“Inside?” I say in disbelief.
He nods.
I squint harder, peering into the darkness of my own home, and suddenly I want to vomit. He’s right. There is a figure silhouetted in the window. A dark shape, still, but not still enough.
“They’re inside myhome?” I mutter in horror.
“And there is another car parked on that side of the road, with two men sitting inside it. Your home isn’t safe, Blair. Please believe me.”
I’m too stunned to speak for a moment as I try to focus on the faces of the men sitting in the front of the sedan parked nearby. One of them looks familiar, and I realize it’s one of the men who tried to kidnap me.
“You… you planted them here,” I stammer, but even as I say it, I don’t believe it.
“You know that’s not true,” he sighs.
“Can we go now?” I mutter quietly, my voice tight with fear.
He gently wraps his arm around my waist. “Stay low and stay close,” he whispers, pulling me to follow him.
Simon leads me across a wide lawn, heading away from my house. We move through the darkness, sticking to the shadows until we reach his car, which is parked a street over.
He pushes me into the passenger’s seat, then hurries around to the driver’s side.
The whole way back to his place, I’m quiet, lost in thought, my head spinning because I’ve finally accepted that he really didn’t hire those men and that there really is someone scary trying to capture me.
My body is spiking with adrenaline and cortisol. I still don’t understand any of it, and it’s driving me crazy.
He opens the front door for me, and I walk inside ahead of him, sullen and subdued. If he hadn’t shown up, I would have walked right to my front door. And right now, there is no telling where I’d be.
“I want answers,” I blurt out, spinning to face him as he closes the front door behind us.
“Blair, it’s…”
“No, I don’t want excuses or stories or nonsense. I just want the truth. And if you tell me the truth, if I believe it’s the truth… then in exchange for that I will no longer try and escape.”
I let out a heavy sigh as I negotiate this deal. The truth is that I don’t know where to escape to now, even if I wanted to. I can’t go home.
“Alright,” Simon says after a moment’s pause. “Come on, I’ll pour us a drink. We can sit in the living room, and I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”
“I want to know everything,” I huff, walking through to the living room.
Simon is sitting next to me, the glass of vodka in his hand is mostly untouched as he spins it around, fidgeting with it.
“So, I was right, you are mafia?” I stammer, trying to process the things he’s been telling me.
“Bratva mafia. Yes. My family has been in the mafia for many generations. But not only are we mafia, but we are also one of the largest and most powerful families in the world. Us, along with other mafia families with which we are in alliance.”
“This is…” I mutter, not knowing how to describe how crazy it all sounds.
“It’s a lot to take in, I understand,” he sighs.
“So, the food business you do is a cover for your real businesses?”
“Correct.”
“I don’t understand how I fit into all of those, though. Why do I matter to anyone? Why are there men waiting for me at my apartment?”
Simon pulls his mouth tight. This time, he does take a sip of his vodka before he lets out a slow, steady breath.