Something’s not right.
Stopping in my tracks, focusing my full attention on Isla, I notice her whole body is shaking. We are a few feet away from the room entrance. I place my arm around her and support her until I am able to open the room door.
Guiding her into the lounge, I place her down on the comfy pillows, directing my full attention on her face as I kneel in front of her. Her breathing is accelerated and her color still hasn’t returned.
Trying to remain calm, albeit without succeeding, I ask in my professional tone, “Why did you ask me that question, Isla?” My gut tightens, something big is about to be unleashed and my experience tells me I am going to need my best poker face to certify I don’t scare Isla away from me.
She speaks in a quiet voice. “A delivery man came to this room today. He gave me a parcel.”
The tension in my neck is starting to build. My heart is banging against my chest too loudly.
“And, Isla? Keep going, Sweetness,” I coax her, rubbing my thumb over the back of her hand to compose her somewhat.
Panic rises in her face and voice. Trying to let go of my hand, she declares, “I thought it was from you, Alex. Oh my God, I thought the gown was from you. There was no card, but I thought it was from you.”
“Take a breath, Isla. Breathe, in and out. In and out.”
Fuck, I’m not liking where this headed at all.
The fire built fast and furiously within me, as awareness creeps in about the delivery.
Grabbing the phone, I ring through to the concierge.
“Hello, yes. I need your help. Did one of your workers today make a delivery to Miss Winters in our suite? Yes, I will hang on.”
Droplets are flowing freely down Isla’s delicate cheeks now. A dazed expression features on her face. Swiping my fingers over her drops to stop them, she remains statue-like. Her mind is elsewhere.
Maybe to protect her.
“Yes…are you sure? Fuck!” I yell loud enough to startle Isla. Banging the phone receiver down, none of the workers on that shift was up here or asked to deliver anything.
Isla’s eyes are wide open but glazed over. Before I can comprehend what is happening, Isla is ripping at her clothes with her nails, scratching it, pulling it, stretching it to the breaking point. It rips and she pulls some more, shredding it off her body.
“Get this off me! It’s tainted. Get off, get it off. It’s from him!” Isla screams over and over, tearing and clawing her fingers through the delicate fabric.
Restraining her arms doesn’t help. Instead, she bucks and twists, flinging her out of control body against mine. I’m scared she is going to hurt herself. I let her go, soothing her, calming her with my voice.
“Sweetness, it’s all right. Everything is going to be ok. Let me help you take it off.” I patiently say.
“It’s from him, Alex. It’s from him. He knows. He knows where I am,” Isla yells this over and over until she collapses in a ball on the floor where her body heaves from exhaustion and lack of air. Her body rocks back and forth, tears still flowing with the occasional hiccup ricocheting through her system. She’s still murmuring, “He’s found me, he knows.”
Taking off my jacket, I tenderly rub her back, pacifying her body. I find the zipper and start to undo what’s left of the frock, lifting her arms up and out of it, slipping it down so it pools around her body on the floor. I wrap my coat around her. Holding onto her for dear life.
I can’t let this break her or us.
There can only be one explanation for this.
Sokolov…
“Let me make this very clear to you, Sweetness. No one can hurt you. No one will ever injure you again,” I swear on my life to this woman who has stolen my heart.
“But he knows I am in Las Vegas with you in this penthouse. Today was my last day before he returned. He sent one of his men up here. I talked to him. I smiled at him. Fuck, I thanked him for the parcel.” Isla moves in a flurry again.
Standing up, Isla grabs my jacket, firing at me,
“I have to go, I have to leave here before he finds me with you. He will kill you, Alex. He will make you disappear.”
“Ssshhhh, now, Isla, no one is coming anywhere near us.” Taking her hand, I lead her to the main bedroom, sitting her down on the bed before I find her packed pajamas to put on her.
Settling her in bed like a small fragile child, I say “I’m going to find you some aspirin.” Locating my phone, I dial my uncle’s number as soon as I leave the room.
The first ring he picks up.
“Uncle, Sokolov traced Isla here in Vegas. He’s had his men make a delivery to our room today. I need additional men on us immediately. Text me where this guy is.”
The panic rising inside me isn’t from worry of what this low life can do to Isla because I will protect her with every ounce of my body. The fear inside me is Isla telling me to leave her, that she is leaving me to fix this problem or whatever the fuck is going on.
I won’t let her.
My phone buzzes with a message from Uncle.
Men in place until you inform otherwise.
Jared is still on him.
It’s time to find out what the hell is going on.
I knew it would come out eventually. Believing I could handle this situation myself was a delirious fantasy. I should grasp no matter where the fuck I went, he would find me.
Rolling on my side, hiding under the thick blanket, I think back to the conversation we had in his office apartment before he left on the Friday night before I fell head over feet for Alex.
Showing up at his office as per every night to see if a client would be given to me that night, I was unaware of the impending vacation Sokolov was taking the next day. But, as I walked into his spacious, dimmed office, I looked to his black high back chair behind his black desk, revealing it empty. Turning my head, I was surprised to see him reclining in the chocolate brown lounge sipping a vodka on the rocks.
“Isla, come here. Sit next to me.” His voice harsh, as he pats the seat next to him with his broad, powerful hand. The same hand he wrapped around my neck firmly, the first and last time I had tried to escape this nightmare.
“I’m going to be out of town for the next seven days.” The sneer erupting on his face scares the living day lights out of me. “During that time, I will be kind to you. You can have a seven-day break.” His sneer turns into a psychotic smile. My body alert and rigid. Always around him. “You are expected to behave yourself. No men. No disappearing. No stunts. You know how badly that can end. And when I return I have a surprise for you, my dear. A lovely, wonderful surprise.” I don’t make a sound or express anything, learning my lesson early on not to question the headstrong tyrant, Dimitri Sokolov. Nodding my head, I keep focus on the gray carpet in front of me.
Holding my chin tightly, so it causes me pain, he holds my eyes to his. “I’ve waited a long time, Isla. And it’s finally here.”
Like a crack of the whip, his voice booms, “Aren’t you going to thank me?”
Softly spoken, with a delicate smile, I have no idea what he’s speaking about. I look at his pale masculine face, which is still handsome despite the permanent scowl fixed on it, “Thank you, Dimitri. That is very kind of you.”
“I don’t want to hear your words. Show me how thankful you are. Knees. Now!”
I am his property.
He can do what he wants to me.
Supplying me to whomever he pleases, whenever he chooses.
Rolling on my back, I lift the blankets so they are under my chin, bringing me to the here and now.
Laying in this beautiful, perfect bed is somewhere I shouldn’t be and internally I know it. I am living dangerously and selfishly, bringing Alex into my world. But God, how much I crave this life with Alex.
My sanity is waning. I can’t go back. He will break me for this betrayal.
Alex looks drawn but determined when he paces back into the room. Sitting on the bed next to me, he hesitates slightly before handing me the aspirin and water. He’s going to ask me to leave. I’m not worth his troubles.
His sublime blue eyes look at our hands joined. His mind in overload. I’m holding my breath now, I’m beyond scared. He’s so quiet.
“Isla… Sweetness. Before I say anything, we are in this together. Whatever is going on, we deal with this together.”
Releasing my breath, I can’t believe what this saint is saying to me.
I shake my head. “Alex, you can’t say that. You have no idea what I am involved in. I can’t live with myself, realizing he will come after you. Because of me, you could be killed.”
“You need to stop worrying about me, Isla. This I can handle. Having you hurting is something I can’t bear. Tell me what is going on, Sweetness. Let me help you.”
My eyes start to well up with tears.
How can I put him in a position where he can ultimately pay the highest price with his life for helping me?
“Trust me, Sweetness,” Alex whispers as he looks me sincerely in my eyes.
For the first time in a very long time, I want to trust. I want to believe we can walk through this hell together so we can find heaven on the other side of it.
Before I stop myself, I start revealing my secrets to the man I now trust with my entire life.
“My dad was a gambler most of my life. We were quite poor and lived modestly. My mother and father did love each other when I was young but, as the years went by, that love turned to secrets, fights, and abuse.” Taking a large breath, I gather up the courage to keep going. His eyes sympathetically look inwardly at my soul, urging it to extract all the hideous and revolting truths.
Alex continues holding my hand, wiping any stray drops from my face.
“Later when I was older, about fifteen or sixteen, Daddy would come home drunk and enter my room now and then. Pretending to be asleep, I would lay on my bed while he kissed me goodnight on the forehead. He would just stare at me for ages. It always felt wrong. But I was clueless to what I could do.”
Alex’s eyebrows reveal he isn’t liking this story any more than I do. His hands clench tighter around mine.
“Ouch. Alex… Too tight.” I try pulling my hands out, but he softens his touch.
“Sweetness, I’m so sorry. Fuck, I want to hurt your father so badly, he’s lucky he’s dead or he would be meeting his maker.” His voice is raw and pained. Unlike his normally composed self.
Deciding it’s best to continue on, gasping down a large breath of air I quietly add, “I was admitted to hospital more than a few times over his outbursts, so I chose when I would retaliate, being aware I would be punished when this happened. Mother did her best to protect us and I protected Ben and mother as much as I could. Sometimes it wasn’t enough though.”
I look up to watch his usually collected exterior lace with fury and anger.
“I wish I was around then for you, Isla. I wish I could take all the harm he caused you away. How can I make this better? What does it have to do with now?” Alex states.
Fuck, I hope Alex understands my next revelation.
Releasing my hands from his, I grip the bed cover for dear life.
“It was coming up to my eighteenth birthday and Daddy took me to meet a special friend of his. I was poised to display importance and sexiness. Making sure my father was not disappointed in me. This man put his hands on me, examining me like I was a prized animal. I admit, I thought he liked me. A distinguished man desired me.” Ashamed with this statement, I hang my head low, looking at the sheets.
Lifting my chin after a few seconds, Alex asks me to continue.
“That night when we returned home, I passed out on my bed but woke up when my mother started screaming at my father. I went to investigate and helped soothe my father. Mother was on the floor, bleeding quite a lot, but I left her to make Daddy a drink with her sleeping tablets. I put the pills in his drink which he drank down without hesitation. When I was putting Mother to bed, Daddy got a call from a man I now know as Dimitri Sokolov…the man I had visited that night. Daddy owed him so much money, he was repaying him by working for him, doing whatever dirty jobs Sokolov needed done. Daddy left that night and it was the last time we ever saw him.” Tears flowing faster down my cheeks are kissed away by Alex. My body heaving in the grand bed.
Christ, what I would give to take Alex’s lips in mine and his solid body all around me.
Protecting me.
Taking away all of my dirtiness.
I need to reveal to him what I am.
With my chest now exploding, I take the plunge. Pain is reflected in both of our eyes. My hands wring the bed clothes so tight, I’m surprised they aren’t ripping in unison with my heart. Alex tries to find my hands, but I won’t give them to him. He may want to run as fast as he can when I tell him the next part.
“I killed my father, Alex. I drugged him.” Alex’s stare doesn’t wavier a bit. There’s swirling anger I notice but a sadness as well. His knuckles are white, fisting his hand that tightly. Low in his chest a growl escapes. An explosion is near. Continuing I whisper, “He went out that night to finish off a job and well…umm…he fell asleep at the wheel of the car. He hit a large steel sign post and died instantly. No one knows I caused him to fall asleep. Not my mother. Not my brother. It would kill them. It’s something I live with every day. I am the reason my father was killed.” Taking a deep breath, my voice is firmer now. “His death gave us all freedom but also heartbreak.” I will never forget how much I took away from this family, but I can identify how much I saved this family from more pain and suffering.
Alex’s pained voice interrupts me. “Fuck Isla, I want to make everything right for you. I want to hurt someone so badly for making you suffer. Holy fuck! This wasn’t your fault, it was your deranged father’s fault. There’s only him to blame.” Putting his hand around my neck, he pulls me forward so he can kiss my red swollen lips gently before kissing each eye lid. Releasing me enough so I am mere inches from his eyes, I can see tears welling in his that I hadn’t noticed before.
“I will help you through this, Sweetness.” A proclamation from his tender lips. One I believe fully.
Softly spoken as the pain from beneath my rib cage starts to thump and splinter, I let him know there is more. Rearranging himself on the bed so his body is facing mine, he touches my legs above the cover, sliding his hands rhythmically over them, reassuring and calming me somewhat.
“Two days passed and it was my birthday. Dimitri happened to be walking the same route I had been strolling. It wasn’t a coincidence. I mean, I found out rather quickly. He asked me to walk with him to his car, which he proceeded to usher me into, with the help of his two mighty bodyguards with him. I thought this man must really like me, to go to the trouble of talking with me in his car. Two minutes into the conversation, I found out his ulterior motive.” My chest heaving from spilling my inner darkest thoughts fast, I take a steadying breath. Alex’s striking features are marred with rage. His hands have stopped with their slow touch and now digging into his thighs, trying to give the perception of composure, but failing miserably.
Deciding to keep going, “He explained how my father owed him money, how he worked for him, and how he knew I had drugged him, effectively killing my father. I remember the world spinning, Alex. I didn’t understand how he could know this. He said he would be visiting my mother very soon to speak about how his loan was going to be repaid. He threatened to go to the police and give them evidence of how I killed my father. He showed me then and there on his phone a video of the inside of our house and the events taking place before my father walked out the door that fateful night.”
Steadying myself, I take a full breath before I let Alex encounter the real Isla Winters.