It’s cool and dark outside as I drive, dark clouds hovering over the plains,I listen to the gentle taps of the raindrops as they hit my windshield. I make a turn into the LA Vie restaurant parking lot. I notice it's packed with many cars as I desperately search for a parking space. The rain drops start to get heavy. After what feels like forever I finally find a spot up ahead. Relieved, I drive towards it, it's short lived as a car speeds past me and snatches it. I hoot then step out of my car, too angry to pay any attention to the heavy downpour weighing on my body. I stand in front of my car, arms crossed, words at the tip of my tongue ready to shoot ammunition.
A man steps out of the car, he walks up to me. He slowly scans the area before his gaze lands on me. He takes slow confident strides towards me until he is a few feet away, he's tall enough to make me crane my neck to meet his gaze. The rain gets heavier, clouding my vision making it difficult to maintain eye contact with him. He has a strong intoxicating scent. A mixture of coconut and vanilla that pleasantly invades my nose."Look I found that spot first, please give it back."The man folds his arms, "Find another spot." His voice is deep and strong."There is no other spot mister.""Hmm.""Hmm? What do you mean hmm ? Is that a hmm as in I'm gonna fix it or a hmm as in whatever?""It's not my problem.""It sure damn is since you took my spot.""I didn't realise your name was engraved in it. Should I go and look?" I detect a trace of an Italian accent. It wasn't there when he first spoke. Interesting. I don't miss the hint of sarcasm in his voice as well. Irritation boils inside of me."Look around," I stretch out my arms, "There is no–"I'm interrupted by a loud bursting noise. A strong pop rings in my ears momentarily deafening them. Confused, I glance around and spot the restaurant in pieces. My chest tightens and my blood runs cold. Before I can register what to do next, I'm pushed to the ground, shielded by a body. Another explosion goes off this time so near that I feel pieces of glass fly around me, on me, besides me. My body is paralyzed with fear. Flat on the ground I look around, glass, metal , flesh is everywhere. My head throbs with pain. A warm liquid runs down the left side of my face. I swipe it off with my fingers and look at them, they are stained red, panic bubbles inside me as I stare at my bloodied fingers. I feel the air being sucked out of my lungs. Wrecked cars and bodies are scattered all over. The pungent smell of burning flesh stings in the air. Cars are on fire, people screaming and blood, there's so much of it. Not enough rain from the sky can wash away the blood. Bile rises up my throat. I topple over to the side and spill out this morning and afternoon's contents on the side. All I see is red, so much red. My body is shaking and heaving as I empty my stomach. Once done I scoot away from the mess. I'm soon helped to my feet and dragged away from the mess. My mind is so disconnected from my body. There's so much blood everywhere. My mouth tastes bitter. Vomit threatens to spill out again but all that comes out is a dry heave, I might vomit my internal organs at this rate.I'm made to crouch down again. My tears mix with the rain. I feel so cold,shivers wreck my body. I can't breathe and my chest hurts, it hurts so bad. I start to feel lightheaded. The rain isn't helping matters as it makes me feel as though I'm drowning,slowly. This doesn't feel real, this is just a nightmare right? The pain waves moving through my body tell me otherwise."Hey hey ! Look here." A strong commanding voice snaps me back to reality. His voice brings me back to reality, I thought he left."Breath." He commands. I inhale then exhale. Just as I'm regaining composure he quickly drags me to my feet, and we start to sprint. We approach a ditch, hesitation creeps in, he locks his hand in mine, this eases my nerves a little."We're not gonna make it." I say.He says nothing and tugs my hand urging me to speed up. Ignoring my aching body, I pick up the pace. Were we gonna make it ?Another explosion goes off and the world goes black."Lani,Lani" a soft voice calls out to me. My eyes flutter open, I'm in a meadow, a beautiful colorfu, meadow. I pluck a lilly from the ground and bring it to my nose, it's sweet scent invades my nose. "Lani, Lani." Only one person used to call me that. Val. My heart stops for a second.I desperately look around to find her. "Val! Val!" I call out. There's a pocket of silence for a minute before she calls out again. I quickly take to my feet and follow the voice. I spot a head full of red hair among the flowers not far from me. Feeling like my heart is about to leap out of my chest I approach it slowly, my feet grazing the rough shrubs and grass as I walk. When I'm inches away I extend a hand, "Val?" I call out and I hold my breath. Hoping and praying that it's her. She giggles and my heart swells with warmth, the sound pleasantly fills my ears. My eyes start to gather up tears. "Go back Lani." That's the last thing I hear before the world goes black again. My eyes flutter open and
My nose is immediately hit by his scent,I greedily take it in, inhaling and exhaling more times than necessary, I feel the warmth of his gaze warming my body instantly. The room suddenly feels so hot, my gaze falls on the cool glass of water sitting a few feet from me. Maybe it will cool the warm waves moving through my body. Before I can reach for it, it's already in front of me,with strong large fingers wrapped around it making it seem like a toddlers cup. Not lifting my eyes from the glass I grab it, my fingers brush against his in the process sending chills through my body. Maybe it's the morphine being pumped into my veins because my body is reacting in an odd way. I drink the water in one swig, my body feeling no effect of the water, if only it burns up more. I place it on the table beside me, and my eyes scan him from head to toe until our gazes clash. I lose my heartbreak for a second. His eyes, something about his eyes make my heart thump in familiarity, one eye is flaked g
It's been some minutes now, not a word uttered by either one of us. It weighs in the room like a thick fog. I watch as his jaw ticks, and his fingers twirl on one of his rings. I can almost see the cogs in his head turning. He's making sure to put extra thought into what he will say next. He twirls his rings because it helps him think, he doesn't seem nervous. His presence is weirdly imposing and threatening at the same time. He finally breaks the ice. The twirling and the ticking stop, a dark look casts over his face."We both know that wasn't a terrorist attack." He then inches closer. For some reason the air in the room suddenly got thicker, it's much harder to breathe. Composure, I must maintain composure.Deciding on playing the role of the oblivious damsel I reply. "I'm not following Mr Valkov."He rests a hand on my shoulder, my skin burns from the contact. His fingers start to trace my collarbone, branding my skin as they move. He cranes his head, the warmth of his breath se
I take a sip of my soda that has been marinating on the table for the last ten minutes, its ice has long dissolved into the drink making it more watery than I need it to be. I check the time on my watch, he'll be here soon. It's not too late to cancel and bolt, I've been running my whole life anyway. I shove down the thoughts of doubt to the back of my head. That's what got me into this situation anyway, running. Plus where would I go where he wouldn't find me?Feeling my nerves almost get the better of me, I order something much stronger. Whiskey always does the job. A few minutes later I'm chugging down my whiskey, I gulp down half of its contents leaving my throat stinging and a bitter aftertaste. My eyes water and my nostrils feels as though there's a bonfire being hosted in them. I however, feel myself relax a little, I lean back into my chair, my nose is immediately assaulted by a familiar coconut and vanilla scent. My eyes meet his the minute I look besides me, I nearly knock
It's been two weeks since I last saw Roman. It's not that I want to see him,then again maybe I do. It just makes me anxious, you know. Just a month ago I was nearly killed and just two weeks ago I made a deal with the devil who wouldn't be anxious. Time is ticking. I need to deal with my past quickly before it deals with me. But of course he's taking his sweet time, it's not like he has a deadline to meet. I've been pulling out my hair and eating my toenails stressed shitless. If they won't kill me then my stress will. That's why I've been standing outside one of his many office buildings for the last thirty minutes. It took me two days to narrow down which of the many buildings in the country he'd make an appearance. It took me an hour of calling annoying receptionists in a pathetic effort to book an appointment. I don't know how many times I've heard "He's unavailable" or "He's a busy man". I'm one breakdown away from bombing all the gaddamn offices.Maybe I should turn up at his u
I brushed off yesterday's pathetic attempt on crashing Roman's meeting. Next time I'll break into his house.I walk into my office inhaling the wonderful raspberry aroma filling the area. It always soothes me, I make my way past my staff, nodding and accepting greetings. Working will get my mind off things. My assistant Annie eventually catches me and we walk in sync. "Morning Miss Michaels." I almost burst out laughing. Micheals is the fake surname I adopted years ago, the one that gave me a fresh start. I'm beginning to think it has no value anymore I mean otherwise I wouldn't have been discovered right?Annie takes my coat and hands me coffee. "Should I bring the same flavoured donuts for your guests as well or maybe I should confirm with them?"I stop in my tracks and glance at my watch. It's six thirty I'm not supposed to have any clients until ten. "Why didn't you mention that before Annie?"She looks away flustered. "Well they told me you were expecting them so assumed you al
I can only hear gunshots and the heavy thumps of corpses hitting the ground around me. Both my brain and my stomach are throbbing with excruciating pain. I'm curled up like a foetus, anxiously trying to protect my body from the flurry of bullets flying by. The bullets seem to go forever before stopping. I pull my head free of my arms and sneak a peek. My nose is assaulted by a familiar intoxicating scent, I don't need to look up to know who's standing in front of me. I sit up ignoring the protest of my body oozing with pain. Roman eyes me intently, his gaze sweeping over my body. He extends a hand, I immediately grab on to it and he hoists me up gently. He struts over to his car. Roman's made men gather my pursuers' bodies and toss them in cars. They'll all dead. A honk startles me out of my thoughts. Roman catches my attention."Aren't you going to get in the car?"I make my way to the car and step in immediately feeling the warmth of the heater. I sink into his plush leather seats
We're at Roman's penthouse, my temporary home for the next few months. On our way up I was addressed as Mrs Valkov at least fifty times, it still tastes foreign on my tongue. I don't think I'll ever get used to it. I've spent the last ten years using a fake surname. Now I have another, crazy. Does that mean I have to change my documents now? I'm overthinking this. I snap out of thoughts and focus on my surroundings. It's a very gorgeous penthouse with the best view. We passed by so many floors on our way up, Roman says his men occupy some of the floors and the other floors are for recreational purposes. I make a mental note to explore the rest of the floors later. I'm introduced to his staff, Elena who handles housekeeping and Chef Ranov who does the cooking."So what do you people do for fun? Target practice on dead bodies maybe?""Would you like to be the subject of today's practice?"I purse my lips. "So how do we handle commuting? I'm sure your work has an awkward schedule anywa