by Bella King
I watch as Rurik falls asleep, but I’m not as tired as he is. I won’t be sleeping at all tonight, because I’m supposed to come downstairs at four in the morning to meet the guard and escape with him. Then, he’ll tell me about what the hell actually happened to my father, who he claims is still alive.
Both stories that I’ve been told seem outlandish, but I pray that the guard is telling me the truth. If he is, though, then my father has an awful lot of explaining to do. Why would he leave me for so many years, putting me into a hopeless situation where I cry myself to sleep because I have nobody left?
It took me a while to get over his death, and now it’s being brought back up again. I almost wish that none of this turns out to be true. Maybe the guard is mistaken. Maybe my father actually did die of a heart attack at work, a simple accidental death because nobody was around to rush him to the hospital in time. I hope that I can lay all of this to rest soon.
I turn over onto my back, staring at the ceiling. I consider turning the bedside lamp off, but then I think better of it. I’ll probably fall asleep if all the lights are off, but I’ll turn it off before I leave the bed so that Rurik doesn’t wake up and see me go.
I look at the texture in the ceiling for as long as I can before I grow bored. Rurik is snoring away beside me, so even if I wanted to sleep, it wouldn’t happen. It might be a good thing that I’m getting away from him tonight.
I laugh quietly to myself about it. Rurik isn’t that bad of a guy, but the snoring part would take some getting used to if we ever were a thing. I’ve never had a real thing, come to think of it. All the guys I’ve dated in the past were just flings to fill the space. Eventually, I gave up on all that and figured if I was ever going to be with anyone, then fate would bring us together.
I glance at Rurik from the corner of my eye. Had fate brought us together? It was doubtful because this had all the markings of a one-night-stand, as it was. It takes more than two days to establish a relationship with someone, especially if you want it to be meaningful.
I sigh, folding my hands on top of my stomach. Eventually, I’m going to have to get dressed. It was probably a stupid idea to let Rurik cum inside of me when I’m not on birth control, but it’s a little late to take that back. I can feel it dripping out from between my legs now.
Okay, time to head to the bathroom.
I slide my body off the bed, trying not to wobble the mattress too much as I leave. Rurik doesn’t seem to notice that I’ve left him, which is good. I’m not going to leave the room to go downstairs just yet, but I want him to fall into a deeper sleep before four o’clock when I need to be down.
I sneak out into the hallway to check the time on the clock. To read it, I lean in so close to it that I can feel my breath bouncing off the smooth white wall back into my face. I can’t risk turning a light on and alerting Rurik, so this is how I must read it.
The thin hands on the clock indicate that it’s two in the morning, which is way later than I thought it would be. I guess Rurik really did captivate me in the bedroom because I’ve completely lost track of time. With him, it feels like time doesn’t even exist. In a way, it doesn’t out here in California, not when you’re locked up in a house all day with no job and no responsibilities. Dare I say I might miss it?
I trudge back to the bedroom, my feet savoring the softness of the expensive carpet as I make my way back inside and go to the bathroom to clean myself up. I can feel the cum dripping down my leg now, a stark reminder of the sin I committed with Rurik. I’m foolish to have done that, but that’s easy to say after the fact. Before, I was lusting after him so hard that my pussy was leaving snail trails on his ass.
I shake my head at myself as I enter the bathroom and close the door before turning on the light. Alright, let’s make this quick. I’m quite eager to get back into bed with Rurik and feel his warmth before I leave. It’s a bittersweet feeling.
Chapter Twenty
I’m downstairs when I hear the first gunshot.
I arrive at the backdoor five minutes before the guard is supposed to come for me, but I hadn’t expected a violent entry. I wonder if I misheard the sound from outside, but it’s confirmed by a series od gunfire, this time much closer to the house.
Rurik will be waking up from this. If he’s actually a mafia boss, and his brain will be hardwired to be on high alert at the sound of anything close to the pop of a pistol. I need to get out of the house, but I’m afraid to go outside.
I take a breath, placing my hand on the handle as I turn the lock to the backdoor. It clicks open with a definitive sound, and I pull open the door to face whatever the hell is going on outside.
“Violet! In the car,” a hoarse voice shouts from outside.
I look up and see the guard with three other men in tactical gear surrounding an armored vehicle on the lawn. A bullet pings off the side of the car as the guard waves at me to hop inside. The door is open and ready for me.
Without thinking, I dash to the car. This is my way out, and that’s all I can think about. I don’t think about leaving Rurik behind, and I don’t think about the fact that the guard called me Violet, my supposed real name, instead of Samantha, the name I grew up with. Something here doesn’t make sense, but I don’t consider it. I just want to get away.
“Damn, it’s going to be a bitch getting out of this place,” the guard growls as he slams the door behind me. “What took you so long?”
I’m in a state of shock from the shooting and excitement. Not to mention the fact that I’ve been up all night without a wink of sleep. I look at the guard as he turns away from me and shouts something to the driver. I can’t even pay attention to the words he’s saying as I look back toward the house through the cracked window of the car.
I press a hand against the window, my eyes widening as Rurik comes out with a gun in his hand just as the car begins to pull away. He’s shouting, but I can’t hear his words through the thick insulation of the armored car.
He sees me through the window, and our eyes lock. For a moment, I see confusion, then realization in his light-blue eyes. After that, panic crosses over Rurik’s face. At that moment, my stomach sinks like an anchor, and the feeling of dread creeps through my body like a cold mist. I’ve done something terribly wrong.
“Get this bitch out of here, motherfucker,” the guard shouts at the driver. “Or I’ll put a damn bullet through your thick skull.”
“Shut the fuck up! I’m trying to drive,” the driver shouts back at him.
I reach for the handle. I need to get out of this car and back to the house. Something isn’t right here. I no longer believe these men are here to rescue me.
“Not today, woman,” the guard growls, ripping my hand away from the handle and shoving me back into my seat. “Sit down and do exactly what I tell you, or I’m going to cut your throat.”
My heart is beating so fast that I’m at risk of passing out. I can hear the thundering rhythm in my ears as my body freezes in fear of the guard.
“No throat slitting. We need her alive,” the driver calls out from the front as the car rips through the grassy yard into the front of the house.
“Jesus Christ, shut the hell up. You’re telling her too much,” the guard calls back to the driver, waving his gun wildly in the air above his head. He turns back to me, a scowl on his face. “You just sit still. I won’t kill you, but by god, I can make you hurt.”
I don’t reply to him. I don’t know what to say, and I’m still frozen in fear. This man isn’t on my side. Is this the they that Rurik was talking about? Was he telling me the truth all this time, and I was too much in denial to accept it? I do believe I just fucked up big time.
“You have the necklace?” the guard asks, looking toward my bosom.
I do have it. It’s tucked between my breasts underneath my t-shirt, but I’m afraid to tell him that. Why is he asking about the necklace? Rurik seemed awfully interested in it as well, but he never said a word about it to me.
“The necklace,” the guard says, irritation creeping into his already hoarse voice. He places his hand on my shoulder, his thin fingers digging deep into my flesh between my bones as he stares at my bosom with a look of borderline insanity in his eyes. He’s so different than he was when he was sneaking me information through the backdoor earlier.
I wince as his fingers dig even deeper into my shoulder. The pain snaps me out of my shock paralysis, and I jerk my shoulder to lessen the pain. “I don’t have it. I left it in the house.”
“You did what?” He asks, his eye flaring with anger.
Wrong answer, but I know now that there’s something important about that necklace. Before I can suggest that we go back to the house to get it, he yanks the neckline of my shirt down, revealing the gold chain that holds the circle pendent from my father.
“You little bitch. Don’t lie to me,” he snarls, grabbing at the chain on my neck with his free hand, the other hand ripping into the muscles in my shoulder.
I throw up an elbow, making solid contact with his jaw and smashing his two rows of teeth together with impressive force. He falls back in the seat, and I take my chance to leap for the door. As my hand is coming down on the handle, the guard grabs me from my behind, slipping his cold hand into the waistband of my jeans and pulling me back toward him.
“You made me bite my tongue,” he shrieks, his face almost as red as the blood that’s running over his thin lips.
I kick my foot out toward his stomach, but he grabs it before I’m able to hit him. I’m trapped in his deathly strong grip, and I can’t squirm away this time. He rolls forward on top of me, pinning me down on my back as he leans over my face. A drop of blood drips onto my forehead from his damaged mouth, splashing against my skin and splattering up to my hairline.
“Get off me,” I shriek, reaching out to claw at his face.
He brushes my hands away as though they were mere blades of grass blocking his view, and he reaches down to my neck to retrieve the necklace. Right before his hand can fold over the pendent, I bring one of my arms back up and shove his hand away.
“Stop that,” the guard says, throwing an open hand into my face. He slaps me with more force than I’m expecting, leaving me in a temporary daze as he goes for the necklace again. This time, he succeeds in yanking it from my neck, breaking the chain.
I grab for the necklace, but he has gotten what he wants and rolls backward off me with his prize. I’m unable to reach it, and my cheek is flushed with blood from the brutal slap. Defeat seems to be inevitable at this point. I don’t know why he took the necklace, but it’s more important to me that it is to him, and it crushes me to lose it like this.
“Who are you?” I ask as I sit up, rubbing my cheek and feeling heat where I was hit.
“Your worst enemy,” the guard replies with a wicked grin. “Or as the boss calls me, one crazy motherfucker.”
“That’s not a name,” I say bitterly. I don’t care much for his taunts.
“William, if you must know,” the man says, dangling my necklace in front of him and squinting at the pendant as though he was trying to read something. “Would you drive like a normal person?” he yells to the front of the car as the driver bumps along the road.
“Where are we going?” I ask, trying to keep distance between him and I. My hand snakes toward the door handle again, with my back facing it. I want to keep William talking for as long as I can so that he doesn’t realize that I’m attempting another escape.
William ignores my question and continues to study the pendant, holding it up so close to his eyes that there’s no way he could focus on it, especially with the car moving so hastily. Speaking of which, if I try to get out now, I’ll likely be nothing more than a smear on the asphalt once I roll out of the car.
William puts down the necklace and glares at me. “Where is the code?”
“What?”
“The fucking code,” he says, repeating something that I don’t understand.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I reply, terrified that he’s going to attack me again. His boss might want me alive, but William doesn’t seem to have any issue with doing some damage along the way.
William clenches his jaw, speaking through his teeth. “There’s supposed to be a code on here,” he says, lifting the necklace up in a fist clenched so tight that his knuckles are in danger of splitting straight to the bone. “Is this the same necklace your father gave to you?”
“Of course,” I say. I never take it off, and it’s the same one that I remember my father giving me before his death.
“There’s supposed to be a code on this damn thing,” he says, shaking the necklace in front of his face.
“I don’t know anything about that,” I say, speaking the truth. This is the first time I’ve heard anything about any code.
William frowns and pulls the necklace back to his face. He scans all sides of the pendant, his frown deepening as he studies it. He looks up at me, then to the driver. “Hey, Dave. I think we have a problem.”
“What’s that?”
William looks back at me. “There’s no code on the necklace.”
Chapter Twenty-One
I’m thrown out of my seat as the car skids to a stop in the road. The windows are tinted so dark that I can’t see outside from where I’m sitting, but I get the feeling we aren’t where we’re supposed to be yet. The driver has stopped because of the code, or should I say, the lack thereof.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” The driver, Dave, asks, springing from his seat and jumping into the backseat with us.
“See for yourself,” William replies, thrusting the necklace out to Dave.
Dave snatches it from his hand and holds it up in the air, studying it with the same intensity that William had. After a moment, he shakes his head. “What the fuck is going on?”
Both of the men look at me. I don’t know how to respond. I don’t want them to think that I’m to blame for this. The only thing that I’ve done wrong so far was trying to escape from Rurik. That was a huge mistake.
I throw my hands up. “Hey, I don’t know anything about this. I honestly don’t even know why I was taken from my home.”
“I’m not going back to the boss without the code,” William says, glaring at me as though I’m hiding it from him.
“Could the code be somewhere else?” I ask.
“No.”
“Alright, well, I don’t know what to say to you then,” I reply, shaking my head.
Dave sighs. “Okay, Violet. Here’s the thing.”
“Shut up and let me talk to her. Drive us back to the goddamn office,” William says, shoving Dave toward the front of the car.
Dave shoves William back but climbs into the front seat to start the car again.
William turns to me. “Alright, Violet. Here’s the thing. You’re not getting out of this alive unless you give us the code.”
I’m starting to think that it’s the complete opposite. What do they need me for when they have this code that they’re after? It doesn’t matter much, though, because I don’t know what the code is anyway.
I straighten my back as the car starts to roll down the road again. This would be the perfect chance to jump out if I can get William distracted again. “Are you sure the code isn’t on the chain or something?” I ask. It’s a fair point.
William squints at me then pulls the necklace back up to his eyes, looking across the tiny links of the chain for a code. As he’s doing this, I reach my hand for the door handle again. This might be my only chance to escape from them.
In a swift movement, I throw the lock on the door handle into the unlocked position and push the door open, leaning back into it recklessly to allow my body to fall out of the car. I’m too quick for anyone to grab me. I’m even too quick to catch myself before I hit the pavement outside.
Things tend to move in slow motion during an accident. It’s like you’re watching yourself fall, knowing what’s going to happen,
but you can’t do anything about it. You’re observing it like someone else watching. For a moment, it’s an out-of-body experience.
And then, it’s the light of the California morning sun, the roughness of the sun-bleached road, the little rocks that jut out just enough to bruise your skin as you tumble across them, and the searing pain of your skin being shredded against the ground. Just as soon as it began, however, it comes to a stop.
My first instinct is to stay still. I want to make sure all my limbs are still intact. I know that adrenaline will allow me to get up from this, even if I’m seriously injured. For a moment, I just want to check over my body and see if nothing is broken.
I focus on the pain. It appears to all be on the surface of my body, skin deep. The car wasn’t moving that fast when I fell, which means that I’m probably not severely injured. It also means that William and Dave are going to come for me in a moment.
I sit up, looking at the palms of my hands. They’re bloody, with little stones embedded in my skin, but they’re not as bad as I thought they were. The places of my skin that were most exposed are scraped up, but the rest of me is just a fine as it ever is. I’m alive, but that’s not the only thing that matters. The next thing is to stay that way, and I doubt that will happen unless I run from William and Dave.
I’m on my feet in a second, wobbly but able to stand without toppling back over. I wouldn’t want to fall again and hit my freshly shaved hands on the pavement. That would be beyond painful, and I didn’t sign up for such a traumatic day. I’ve had enough of this already.
I hear voices behind me as I break into a run on the side of the road. I look around me as I run, but there aren’t any other cars on the road. I’m on a street that’s far removed from the rest of civilization. I should have known since we’re not terribly far from the house that I’ve been staying in.
I know that I’m not going to be able to outrun William and Dave by staying on the road, especially not if they turn the car around and decide to come at me. My only hope is to go off-road and lose them somewhere there is cover. The only problem is, there is no cover. We’re out in an open area with nothing nearby, aside from a few small trees and a cactus.
