“Emma.”
My heart lurched in my throat. “Daddy?”
“Yes, it’s me,” my father stated, his voice rough. “I’ve found you.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, nearly falling to the floor with happiness. My father was on the phone. He had found me, and he would be coming for me. “I thought I wouldn’t hear your voice again.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No,” I said, swallowing. “I’m fine. I am well taken care of.”
“Good,” he answered. “You need to run, Emma. You need to get away.”
I leaned against the wall, wishing that he could reach out and wrap his arms around me. “I’m trying. He hasn’t come after me. I think he’s given up.”
My father gave a short laugh into the phone. “A man like Krylov does not give up. He will never stop searching for you, Emma. He does not like to lose things.”
I tried not to cringe at the way my father portrayed me as a thing, just glad that I was talking to him again. “Can’t you come get me?”
“I can’t,” my father replied, sighing heavily. “The moment I step anywhere near you, he will kill me and then kill you, as he will not have any reason to keep you alive then. No, I have some people in Alaska that owe me some favors. I will reach out to them, Emma.”
I twisted the phone cord around my fingers. “How’s Mom?”
“She’s as good as can be expected,” he said. “She will be better once you come home.”
I felt the tears start to build in my eyes. “Tell her I love her and that I am doing fine. He hasn’t hurt me.”
“Good, good,” my father stated. “Because I will fucking kill him the moment I see him for what he has done to our family. Stay strong, baby.”
“I love you,” I choked out.
“Love you,” he replied before clicking off. I stared at the phone, willing him to crawl through the receiver and save me right now so I wouldn’t have to wait any longer.
“Oh, honey,” Gertie said after a moment, gently prying my hands from the receiver and hanging it up for me. “What in the world is going on?”
I shook my head, moving out of the kitchen and out the front door before she could see the tears fall. I couldn’t believe that my father had called me and told me that he was going to get me out of here. He had somehow found out where I was and had pretty much told me that I hadn’t been forgotten.
They were still trying to bring me home.
I took a few gulps of freezing cold air to calm myself down, wrapping my arms around my waist not because I was cold, but because I wanted to pretend that it was my father who was hugging me. He wanted me to run, but I had no way to do that right now. I had no money, and I couldn’t ask Noah or Gertie for some. They clearly lived on meager means, and to take what little money they probably had would be wrong.
I had no car either, so I couldn’t just leave whenever I wanted to.
No, I was stuck, and if my father could find me here, Artem could as well.
If he hadn’t already.
Wiping a hand over my face, I looked out at the snow-covered yard. I was so close to getting home now, my earlier worries maybe not as bad now, knowing that my father had not stopped looking for me.
I just had to hang on a little longer.
The sun caught my ring, and I touched it, debating on whether or not to just pawn it for money to get myself home. Before I hadn’t wanted to, but now, I didn’t know why I was holding onto it. This could be my ticket home.
I squared my shoulders, making a decision. I would ask Noah to take me into town in the morning and pawn the ring. If I got a good deal on it, then I would give some of the cash to Noah and Gertie for their hospitality and use the rest to get myself home. I had to put this chapter of my life behind me.
That night, I watched Noah as he made a move on the chessboard. “Gert told me you got a call today,” he said casually as he moved his queen.
“I did,” I said evenly, countering his move. “It was my father.”
“Are you leaving us then?” he asked, his eyes on his next move.
Yes,” I said softly, feeling sad that I wouldn’t have many more nights like this with him or days in the kitchen with Gertie. The couple had given me a chance to rest, a chance to gain back my old life without asking any questions or hesitating about helping me. I couldn’t thank them enough. “I need to go into town tomorrow. Can I ride with you?”
Noah made his move before leaning back in his chair. “I’m not going until after lunch. That okay?”
I grinned. “Well, unless I want to walk, it will have to be, right?”
He lifted his lips in a grin. “I guess so. You know, Emma, having you here has given me and Gert a second lease on life. She’s enjoyed having you around. I hope that this isn’t the last time we see you.”
My eyes watered with tears as I gave him a wobbly smile. “No, it won’t be, I promise. Maybe you can come to the big city and visit. I could show you all the best places to play chess.”
He grumbled, but there was a smile on his lips as I contemplated my next move, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to beat him again tonight. I was going to officially adopt them as my grandparents, and once I got back home, I would have my father pay for them to come for a visit for what they had done for me.
I was going to miss them both, but it was time for me to move on.
Later that night, after Gertie and Noah had waved me away from the kitchen, I sat before the fire, watching the wood crackle in the orange flames. What had my life become? I was running from a husband I knew nothing about, far away from a family that I cared about immensely. I had these feelings I didn’t know what to do with, and until I put some distance between me and Artem, I wasn’t so sure I would be able to make them disappear.
Heck, this distance hadn’t dimmed them in the slightest.
And my father. He was the biggest mystery of them all. He wanted me to run, to get away even further than I was, but he hadn’t sent anyone to help. He had only promised to send someone.
Well, if he had known that I had escaped, why was he just now contacting me? It didn’t make any sense whatsoever. I loved my father, but recently he had become a man I didn’t even know.
Sighing, I idly wondered what Artem was doing tonight. Was he back at the mansion, enjoying the comforts of his life and not bothering with me any longer?
Or was he missing me?
Snorting, I refused to think that he was. He didn’t miss anyone. The only reason he was after me was because of the claim against my father.