Chapter 32 | Her
My dreams are full of what we keep doing all the time. And I wonder if I’ve really fallen into the unescapable pit of irreplaceable complications.
I mean I don’t really understand the concept of love, the way people talk about it. Romance is a better understandable term. Sex, still less complicated. Attachment, totally relatable. But love is complex.
Kind of what a combination of many different feelings should look like. A harmony of notions and contradictions.
I roll over to rest my hand over his chest, but the bed feels empty besides the flowers that lay there. He must’ve left.
Getting up to a new handmade bouquet each day feels a little overdone. I mean do I deserve this much? I smile at his phone still resting on the nightstand with our picture as the wallpaper on it before heading for the shower.
Looking through the dresses he had once gifted me, I settle for the ruby floral dress with shoulder straps, and a swoon worthy deep neckline. To be honest, I am not a huge fan of deep necklines. But perhaps, I could return some of the love he’s been showering me with by wearing it one our first official – real date.
The ways I want to treat him. Who knows if I’d be worse when it came to obsessing over someone.
Putting on a jacket and my favorite pair of ankle length boots, I look for my phone to check the time before finally going out, when a text notification calls for my attention.
The beats inside my chest speed up just a little bit before I read who the message is from. An unknown number.
Now I’m almost having a full-blown heart attack all over again.
Unknown: Hey D, It’s Jessica... Can you come pick me? I’ve hardly managed to escape them... D they’ll kill me.
God, I was right. She’s in trouble. I need to get her here. Divit and Nakul were both almost certain she was either dead or a set up. But she wouldn’t message me after setting me up. And she sounds like in real danger.
Me: Oh my God, Jess where are you?
Unknown: I’m hiding behind Café Zero opposite the Magnus Tower, two kms west of our office.
I could inform Nakul about it... but then I don’t know if he’d believe it. I don’t want to cross him, especially after last time. But should I risk her life?
Not the time to contemplate scenarios. I need to go get her first.
Me: I’m coming right over. You stay put. Okay?
Unknown: They’re looking for me. I’m afraid I won’t be able to stay here for long.
Unknown: Help me, D. I swear on God, they’ll kill me this time.
I drop a text in the group Divit added me a few days back, informing them that she messaged me and I’m going to get her.
I skip past the sleepyheads napping in the living room and grab the keys for Mira’s scooter. Muttering one last apology in my head before heading out. I know I should tell him first, but can’t wait for him to return. It’s Jess’s life on the line.
She’s there because of me and now I am responsible for bringing her back to safety.
MY RIDE TO THE MAGNUSTower was hardly twenty minutes from there. But that was also because of the fact that traffic is close to zero at this hour of the day. The area seems to be on a little far end of the city. Perfect for holding someone hostage.
I spot the café she mentioned from across the road. Little to no population in this area and why would it not be. It’s hardly half past six, still too early for workers and too far out for the fitness freaks.
A round turn and a few meters, and I reach the café she said she’s behind. But there’s a black car standing a few meters from the place.
I park my vehicle a few shops behind to avoid suspicion. Trying to keep a safe distance, I reach behind a building to follow my path towards the back side of the café. Only to find it empty.
Where is she?
I look around everywhere, only to find the whole area silent like there wasn’t anyone here to begin with. A familiar terror washes over my mind. Do not come out, or what happens next won’t be my fault. I need to find Jess and get the hell out of here as fast as possible. I almost call on her number, before deciding that it might reveal her position to her kidnappers too. So, I text her again.
Me: Where are you?
Unknown: Same question. Where are you, D?
Me: Behind Café Zero. Can you see me?
The message marks as seen, but she does not type back. No answer.
I am typing another text, when a voice startles me.
“Get her!” Jess commands.
A man in navy suit sprints towards me restraining my hands while another one secures it with handcuffs behind me. The moment I open my mouth to scream the second man muffles my cries for help with the palm of his large swarthy hand.
I bite into his palm hard enough to make him withdraw, right when I bruising slap burns its way across my cheek.
When I look up, I find Jess staring back at me, narrow eyed, “What do you think you’re doing?” Her usual friendly and chill demeanor is nowhere to be seen. In its place is a murderous rage dancing in her eyes. She looks rather relaxed, and kind of stoned. That’s not the look of an escapee.
“Are you kidding me right now? Have they drugged you, Jessica?” I ask, still not ready to believe what is right in front of my face.
A cold chill runs down my spine from the way she looking at me. “Can you shut up for one minute, bitch!”
That’s all I get before she turns away to two more men behind me, “Take her in the car. And tell him we’re ready.”
“What? Tell who? Where are we going? What are you saying Jessica? What have you done? Talk to me...” I retort, fighting my restraints at the same time as shouting in disbelief. Indignation and betrayal crushing my insides in a death hold.
She pulls a cigarette out of her back pocket before lighting it up and inhaling deeply. Looking at me with kind of amusement and pity in her eyes. “We are going to meet, Konstantin.”
“What? Who is he?” I am breathless and nervousness doesn’t even start to describe the feeling absolutely engulfing me at the moment. “Who is Konstantin?”
She looks at me puffing all the while and smiling in a way that looks deeply sinister. “You’ll know, soon.”
I am growing afraid of the woman in front of me. She’s not the friend I left my safety behind for. Not my Jess. She’s something else...
A pinprick on the back of my neck follows, and everything fades to darkness. I guess I am dead.
If not, then surely, I am on my way to be.
“IT’S BEEN MORE THANsixty-two hours, why is she not waking up? What have you given her?” A feminine voice cuts through the dark fogginess. But I don’t recognize her voice. Although it has a weird accent to it. What accent is that?
My head is heavy. Am I even breathing?
“A few more hours, then we’ll start suppressing the doze. He will be here by then.” I recognize this voice. Jessica!
All the memories of her treachery filling my head. My head is a mess from the effect of God knows what. All my system seems so slow that I still cannot find the strength to move my body, but my mind is screaming. My senses are awake.
Fear of the unknown that awaits behind my lids, and that’s what is making me resistant to open my eyes and stare at the face of this nightmare. Moreover, I could get as much info about the situation that I’m in if I don’t make them aware of my consciousness.
“How did you find her?” The other woman asks, as they seem to walk away to pause at a distance.
“I did not.” Jessica laughs, “She found me.”
Betrayal burns my insides as hot venom flows from my eyes tracing its way down my cheeks, burning every meaningless argument I had in her favor.
“I tricked her into coming out of her boyfriend’s protection. It was easy. The amount of effort I put in gaining her trust all through these torturous months, it came handy. She ran out of his arms straight into my trap.” She sounds so different now. No trace of the person I trusted.
“You see... I made her think I was abducted, and she believed because I made her think that I was getting targeted along with her. So, then all I had to do was text her that I had managed to get away, and she came running head over heels to my rescue.” And then she laughs.
They fucking laugh at me for being the stupid – stupid woman that I am.
“And what’s with the cleavage. She won’t survive a month here with that amount of skin show. Does she always wear such clothes?”
The other woman seems more bothered than her. Although what is clenching my chest is the lack of information about my surroundings.
What is this place? And how far away am I?
“No, she’s usually quite boring. That’s her boyfriend’s taste. He’s kind of into kinky stuff.”
And they giggle again.
“He must be hot.”
“Oh, he really is. Scorching hot!” Jessica suggests, “What a pity to have someone like that wrapped around your finger, when you can’t even please him the right way. She’s a disappointment to him.” The way she speaks of it has absolutely no trace of pity or mercy or shame in it. “She is not getting out of here now. It won’t take long for her to realize that once she meets Konstantin.”
Who the fuck is Konstantin?
“What do you think he wants with her?” The woman’s voice is merely a whisper.
Clearly evident that they don’t want people to hear what they are talking about or who they are talking about. But it’s the question that’s making me breathless... hopeless.
“Whatever he has ever wanted from his whores. But there is a chance that he wants something more than just a slut to fuck around with. Because the way he has been obsessing to bring her in, for the past few months is incomparable.”
The fuck is she talking about?
The need to get up and start running is so much more intense than before. Every single one of my alarms are on full blow, but my body seems to be under the effect of something far powerful. Because as much as I can deny it, this man could very well be the man I had hid from – King!
“I wonder what’s so special about this pathetic little bitch, that every other man is on his fucking knees for her.” Jess’s words cut sharp inside my chest, “Anyways, I’m getting my raise this time, plus my share in this. He’ll meet me in an hour and then...” she whistles casually, “Then I’m going back as your new boss...”
So that’s what our time together was all about. This was what you do when I turned my back. You stab it?
That’s how it had to end?