Marina
When the Uber pulls up to the address Stepan sent me, I sit there staring at it for a moment feeling reluctant.
I don't know if it's one of his friends' houses or some second home.
I didn't think he was all that wealthy, though I did meet him at those fights.
But he's never come across as a man who flaunts his wealth.
"Something wrong?" the Uber driver asks, looking over his shoulder. But this is the place he told me to go.
"No, nothing," I mumble, hesitantly opening the door.
Before I'm even out of the car all the way, a man in dark clothing walks out the front door toward me and I cower for a second. He looks scary.
“Marina?” he asks, and I nod, too scared to speak. “Come on in. Stepan will be back soon. He told us to make you comfortable.”
Another glance back at the driver, and I clear the door and close it. This whole thing feels way out of my comfort zone, but I called him for a reason. I can't expect him to drop everything at a moment's notice to run to my aid. Still, he did his best by sending me here, wherever "here" is.
The man leads me to the door as the Uber driver pulls away.
My nerves are shot now, too on edge to come down from this fight or flight I've been feeling ever since Maksim tried to strangle me.
I'm sure he would have, too, if my father wouldn’t have walked in.
And I know he'll come back to finish it if I even so much as protest doing what he ordered. But I'm not killing my baby.
We walk into a home that's much warmer and friendlier than the house Stepan has been taking me to.
The walls aren't bare here, and the place looks lived in, with shoes by the door and mail on the side table.
It immediately strikes me as someone's home, which makes me wonder why Stepan's home is so bare, no art, no pictures or evidence of life.
“Make yourself at home. Can I get you anything while you wait?”
"Uh, no, thank you," I mumble as my eyes land on the sofa across the room.
The long white leather sectional curves around a glass coffee table where a few beer bottles are perched, but they're dry—emptied earlier today or some time before that.
When I sit gingerly on the edge, I notice a framed picture hung above the mantel and see Stepan there with a group of men who are all smiling.
I don't know any of those men, and to be honest, I realize I still don't even know Stepan's last name. I'm sitting here in some stranger's home waiting on him while he's off doing God only knows what. I don’t know what my life has become.
Tears well up and roll down my cheeks. Nothing is as it seems anymore.
I once thought Maksim actually cared about this marriage before I started seeing things objectively enough to realize he only cared about the business side of it.
Now the blinders are fully off and all it took was for me to show my humanity.
I'm terrified of what he'll do next. I know how powerful his family is and what resources he has, and knowing I won't ever do what he has demanded only makes this fear worse.
My father will suffer the consequences of it, our family, the business...
I'll never be able to make this right, and all because I wanted to have an adventure before I got locked into this.
I couldn't leave well-enough alone and just be happy with my lot in life.
I cry until my eyes hurt and my nose is running, exhausting the travel pack of tissues in my purse. Then I cry a bit more, not sure how long passes before I set my purse down and curl up on the couch, kicking my shoes off.
Stepan will be so angry, but I have to tell him about the baby.
If he cares about me at all, he will have to help me think about how to navigate this.
It's obvious I can't marry Maksim now, not if he's going to force me to have an abortion, but allowing my family to suffer isn't an option, either.
I feel so trapped between what I want and what I know my father expects me to do.
As it is, he's probably going mad with rage right now, searching for me and calling all of his soldiers to hunt me down. I'd be surprised if he doesn’t show up here and knock on the door to drag me home. He's done worse things before.
When my emotions are somewhat dried up and I'm almost dozing, I hear the front door open. Heavy footsteps come down the hallway as I sit up quickly and try to wipe my face. Then Stepan steps into the sitting room and my heart lurches.
He looks worried about me, though his hair is disheveled and his top buttons are undone, tie hanging loose. Nothing seems out of place, but I get the sense it hasn’t been a good evening for him as he sinks onto the couch next to me and takes my hand.
He stops when he sees me and his expression softens right away.
“Hey, I'm here now..." He leans in and kisses me softly, then pulls back. “Why are you crying, baby? Are you okay?"
"I'm okay," I lie, but I can see he doesn't believe me. His hand moves to my hair and smooths it back from my face.
"You eat today?" he asks.
"A little."
"A little meaning what?" The way he looks at me so gently is so different from the way I've been treated today.
"I had toast this morning."
He exhales a little hard as he keeps running his fingers through my hair, pulling me into his chest. "I'll fix you a plate," he says.
"I'm not hungry."
"Marina."
"I'm not, I swear..." My hand splays on his chest and I feel his heart hammering.
I feel safe here in his arms for the first time all day, and I try to let myself relax, but the thought of his baby growing inside me won't let me fully unravel.
It's not that I've kept it from him, it's that I don't know what will happen if he knows.
He may be happy or sad, but I don't see him being angry with me.
The problem is I know he won't understand if I still have to do the right thing by my family.
And if he learns what Maksim wants, then what?
When he pulls away, I let him slide out from under me. He crosses the room and opens the door on a liquor cabinet, pouring some vodka into two separate glasses. I grimace as he crosses back to me and holds a glass out toward me.
"Here... To relax." I sit up and look at the glass and then at him.
"I'm just not in the mood," I tell him honestly.
Drinking is the last thing on my mind. I want to feel stable and safe.
And right now, I feel anything but. I take his hand and pull him down so he's sitting next to me again.
He downs his drink and sets mine on the coffee table and pulls me closer to his body.
"Stepan, where are we?" I ask, feeling a bit insecure about even asking. I'm not one to question him, or at least I haven't been. I have blindly trusted him since the moment we met, but lately, I've realized how bad my judgment has been and how I shouldn't have been so foolish.
"This is my house, Rina." He says the words calmly, but now I'm confused. And afraid. I sit up and pull back, narrowing my eyes at him. I don't feel less safe, but I do feel like he owes me some answers.
"This isn't your house... This is some random house..." I swallow hard, chasing the bile back down as I study his calm expression. Something doesn't feel right. He's never even mentioned what he does for a living, and now this? A totally different house?
"Baby, I need you to trust me." He sits up, cupping my cheeks and looking into my eyes intensely. I do—I really do trust him. But I'm scared, and I've been scared all day. I know it's just my fear of Maksim that has me doubting him. I nod, but I bite my lip.
"I'm scared."
"You don't have to be scared anymore, okay? I’m here." His thumbs trace over my cheekbones softly, and I feel calmer.
"But I'm supposed to marry him." No matter the protest, he has an answer, and this is one I'm not sure I like.
"Marry me, Marina... Okay? Forget Orlov. Look at what I can provide for you..." The expression in his eyes is almost painful. Like he's pleading with me. "What can I do to get you to be with me?"
"Stepan, you don't understand. He's so powerful, and my father...
" My head drops. It feels like I've been doing a lot of that lately, hanging my head in shame.
I hate everything that's happened. I want to go back to the day before I met this amazing man and forget it.
It's too painful needing him when I can't have him.
My father will never let me marry anyone but Maksim Orlov.
"What if I told you that you don't have to worry about Orlov ever again?"
His question makes me raise my eyes. "What are you talking about?" My lip quivers as I speak, but now my heart is feeling conflicted, twisting painfully inside my chest.
"I mean, he's out of the picture now. You don't have to marry him anymore, Rina." Stepan's hands grip me harder and I cling to his wrists.
"What do you mean?" I ask, almost a whisper. "Stepan, what did you do?"
I watch his jaw work for a second as he pulls me against his chest, pressing my head there so firmly, it almost hurts. "I did what I had to do. He threatened the woman I love, and I can't stand for that."
I'm almost scared to ask him what he means. I told him about Maksim because I have no one else to talk to. It wasn't a request for him to go harm Maksim. And what will my father think if Maksim tells him Stepan confronted him?
"But what did you do?" I ask, now clinging to him. His heart hammers under my ear now, drilling away so rapidly, I can tell he's anxious. Maybe he's afraid of what I'll think or how I'll react, but I have to know.
"He will never touch you again, Marina," Stepan says calmly, almost dark enough that it makes me shudder. "I told you, I did what I had to do."
I shiver and press my eyes closed, imagining all sorts of wicked things this man could've done to Maksim, but how?
Maksim has security around him almost all the time.
I've never known him to go anywhere without his weapon on him, and as angry as he was when he left my room, there's no way someone could've overpowered him.
I open my mouth to ask another question I probably don't want the answer to when Stepan's phone rings. He pulls it out but shields the screen so I can't see who's calling, then grumbles.
"I have to take this, okay, baby? Please, have a drink.
Let's try to relax, and I promise when we're both calm, I'll tell you anything you want to know.
" He pries himself out from under me and I sit up, watching him walk out of the room with the phone pressed to his ear.
Then I turn my attention on that glass of vodka that's very tempting right now.
If Stepan did what I think he did and Maksim is dead, it still doesn’t matter. When my father makes a choice, he doesn't change his mind. He'll still make me abort this baby. And if he threatens me, will Stepan kill him too?
Who the hell have I been sleeping with? And what is he capable of?