Chapter7
“I've got the New York Times in my hot little hands and I just wanted to say congratulations!” Laura Madison was as loud and as direct as always. At first, Heather didn't understand what Laura was congratulating her for but realized in seconds it was because of her engagement to Yuri.
“Did Yuri contact the papers?” Heather asked incredulously.
“No silly, these reporters have spotted the two of you in town together; running through Central Park, dinner at some of the top restaurants in town. The Post has you linking arms with Yuri at a flea market with a close up of the ring. It's beautiful, by the way.”
“But why would they want to put that in the newspapers?”
“Heather, wake up. Yuri Kozlov revolutionized the gaming industry on a global basis. That's like being a god to millions of people out there. Not only that, up until recently, he was ranked as New York's most eligible billionaire for years. You've taken him off the market and thousands of women want to know who it is they need to hate.”
“People hate me?”
“Well, not until they get to know you. I suppose you've had people calling for interviews right? I've had several. I'm doing an article in either Cosmo or Vogue – I can't decide which – about how I got you guys together. Isn't it great? You realize this is a record engagement for anyone in the history of the Matchmaker Club?”
“No, I didn't,” Heather said. “But I don't think I want to do an interview.”
“If you don't, they'll make it up. They'll give you any story they like, so you need to put them straight. Let me know if you hear anything from Oprah's people.”
“Um...you'll be the first to know, Laura.”
“Great, bye Heather and congratulations once again. Can't wait to get my invitation.”
Then the line went dead and Heather slumped back in the armchair. She was getting her head around going to work the next day at Zoop Textiles after a day off and thinking how much she was dreading it, but now all she wanted to do was rush out and buy a newspaper. She'd spent the day indoors, which is why she was clueless about the articles.
Her phone rang again. It was Yuri. “Can you believe this?” she asked him.
“It's not the craziest thing I've heard in my life,” he said. “But don't worry, it'll die down.”
“Laura just called, said I might be contacted for an interview. No one's called so far and I really don't want to talk about this to the press. Can't I just enjoy it with you?”
“You'll be okay. The press can't call you. You don't have an agent or a PR person so you'll stay pretty much incognito. Unless one of them is smart enough to find out where you live, and then you'll have people camped outside.”
“That's ridiculous.”
“Don't worry, Heather. Just give it twenty-four hours and no one will care. Let's meet up tomorrow. Let's eat out. You know I'm going away; I won't see you for a whole week.”
“I know, I'm going to miss you,” Heather sighed. “I'll call you when I get home from work tomorrow. Right now, I'm going to run myself a bath and pray you're right and that no one will remember this.”
The next day, as soon as Heather entered Zoop Textiles, the owner, Mrs. Solanki called out, “Morning, Heather!”
Heather put her head around the glass office door. “I'm not late am I?”
“No, not at all, not at all. How are you today Heather? Feeling all right?”
“Um... I guess. Are-are you?”
“Couldn't be better. Have a nice day at work, won't you?”
“I will.” Heather went on to the factory floor with a puzzled look on her face. Janey came rushing up to her and grabbed her hand.
“What's it like to be famous?” she asked.
“Oh – you mean yesterday's article?”
“And today's, honey.” Janey walked her to her station. “There's a picture of you coming out of that show you went to last week with Yuri – it's in my magazine. Wanna see?”
“Not really. I better get to work,” Heather said looking towards the office door. “Look, don't make a big deal of this, Janey. We already had our celebration, you and I, when it first happened.”
“I know, but isn't it great to be the envy of every girl in town? I mean not only is he loaded but the guy is a god.”
“I love him and he loves me, that's all that matters.”
But that wasn't the end of it. The rest of the factory floor did nothing but ask Heather why she was still working there. Why didn't she give up work? Was Yuri mean with his money? By the end of the day, she had had it and wanted to give up the job, not because she could, but because she was sick of everyone asking her questions – including Janey.
On the way home, she noticed she was getting stared at and kept her head down for most of the journey home. Approaching her apartment building, she thought she saw a figure hovering around outside the door. Heather's first thought was that this was a member of the press. It was a tall guy with closely cropped dark hair. He wore a white shirt and had his hands wedged into his pockets. Even from that distance, Heather could tell this person didn't live there.
She held back a little and turned as if to head away. Maybe she'd go straight over to Yuri's rather than go home and change. But, turning around again to look at the apartment building door, she noticed the stranger had gone away. She hurried to the door and let herself in, looking over her shoulder and feeling like she was being watched. The heavy door closed slowly behind her as she mounted the stairs and, for the first time, the loud slam it made when it locked shut made her jump.
“Don't be silly,” she said to herself.
Later, at dinner with Yuri, Heather recounted her day at work and told him about people wondering why she still worked at all.
“You know they're right, Heather. You could give up that job and concentrate on your applications to colleges now.”
“College isn't free, Yuri and I'm not giving up work so I can have you pay for everything.”
“What about if we were married?”
“I still want to be independent.”
“I know that, and that's why you won't move in with me, right?” Yuri raised an eyebrow.
“It's just that everything is happening so fast,” she said.
“You're not changing your mind about me are you?”
“No, of course not, but Yuri, I've been on my own a long time. I'm set in my ways and yes, I'm very independent.”
“But when we're married, everything I own is yours too,” said Yuri. “You can't work in a factory or do shifts at a hospital with the money you'll have. You'll get locked away for being an eccentric nut and I really don't want to start our married life with you being put away.”
Heather sat quietly, ignoring his joke; instead, she stared down at her plate of food, her eyes had a far away look.
“What's the matter? Did I say something wrong?” Yuri asked.
“What? Oh no, nothing's wrong, but you make perfect sense. Let's talk about the whole moving in thing again when you get back from your business trip...but not now, okay?”
“Okay, not another word.”
She welcomed the change of subject. Heather would much rather just have a plain and simple conversation tonight. Yuri was off on a business trip first thing in the morning and she would miss him terribly; she didn't want to talk about anything remotely stressful before being separated from him.
They kept the conversation light and flowing throughout the meal. Another thing Heather didn't want to mention was the strange guy outside her apartment and the odd feeling of being watched. She was just hoping the whole idea of the press being interested in their engagement would fizzle out and they could just go back to being themselves.
After their meal, Yuri dropped Heather home. “I wish I could come up,” he said.
“I know, but you've got an early flight.”
They leaned together and shared a long lingering kiss.
“I better let you go,” she said. They kissed again and Heather went to open the passenger side.
“Wait, let me,” Yuri said, about to leap out of the car and open Heather's door, the way he always did.
She stopped him. “No, I know what will happen. We'll get carried away, then you'll end up upstairs and we both know where that will lead. No, I better let myself out,” she said. “And we both have an early start.”
“Okay, Miss Sensible. I'll wait here until you get inside.”
Heather tapped the combination code to let herself into the building. She waved and blew a kiss at Yuri before she stepped into the dimly lit hallway. As usual, the door was still closing as she took to the stairs. But a sound startled her and made her look back towards the closing door. It slammed shut and once again, the sound made her edgy. But there was another feeling she had, the feeling that someone had come in just behind her.
“Yuri?” she asked in quiet voice. “Are you messing with me?”
No one replied. It was completely quiet in the hallway. All that was there was the large unit that held all the mailboxes into which the block supervisor put all the letters the postman dropped through the letterbox. The tall unit obscured the block supervisor's door from where she was standing and left it in shadow. If someone was lurking at the door, the person would not be seen. She knew Yuri wouldn't play a childish trick like that and continued up the stairs.
Just as she went to close her apartment door, Heather thought she heard footsteps on the stairs but she had not heard the main door open. Whoever was on the stairs must have been inside already. Heather slammed her apartment door closed and double locked it. She put on her lights and went to get ready for bed.
She'd taken a quick bath and brushed her teeth. Normally, Heather would’ve put on music or the television but for some reason, tonight she didn't want to. Instead, she was listening to the sounds of the other apartments; the people walking above her and the sounds of the television of someone on her floor.
Heather felt compelled to look through the peephole in her door but all she could see was the apartment door opposite, the corridor wall and the top of the stairs. She shook her head and told herself to stop being to jumpy. The second she reprimanded herself, her phone rang. She jumped and looked around the apartment for her cell.
It was Yuri. “Just rang to say good night and see you in a week,” he said. “We'll probably speak everyday but I couldn't help myself.” She could hear him smiling on the other line.
“It's nice to have your voice as the last thing I hear tonight.”
“Yours too. I know we said we wouldn't mention it, but I'm also looking forward to talking about us moving in together.”
“Me too,” Heather said.
She was tempted to ask Yuri if he'd spotted anyone entering the building straight after her without having to have tapped in the code but resisted, telling herself not to bother him when he had an important meeting to focus on.
“Good night, Yuri. I love you.”
“Love you, too. See you next week.”
*
Yuri called Heather every day, sometimes twice a day, from Dallas, where he had week long meetings his PA, Susan Franklin, had set up. Heather had met Susan and they had liked each other instantly. Two days before Yuri was due to come back to New York, he called Heather just as she was on her way home from work. She was carrying a bag of groceries.
“Susan has been on my back about our wedding,” he was saying. “She sees herself as some kind of a wedding expert and wants to plan our big day.”
“So when did she have in mind?” Heather giggled as she turned the corner leading up to the apartment building. “And do I get to wear white?”
“I'll ask her but what about it Heather? Do you think we should name the day?”
“Seriously?”
“Well, why not?”
“Because we said we'd talk about me moving in when you got back, now you're talking wedding dates?” She got to the building and tapped in the code.
“I was thinking a winter wedding. This year,” he said.
“So soon? What about spring? That's a nice time of year.” She started up the stairs and the main door slammed but she did not jump this time. She was engrossed in conversation.
“Well, that would depend where in the world we tied the knot,” Yuri said. “It doesn't have to be in New York.”
“That's true,” she said, rummaging in her purse for the keys.
She put the bag of groceries down as she hadn't managed to find the keys. She cursed the purse she had slung over her shoulder for being too small but big enough to lose things inside it.
“Maybe the Caribbean?” she asked. “We could get married at any time of year then.”
Heather found the key and unlocked the door. She stepped in without her groceries and closed the door, not concentrating properly, too absorbed in talking wedding plans with Yuri.
“We've got a lot to talk about when I get back,” he said. “Anyway, how was work?”
“Good. They've stopped going on about me giving up my jobs and I haven't seen anything in the papers about us. You were right, it did all die down.”
“I told you it would. 'Night, honey, I'll speak to you tomorrow.”
Heather hung up and immediately remembered the groceries outside the door. She opened it and did not see the bag of food. Turning swiftly to look inside the apartment, believing she'd brought it in without thinking, Heather saw no sign of the bag.
“Missing something?” A voice from the corridor said.
The blood in Heather's veins grew cold. She turned back to the corridor and saw the grocery bag swinging in mid air, being clutched by a male hand. That was all that was in view but Heather knew the voice. She froze as the man holding the back stepped into the doorway.
“H., it's so good to see you. How long has it been?”
Heather tried to slam the door shut but the man was too quick and had most of his body across the threshold. He advanced on Heather, who was stepping backwards into her apartment.
“How...?” she murmured, her eyes wide.
“How did I find you?” asked the man.
Heather shook her head.
“Well, if you're going to be so stupid as to come back to New York, then at least have the sense to change your name or...” He dropped the groceries onto the floor in front of her. “Have sense enough not to have your face on every newspaper.”
“Out, I want you out of here,” she said stiffly. “Now!”
“Jesus, H. It's been years. How many? And this is how you treat me when I came to visit?”
“I didn't invite you. You have to leave or I'm calling the cops.”
“Okay, fine. You just do that.” He threw his weight onto the sofa and put his feet up onto the coffee table.
“What do you want from me, Lemar?” she asked glaring down at him. “I have nothing, okay? So just clear out.”
“I thought you were about to call the cops.”
“I don't need to, because you're going to go – aren't you?” Heather stormed over to the open door and held it wider.
“No,” Lemar said, patting the space on the sofa next to him. “I don't think so. I'll just wait until that rich fiancé comes over and the three of us can have a nice cozy little chat.”
Heather shook her head from side to side. She closed the door and leaned on it; her breath was rapid.
“I'm guessing he doesn't know anything about me. You didn't tell him about the love of our life? We once swore we'd never be apart, H. What happened?”
“I think you know what happened,” she said stiffly.
“About that, after all we've been through, don't you think it was a little mean to tell the police where to find me?”
“You wanted me to take the rap for everything by myself? Is that what was going to prove my love for you?” she said.
“Love. That's a wonderful idea, isn't it? I suppose you must love this Russian dude. You're engaged, according to the newspapers, so I guess you must. Unless, he got you knocked up. That is, if you can still have kids. You did put your body through a lot back in the day.”
“You shut up! Shut the hell up and get out of my apartment. How dare you come in here like this? I don't owe you a thing. Now go!” Heather opened the door again.
Lemar jumped to his feet, marched to the door, and slammed it shut. “You owe me five years of my fucking life – bitch!” He blasted the words into her face. “And don't forget the years before that when you lived off me like a leech.”
“I was a child. I was fifteen and you took advantage of me. You gave me drugs. If I was dependent on you it's because I needed my next fix.”
“And I always provided.”
“You were four years older than me – you should have known better.”
“You did what you wanted to do. I didn't force you.”
“So what do you want Lemar? What do you want from me? If I could turn back the years, I would. God knows I'd rewind the whole damn thing and I would have run a mile the second I saw you coming.”
He laughed, a sick, vacant laugh, close to her face. She smelled the cigarettes on his breath.
“Let's forget the past, shall we, and concentrate on the future.” Lemar grinned as he looked Heather up and down and then slowly started slinking around her apartment, opening doors and drawers, turning things around and leaving everything he touched out of place.
“I told you,” she said. “I don't have anything you could want or need.”
“Maybe you don't,” he said turning to her. “But the Terminator does.”
“What...what are you talking about? You mean Yuri? Don't think for a second I'm introducing you to him.”
“You don't have to. I don't have to meet him to get my hands on his money. That's what I need from you.”
Heather stepped backwards as he moved towards her, her cheeks grew hot and she was struggling to hold back angry tears. “No, I'm not doing it, Lemar. You must be crazy. I don't have access to his money. It's impossible.”
“Don't talk to me like I'm some kind of idiot. I've seen that rock on your finger. I know who the guy is and what he's worth. If the guy is prepared to marry you, he's prepared to share his riches too. I don't need much, H. I just need a few thousand to set myself up and then I'll be out of your hair, which is looking very nice by the way. Back in the day you had those cute little dreadlocks. You look like a proper lady now, H. I'm proud of you.”
“I hate you.” Heather sat on an armchair and leaned forward hugging her arms.
“Just you sort me out some money, tonight, and I'll be out of New York tomorrow. I'm heading south again. Pick up where I left off before I ran into little old you.”
Heather looked up at Lemar who was prowling around the room again.
“And if I get you some money you'll go?” she ventured.
“What have I got to stay here for? There's nothing here for me in New York. There was only ever you, but now – well, you're taken.”
She looked down and blinked the tears away. “How much?” she finally asked.
Lemar jumped over the back of the sofa and onto the seat beside her, making an exaggerated folding of his legs as he slammed his feet onto the coffee table. Heather saw it shudder. “Now we're talking,” he said. He rubbed his chin. “I'd say $300,000.”
“What? You're crazy. How can I manage to get all that?”
“Oh, you'll get it all right; remember, I know you. I know you better than your fiancé. You think he'll want to know about the drugs, what you did to get the money to buy them. That little spell inside—“
“Okay!” She got up and pulled Lemar's legs off the coffee table. “That's enough. When do you want it by and how can I get it to you?”
Lemar began to laugh. His laugh was ugly, high pitched and never ending. He held his stomach and snorted. “You can't get it to me – I'll come to you. What do you take me for?”
“So when?”
“One week from today. Be here, on your own. I'll come to collect.”
“Not here. Meet me at that place we used to meet with Moose and the others. It's still there.”
“I know. That's where I've just come from.”
“You've been in this building before, haven't you?” she asked. “Spying on me.”
“It's so easy, H. So, so easy.” He peeled himself off the sofa and walked to the door. He looked at his watch as he stood in the open doorway. “One week today, this exact time and you know the place.” He left without closing the door.
Heather ran over and double locked it. A bit too late, she thought. Her stomach turned over and she began to retch. She raced to the bathroom but could not manage to throw anything up. She turned on the cold tap and splashed her face several times.
In the living room, her cell phone rang. It seemed so loud, even though she was in the bathroom it was like the cell was right next to her ear. It kept ringing and ringing. She wondered if Lemar had her number, too. She wouldn't be surprised. Heather watched her cell vibrate on the coffee table as it continued to ring. She looked down at it and saw Yuri's picture. Her hands shook, she couldn’t answer it. She could not bring herself to speak to him, she would only cry.
Between now and the time before Yuri came back, she would have to try to think of a way to get hold of that money. How was she going to get around this? It was an impossible situation.
A light flashed on her cell. Yuri must have left a message; she listened to it.
Hey baby. I guess you're in the bath or something. The second we hung up I started missing you. I know, call me a big softy, but for you – I am. I wish you were right here with me. Anyway. I'll call you tomorrow. 'Night, Heather.
It was comforting to hear his voice but listening to Yuri broke her heart. She couldn't take his money. But Lemar was a dangerous man; he was capable of a lot, especially when he was high. He had seemed straight earlier but who knew what he would do if she didn't come up with that money. All he had to do was fill Yuri in on a few details of her past and she would lose him. Her only choices were to lie to Yuri and somehow get him to part with $300,000 or she would have to run.