petite, he had to be at least six and a half feet tall. And stood over half a foot taller than me. I wasn't used to it.
“Well, Sofie, it looks like you're stuck with me for a while at least. Your father felt you needed protection, so here I am.” He pulled out a piece of gum from his pocket and put it in his mouth. He acted so casual about his announcement that it almost didn't register in my brain.
I watched his lips close around the blue mint stick and swallowed hard. I would not think about his mouth and tongue, or kissing me. Or anything. Nope, I wasn't even going there. Just because he looked like the kind of man who could be a cowboy, doesn't mean I wanted to get to know him.
“How'd you get saddled with this job?” I asked him, I really wanted to run away, but instead I decided to stay and talk to him. He was new and unlike most of my bodyguards he didn't seem scared to even look at me. I wondered if I could manipulate him into doing what I wanted.
“I offered. I am new to your father's empire, and I suppose you could say I wanted to prove my worth to him. What a better way than keeping the princess alive?” He grinned at me, flashing his white teeth and I wanted to smack him.
“I'm not a princess,” I told him and then went to walk off and leave him standing in the hallway when he grabbed my arm. “Hey!”
“I know about the stunts you pulled trying to get away from your guards, listen to me now and listen to me good,” John told him, his expression hardening and for a moment, I felt a shiver go up my spine. This was not a man you wanted to cross. “Your life is in serious danger, so if you want to die, go ahead and be foolish and stupid. I will keep you alive until we solve this, but if you do your best to get yourself killed, I'm not your babysitter. I can't protect stupid, and you don't strike me as a stupid woman, Sofie.”
I stared at him and then down at the hand on my arm. Realizing that he hadn't let go yet, and that I was leaning slightly closer to him. Jumping back alarmed by my own reaction I put some much-needed space between us and crossed my arms over my chest.
“Fine, if you stay out of my way, I'll stay here until you catch the bad guys,” I grumbled at him and then he winked at me and I blushed. He kept me on my toes and I had no idea how to react to him. Irritated, turned on, whatever, those emotions were all close enough I tried to convince myself I was just manifesting frustration into a sexual desire to cope with my life. There's no way my attraction to him could be real.... could it?
“Don't worry princess, I'll keep you safe,” John promised me, and I shook my head. He wasn't dropping the princess thing and he's lucky I didn't kick him in the shin for it. But if he kept it up, all bets were off on the shin kicking. I normally wasn't violent besides my occasional temper and yelling, but right now, I was on the edge of sanity and he was pushing my limits.
Chapter 2: Boom
I guess the one nice thing about having an electric keyed car, is that you can turn it on without being in the car. If I hadn't turned my car on in the driveway as I was walking towards it, I wouldn't be alive. My car exploded in the driveway, injuring one of the maids who was walking towards the house. It could have been me. It should have been me.
John jumped on top of me as soon as the explosion happened. It occurred so quickly I barely had time to register the ground shaking as the car split into pieces that just flew everywhere. I felt shrapnel from the metal shards raining down and cut into some of my skin. He was covering my head and neck with his body, and I suppose he was less worried about my extremities than my brain. Although I'm not sure why, laughing to myself, I thought I had very nice arms and legs that would have been worth protecting. I think I may have been slightly hysterical. Slightly.
I'd made a point to torture him over the last couple weeks. I egged him on and poked at him, like a bear in a cage. So far, he'd kept from responding to me on the surface, yet I couldn't seem to resist trying to get a
reaction out of him. It was rather shocking to realize that no matter how much you picked at someone, they just ignored you. It made you feel invisible and the more he ignored me, the more I was determined to get a reaction out of him.
My car blowing up was not how I intended to do it though. It shook me to the core and I realized in that moment the seriousness of the situation and the threats to my life. While the concept of actually being in danger had been vague and I could sort of understand the seriousness, having bloody arms and having to pick glass and shrapnel out of my skin and flesh had a better effect on me then someone telling me I might be in danger.
“Are you alright?” He asked me as he got off me and helped me to my feet. He looked me over and must have decided most of my wounds were superficial because he seemed to relax slightly after he examined me.
I wasn't sure entirely, I felt numb and my ears were still ringing from the shock of the explosion. The maid was lying on the ground, unmoving. I moved to look around him and he blocked me. I could get a glimpse of a big chunk of metal sticking out of her back and a pool of blood getting thick on the ground. Guards and people came running around outside and ended up blocking my view of her. John directed me away from the scene, but I had a bad feeling she wasn't as lucky as I was.
“Is she alright?” I finally asked him, looking up at John's face.
When he grimaced and then quietly shook his head, I knew the real answer. There had been a victim in this explosion and while I was lucky it hadn't been me, a real travesty had happened here today. I was angry. On her behalf, on behalf of her family. For myself too. That could have been me, should've been me. The poor maid had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is why families like mine didn't deserve to exist. Innocent people got caught in the crossfire and it just wasn't fair.
“It's okay to feel angry,” John told me, as he checked my arms and shoulder, making sure I didn't have any serious injuries.
I appreciated the gesture, but just being alive was enough to make me feel relieved, the shock and adrenaline from the explosion had me shaking and he took me inside to clean me up. But I still felt guilty. I had lived and my poor maid hadn't. What a mess, and it was my fault.
“I need to talk to your father,” John told me, and looked concerned. “I think you may need to go into hiding for now.”
“Hiding?” I asked him, confused.
John nodded, “I'm going to make arrangements with your father, and then I'm taking you away from here, until it's safe for you to come back. Listen to me Sofie; I don't think I can protect you if they'll bomb your car in your own driveway. Next time it might be a sniper through your window. I won't see it coming. I can't keep you safe in this environment.”
Surprising both of us, I gave him an answer that didn't come with an argument. “If you think it's best.”
John looked surprised for a moment, but then nodded and walked me the rest of the way to my room, one hand on my lower back protectively. In the moment, all I could do is shiver. The pain of the cuts and glass in my arms started to hurt and I cringed.
“I'll send someone to you to clean you up, I won't be gone long, I need to make a few phone calls and talk to your father, okay?” He asked me quietly, and I nodded feeling numb about everything while my brain tried to catch up to what just happened.
I sat on the edge of my bed and started to cry. I wondered if this was how my mother felt before she died, afraid, hurt, scared, realizing that loving my father was a death sentence. I needed a way out. After seeing and experiencing this for real, I realized I couldn't stay.
“John?” I hesitated, realizing that if he told my father what I was about to ask him, I'd never get free.
“Yes Sofie?” He paused in the doorway and turned to look at me.
“After this over, I want to disappear. I'll pay you whatever it takes. I have money saved up, I'm fairly rich in my own right, and my mother left me everything she had. I can pay you a lot to help me escape this life. I can't do this anymore. I already watched my mother die, and seeing that poor maid get killed when it was meant for me, I need to disappear. Please don't tell my father, he'd never allow it.” I searched his face, hoping he'd understand. Praying my gut feeling about him was right.
“When we get you someplace Sofie, we can talk,” he told me. “I will be back soon, back whatever you need for a few weeks to go off the grid and we'll go from there.”
I nodded at him, but I felt my face get wet with tears and I surprised myself. I wasn't usually one to cry, I was the type to yell and lose my temper. I was embarrassed and when he shut the door I grabbed the pillow off my bed and buried my face, the blood from my arms smearing on the white satin.
I stifled them and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand when the maid knocked on the door and came in with a first aid kit.
“I'm so sorry, Maria,” I told her softly when she started picking out the glass and cleaning my arms. The maid who'd died had been her sister. It just wasn't fair. I wanted to hug her, but she seemed to be holding herself together by a thread and I didn't want to be responsible for her falling apart.
“You didn't do it; Isabel knew the risks of working here. We both did. The pay is good, and I know your father will make sure her family is provided for. That's all she would have wanted,” Maria told me as she finished cleaning my wounds and bandaged me up. “John told me to help you pack. I hope you survive this Miss, you're a sweet girl and you've already had too much tragedy in your life.”
“You're right Maria, I have, and I want out. If you were smart, you'd get out too,” I told her bluntly.
“I need the money,” she told me and shook her head as she cleaned up the mess and wrappers from the bandages and alcohol. She pulled some bags out of my closet when she was done and started helping me pack while I waited for John to return.
Chapter 3: Hiding From Evil
John took me to a small cabin in the middle of nowhere. I was lucky it even had working electricity and running water. He made me ditch my cell phone and leave it behind. I was worried about surviving, but walking into the dingy cabin, realizing it was almost the size of my bedroom and bathroom for the entire dwelling, and no cook or maids, I was on my own.
How would I survive if I had to be solely responsible for myself? Yikes, I would need to figure this out if my goal was to go on my own. A normal person took care of themselves. I had to figure out how to do that. I wanted to be normal.
Well, I had John, but he didn't really strike me as the domestic kind of guy, and I didn't know how to cook.
“John, if you expect me to be able to take care of us while we are here, you're in for a world of trouble, my cooking skills are more along the lines of opening a can of soup and burning it in the microwave.” I crossed my arms after dropping one of my bags on the small dingy couch and he brought in the rest of the bags.
“It's a good thing I can cook then,” he told me grinning. He set the bags down and put his hand to my chin and tipped it up so he could look at my eyes. “Don't worry Princess, I promised to keep you safe, and if that means doing some laundry and making sure we have edible food, I can do that.”
“I'm not a Princess!” I huffed but when his thumb rubbed my chin softly, all I could think about was kissing him. I knew it was a mistake, but I leaned forward and pressed my mouth to his before I could stop myself.
Shocked, he stiffened against me, and I wasn't sure if he was going to kiss me back, or reject me. His hand slid around my neck and he kissed me back. His lips pressed hard against mine and then his tongue entered between my lips, deepening the kiss. The tension we'd been feeling spilled into a fiery eruption of passion. I don't know if it was survivals guilt that made me take the leap into dangerous territory, or just the simple fact I wanted him and there was no one here to stop us.
Finally, he put his hands on my shoulder and pushed himself away from me. Feeling hurt, I looked up at him confused. It had just started to feel good and I didn't want him to stop.
/> “Sofie, it's okay. We need to stop. You've been through a traumatic event; you need time to adjust, to heal. I can't give you the comfort you seek right now; you'll regret it in the morning.” John put his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eye. “I shouldn't have let myself kiss you back, I'm sorry.”
“You don't understand,” I told him, starting to protest, feeling offended he'd apologized for kissing me back. He needed to understand that it wasn't about the horrible event I'd just been through and witnessed, but more that he was the first person I'd met I actually wanted. For the moments I'd been kissing him, I'd forgotten everything but how he'd made me feel. I wanted that. I wanted him.
I had means, opportunity, and a handsome man in front of me I wanted. He was trying to do the right thing, an honorable thing. He didn't seem like the type of man who was afraid of my father. I didn't know anything about him, other than he'd saved my life and the only reason he was hired by my father was to protect me. I'd assumed he was a hit man, but watching him handle the situation, he moved more like he had military training. Something niggled at me that I couldn't quite place.
