He turned away from me, neither intimidated nor the slightest bit bothered by my outburst.
With a scowl, I placed my head in my hands and tried to think. What the hell was happening? Had I become a pawn in some Bratva feud? How was I to extricate myself from this mess? What would happen to my father? With the exception of my best friend, Aldie, I made a vow then, that if I were somehow lucky enough to come out of all of this alive … I would never have anything to do with any Russians again for the rest of my life.
I lifted my head and stole a glance at them.
They showed no interest in me at all. They were all staring straight ahead or glancing at the rear-mirror to make sure we were not being followed.
Slowly, my hand inched towards the door handle. I waited … my stomach twisted into tight knots until the car came to a stop at a red light. I took a deep breath, and pushing away the memory of the gun they had fired earlier, I pulled with all my strength at the door latch.
The door refused to budge. I lost my shit then and banged on it with my fists. I felt angry, frustrated and utterly helpless.
The men didn’t move an inch.
When I turned to see the bored looks on their faces at my little temper tantrum, my heart fell. Exhausted, I settled into the seat and momentarily accepted my fate. Even my butter knife was gone. I would just save my energy until it would be time once again, to fight back.
Perhaps it was the route they followed, but after a while, there was very little illumination for me to figure out where we were headed. Finally, we arrived at the imposing gates of what looked to be a very huge estate.
Beautiful big trees loomed on either side of the driveway. As we arrived at the house, I couldn’t help but gasp at the grandiosity of the massive beautifully lit fountain.
Water spewed out of the mouths of four stone figures, a lion, an ox, an eagle, and a deer. A Greek-style statue of a magnificent man with wild hair stood amidst them. And the house that it sat behind was like something out of a Hollywood movie. It reminded me of The Great Gatsby. Enormous and lit up … it shone like a jewel in the night.
The car came to a stop and I watched, alert as two of the men jumped out of the car like large cats and came over to my side to escort me.
To my surprise, they stayed on either side of me, but made no attempt to use any force to get me out.
I had never been so confused in my life. “Where am I?” I asked.
“Hopefully, someone will soon address that question for you,” one of them said dryly.
I put my foot on the ground and tried to stand, but my knees gave way.
The men reacted with lightning speed. They grabbed my forearms and held on until I found my strength again.
“Thanks. I’m alright now,” I said awkwardly.
Both men let go of me. With all the adrenaline running through my system, I hadn’t felt any pain, but now I could feel the aches and pains all over my body. Especially my back. I felt like a crumpled wreck as we started walking towards the house.
A heavy lion head knocker sat on the door. I kept my gaze on it. I didn’t know what would happen next and I should be afraid, but for some strange reason, I wasn’t. Before we could get to the door, the knocker moved backwards.
The door had been opened from the inside by a man.
My blood froze over. I simply couldn’t believe my eyes. Perhaps my eyes and current state of disorientation were playing tricks on me. The light was behind him and I couldn’t be absolutely sure.
Then he moved and the light fell on his face.
4
Bianca
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx51eegLTY8
I stared at him incredulously, not knowing what to feel as my gaze was met and held by the man I wasn’t good enough for, the man who’d broken my heart a lifetime ago.
He seemed different than when I knew him. The carefree young man was gone, in his place was a man older, harder, sadder, with secrets in his eyes.
He stepped aside to allow me into the house.
I did not move an inch. I couldn’t. “You?” I gasped.
“Yes, it’s me.” His gaze searched my face and body intently. “Are you alright? Do you have any injuries at all?”
Injuries? This man broke my heart. I shook my head in a daze.
“Come inside and we’ll talk.”
His voice sounded exactly the same. Hearing his voice again was a different kind of shock. It brought back all the pain of the past. I had poured out my heart to him and he had walked away without even the courtesy of a goodbye. Even the worst kind of jerk would have sent a break-up text. One day, his account was alive with a green symbol and the next it came up with a message telling me IvanTheGreat did not exist. I’d felt so confused and in such a state of denial, I had contacted Support to say there was a problem with the IvanTheGreat account. They told me the account had been deleted by the user. Then I called his number. It was as dead as his account.
“Ivan the Great, my ass,” I muttered. “Go talk to yourself. I have nothing to say to you.” I turned around to walk away and realized the men and the SUV were gone. I’d been so shocked by his appearance I hadn’t even noticed what was going on around me. No-one remained to stop me, but where would I go? I didn’t even know where I was. Besides, there were too many unanswered questions. Questions about whether Bogdan was still alive, and other old questions that had been burning in my brain ever since he disappeared without a trace.
I whirled around to face him.
He stood, watching me intently, his face carefully wiped of all expression.
“How the hell did you … no wait … why did you take me away from him?”
“I heard what happened … with your father.”
My eyes slid away in shame, but I held my gaze to the door’s frame and went on. “And so you just decided to what? Rescue me?” Hurt made my tone belittling and mocking. If he had been anyone else, I would have been kissing his feet with gratitude. Instead, I was being an ungrateful bitch.
“I saw you in the restaurant. He put his hand on you. I couldn’t take it.” His words were clipped, his tone curt.
Something inside me, something I’d held on to with all my might snapped. My God, if I stayed here any longer I’d become a sniveling fool and start imagining he had feelings for me when he had clearly shown he had none.
I turned away and started to walk away, but I’d only gone a few steps, before I stopped, swiveled around and marched back up to him. “What’s with the Russian guards?” I waved my hand in a wide arc. “And this house? Weren’t you an accounting major at NYU?”
“I graduated,” he responded.
“I know that,” I snapped. Then I shut my eyes to get a hold of myself.
He went on, “The ‘Russian guards’ work for my father. I sought out their help because they are damn good at what they do.”
“You said you’re from Spain,” I said. “You never mentioned anything about Russia.” Ivan the Great suddenly made sense. “You’re Russian, aren’t you?”
“Come in, Bianca,” he urged. “I’ll answer all the questions you need me to, but it’s the middle of the night right now.”