Joy #2
Valerian sets the empty cup down and folds his giant arms over the table, watching me. “What about your family?”
“It’s just me and my mom.” I pin him a look. “She’s the only family I have left. And you made me lie to her.”
I bite my lip. I shouldn’t be talking to him about his family, caring and feeling sorry for what happened with them when he’s keeping me away from mine.
I finish the rest of my pineapple and rise from the table, the chair scraping under me.
Valerian watches me. “Where are you going? You’ve barely eaten.”
“I’m not hungry.” I don’t bother tucking the chair in. “Don’t worry. I’m not planning on escaping.”
I storm away into the drawing room, searching for something to read that will take me out of my head. I can’t do this anymore. My head is scrambled.
One part of me feels sorry for Valerian, wanting to get closer and be around him more. The other part of me is so fucking angry.
I run my hand along the bookshelves until I come across something fictional. The Hobbit. That’ll do. I need to press pause on this world for a while and enter a new one.
I throw myself onto one of the loungers and open the first page, reading. But the words on the page are just that. Words. I can’t take anything in. Ten minutes go by. Twenty. In the end, I shut the book and stretch my legs out, trying to sleep instead.
As the morning goes by, the sun starts to heat up. I’m sweating in my clothes. Maybe I’ll change into my bikini and go for a swim. You know, taking it easy, like Valerian keeps telling me to do.
At the end of the day, there’s only so much of that you can do before you’re bored out of your mind.
I stretch my arms over my head, leaning to one side. Maybe I should raid the closet. See if I can find any activewear. No doubt, it will have belonged to Igor’s mom.
It’s like she’s haunting the walls. Galina looked petrified when I asked about her. Even when I made her breakfast, something felt off. Something about needing to follow rules…
I rise from the pool lounger. I’ll do yoga in the clothes I’m already wearing. It’s a ten-minute trek all the way back upstairs. Very unnecessary. This estate might be impressive, but it’s not practical to live in.
I stretch into a downward dog, doing alternating leg raises.
Between each stretch, I remember my last Pilates class. It was the night before I was taken. I couldn’t get Valerian out of my head. There was something about him that I just couldn’t shake.
What if he’s not the man I thought he was?
I extend my front leg forward, coming into a front split.
He must have buried a lot of shit over the years. Some parts of his childhood seem worse than mine.
I stretch my arms into the air, deepening the stretch. I inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth.
In spite of everything, it’s easier to breathe out here.
But the peace soon disappears.
I hear a squelching noise coming from the other end of the garden. I turn, still in my front splits, and see blood squirt fly through the air.
I gasp in horror, scrambling back up to my feet.
The attacker removes his mask. And it’s Igor.
His dark hair blows in the breeze as he slots his knife back under his belt. He just killed both guards. And now he’s taking both of their guns.
I gasp. My legs are seized up. I can’t move.
Igor stands back to full height, searching across the garden. Until his eyes land on me.
No, no, no…
Adrenaline kicks in. I take off in the other direction, toward the other side gate.
“Guards!”
It’s the first time I actually want them to be here.
It all happens in front of my eyes. Two intruders jump down from the stone walls. They disarm the guards before they have a chance to shoot.
One of them gets kicked to the floor. The other guard is dead before I can scream.
I open my mouth to scream. That’s when a piece of fabric is shoved into my mouth. I struggle against the cloth, trying to spit it out. It’s no use. Someone’s keeping it in my mouth.
I turn around and lock eyes with an unfamiliar face. He’s wearing a mask too, same as the others. It covers the top half of his face, stopping at the nose. All I can really see is his mouth. And it looks cruel. His teeth are jagged. His jaw is strong.
“Thanks, gents.” Another voice starts up behind me.
I struggle against the man, trying to glance over my shoulder. One of my attacker’s hands is locked around my midriff. The other is still over my mouth, keeping me quiet.
“I’ll take it from here,” says the voice. I’m pretty sure that’s Igor.
He appears in front of me, the mask dangling from his neck like a necklace.
“Joy.” He flashes me a smile. “It’s a pleasure.”
I extend my vision, looking over him. The guards at both side gates are dead. That’s four guards in total.
My breath catches, seeing all the blood. The men are laid in the grass, blood spewing from their chests where Igor and his men killed them.
“Why would you…?” I struggle against the cloth. Igor’s friend is still holding it against my mouth. “Why would you kill them?”
“What was that?” Igor leans in, tapping his ear. “I’m afraid I can’t hear you very well, Joy.”
There’s one simple solution to that.
I lunge forward, but the man holding me shoves me right back into him.
Where the fuck is Valerian?
“We’re going to do this as quietly as possible.”
My heart rattles in my chest. No, I’m not dying. This isn’t happening.
I look down, seeing the knife under Igor’s belt dripping fresh blood.
I shake my head, struggling against the cloth.
“Please!”
Reality crashes over me. I always thought I had more time. I never got the chance to leave the magazine. To see what would have happened if I designed my own label.
I twist and turn, but it’s pointless. The man just grips tighter. And he’s starting to squish my diaphragm.
“When we take this cloth away from you, Joy, you’re going to stay quiet. Do you understand?”
I frown. They covered the guards’ mouths when they killed them.
Does that mean I’m off the hook?
“Do you understand, Joy?”
I nod. As soon as they give me my mouth back, I’ll be screaming. That’s for damn sure. I need Valerian out here. He can snap his own son’s neck for all I fucking care.
Igor shuffles closer. His eyes are familiar. But as for the rest of his face, I don’t recognize him. Especially since his entire face is speckled red with blood.
I look into his eyes and feel sick. Everything we had was fake. He was lying to me right from the very beginning. Even his dating profile was a load of bullshit.
I was rushing downstairs a few days ago, hoping Valerian hadn’t killed his own son.
Honestly, Valerian can do his worst. I don’t care. Igor wasted my time. He made me believe we had something. He used to come home and surprise me with flowers. He told me that I was special. That I was worth fighting for.
“If you scream, Joy, Valerian dies.”
“W-what?”
Igor smiles. But it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “I knew it.”
“Knew what exactly?”
Igor laughs instead of answering my question.
“You really are full of surprises, Joy.” Igor steps forward.
“If I kill Valerian, you would be set free. Which is what you want, right?” Igor answers for me.
“Wrong. You want my father.” He snorts. “A lot of people want him. Even when it comes at a cost to their freedom.”
Igor signals to the man behind me, and he finally releases me.
I can breathe through my mouth again. I spit the cloth onto the ground and struggle against the man. It would be nice if he’d let go.
“Where’s Valerian?”
“He took a trip down to Rodeo Drive,” says Igor. “He puts a lot of trust in his drivers.”
My breath hitches. “What have you done?”
“Oh,” laughs Igor. “Nothing yet. But I can do something if you scream. Joy.” He narrows his eyes. “Do you want me to do something?”
“Why?” I challenge him. “So I can move back to Malibu with you? I’m good. Thanks.”
“Hm.” Igor clicks his tongue. “My father threw a spanner in the works with that one, as he often does. Not to worry.” Igor looks back at me. “We’ll make him pay.”
“We?”
I’m now being grabbed by Igor. He guides me over to the loungers and gestures for me to sit.
I pin him a glare, sitting on the edge. Nothing about this interaction is relaxing.
Although, I will say, he doesn’t scare me. I was with him for six months. Engaged for two. That changes things. He’s not a stranger to me, even though a part of him feels like one.
I look at the knife sheathed under his belt again, dripping blood.
Then, I look over at both of the side gates. Stationed at each one are a pair of dead guards. They lay dead under the sun. Blood is still seeping out from their chests, turning the grass around them red.
I see flies buzzing around them and have to look away. Bile is rising into my throat again. Even before this mess, I wasn’t feeling good.
“What are you doing here, Igor?” I fold my arms over my chest.
Igor sits on the lounger next to me, stretching out, getting blood everywhere.
I’m sure Valerian will appreciate that.
“To get you out of here.”
“I already told you. I’m not interested in moving back in with you.”
“Maybe not.” Igor strokes a finger over his bottom lip.
“But you still want to get out of here, don’t you?
” His face is lined with concern. He grabs my hand, smoothing his finger over the wedding ring.
“Valerian takes everything way too far. Dragging innocent people into his mess is way over the line. Don’t you see that? ”
I do see that.
Or did, at first. Before the line between right and wrong started blurring.
For that, I have myself to blame. I never should have slept with him.
“You lied to me,” I sigh. “If it wasn’t for your father, I could have gone to jail. And it would be your fault.” I hitch my arms higher up my chest. “You’re not the only one over the line. The apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree.”
Igor keeps staring at me. He did that a lot on our first date. Always staring.
My dumb ass thought it was because he liked me.
Now I know he’s a snake. And this entire time, he was sizing me up, seeing if I would be the perfect scapegoat for him.