Manka and one of the clients were in the room that connected to the balcony, so she couldn’t go back into the house. Manka’s cough had finally subsided, and whatever sickness she’d had months ago seemed to have cleared up. Though that wasn’t much comfort because she had to be back upstairs now.
On the other side of the balcony, there were what looked to be some very strong vines growing thickly against the wall. They hadn’t been feeding Julie well here, and she’d always been tiny. Still, she wasn’t sure the vines would hold her. But short of jumping from a second story balcony, it was her only way down. And even if it was a suicide mission, she kept hoping somehow that there would be some tiny slim chance she could escape. However unrealistic it might be, she wanted the chance even as she knew there wasn’t one.
Julie waited until Manka and the man moved to the bed out of clear view of the glass door, and then she half walked/half crawled to the other end of the balcony. She tugged hard on the vines, but they held solid.
She took a long, deep breath, screwed up her courage, and swung a leg over the railing of the balcony and grabbed onto the vine. Slowly, she eased her way down the side of the building, wincing as the vines scratched her skin and tore at the scraps of lingerie that barely covered her.
She was only a few feet from the ground when the vine snapped and she fell. The ground smacked her hard for such a small drop, but at most she was bruised.
Her gaze darted around the grounds, her heart pounding so loudly she couldn’t hear her own thoughts. Dmitri’s property was too open. It was the main reason escape was so impossible. This was the inevitable final outcome she’d been delaying for months, and now she was sure the delay hadn’t been worth it.
They’d all been warned about running and what happened to girls who tried to escape, but Julie didn’t care anymore. She was sure Dmitri planned to kill her after tonight anyway because she couldn’t fake servile contentment as well as some of the others.
She’d only been running for a couple of minutes when one of the guards spotted her.
“Stop!”
A feeling of resignation and vague dread washed over her. She could barely find the will to keep running. Just stop, let it end now. But she couldn’t surrender.
A couple more guards saw her and began to converge on her as well. She kept running. The grounds were too big. She couldn’t run that distance and outpace gunfire. But would they start shooting with guests here? She wasn’t sure. Maybe they’d try to catch her and bring her back quietly, or take her somewhere discreet and pull out one of the smaller guns with a silencer and finish her off with that. Maybe they’d make one last use of her services first. She shuddered at that thought. That wasn’t an option. She was leaving this place tonight, even if it meant leaving this plane of existence altogether.
Julie shifted course and ran back toward the house and the parking lot. The one thing she knew was they wouldn’t shoot at the clients’ fancy cars. Footsteps pounded behind her as she zigzagged in and out of shiny Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Maybachs, a stray Bugatti or two. Her bare foot hit a rock, and she went down hard.
The guards caught up, and all at once three large black scary-looking guns were aimed at her sprawled and trembling form.
“Gentlemen, hold your fire.”
Julie looked up to find Gabe coming from the house and heading right for them with a frightening sense of purpose. The guards seemed confused and unsure of what to do. Dmitri had obviously not run them through this potential scenario before.
“Mr. Griffin, we’re sorry you had to see this, sir.”
Gabe looked pissed off. Of course he wouldn’t help her—if he was this angry she’d try to run from him. But what could he expect her to do in this situation? She’d been right to run from him. He held his cell phone out to one of the guards. “Dmitri would like to speak with you.”
“Ummm...” A guard who only spoke English took the phone, his hand a bit shaky as he did. “Yes sir. Uh huh. Yes sir. Of course sir. I understand.” The guard ended the call and handed the phone back to Gabe. Then he turned to the other guards. “We are to return to our posts and let Mr. Griffin leave with the girl.” One of the guards translated in Russian for the others.
“But...” one of them said.
“Dmitri was insistent,” the first guard said.
The others shrugged and they wandered off back across the grounds to their posts.
Julie struggled to cover herself, not that such a thing was possible since everything she was wearing was short and see-through.
Gabe fiddled with something on his phone, lost in thought while the valet, having witnessed the commotion and determining that Mr. Griffin was ready to leave, went and got a dark blue Bentley from the lot. If not for the lighting in the parking lot, the car would have appeared black. The valet pulled the car around and tossed the keys to Gabe.
When they were alone and he was finished with whatever had been of such importance on his phone, Gabe turned all his focus on her. His stare was inscrutable. He silently watched her for a couple of minutes. Finally, he said, “I told you I could help you. Get in the car, Julie.”
“B-but you drive a Honda Civic.” That was the part to focus on. She still couldn’t believe she was alive.
“I drive a Honda Civic when I want to blend with the normals. Get in the car.”
She’d torqued her knee when she’d fallen, so running wasn’t an option now. At least Gabe didn’t have a gun trained on her. Still, he was one of them. Wasn’t he?
“Julie, so help me, if I have to tell you a third time...” His eyes blazed with fury.
She scrambled and half-crawled to get into the passenger side of the car. Gabe got in on his side, started the engine, and they peeled out of the parking lot.
“Why did Dmitri let you take me?”
“I convinced him that since he planned to get rid of you anyway, it only made sense to sell you to a willing buyer and at least make some money out of it. I bought you. You are now mine.”
She couldn’t help it when the tears started to fall again. “A-are you going to pimp me out?”
“No. Never.” He practically growled at her when he said it.
“Are you going to take me back to my apartment?” Like she still had an apartment. Either way, that outcome was unlikely. But she had to ask.
“No. You can never be out of my sight again.”
“W-what are you going to do with me?”
They reached the end of the driveway at the main road.
“Julie, please be quiet. I need to think.”
She closed her mouth and looked out the window. She jumped a moment later when Gabe’s hands slammed against the steering wheel and he shouted, “Goddammit!”
He looked over at her and no doubt noticed she was shaking because yelling meant violence came next. He put a hand gently on her knee. It took a large amount of self-talk to keep from pulling away. Why make him more angry?
“I’m sorry I’m scaring you. I’m not upset with you. I’m upset with the motherfucking bastards who did this to you, and now I don’t know what I’m going to tell Anton. We are supposed to be doing business with these guys. If I could go back in time I would have fucking kidnapped you on our first date and taken you away with me. Anything to spare you this. It’s my fault this happened.”