Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Daisy
There was only one place I could go in the entire city. Just one.
And it took me all night to reach the house I grew up in. I had some money to get a cab, but the walk—the pain from the blisters that covered my feet by the end of it—felt like some kind of payment for leaving my son.
Again.
His face haunted me. The way he had reached for me and screamed for me to take him with me would be with me for the rest of my life. I knew he thought I’d abandoned him again. That probably Ilya would tell him even worse, but I couldn’t stay there.
Not because of the harsh words of Marguerite. I didn’t care about her. No, I had to leave because of Ilya's refusal to see what was right in front of his face. He was so busy making me pay for the things he had ordered in the past that he was no longer protecting our son.
Only I could do that. And I couldn’t do it locked in a room with Ilya sneaking in because he couldn’t stay away from me even when he said he hated me.
It was all so confusing. What was happening. The feelings being around him made me feel. I needed to clear my head. I had to get away from this mess.
But I would get Alec out of that house. I would not let Marguerite destroy my child with her lies and venom. If Ilya was too blind to see the truth, then he would have to suffer the consequences. He was grown, and—
I let out a sigh of relief when my key slid into the lock and turned. I had half expected that Ilya would have had the locks changed when he found me in the city, but no, everything was just how I left it. The only difference was a fine layer of dust over everything.
Kicking the door shut behind me, I leant against it for a second, just trying to catch my breath. It wasn’t the walk that had left me out of breath. It was the fear. The fear that at any second Ilya's men would grab me and drag me back.
Or worse.
I had shown him up last night, and he wasn’t going to let that go. I had to—I had to—
A groan ripped its way out of my lips as I eyed the sofa. What I had to do was sleep. Just for a few hours. I couldn’t even think straight, I was so tired.
Pulling out my phone, I swiped to a picture of my son and me together at the zoo.
Both our faces happy and open. Running my fingers over his face, I let the tears fall down my cheeks.
"Mommy is coming back for you, Alec," I promised the empty house.
"Mommy is not going to be driven away again. I love you."
I knew he couldn’t hear me, but I hoped he knew that. One last look at the happy memory, and then I locked the door and fell face-down on the sofa.
I was asleep before I’d even hit the cushions.
The sound of screaming pierced my dreams, and I bolted upright.
Bright sunshine blazed through the open curtains and hit directly on my face.
I blinked rapidly, trying to pinpoint the sound.
Even though my heart was racing and panic was gripping me, it took me a few seconds before I realized that it wasn’t screaming at all.
It was my cell phone ringing.
Fumbling in my pocket, I stared at the unknown number for a second. It had to be Ilya. There was no one else who would ring me on a withheld number. Steeling myself, I answered.
"Mama?" Alec’s tear-filled voice filled my ears, and my heart clenched in my chest. "Mama, is that you?"
"It’s me. Are you okay, Alec?"
There was a little sob, like he was trying not to make a sound.
"Alec, where are you?"
"Under my bed. I’ve been hiding, and—" his voice dropped to the tiniest of whispers. I could almost picture him hiding under his bed, his Papa's stolen phone in his hand.
"Papa is so mad," he whispered. "Can you come and get me? I don’t want to be here anymore."
My heart literally broke. "Are you safe, Alec?"
If he wasn’t safe, I was going to march right back over there and get him. I’d go up against Ilya and all his men if I had to.
"Yeah." I heard him suck in a breath. "I just want to go with you."
"And you will, I’m going to come and get—"
There was a rustle, like someone was breathing heavily down the phone.
"Where are you, Daisy?" a familiar cold voice asked.
"Put Alec back on the phone." I couldn’t help the shake in my voice or the way my chest tightened. "Now. I want to speak to my son."
Ilya's chuckle was enough for my blood to run cold. "The only way that is ever going to happen is if you come home to us. If you want to run, then fine, but I will make sure you never speak to or see Alec again."
There was no threat in his voice. Only a cold, deadly promise.
"What?" I snapped. "Are you going to kill me? That was the threat last time, Ilya. But I’m not afraid of you now." Of course, that was only half true; I was pretty terrified of him, but I was more scared of losing my child again.
Alec deserved someone to protect him.
"Come home, Daisy. Now. Otherwise—"
Ilya was blustering. The most feared man in the city was blustering. I ended the call and turned it off so he couldn’t call back.
Ilya was lost; he couldn’t see what was right in front of his face. But I had never seen things more clearly.
For three days, there was nothing. No other contact, no hard, insistent knocks on the door.
Not that my nerves calmed down. The idea of Ilya turning up at any second was like a dark cloud hanging over me because I knew him better than anyone.
I knew that he would make me pay for putting the phone down on him.
Just like he would make me pay for leaving him again. But I honestly didn’t know why. He had never wanted me in Alec’s life. That was made perfectly clear six years ago. So why was he so hell-bent on keeping me in their lives now?
Why did he keep coming to my room? It was more than just sex. I’d dealt with that aspect of Ilya when we had first met. No, he touched me like he couldn’t help himself, and even when his words were angry and spoken to hurt me, he was all about me and my release.
But he didn’t come.
And by night four, I was so exhausted that I couldn’t keep my eyes open a second longer. Maybe he wouldn’t come now. It wasn’t like any attorney in the city would even take my calls. As soon as I said what this was about, they told me they couldn’t take my business.
Ilya had turned the whole city against me. If I had any chance of getting Alec back, I had to think outside the box.
Maybe someone in London? I had some savings.
The thought had barely entered my mind before I was turning in the narrow twin bed that I’d slept in growing up.
Glancing around the room, I frowned. Had I even been to sleep?
I honestly didn’t know. My waking thoughts and my dreams were all about getting Alec back, but I was sure I had slept for a few hours.
Which meant it should have been getting light outside. So why was the room so dark?
Struggling between sleep and wakefulness, I sucked in a breath and choked.
Smoke.
It was so dark because there was great, dark, billowing smoke pouring in from under the door.
I’d been asleep so deeply that I hadn’t even realized the house was on fire. Swinging my legs from the bed, I was horrified to find the floor under my feet hot.
Downstairs, I was sure I heard something or someone move.
"Hello—" Reaching for the doorknob, I tried to twist it open and pain shot through me. It was so hot. Everything was so hot.
Ignoring the pain, I tried again; it twisted uselessly as even more smoke billowed under the door.
Why wouldn’t the door open? I hadn’t locked it. Had someone—
I fell back as the first lick of flames lit up the door.
I was trapped in a burning building with no way out.
The bottoms of my feet hurt with every step I took towards the window, but somehow I made it. Even though I couldn’t see, and I couldn’t breathe.
Weakly, I smashed my burnt hands against the glass of the window uselessly. There were people down there in the street. Faces lit up by the flames so I could see the terror on their faces, but not one of those faces looked up at me.
They didn’t hear my screams.
They didn’t see me beat one last time on the glass before I crumpled to the floor and the black smoke overcame me.