Chapter 34
NATALIA
Iwake up with a shudder and a million regrets, as I remember what Leks said. And the way my self-respect flew out the window when he made that offer.
If he’s gonna be like that, maybe I should divorce him first. I pull on these ugly camping clothes and realize my wrists are still sore from the ropes. I am owed such a fucking apology once he finds out how wrong he is.
“I hope you’re making me breakfast after that,” I call out, my throat aching. My voice is husky from the sounds I was making last night.
There’s no response.
A flush runs up my chest as I remember how much I enjoyed it. Leks has a dark side and I liked it.
I have to remind myself, and especially the liquid heat that threatens to engulf my stomach as I replay last night in my mind, that I am mad at him. He might be good in bed, but he’s still being unreasonable. He still needs to listen to me when we’re not in the bedroom.
It’s not my fault that someone else is leaking information against him.
I destroyed every single one of the devices that my father asked me to plant. I told him that. He didn’t believe me.
I can’t wait until he finds out how wrong he is. He will be apologizing to me for years. It should only take a few days for them to figure out that it’s not me leaking the information.
Leks doesn’t appear. I slide out of bed, pulling on a thick cable knit sweater. It smells like him, and it comes all the way down to my knees. The late spring day is somehow even colder after the night, rain fresh on the ground outside.
I hear a motor in the distance — and then I remember that we’re in the only cabin for miles.
By the time I open the front door, the tail lights of the car slip around the corner.
Leks is going somewhere without me.
At the kitchen table is my notebook, where I’ve been recording my notes about the paintings in the vault. It looks like Leks has been reading it.
Maybe he just needed some groceries. This place can’t be particularly well-stocked.
A small voice in my head tells me it’s a lot more serious than that.
There’s no food for me in the kitchen, so I make do with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It’s all I can make, my favorite midnight snack from my time as a teenager. My mother would always scold me and tell me to watch my weight if she caught me making this kind of thing.
After breakfast, boredom sets in quickly.
I put on more Golden Girls on the TV — it seems like that’s all that has been recorded on the video tapes — but by the time it’s midday, the sitcom isn’t distracting me anymore. I try not to believe the worst but it’s hard to believe that Leks is coming back for me after last night.
He didn’t even trust me enough to tell me where he was going.
I pace around the cabin while Dorothy tells her crappy neurologist where he can stick it, noticing the ancient-looking landline in the corner.
There’s a number beside it, pinned to the wall on a piece of paper. The last time I used one of these was when my great-grandmother was still alive and we’d have to make calls to Russia to wish her a happy birthday.
I call the number written on the paper. There’s a pause as the call is forwarded, and I worry that the line is about to disconnect. Instead, it’s Vera who answers.
“Hi, you’ve reached—” Her voice sounds businesslike and neutral.
“Vera?”
“Natalia! Are you with Leks? On this surprise couple’s vacation?”
I’m so relieved to hear a familiar voice that tears gush down my cheeks.
The irony that people think we’re on a vacation right now. I can’t imagine anything further from a vacation than the past few days.
A beat later her bubbly tone shifts and concern drops into her voice. “Wait. Why are you calling from this number? Are you in trouble?”
“Vera, there’s no vacation.”
I sob as all the pain of the past few days hits me with all the weight of a slab of marble. Leks has left me here to rot. I don’t even know what country I’m in.
“Oh honey.”
“Leks, I think he drugged me— Don’t know where I am— Only trees around— These ugly clothes — Don’t know where he is— He tied me up with rope— Golden girls— Said he would divorce me.
” I try to explain what’s happened, but now that I’ve started to sob I can barely get two words out at a time.
I’m sure Vera doesn’t understand a word I’m saying.
“Did you say something about divorce? Leks won’t divorce you. That man is crazy about you.”
I try to pull myself together enough to get the words out.
Vera starts coaching me through a breathing exercise with surprising authority, like she does this every day.
I calm myself down enough to explain to her what’s happened. How angry Leks was. How I don’t know where he is, but I’ve been alone all morning.
“That bastard,” she says when I finally manage to get my story out. “I’m coming to get you.”
Somehow, talking with Vera makes it real and even worse. I’ve been abandoned by Leks, and I can’t even tell Vera where he’s taken me.
This is humiliating.
I can only hope that no one knows I’m here. Leks has enemies, my father has enemies, and if any of them found out I was in a wood cabin alone in a forest in the middle of nowhere… The thought sends a chill down my spine.
Vera stops me before I can panic further. “Well, the good thing is, I know exactly where you are.”
“How?”
“You’re at the safe house,” she says like it’s obvious. “At least, that’s the number you’re calling from.”
“The safe house?”
“Yeah, Leks used to hide there with his mama. Now the Women’s Shelter uses it sometimes, for women who don’t have anywhere else to go.”
I’d forgotten that Vera was involved with the Women’s Shelter. It makes the piles of women’s clothing make sense, as well as the coconut shampoo in the bathroom. This isn’t a place he brings women, it’s a place women come to escape abuse.
Relief washes through me. If the shelter are using this as a safe house, I’m probably not too far out of the city.
“You have food and clothes, right? And the door’s not locked?” The thought sends another wave of dread through me, but I check the door and am relieved to find that it swings open with ease.
“No, I’m not locked inside.”
I stare out at the cedar trees. And I have clothes, if you count the ugly fish t-shirt.
This was where Leks used to come with his mother when his father would abuse them.
“Good, good. Just need to know what to bring. I’ll be there in… Well, the computer says three hours. But in my car, let’s say 90 minutes. Stay there, okay? And call me if anything changes.”
She gives me her cell number. I write it down on the same piece of paper.
The next hour passes in tense anticipation.
I almost cry with relief when I hear the roar of Vera’s Bugatti in the distance.
The gold car looks so out of place here in the forest, driving over the winding, dusty roads.
She bounces up the stairs and forcefully pulls me into an expensive-perfume scented hug, swinging her black fur coat over my shoulders as soon as she sees me.
She’s brisk and efficient as she locks up the safe house and bundles me into the passenger seat of her car.
Before she starts driving, she turns to me with concern in her eyes.
“That man is such an idiot to do this to you.”
I know he’s an idiot. I know he’s been cruel, and unreasonable, and that he’d better give me a foot rub every night for the rest of eternity to make up for the past few days. But I can’t shake the feeling that something’s happened.
The worries spill out before I’ve even processed them. Something feels very wrong. Even with all the anger and distrust Leks has been carrying lately, he wouldn’t have left me alone like this. He kidnapped me, punished me, but couldn’t resist sleeping next to me every night.
However much he might hate me right now, I don’t think Leks would leave me alone.
I think his departure is a sign something is very wrong.
“Vera? I have a bad feeling about this. I think something’s happened to Leks,” I sniffle.
“God, I hope not.” She shoves a box of tissues towards me.
“Can we go back to the port to see if he’s there?”
“On it, babe.” She puts her foot down. “We’ll be back in the city in no time.”
“You’ll get a speeding ticket.”
Vera laughs at that. “You’re always so worried about law enforcement. If having a whole roster of Bratva men is good for one thing, it’s getting out of a speeding ticket.”