Chapter 22 - Ruslana
I can’t believe he has confined me to the mansion again. I’m so annoyed—and confused because he hasn’t really spoken to me that much since the night we spent on the yacht together—which was beautiful.
Why would he lock me up again and avoid me?
I knew I was stupid to be falling for him. Of course, he would just set me aside when it was all over because I don’t really mean anything to him. That night was fun. That’s all. Nothing more.
I swallow hard, not willing to let the lump in my throat turn into tears over a man who is willing to set me aside like a toy.
I really miss Avraam.
I miss the version of him that makes me smile. The one who gives me little butterfly pendants and says sweet things to me in the quiet moments when no one else is around. I also miss the man who gave me more freedom than this. That man just let me be myself—in all the colors without trying to hold me back. He didn’t try and restrict me or lock me up—why has it changed again so suddenly? Did something happen? How can I find out what’s going on if Avraam won’t even talk to me?
I huff loudly, trying to make sure that my personal security guard knows how frustrated I am. Not only are there double the guards out in the garden—but now there is also a man inside the house following me from room to room. It’s making me a little crazy.
The doors are locked, I can’t even go out into the garden without twenty men looking at me, and he has his man, Dex, watching over me like I am about to try and fly out of a window.
Lying on the sofa with my legs draped over the back, I wiggle my toes up towards the ceiling. I’m bored out of my mind.
“Why are you here?” I sigh, asking him again, annoying the hell out of him. But when he answers I hear no annoyance in his voice at all. Just a calm, patient-friendly tone.
“Avraam asked me to look out for you. He wants to make sure you’re safe,” Dex says, sitting on the sofa, reading a magazine. He flicks the page and his eyes graze over the information in front of him.
How does this man have such endless patience?
“And where is Avraam? He’s hardly ever home anymore?” I say in another huff. I know it’s not Dex’s fault that Avraam is avoiding me—and I doubt he can tell me why—but he’s the only person around. So he’s the only person I have to talk to. And he’s the one who gets the brunt of my frustration.
Dex shrugs, pulling his mouth to the side. “He’s busy,” he replies with a short, blunt answer, putting an abrupt end to the chat. His eyes are back on the pages of the magazine. Cars and racing—bleh.
I roll my eyes. “You aren’t much of a talker are you?”
He chuckles, “My wife says the same thing. She gets annoyed with me too.”
I swing my legs over and sit on the sofa like normal person as I turn to face Dex.
“You’re married?” I ask, perking up, suddenly curious about him. It’s strange how I never considered who he was, his life or what he does outside of working for Avraam. I guess it was just that way because I never interacted with him apart from him helping Avraam to keep me prisoner in the beginning. This is the first time I’ve been alone with Dex. The first proper conversation I’ve ever had with him.
“I am,” he nods, looking up at me for a moment.
I laugh. More short answers. “How long have you been married for?”
“Seven years now. And before you ask—yes, it’s been the best seven years of my life.” The smirk on his face and that bright shine in his eyes tell me he really loves his wife. I grin, enjoying the new direction this conversation is moving in.
“Wow, that’s so amazing. I’m really happy for you. I don’t think I’ll even find someone who is willing to put up with me for that long,” I laugh.
“Of course, you will. You’re still so young. You have plenty of time. You’ll meet someone, you’ll fall in love, have some kids and build a beautiful life for yourselves.”
I look him over, scrunching my eyes. He does look like the type of person who would make a good dad. “How many kids have you got?” I ask, once I’ve come to that conclusion.
“Two. A boy, and a younger girl. Here—“ he leans his body to the side and scratches around in his pocket, searching for his phone, then holds it out to show me his screensaver which is a picture of two beautiful children. “Lucas and Shona,” he says proudly. “He’s seven and she is five. Both of them are a handful, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Dex and I fall into a long conversation about family, how we love them and how annoying they can be. We are laughing all afternoon and the time goes by in an easy, relaxed way.
I really like him. He’s a good person with a good heart and he sets me at ease which is much more than I can say for another, certain person who works for Avraam.
“Did Avraam set any rules about whether or not you are allowed to take me off of the property?” I ask, hopeful that maybe he can take me to the mall. “I’m so tired of looking at these same walls over and over again I’m going a little crazy.”
Dex pulls his mouth tight and narrows his eyes, scrunching his nose as he considers the commands he was given by Avraam. I know I’m pushing my luck, but hey, there is no harm in trying.
It’s been days since Avraam took me on our date and there is nothing to do but read in this house. I’m tired of reading. I need to get my outside-world-fix. I need to see people, and things, and enjoy some noise and some color.
Dex sighs.
“He told me to watch over you and make sure you were safe at all times.” He narrows his eyes. “If I did take you out of here and something happened—he would never forgive me,” he says.
I grin, thinking I might be onto something. “Ok, but he didn’t give you any explicit instructions not to take me out—right?”
“Yeah, he didn’t—,“ he says cautiously.
Dex looks worried about where this is leading.
“So—will you take me to the mall? I just want to walk around for a bit. Do a bit of shopping, look at things. I’m so bored here I’m going crazy. Please, Dex.” I throw him my best attempt at puppy eyes.
His expression tells me he doesn’t like this idea at all. Setting the magazine down he is still scrunching his whole face up. “I don’t know, Ruslana. It’s not a good time to be seen in public. I think it’s a lot safer in the house—on the property. Why don’t we go out into the garden and walk around there?”
“Why? What’s going on? What changed?” I huff.
“Someone at the mall might recognize you. Look, I don’t want to piss Avraam off. He’s an incredible boss—but only when you do your job properly. He doesn’t appreciate people who mess around and—“
“Please, Dex. I’m sure he won’t mind if you’re with me. And I promise to listen to you.”
“Dammit, Ruslana. I’m so bad at saying no to my wife and now you’re asking so nicely, how am I supposed to say no to you?”
He looks genuinely frustrated and that makes me feel a tiny bit guilty for putting him in this position—but I’m just happy that my negotiation tactics are working on him.
“So, I’ll go get ready and we can go to the mall.” I stand up, excited. Not leaving any more room for him to change his mind.
“No, not the mall. We can go to another, smaller, less popular shopping area I know,” he sighs, giving in.
I jump up and down, all my pent up energy bursting out of me.
“I’ll be five minutes,” I declare, running from the living room to get my things.
I feel a little guilty for pushing Dex into a corner like this, but hey, I don’t see what the problem is. It’s just a little shopping. Avraam and I were going out in public often enough and nothing happened—we didn’t even have extra security with us. As far as I know, nothing has changed and the only thing different is that Avraam doesn’t want to spend time with me. He’s bored with me or something. It doesn’t mean I should be locked up like a prisoner again.
Upstairs, I put on my sneakers and grab my oversized boho handbag. Perfect for keeping my little shopping bits and pieces in. Then I bolt downstairs and call out for Dex. He’s not in the house anymore though, so I run to the front door and peak out.
Dex is waiting in the car for me. He still looks a little mad about this. I climb in and grin at him. “Thank you so much for taking me. I really appreciate it,” I say, honestly grateful. “Yeah, yeah-“ he sighs, pressing the button to start the engine. The car growls to life and I click my safety belt into place.
“You won’t actually be in trouble will you?” I ask.
“As long as nothing goes wrong and you do as I say. If anything does happen—you will listen to me right, Ruslana?” he turns to shoot me a serious look. “No funny business?”
I nod, “One hundred percent—I will listen to you—I promise.”
“And we are only going for an hour,” he says sternly, turning the wheel and pulling through the security gate, off the property.
An hour is good enough. I just need to get out. And besides, if this hour goes smoothly, then tomorrow I can probably convince him to take me out for longer.
I settle into the passenger seat, super happy to be out of the house, watching the world pass by through the window. It’s a nice afternoon, the sun is out, and people are wandering around the city doing people things.
“Where are we going?” I ask, only knowing of one small shopping district nearby, the one where Avraam originally took me. But we aren’t headed in that direction.
“You’ll see when we get there, but I think you’ll like it. It’s quite unique. There are lovely little markets stalls, and my wife adores the place. I take her there on weekends—“
From one of the side streets, a car flies across two lanes and slams into us.
I scream, jolted against the safety belt, the thick black strap cutting into my skin painfully.
The car skids and spins, then slams into a street sign. I can’t get out of my door because it’s folded around the signpost.
Dex, somehow less disoriented than me, moves quickly to unclip my safety belt to safely pull me out of the car from his side. “Come on, that was a deliberate attack, we need to move, Ruslana!“ he shouts, dragging me through the buckled door.
I blink my eyes several times, trying to push away the dizzy nausea and panic building in my chest. The world is spinning.
Dex grips my arms and glances up and down my body. “Are you hurt?” He asks.
“Um—uh—“ I feel his hands patting over my legs.
“Ruslana, focus. Are you hurt?” he asks again.
“No, no I think I’m ok.”
“We have to run.” He looks into my eyes and suddenly I know how serious this situation is.
I nod.
He pulls me along next to him, his gun drawn and his eyes watching every direction. We run through the street, down an alley, around the back and into another street. We keep moving. Dex checks around each corner before we take it, he is doing an excellent job getting us out of here, but my leg is hurting, and I know I’m slowing him down.
“Who was it?” I ask, breathless, when he pauses to sweep the area again.
“I don’t know—I didn’t have a chance to see. The windows were heavily tinted.”
A gunshot ricochets through the alley and Dex yells, dropping down to one knee. Blood oozes through the side of his pants in a thick river of red. It looks bad.
“You’ve been hit!” I scream in panic. He pushes himself back to his feet and shoves me behind his body.
Lifting his weapon, he stands to face whoever is about to come around the corner towards us.
My entire body is shaking as I watch his pants become darker red, the blood gushing heavily.
“Dex—you’re bleeding a lot,“ I say, tight with worry.
“Stay where you are Ruslana,” he demands, not moving, not flinching.
A masked man bolts around the corner to our left and sideswipes Dex off his feet. There is a tangle of fists, legs, punches, kicks, shouts and anger.
Dex is fighting hard.
The other man pulls out a knife and I scream my lungs out when he stabs it into Dex’s side. Tears flood my cheeks as fear grips me tightly.
I can’t let this happen to Dex. I am the reason he is out here. It’s all my fault.
Not thinking twice, I leap onto the attacker's back and start pulling at his clothes, his hair and his arms, trying to get him off Dex.
I’m screaming the loudest I can scream to try and attract attention. Someone has to help us. Someone has to help Dex.
The man stands up, reaching behind himself and dragging me off his back, throwing me onto the ground. I land hard, my hip screams in pain and I roll towards Dex, trying to crawl to him, but he is unconscious. There is so much blood around him.
Tears spring to my eyes. “Dex!” I scream. “Wake up. You have to wake up.”
I hear people shouting in the distance, footsteps coming towards us. “What’s going on there? I heard someone screaming. Call the police.”
Yes—help is coming.
The attacker takes two strides and is standing over me. He grabs me around the throat, lifts me up into the air and swings his arm at my face.
His fists connect with my temple and everything starts spinning. For a second, I think I can fight it, but the darkness sweeps over me, dragging me downwards, into the abyss.
I feel myself being lifted and hoisted over the man’s shoulder as he carries me away—and then I feel nothing, and I hear nothing, and I know nothing but darkness.