บท 2: 2)Escape
The warm rays of the sun was the first thing I felt across my face as I stirred awake. I groaned lowly as a pounding headache had me immobilised. It had been a while since I woke up with a hangover. Just from the feel of cheap cotton sheets I knew I was not at my house. I loved my silk.
I turned around since I felt a presence next me and for a second I felt myself smiling. Then I noticed the hair was brown instead of the raven black hair I grew so accustomed to the past few months.
"Not who you were expecting?" Bethany smiled at me. I opened my mouth to say something but she cut me off, "I figured by the way you moaned Selena last night."
A pit formed in my stomach at the mention. "I'm sorry Beth."
"Don't worry about it. I kind of figured you only let me come onto you because I look like her. Win, win though you were amazing," she winked as I felt my cheeks burn. Definitely bold. She stood up from the bed stalk naked and grabbed a silk robe from one of her arm chairs. "How do you like your coffee?"
"Black," I answered. She gave me a smile and walked out of the room leaving me more than confused. So this is how it felt to be a random hook up. I was so use to waking up to an upset girl that seeing Beth being so calm and collected left me bewildered. Groggily I sat up and pulled my phone out of my tuxedo jacket. 10a.m.
"Fuck," I hissed and rubbed my eyes. I was going to be late for my meeting if I did not leave soon. It was a fourteen hour flight to Russia and with my jet it could take me ten. I went to the bathroom and splashed my face with some water before hurriedly wearing my tuxedo from last night. Just from the look on my face you could tell I barely slept with the dark circles under my eyes and pale complexion.
Bethany's penthouse was a very good size for a girl who lived alone. I found her sitting by the breakfast bar sipping her coffee. She passed me my cup when I sat next to her on one of the stools. The coffee was not my preferred type but it still tasted good.
"So I'm guessing you have to leave now?" she stated passing me a bagel with cream cheese. I smiled in appreciation as I took a bite out of it.
"Yeah I have a meeting in Russia," I said hoping she did not think I was lying to get away from her.
"Well good luck. Maybe next time you are in America we should go out for lunch," she walked me to her door.
"I'd like that," I gave her a hug before we parted ways. Truly Bethany had changed from the annoying clingy teenage girl to a matured lovely woman. I would not mind having her as company and I did not mean that in an inappropriate manner. When I got down to the ground floor I realized I had no idea how I would get to the airport. As if the angels from above were watching out for me I heard someone calling my name.
"Pablo!" I smiled as he came into view. I had never been happier to see those tattooed arms and pierced nose.
"You are lucky your phone has a tracker," he laughed holding my shoulder and taking me to the car park.
"You are literally my saviour. I felt like I was about to have a mini panic attack," I laughed as we climbed into his Ferrari.
"I accept payment in the form of a paid vacation. Your lovely assistant, Allison rescheduled your meeting for the next day so you can breathe," he chuckled as I visibly relaxed into the seat. My meeting in Russia would benefit my company a whole lot so if I missed it completely I knew the C.E.O would not be happy. "You're meeting Yavok Chernyshevsky right?"
"Yes know anything about him?"
"Not really though he does have a very tough reputation. No nonsense kind of guy, married with three kids. Although I have met his little brother. Who is, just as serious."
"Noted I will make sure not to joke around about my dick," I chuckled as we entered the private airport.
"Be serious I don't want to have to search the country for your decaying corpse." He called out as I climbed the stairs of my jet.
"Yeah!" I laughed before the jet door closed. After a few check-ups, the jet was in the air. The pilot had told me we would be landing in eleven hours which gave me eight hours of full rest before I had to wake up and sort out some files for the meeting. My jet had a lavish bedroom and bathroom that I could take my very well needed nap in. My body was practically on autopilot from the second I woke up.
After my nap I took a shower and for what felt like ten minutes just stared at my body. If ten years ago you would have told me, at thirty four I would still not have my shit together, have no wife and kids but have loads of money I would have laughed. Back then I thought it was a phase, going through women like a fox in a chicken enclosure, that at one point I would meet the one before I was even close to forty. In five years I would be forty and sure it seemed far I could feel it knocking on my door.
I stared at the hickey on my neck and felt my stomach twist in shame. I really thought I was done with this. When things went downhill with Selena… my life practically went downhill as well. She was my hope everything would be okay. That I would be okay. What happened with Bethany was a mistake, I tried to search for the warmth in her chocolate eyes but I felt nothing. The whimpers she made did not excite me and make me feel like the happiest man alive. Her skin did not smell like the sweet vanilla I was use too.
I had hoped maybe I could replace her, get someone new but to know she had already moved on drove me mad. Was that the true reason she left me? Because she knew there was someone waiting for her back in Spain. It drove me crazy with anger and embarrassment. I had told everyone she was the one. Took her to all these events so she could be a part of my life. Sure her family was not even close to wealthy and the western life was a distant thought to her but I tried so hard.
To make her feel accepted and loved by me. To let her know I would support her in anything, she never accepted my money without a debate and never liked expensive fancy things. She spoke Spanish most of the time which I had no problem with since it was one of the many languages I knew but once we were surrounded by others she felt so beneath everyone simply because her English was not amazing. At times she cared too much about what others thought about her when I was happy.
I just wished she knew how much I loved her.
I snapped out of my haze and dressed in black jeans with a black hoodie. The jet would land in Russia at night so there so use to dress up fancily. My assistant, Allison would meet at the hotel and we would spend the night before my meeting with Yavok. For the next three hours I worked on the files and checked my emails till we landed.
"Hello Edward," my bodyguard, John smiled as I descended down the stairs. I did not need a body guard trust me but it was simply a precaution.
"What's up Johnny," I teased knowing full well he hated the little nickname I made for him.
"You're lucky you're my boss or I would have shot you myself," he groaned opening the door for the Range Rover. I climbed in swiftly and we drove to the hotel. I had been to Moscow on a handful of occasions so I was a tad bit familiar with the scene. Although the buildings still took my breath away every time. I would be meeting Yavok at 8a.m and he had invited me to a ballet production in the evening, the next day he would take me to the location he wanted to build the hotel. One extra day for planning then I would fly back to London.
It was going to be a hectic week. We got to the hotel and checked in. From my understanding Allison had landed just then. Allison and I had known each other from University. She was three years below me studying business. She and Amanda, my sister, could be troublesome if they were together. Allison was mixed race just like me with short curly hair and a tiny frame. Plus to add onto that her and John seemed to have a slight flirtatious relationship. John was a buff man from Liverpool with blonde hair. To me they would make a good pair.
I got to my suite and ordered room service. John and Allison would be sleeping in a room a few rooms from mine. The food arrived pretty quickly so I was quick to stuff my face. Even though I had woken up a mere four hours ago I was still exhausted. Once again my head hit the pillow and I was out for the night.
In the early hours of the morning I woke up, way earlier than necessary but I just felt off. Deciding to not lay in bed and stare up at the ceiling, I wore my workout gear and headed to the hotels gym. When I got there it was empty which nearly brought tears to my eyes. I was not a huge fan of humans in the early hours of the morning. I spent thirty minutes jogging on the treadmill before hitting the weights, stretching then headed back to my bedroom. It was six a.m. Allison would be knocking on my door any time now so we could get ready for the meeting.
I hopped into the shower and wore a navy blue suit, with a formal light blue button up shirt, grey scarf and beige coat. My curly black hair was a bit on the wild side since I barely trimmed it this month. Normally the sides would always be cut lowly and I would have a curly quiff on top of my head but now the sides had grown out. I took some gel and brushed my curls back so they were away from my face and I was satisfied. My caramel brown skin looked paler than usual which really made the freckles on my nose and cheekbones pop out. That was what I loved about them they made me look five years younger.
As I made myself a cup of coffee I heard a knock on my door. Once it was open there stood Allison holding two files and her handbag.
"Morning Ed," she smiled barging in as I smiled down at her.
"Morning Ally. How was your flight?" I asked as we sat down by the dining table. She handed me one file which I discovered was information on Yavok. We always did a bit of research before a meeting with a client so I did not mess up or mention one of their dislikes. Plus it was a really great way to make them trust you. They had to think of you as a friend, someone they could trust and they would be willing to work with you again.
"Exhausting but good," she shrugged, "Any who Yavok Viktor Chernyshevsky is thirty-seven years old. Oldest child of three, second sibling is Katarina Ursula; she's thirty years old and lives in New York City, she's a model and is looking into designing, then the youngest sibling Vasili Dominic; he is twenty six and works with Yavok as an engineer but normally is on site than at the office. He is an ex-ballet dancer but stopped due to an injury. So definitely be careful about mentioning that if you do meet him."
"Any skeletons in the closet I should be aware of?" I asked paging through the file, it had a picture of Yavok, one of his sister but seemed to be a teenager when it was taken. Yet I found it strange how there was no picture of Vasili.
"It seems they like to keep his identity private," she pointed out, practically reading my mind. "Yavok has… controversy around him a lot."
"What type of controversy?" this definitely caught my attention.
"The Russian Bratva kind. Apparently their father was one of the huge leaders but him and his wife died last year. Some say it was an accident others believe it was revenge from an enemy group. Yavok denies being involved but every once in a while something suspicious happens," Allison had no idea about the full depth of this world like I did. It was something Marco; my sister, Amanda's husband, knew very well of.
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