Page 1 of The Runaway

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Joci

Wheezing loudly, I glared with all the venom I could fit in my eyes, but it just spilled over to twist my face ugly. Sweat dripped down my bare back and off my toes, struggling to stretch and reach the ground. Clenching my hands into weak fists, goosebumps washed my cold body as Anatoly Makovich ominously shut the cell door with a horrificclick.

“Are you going to tell me why, or are you going to need another pin or plate put in that sexy body? You know— guys don’t like fake parts.” Sauntering across the small, concrete box, Anatoly grabbed my face and squeezed. Pain shot down my neck, flames engulfing my bruised eye socket as it leaked tears. His own blazed with pleasure as he craned my neck to draw me closer. The searing hot needles of bone jabbing muscle was so intense it numbed me— not enough that I didn’t feel Anatoly trailing two fingertips down the valley between my breasts. “Especially tits. You have beautiful ones, Joci. How awful would it be if I just… cut them off? I have a knife big enough— I, personally, think there’s such a thing as too big, and if I look at this angle…”

He tilted his head, his ugly, evil smirk widening as a sliver of fear lodged between my shoulder blades. I should’ve stayed away from Anatoly. I should’ve listened to the voice that told me he was bad— there wasn’t a single redeeming quality about him. Crying out hoarsely when he jerked my head back, a muffled pop rippled up my neck to my ear. Greedy, calloused hands gripped my hips andpressed, and my cry morphed into a terrible shriek. Shackles dug into my wrists as my shoulders and elbows ripped apart, and black spots danced in my blurred vision.

“You shouldn’t have ghosted me— what a piece of shit thing to do, Joci. I wouldn’t even be mad if you just told me to my face that I’m not your type, and you didn’t think this was going to work out.” Beyond the blood that drowned out Anatoly’s heavy breathing, I wondered how the fuck this happened. His hardon dug against my abdomen; he wasenjoyingtorturing me in the sickest way. And why?

Because I texted him that I didn’t want to see him anymore, and he couldn’t accept it? We’d only been seeing each other for a few weeks! Anatoly’s bad-boy routine was hot until I realized he was just a sadistic creep with not a shred of decency even to leave me be at work. I’d ignored him and eventually blocked him, but it didn’t take him long to find out where I lived. How strange, the kind of thoughts that my mind conjured on the brink of failing.

“… You put in a work order for a woman who dumped you?” Anatoly froze like a deer in the headlights of a semi-truck, his whole body frigid and stiff against mine. The soft ‘tsk-tsk’ of disappointment assaulted my brain, and I lifted my head forward to find no one in the room. “Anatoly… you should know better. Struass was right to take some initiative and look into this. I told you when I allowed you back that this shit had to stop. You’re not qualified to make this decision on your own.”

The room swirled around me, but there was only Anatoly and I— no one else.He must be watching or something. There was a mirrored wall; anyone with half a brain knew that it was a one-way mirror. Only… I didn’t have much of a brain left. How long had I been here? How much was wrong with me under Anatoly’s awful treatment? Ho—

“Aleksander— you’re ruining my vibe.” Anatoly’s voice wavered ever so slightly. The silence that met him was damning, and he stepped away from me to wipe his hands on his pants. He would’ve seemed nonchalant with that look on his face if not for the fact that his shoulders were touching his ears.

I wasn’t relieved, though; whoever made Anatoly afraid was worse than him, and being worse than him…

The door to the cell slammed open, bouncing against the wall, and even Anatoly jumped a little. My chains rattled loudly, cutting into my wrists as a faint gasp scraped my throat. Blinking hard, I trained my eyes on who must’ve been Aleksander. He was taller, broader— his face set in stone, and even the hair on his head screamed that he was in charge.

“This is a business, little brother—”Shit. Ducking my head, everything started to melt around me as my brain threatened to explode. The pounding against my forehead spread down my entire face, and my chin wobbled. “You can’t just do whatever you want against anyone you want. Besides— I saw your texts. The way she broke things off with you was more than fine. You’re overreacting. Again. I’m getting tired of your childish lashing out, Anatoly.”

“This has nothing to do with business, Aleksander— I’m on my own time—” But Aleksander held up his hand and cut Anatoly off, sending a powerful ripple of freezing air at me.

My eyes fluttered open, a ragged gasp billowing into my lungs to constrict my throat. Blinking hard, I sat up a little and glanced around, reaching a clammy palm to my neck. Icy cold air blasted my face from a vent in the ceiling, and I smacked it away from me to sink deep into my leather-clad seat.

“We’ll be landing soon. Do you not like planes, Joci?” Prickles rippled down the right side of my face, and I glanced over as Sascha watched me with concern softening his expression. “You okay?”

He was so sweet— Ophelia got lucky. My gaze flickered to her, just dead against his shoulder, before finding his again. Rather than answer and risk having to explain myself, I simply nodded. Ever since meeting them two months ago, when I was reassigned as a bodyguard to Ophelia, I thought about my predicament a lot more.

My predicamentbeing how I ended up here, under Makovich’s thumb.

Tearing my eyes off Sascha, his usual, casual suit replaced with something that cost more than he made in a year, I pursed my lips thinly. He’d trimmed his beard sharp, wore fancy clothes, and was mature and wise enough to pull off whatever Aleksander was planning. Wrapped in dark grey silk, Sascha was stately, almost, in the way he carried himself.

That was the point, though. Aleksander wanted to know how much of an upper hand he’d have in negotiations. Frankly, I didn’t approve of storming out the gate with a lie, but I had no voice, here. The only person that would listen to me was Ophelia, and she was clocked out. My lips twitched— with the urge to smile or frown, I didn’t know. Honestly, it didn’t matter, anyway. From the moment I was reassigned, my life had gone on the up. I got to move out of Saint Petersburg, and now, I was following her to America.

I’d follow Ophelia almost anywhere. She was a woman all women aspired to be.

“Joci.” Dread rolled down my spine at Aleksander’s soft call, his finger crooking suggestively when I dared look over. Pushing myself heavily out of my chair, I struggled not to wince as my shoulders ached fiercely. Flying always hurt, but I ground my teeth against the throbbing as I sat across from him. For a long second, Aleksander was quiet, eyes roaming, face stoic and unreadable. I never knew why he kept me around— a man like him didn’t feel anything for getting rid of people, especially useless people.

“What are you plans when Ophelia and Sascha go back to Russia? Do you want to stay in America?” My eyes widened, and Aleksander covered his mouth with his palm to tap his cheek thoughtfully. “Regardless whether we work out a deal with Carlyle Santino, it’s not against our current policy that you stay. You’d have your out, even if Carlyle put you under surveillance for a time. I know how much you hate my family, and you have every right to.”

“… Are you serious? You’ve never let anyone out.” My voice wobbled, and I glanced behind my automatically— but Sascha had headphones on, and Ophelia was still asleep. Licking my lips heavily, I turned back to Aleksander to frown. “I can get out?”

“You’re dead weight to me, and through no fault of your own, Joci. I kept you around because I had nowhere to put you that Anatoly couldn’t reach.” My brows rose in surprise, my heart stuttering to pull them down sharply as confusion twisted my lips. Aleksander rubbed his jaw roughly, licking his teeth— as if what he had to say left a disgusting taste in his mouth before he’d even spoken. “I took you in these past few years to keep him away from you. Anatoly is… a character. I worried that if I resettled you, he’d try to finish what he started five years ago. It’s much,muchharder for him to secretly go to America than, say, Krasnoyarsk.”

“I- I… I didn’t think you put that much thought into it.” After everything I’d seen and heard Aleksander do to Ophelia, he was so willing to cut me out, and I pursed my lips thinly. His emotionless mask stayed firmly in place as my mind churned, my gaze slipping to focus on the small, finished table between us. “I want to stay. Yes. I’ll take it.”

“You know what being out means, right? No contact with anyone— including Ophelia. No financial help. You’ll never go back to Russia— you’ll never step a foot in the Motherland again, Joci.” My lips parted, and air flooded my mouth to dry my words on my tongue. Nodding firmly, I clenched my jaw hard while my rationalizations raced circles between my ears. For a fraction of a second, I saw pity and maybe even regret flash in Aleksander’s dark eyes. “I know it’s been difficult for you because of what Anatoly did. I honestly wanted to kill you and get you out of the way because you’d serve me no purpose, no matter how hard I tried to think of one— and I did try, Joci. It put me in a strange position.”

“Is that why you made me learn to fight and sewed me to Lyov’s hip?” Aleksander didn’t hesitate to nod, and offense and relief made war in my chest. Sitting back, I winced when the throbbing in my shoulder shot down my back. A hard breath surged out of my nose, and Aleksander’s facealmostsagged in a frown.

“You’re terrible at it, but who’d try to get Lyov, of all of us? I thought it would be the most neutral, safe position I could put you in. However, that’s changed. Lyov came to me after you kicked him out of Ophelia’s house and agreed to see a therapist.” I choked on my own spit at Aleksander’s declaration, and amusement took over his expression before he could stop it. Shock rattled my teeth, my eyes widening as all thoughts of being free temporary backstepped. “I was surprised, too, but you know Ophelia is a force of pure personality. The point is, I have nowhere to put you, Joci, so I have to let you go. I’d rather not kill you, because there’s no reason. You serve me no purpose dead or alive, but you can’t stay in Russia without looking over your shoulder for the rest of your life. And trust me— Anatoly is still very much holding that grudge against you.”

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