“You’re beautiful,” he said. She could feel his hot breath on her cheek as he slid closer to her. Closing her eyes, she fought back her tears. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes and smiled at him.
Taking hold of his hand and putting it back on his lap, she whispered coyly, “Shall we wait until we get to your place?”
He nodded enthusiastically. Feeling like she had dodged a bullet, she turned to look out of the window at the streets of London as they flew by. She knew she couldn’t avoid it forever, but for the next few minutes she could pretend.
Fifteen
Kyle followed the car closely through the streets of London and to the West End, his hands gripping the wheel so tightly that his knuckles were white. The luck that had abandoned him during the game had found him again, as it was the early hours of the morning and the roads were quiet. Noticing the brake lights of the limo, Kyle slowed down, and then pulled over when it was clear that the car was going to stop.
It had pulled up outside a terraced house in an exclusive square. The square had houses on all four sides, all of which overlooked a park in the center. The house was three stories high and, judging by the expensive cars parked in the street, very expensive. With mixed feelings, Kyle watched as Tara and the winner stepped out of the car and walked up the front steps, entering the house. He had been worried that the winner would whisk her away on a plane to some unknown destination, so was pleased that they were still in London, but knowing what was sure to happen in that house tonight was killing him.
Sixteen
The next morning found Kyle parked outside the house, watching and waiting. He had no big, clever plan, but he was hoping that at some point the winner would leave and Tara would be left in the house alone. Movement caught his eye and he sat up straighter in his seat. The front door was opening. A cold finger of disappointment ran down his spine when he saw that both Tara and the winner were leaving, carrying suitcases.
Fuck! They were obviously going somewhere, and he had no idea where. It didn’t matter. Wherever they were going, he was going to follow. He was not losing her again.
He watched as they got in a taxi, and then pulled out behind it as it drove past. After several miles, he started to recognize the roads and, with a sinking feeling, he realized they were heading to the airport. His mind was spinning furiously. Nothing had gone according to plan and he was out of time. He had no idea what to do next.
He watched as they were dropped off outside the terminal and hurriedly parked the rental car in the short term parking lot, running back to the terminal as quickly as he could. Scanning the sea of thousands of faces frantically, terrified that he had missed her, his eyes finally picked out her face. He let out a breath. All was not lost.
He toyed with the idea of just storming over there, taking her by the hand and just walking away. But that wasn’t an option. The airport was swarming with armed police, as most airports were these days. If he caused a scene, Tara would end up arrested for prostitution and he wouldn’t do that to her. He had to think of something before they went through security. She would be lost to him then. He couldn’t believe his luck when, after a few minutes, she made her way, alone, to the female restroom. Not caring who was inside, and ignoring the indignant looks and cries from the women inside, he followed her in.
Seventeen
Touching up her make-up in the mirror, Tara doubted her own eyes when she saw Kyle’s reflection. Turning, she saw him standing there, and had to hold on to the sink for support as her knees went weak and threatened to fail her.
“What are you doing here? If Sergei finds out, he’ll kill you,” she managed to gasp.
Reaching for her before she fell, he pulled her into his arms. “I love you. I wasn’t about to let you go,” he said simply.
“How did you find me?” she said, still not believing that she was once again in his arms.
“I’ll explain everything to you later. We don’t have much time. We need to go.” Looking at him, she realized that she loved him, too, with her entire being. Could it really be that simple?
“But I can’t!”
“Why not? What’s holding you here?”
Tara shook her head. “You don’t understand! Sergei owns me. You don’t just walk away from a man like him. Don’t you think I would have done it years ago if I could?”
“It’s different now. You’re not alone.”
Tara wanted to believe him, but he was naïve. He had no idea what he was up against. “No, it would be putting you in danger, too, and I won’t do that. I care about you too much.”
“Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t love me,” he demanded.
“I do love you, Kyle, more than I ever thought it was possible to love anyone, but I can’t just walk away. Wherever we went, he would find us.”
“That’s a risk I’m willing to take. I’m not losing you.” This was crazy, but she knew she had made up her mind the minute she had seen him again.
***
They decided that Kyle would walk out first and make sure that the coast was clear. Confirming that it was, he took Tara by the hand and they quickly made their way to the exit and to his car.
It took a few minutes for their breathing to return to normal. “I can’t believe we just did that,” Tara grinned. The grin didn’t last for long, though. “You know it’s only going to be a matter of minutes before Sergei finds out, don’t you?”
Kyle nodded. “Yeah, which is why we need to get ourselves on a flight out of here as soon as we can. Not from here, though. We’ll drive over to Gatwick and catch a flight there.”
Facing forward to start the car, he stopped when Tara put her hand on his arm. “We have to go to my apartment first.”
“What on earth for?” he asked.
Tara explained about the safety deposit box and, knowing they weren’t in a position to walk away from that kind of cash, he agreed.
She gave him directions across town and he drove fast, knowing time was their enemy. Aware that Sergei may well be already on his way there, she grabbed a couple of pairs of jeans and some t-shirts and flung them in a bag. Taking the key for the deposit box from her bedside table, she closed the front door behind her and, without a second glance, ran down the steps to where Kyle was waiting in the car.
***
After going to the bank and emptying her deposit box, they headed to his room at the hotel. As he closed the door behind them, what she was doing suddenly hit her and she started to tremble. “What do we do now? He’ll find us, you know.”
“We leave town. Tonight.”
“But where do we go? Sergei has contacts everywhere. Wherever we go, we won’t be safe.”
“Geneva. He’ll be expecting us to go back to the states. Geneva’s also probably the best place to sell some of that jewelry.”
Tara nodded. “Okay.”
They drove to the airport in silence, their fingers entwined between them. They were in luck. The next flight to Geneva was leaving within the hour with British Airways, and they managed to get two seats. Anxiously watching the departure lounge doors, they were first on when the boarding call came.
As the plane took off, Tara turned to Kyle. “Thank you,” she said. It didn’t seem enough, somehow. He was risking his life for her, but it was all she had.
Smiling, Kyle looked at her. “Try and get some sleep.” She rested her head on his shoulder and, within minutes, Kyle heard the change in her breathing as she fell asleep.
He had no idea what they were going to do next. He still had some contacts from his time at the LAPD and they may be able to help but, for now, they needed to stay off the radar. They would be okay for funds. The jewels and cash in Tara’s carry-on would more than cover their expenses. But Geneva was only a short-term solution. Where they would go from there, he had no idea.
Eighteen
Sergei could barely contain his rage. How dare she? Frank had contacted him, demanding his money back and threatening to get his many c
ontacts to boycott his games. She had completely humiliated him. All these years, and she had never let him down. She had been one of his best girls and now, all of a sudden, she was going off the rails. Well, he couldn’t, and wouldn’t, let her get away with it. Though far from the only income from his business, the Games were one of the most lucrative ventures, bringing in well over thirty million a year. Now, all of that was at risk just because of her.
He’d been stupid. Because she had been with him for so long, he’d given her far more freedom than the others. He should have dealt with her properly after L.A. Usually, his punishments were much more permanent. It was not enough for him now to simply have her dealt with. He was going to get her back. And he had an ace up his sleeve that was going to help him do it.
Nineteen
Watching the ground drop away as they took off, they both relaxed. It was over. After clearing customs at Geneva airport, they’d taken a taxi to the town center. Splurging, they had checked into the Hilton on the shores of Lac Leman and were now sitting in one of the many cafés that dotted the waterfront.
“This is surreal. Am I actually free?” She couldn’t believe it. “Three weeks ago, I hadn’t even met you. You’ve turned my life upside down.”
“In a good way, I hope?” he asked gently, smiling at her.
“Yes, of course. It’s just such a lot to take in,” she sighed. “And there is a lot about me that you don’t know.”
“Whatever there is won’t change the way I feel. I felt it the first time I met you,” Kyle said.
Tara wanted to give herself to this man, and for the first time in her life, wanted to do it freely. Taking him by the hand, she stood up. “Shall we head back?”
Hand in hand, they walked back to their hotel.
***
Snuggled up against his chest, sweat cooling on her skin, Tara felt safe for the first time in her life. She needed this wonderful man to know everything about her. He needed to know all about her past. If he was to love her, then he needed to know everything about her.
“Do you remember back in L.A. I told you I’d lost a child, too?” she said.
His arm tightened around her. “Yes, of course I do, but you don’t have to tell me about it until you’re ready.”
Raising herself on her elbow, she placed her hand on his chest and looked into his eyes. “I want to tell you now.” Not wanting to see any disappointment in his eyes, she laid her head back down on his chest. “I was fourteen and I’d been sleeping with Sergei for over a year.” She held her breath, waiting for his condemnation, but it never came. “My mother sold me to him when I was twelve to pay a gambling debt. I didn’t even know I was pregnant until my clothes got too tight.”
She felt the tears running down her cheeks as she told the story she had never told anyone for all these years. “He was good to me then. He never touched me while I was pregnant. I had a home birth and, God, she was perfect.”
She was sobbing now as Kyle held her closer. “Stop, Tara. You don’t need to put yourself through this.”
She wiped away her tears and nodded. “Yes, I do. You need to know everything. I need you to love me, knowing everything.” Swallowing a sob, she continued. “They took her away when she was just a few minutes old to be checked over by the doctor. She had a seizure. He tried to save her, but there was nothing he could do. I never saw her again.”
***
Kyle couldn’t believe the pain this woman had been through, and how she’d kept it inside all these years. Taking her in his arms, he let her cry.
“It’s over now,” he said to her softly. He would do everything in his power to protect this woman from any further pain, ever again.
Twenty
They spent the next couple of days like tourists, taking in the sights and strolling along the lakeside, hand in hand. Thanks to Tara’s safe deposit box, they had managed to sell a substantial amount of the jewelry and now had a sizeable sum set aside.
On the third night, at dinner, Kyle raised the subject they had both been dreading. “So, what do we do now?”
Tara shook her head. She had no idea. “He has tentacles everywhere. He will find us. It’s just a matter of when.”
“Then I think we should head back to L.A.”
“What? Are you crazy?”
“No, think about it. It’s the one place he won’t expect us to go.”
Turning this over in her mind, Tara realized he was probably right.
“And I know L.A. It’s my hometown. If I can get lost anywhere, it’s there.”
Tara smiled. “L.A. it is, then!”
The following morning, after another night of exploring each other’s bodies, they booked a flight to the U.S. and started packing. It was taking quite a long time, as they didn’t seem to be able to get enough of each other and kept stopping to make love. Tara was still coming to terms with the fact that she was free of Sergei’s clutches, and was at last allowing herself to believe that she may have a happy future.
She was just putting the last few things in her case when she came across her cell phone. Remembering she had turned it off for the flight and hadn’t turned it back on since, she hit the power button. Immediately, she got a notification that she had a text message waiting. Without thinking, she displayed it, and instantly her world fell apart. She felt her world tilt on its axis. The minute she saw the image, she knew the truth. He had lied. Her daughter was still alive.
Kyle came out of the bathroom just in time to watch all the color drain from her face, and see her fall down to her knees.
“Tara? What’s wrong, honey?” She didn’t answer, just shook her head. Prying the phone from her grip, he looked at the screen. Displayed there was a message from Sergei. In it was a photo of a young girl, under which it simply said, “Doesn’t she look like her mother?” Looking at the photo more closely, Kyle realized that there was no denying there was an incredibly strong resemblance between the girl in the image and the woman who knelt, destroyed, in front of him.
Twenty-One
Six Months Later
As she stood at the window of their apartment looking out on the street below and the people passing by, Tara couldn’t help but think about how much her life had changed in the past six months.
After leaving London and Sergei behind, they’d managed to raise enough money in Switzerland from the sale of her jewelry to rent the small apartment where she now stood, and still be comfortable. The apartment, while not in one of the more expensive areas of L.A., was still in a good one. The street was nice, with trees lining the pavement on each side. The apartment itself was one of eight in a four-story block, each floor having two. It was a one bedroom, two bath unit with a large, open plan living room and kitchen. The high ceilings and big windows let in plenty of light. They had rented it furnished, and the furnishings, though not what she would have chosen, were nice enough in creams and browns. The kitchen was quite small, but it turned out that neither of them were very good cooks, so take-out figured a lot on their menu.
At first, it had been fine. She’d been happy to feel safe and protected inside the apartment, and had enjoyed getting to know Kyle better. They had barely known each other a few weeks before ending up here, and in that time they had had no time to truly explore and get to know each other. So, over the past six months they had spent hours talking, often sitting up all night and reveling in each other’s company, falling more deeply in love with each passing day. Once they’d been here a couple of months, and they’d felt a bit bolder, he had taken her out and given her the grand tour of L.A. Holding hands and giggling like teenagers, he’d shown her all the tourist sights before introducing her to some interesting places that didn’t appear on any tourist’s map.
It had been six months now, though, and Tara was starting to go a bit stir crazy. Much as she loved Kyle and his company, she was bored. She couldn’t work, was a UK citizen and she had no skills to speak of. It wasn’t that she needed to work. Money was not an issue at the m
oment as they had plenty to live on, but she felt isolated. A job would allow her to meet new people, get out of the apartment more.
It was different for Kyle. He had insisted that he had to work, for his pride’s sake, and he had soon gotten a job as security in a local mall. Tara was proud of him. It was only a temporary job, but she knew it meant a lot to him to not be living entirely off her.
She barely left the apartment alone, both of them still fearing that Sergei’s men were out there somewhere waiting to snatch her back, and so she spent most of her days cooped up indoors. She sometimes went shopping or headed down to the beach, but there was only so much sightseeing and shopping a girl could do. Now that all the sightseeing was done and the excitement of setting up their new home had passed, she had time on her hands. Time to dwell on thoughts of her daughter, not that she’d ever really stopped thinking about her. How could she? Her daughter was out there, somewhere. Alive.
Her immediate reaction after receiving Sergei’s message had been, unsurprisingly, to rush back to London, to take her daughter in her arms and never let her go. She’d been hysterical, and would have acted without thinking if Kyle had not been there. He had kept a much more level head. She’d known, of course, that that was exactly what Sergei had wanted, and expected, her to do when he’d sent the message, and she didn’t care.
Kyle felt, though, that if she went back, that would be the end. She would never again be free. So she’d allowed him to bring her here and she had, almost mechanically at first, settled down to her new life. Gradually, things had gotten easier, and she now didn’t think about her daughter from the moment she woke to the moment she went to sleep. But she couldn’t forget, and the longing never left her. It was one thing to move on thinking her child was dead, but to know that she was alive made it impossible. What was she like? What was her name, even? Did she know about her? These were questions she allowed herself to ponder whenever she thought of her.