Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 34410 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 172(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34410 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 172(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
He stepped inside but Alix wouldn’t cross into the room.
“I don’t like this.”
“There’s food and water inside for a couple of days,” Dmitry said. “Providing you ration yourselves, you should be fine. No one would stick around.”
“Why are you showing me this?” Alix asked.
“For your and Sofia’s safety. You know I’m not a good man. You know I have many enemies. A lot of people who would like to see me dead. I’m not going to pretend they wouldn’t. They’re going to come for me, Alix. There is no safer place than this. I need you to learn the layout of this house, because there are secret passages that will get you to safety.”
She stepped into the room but he noticed how her arms wrapped around herself as if she was trying to ward off a bad omen. He didn’t want to scare her, but this was the life he led. It wasn’t a good one and he had to make sure she and his daughter were always prepared. There were constant threats on his life.
Dmitry opened the safe, giving her the combination. “You’ll find some money and passports. I’ll have one made for you, and it will go in here. It’ll be a different identity, obviously. But everything to start a new life will be here. Credit cards, with all the relevant information. Everything has been set up.”
“You’re scaring me,” she said.
He took a step toward her and cupped her face. “I shouldn’t have brought you here, I know that. It was selfish of me to do so, but I did it anyway. I should have left you to your old life.”
Tears glistened in her eyes.
“There is always a cost for getting what you want. This is mine.” He pressed a kiss to her lips. “I’ll need you to take care of my daughter if anything happens to me.”
“I don’t like this,” she said through gritted teeth.
“I know. There’s not a whole lot to like about any of this.” He kissed her again, a little surprised that she didn’t fight him. “I’ll teach you the layout of the house. How to move from here, to get you to the garage where a car will be waiting.”
She shook her head. “You’re making it sound like you’ll be dead.”
“There’s a chance I will be.”
“Dmitry, what is going on? Why are you saying this? Why are you doing this?”
“To protect you and my daughter. I see that you love her.”
“You know I do,” Alix said.
“Good, because if something was to happen to me, then you will be the one to take care of her. I’m going to trust you with her.”
****
“I’m going to trust you with her.”
Alix couldn’t stop thinking about those words, over and over again. They kept going around in her mind, over the next week. Dmitry stayed true to his word and forced her to remember every single detail of the house. There was also a test, which took place late at night.
Gone were the kisses or the sweet touches. No, Dmitry slapped her ass in the middle of the night to test her. She had no choice but to carry a large teddy bear that he had purchased to the secure room. Even with the lights out, which he liked to do. From there, she had to lock the three of them in—herself, Dmitry, and the oversized teddy. She also had to remember the combination to the safe, and then, from there she had to try to get out of the house, possibly undetected. There had been a few times men had been waiting.
This had resulted in Dmitry training her. Not in hand-to-hand combat, but in shooting. In the basement of his home, Dmitry had a target practice. They did not use loaded guns, but soft pelts, and the targets were pieces of paper.
Alix hated to admit that she sucked big time at practice. Each time she fired the gun, even though it wasn’t a real gun, she closed her eyes.
Dmitry wouldn’t be swayed.
Again, while Sofia was fast asleep, she had to train. They were always back into bed by the time Sofia came in. She only did this when she had a bad dream. This had only happened twice that past week. Alix had started to pray for the little girl to appear, because she was so tired.
By the end of week two in her training, she had enough. Dmitry slapped her ass, and it wasn’t hard either, just a love tap, but enough to wake her up.
“No,” she said.
“Come on, Alix, I’m not kidding around.”
She sat up in bed and reached over to the lamp and turned it on. “I’m not kidding around either.”
“I know this is not easy.”
“You’re right, it’s not easy. This is hard and you think I can just grab Sofia and head out to safety. I’m going to panic about you. Sofia loves you, and do you think I’ll ever be able to forgive myself if something did happen to you? How would I tell Sofia? What would I tell her? Sorry, kid, your father gave me strict instructions to leave him to whatever killers invaded his home, and to take care of you. Could you imagine the guilt?”