Chapter 13
ISABELLA
The sunlight of dawn wakes me up. I turn over in the bed, half expecting to find Alexei there, but surprise, surprise. I’m alone. Yet again.
I don’t know why I thought that he would actually just appear next to me. Maybe it’s some kind of sick longing for him. Can a person get Stockholm syndrome after a week of barely talking to one another?
I sit up in bed and run my hand over my face. I slept pretty soundly, though I didn’t actually get to sleep until late last night. I grab my phone in the hopes of seeing a text response from Annie. No such luck.
Out of bed and into the bathroom. I don’t smell any coffee or anything brewing and I have no idea how Alexei is planning on feeding me now that I’m a prisoner in his bedroom. Maybe…
Wait. Is the door… open?
The image of the bedroom door being ajar hits me just as I close the bathroom door. I open it again and poke my head out. Sure enough, the bedroom door’s open.
Holy shit. Was he in here during the night? Did he leave it open and forget to close it back?
No. That doesn’t seem likely. I step out of the room carefully, listening for him. I don’t know what I’m expecting. I doubt he’ll just jump out and fireman carry me back to the bedroom. Not again, anyway.
I get to the living room and there’s no one there. There’s also a sense that there’s no one in the penthouse at all. I look in the study. The couch bed is out, sheets messily spread out over the mattress, but no Alexei.
I go back to the living room on my way to the kitchen. I might as well make myself a cup of coffee while planning my next escape. Wherever he is, I doubt he’ll be back soon.
I don’t get but a few steps before I see the note on the coffee table. I stop and read it. I get about halfway through and shake my head. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that Alexei sounds almost like a halfway decent guy.
Well… a little more than almost. He sounds pretty sincere.
He’s probably just as tired of all this as I am, actually.
Besides, whether he’s sincere or not, I guess he’s right.
No matter how angry I am at my father for putting me in this situation, there are bigger pieces at play.
I’d be stupid if I didn’t consider that.
I sit down on the couch, silently debating his request to stay long enough for him to return. I don’t even know when he left or where he was going. For all I know, he’s the one who left town this time.
Ugh. This is all so stupid.
I get up to get my coffee and I hear the ringtone on my phone. I rush back to the bedroom.
It’s Annie. Her name comes up on the screen like a savior. I answer it excitedly.
“Annie??”
“Hey,” she says in a shaky voice. She sounds nervous or maybe like she’s been crying. “How’ve you been?”
“How’ve I been? Are you kidding me right now? Oh, my God, where did you go?”
She takes a slight pause and says, “I’m sorry, Sis. I had to run. I just couldn’t go through with that whole thing.”
The urge to vomit everything that’s happening to me is almost impossible to resist. I want to give her a second to tell me her side of things, though. Maybe tell me where she is now. “Yeah, well, you could have at least let me in on it.”
“I didn’t even know I would do it myself until I was in your car,” she said.
“It’s like, I was standing there in that wedding dress looking at myself and thinking about it…
thinking about how that day was supposed to be the happiest day of my life and yet again, it was just one more thing that was all about Dad. ”
No kidding, I thought.
“How is he?” she asks. “I imagine he didn’t take my disappearing act very well.”
“No.” I’m sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at the bathroom door, thinking about Alexei and the wedding and just everything. “He, uh, he made me step in.”
I think I hear her gasp, then she hisses, “What?”
“Dad made me marry Alexei Mechnikov instead of you. I’m sitting in his penthouse right now.”
“Oh… oh, my God. Izzy, I… I never thought he would… Oh, my God.”
“Yeah. We were married roughly a week ago.” I go to touch the ends of my hair, only to find them gone. I rub the back of my neck instead.
“Are you okay? Did… did he hurt you?”
Annie was the only one who knew that I was still a virgin, so I know what she’s really asking. “No,” I tell her. “It’s fine, though, you know? I mean, it’s not like I wasn’t saving myself for marriage.”
“Yeah, but… but it wasn’t supposed to happen like this. I’m so sorry, Izzy.”
There’s a part of me that wants to tell her the details of my honeymoon night.
I don’t know, maybe to take away the guilt she’s got to be feeling or to lighten the mood.
Maybe if she knew that despite it all, it was probably the best I’ve felt in my life, she might feel better about having to leave me here.
“It is what it is,” I say instead. “Thanks for stealing my car, by the way.”
I think I hear her smile. “It was either your car or the dress designer’s. I figured you wouldn’t call the cops on me if it was your car.”
Maybe I should have. They might actually have found you before Dad decided to auction me off. “Where are you, anyway?”
“Safe,” she says. “Out of Fortune… and out of New York State.”
“Yeah, but where?”
She sighs. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to tell you. For your own protection, it’s probably better if you didn’t know.”
That sounds really suspect. “Annie… you didn’t rat, did you?”
She laughs. “No, of course not. I wouldn’t have anything to really tell the cops, anyway.
Dad kept us out of the loop on the big, important things, remember?
” She pauses, then, “I’m talking about Dad.
I’ll bet he’s pretty pissed about my almost messing up his plans.
I don’t want him to take it out on you.”
“Well, they aren’t messed up now. I’m paying his debt and yours. You can come back now.” She doesn’t say anything for a good few seconds. “Annie? Did you hear me?”
“I heard you,” she says softly. “Listen, Izzy, that’s kind of why I decided to call you. You should know that I’m not coming back.”
“What do you mean, you’re not coming back? You have to come back, Annie.”
“As it turns out, no, I don’t,” she says. “I’ve been gone for almost a month now. Don’t you think it’s weird that a man as powerful as our father hasn’t found me yet? He could scour the earth for me now that he’s connected to the Mechnikovs, and yet—”
“Hey, just because you managed to avoid his men so far doesn’t mean they’re not out there looking for you and you know it.”
“Izzy—”
“Okay, then. Tell me where you are if you think he doesn’t care anymore.”
She goes quiet again, this time for a few seconds longer.
“Annie, you made your point, all right? You stood up to Dad and good for you. You really showed him. Now knock it off and come back home already.”
“I can’t. I’m sorry, Izzy. I just can’t.”
“Why not?” My voice cracks and my eyes start to burn with tears. “You’re my sister. You’re supposed to be here with me. I’m going through this all alone and you don’t even care.”
“I do care. Izzy, I love you so much—”
“No you don’t. You’re selfish and petty and you threw me under the fucking bus! You really just left me here to pick up the pieces while you’re out there seeing the world—”
“It’s not like that. Iz—”
“I’m trapped here, like I’m under house arrest and…
” I stop. Tears are pouring down my cheeks and sobs are starting to erupt from my chest. I wipe my face with the heel of my hand and say, “You know something? Stay wherever the fuck you are. Be free as a bird if you want. You go ahead and live your life. It’s the least you can do after stealing mine. ”
I hang up and throw my phone on the bed behind me.
Fuck her. What the hell did she bother calling me for, anyway? I get up and go to the bathroom to splash some water on my face and get myself under control. I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My eyes are bloodshot and there are signs of puffiness around the edges.
I never asked for this, dammit. Not any of it. I can’t believe Annie really just abandoned me. Did she even bother to think about me at all until now?
It doesn’t matter. I stand up straight and take a deep breath to shake off the sobs. I’m really on my own, so I'd better start acting like it and carve out my own way out of this mess.
By the time I had showered and dressed, Anya called asking me out for lunch. I almost said no since Alexei hadn’t gotten back yet, but I figured Anya had been in touch with him since this morning so it was probably fine if I went out with her.
Plus, I was tired of being in that penthouse. I needed some air.
So, now we’re sitting in this restaurant that, unlike the cafe from that first morning we went out, doesn’t have a Russian esthetic.
In fact, it’s closer to being a diner than anything else.
When we walked in, I must have given Anya a questioning look because she said, “They serve great burgers here.”
After we put in our orders, she asks me, “So, how is week one of married life?”
There’s a lot of ways I can answer this question. The most polite way is just to say fine and move on to another topic. But after that call this morning’s with Annie… I don’t know. I could use an ally. Maybe Anya could be that.
“Can I be frank with you?”
Anya glances around. We’re in a booth in the farthest corner of the restaurant where no other people are.
She says, “Hold that thought.” She spots a passing waiter and flags them down.
The young man with shaggy dark hair in his eyes walks over and asks if he can help us.
“I need these tables around us to be empty while we’re here, please. ”
He just nods and walks away. A few seconds later, he returns and puts little sandwich signs on the tables around us that have reserved printed on both sides.
Wow. Even this place knows who we are, I guess.
Once he’s gone, she says with a smile, “Speak as freely as you like.”