Chapter 25
CHAPTER 25
VIKTORIA
T his was perhaps the stupidest thing I had ever done, or the smartest. I wasn't sure.
Either way, I needed to keep my head down and make sure no one saw me. I needed to be invisible. Not even another face in the crowd, just a nameless, faceless person who left someone's mind as soon as they left their sight.
Thankfully, with it being such a chilly night, everyone around me had their heads down, covered with a hat or a hood. The baseball cap I wore not only kept my hair hidden but cast my face in shadow. No one looked at me twice.
It didn't stop me from jumping at every little sound, or my heart from racing like a caged animal whenever someone walked in my direction. Not even passing the turnstiles with my ticket crushed in my sweaty fist helped calm my nerves.
Getting out of the apartment building was surprisingly easy.
I waited a few hours to make sure Artem was gone, or at the very least far from my apartment, and then I searched for train times. There was a late night, ten pm train from Union Station to the William H. Gray station in Philadelphia.
Perfect.
I knew Ivan was down at the front desk, but I thought he would be it.
I should've known better. Artem was smarter than that.
He had stationed another one of his men in my hallway, who was sound asleep. He snored loud enough to wake the dead. I had no idea how I didn't hear it in the apartment.
I crept away from him, each step feeling like I was walking a tightrope.
I guessed money bought you thick walls. A luxury I wouldn't have again for some time if my plan worked. God, I needed this to work. If I didn't get out now, I never would.
Instead of creeping past the sleeping guard to the elevator and heading down to the lobby and praying that Ivan was also passed out, I took a calculated risk.
Artem wasn't stupid, but that didn't mean he thought of everything. At the end of the hall was an emergency exit and a freight elevator. Perfect for moving in furniture and appliances, and for moving out young women looking to make a quick escape.
We were so close to DC I doubted I was the only girl to sneak out the back like this, but I would bet I was the only one running away from the promise of a life of luxury even if that luxury was bought with violence.
There was no one in the loading area.
Just the dumpsters, and one orange cat sleeping on a piece of cardboard, waiting for a rat to scurry by. Still, I stayed in the shadows, pressing my body to the cold brick, pausing to avoid bringing attention to myself in case anyone was around.
I was sure Ivan, or the sound sleeper, would come for me. It was only a matter of time, but I had to be sure no one was around who could rat me out.
Maybe Ivan was checking the camera feeds in my apartment. Maybe there was an alarm on the back door or in the stairwell. My mouth was dry as cotton as I waited, my heart threatening to burst through my ribs, sure I would be caught.
I imagined Artem's face when he found me. Those icy gray eyes turning to steel. That jaw clenching as he fought to contain his rage. The way his fingers would dig into my arms as he dragged me back to my gilded prison.
No one came.
The only living being who knew I had left was the cat who glared at me with one open eye, mad at me for disturbing his nap. Or maybe just wary of people. This close to a campus filled with so many entitled douchebags, there was no telling what this stray had endured.
"Trust me, kitty. I get it," I whispered. Suddenly feeling like a stray myself.
I didn't have a family, and like this little kitty, I didn't want to be anyone's pet, but sometimes that meant being at the mercy of assholes who thought their money and security made them more important. They saw themselves as above me, like the professor who mocked me because he could.
Why did powerful people need to inflict such cruelty on those of us without power?
Maybe when all of this was over, when I was no longer looking over my shoulder, I would get a warm apartment somewhere. Something small, but safe. Maybe then I could get a cat to share my life with. A cat that could come and go as they pleased but knew there was always a safe, warm place for them. No strings attached.
A car passed on the street, its headlights illuminating the alley, reminding me I needed to move. Artem may not have realized I was gone yet, but he soon would. When that happened, I needed to be away far enough that he couldn't find me.
Did such a place even exist?
I didn't know, but maybe I could get somewhere far enough that I wasn't worth retrieving. He was a businessman, surely there was a cost versus reward matrix he would consider. Maybe I was worth driving across town for, but not for committing the manpower needed to hunt me across state lines?
The second I thought about it I knew it wasn't true. Artem had seemingly unlimited resources and this would be a point of pride. Men like him didn't gain power, or keep it, without having an intense fixation on reputation and holding onto what they thought belonged to them.
Still, I couldn't stay.
It was a Friday night, close to the college campus, so despite the late hour there were plenty of people on the street. I kept my head down, my bag over my shoulder so I could tuck my hands into the front pocket of my hoodie, and my shoulders hunched.
Whatever I could do to look smaller and inconspicuous.
I didn't want to alert Ivan by grabbing a cab too close to the apartment, so I started walking.
In case I was being followed, I didn't take a direct path. I ducked into a few bars and left out the back, winding my way through back streets and piss-soaked alleys.
There were a few drunk frat bros and more than one woman in a tiny dress who had to be freezing.
Every single one of them looked right past me.
Perfect.
Drunk college kids were not the same as Artem's trained men, but them not noticing me, or even seeing me, meant I could disappear in a crowd.
Twenty minutes later, I finally got in a cab.
I arrived at the train station with only minutes to spare. The train I intended to take was pulling into the station and I got to the counter just in time to buy my ticket.
The girl sitting behind the counter commented about me cutting it close, but her eyes never even left her computer screen as she hit the digits, printed the ticket, and took my cash.
That was probably one of the few good things my father had taught me. Always carry cash. Cash wasn't traceable.
Did I think not leaving a paper trail meant Artem wouldn't find me?
No.
But hopefully, it would at least slow him down.
I lined up in front of my car, waiting for the doors to open. There were a few exhausted-looking men in suits, a woman with her kid, and a group of teenagers who were talking about the college I was leaving.
My skin prickled with awareness.
Every shadow seemed to hide one of Artem's men.
Every glance in my direction felt like exposure.
The students talked about the upcoming semester and how amazing it would be, and a pang of regret hit me.
Artem gave me the tools I needed to get my degree, and I was just leaving.
How was I going to pay for college somewhere else? How was I going to enroll in classes without him finding out where I was?
The anxiety in my stomach loosened and started turning into regret as my knuckles gripped my bag harder. I needed to feel determination, not regret.
I could turn around.
That was an option.
Walk back to the apartment and sneak back in the same way I snuck out and no one would ever have to know. All I'd have to do was deal with Artem's company occasionally, and everything I needed to work toward my dreams would be handed to me. Was going to the best restaurants, or having mind-blowing sex, really that much of a sacrifice?
My body flushed hot at the memory of his hands on me. The way he could make me feel with just a touch, a look. The way his mouth claimed mine like he owned me.
Or did it make me the whore my father tried to use me as?
I didn't know.
Nothing was ever said about me having to sleep with Artem for my tuition, and really, the only times he had put his hands on me, it was because I was acting out.
If I’d never gone to that frat party, he would never have had to come get me. Had I never gone to his apartment to yell at him for his heavy-handed control, I doubted we would have ended up in his bed.
But did that make a difference?
Had I been handed a golden opportunity, only to fuck it up?
I thought back to the "date" we had. More importantly, I thought back to what came after our date, when he took me home and didn't push his way inside. He let me choose whether to invite him in or not.
He didn't make a move, he just kissed my forehead in a way that felt like he cherished me, pulling me into the hallway instead of stepping into my apartment.
It seemed to be an example of my having some control, but I had to remember it was just an illusion. Earlier, he had walked right into the apartment while I was getting ready. Reminding me the apartment was his, as was I.
He even told me that tonight I was having it my way, but only for tonight. What did that even mean? What did I want it to mean?
My head swam as I took my seat in the nearly empty train car. I pressed the brim of my hat down, covering my eyes, and leaned against the cool window, letting the chill seep past my jacket and cool my heated skin.
For now, I had escaped Artem and the gilded cage he put me in.
The only thing left to do was to figure out what my next steps would be. I had friends in Philadelphia. Ones I'd gone to community college with who then moved north. I could head to them first, stay with them for only a night, maybe two, to get my bearings and decide on a plan.
I had no family, no support system.
What I had were several ambitions, but no way to work toward them.
Okay. Before I did anything else I had to get a good fake ID and then I was going to need more money. Find a job waiting tables or something. Something that would allow me to grow and thrive.
There were no entry-level jobs that would come close to paying for a college education, and a fake ID would never be good enough to get a federal student loan.
The only thing I could think of that would bring in the money I needed and still give me time to study was...something illegal. If that was the route I was going to take, then I may as well have worked for my father before he was killed.
Then I realized that neither one of those options was remotely possible. Even the scraping-the-bottom-of-the-barrel last resort was impossible. If I worked at one of those online subscription services, then someone would see me for sure, and tell Artem. If I worked outside the law, someone would recognize me and tell Artem.
The more my mind raced, the faster panic set in.
My heart was beating out of my chest, and I realized I had made a massive mistake.
One that I could never escape.
If Artem found me, what would he do to me?
I'd thought none of this through.
Would I be punished again? Would it be worse than before? Or would it end the same way?
What was I thinking, running from a man like him?
I saw firsthand the fear he inspired in the eyes of the restaurant staff. I had just run from a predator. Gave him something to chase. And for what?
So I could live my life on my terms? Putting myself in this situation meant my terms changed. It wouldn't be about finding a reputable way to escape my family's legacy and make something of myself. It would be about going into survival mode.
I jumped from his gilded cage and landed in a fire.
Panic crawled up my chest, reaching my throat and constricting my breathing. The walls of the train seemed to close in on me, and I suddenly wanted off.
"Sir, you can't do that. Do you have a ticket?" A shrill voice sounded behind me.
"No," a deep masculine voice said, and I knew exactly who it was.
My blood turned to ice as the hair on the back of my neck stood up.
That voice.
His voice.
The one that had whispered filthy promises in my ear just this morning.
I couldn't help but laugh. There I was, sitting on a train, thinking that I had escaped, trying to figure out what my next move would be and spiraling instead, when in fact I wasn't even leaving the city.
My knuckles turned white as I gripped the small bag in my lap and ducked my head even lower, thinking maybe he wouldn't see me. Maybe he didn't know what train car I was in.
I looked up, sneaking one little peek to see if he had maybe gone the other way.
Instead, my eyes met his furious gaze.
Time stopped. My breath caught in my throat.
His steely eyes blazed with barely controlled rage, his jaw clenched so tight I could see the muscle ticking. His entire body was tense, coiled like a predator about to strike.
But beneath the fury, there was something else.
Hurt. Betrayal. Desire.
He found me, and it didn't matter what I did.
There was no escape. There would never be an escape.
As he moved toward me with that raw grace that had my stomach flipping with both fear and desire, I knew I was in trouble.
The worst part? Part of me was relieved he'd found me.
Part of me had wanted him to.
And that terrified me more than his rage ever could.