Chapter Ten: Annika
Iawoke to an excruciating pain on the left side of my head, while I outstretched my arm trying to ease the pulsating headache that was starting to emerge, but I couldn’t. My eyelids fluttered open to see that my hands were bound to a chair along with my feet, while I looked up to see a familiar face staring back at me. She appeared guilty for a moment like she couldn’t believe what she did, but it quickly dissipated once I finally came to.
I gazed up at the fluorescent lighting above me, trying to figure out what happened, but my memory was hazy. The last thing I remembered was heading into the bathroom to get ready for the day, trying not to wake Natalia especially after the fight we had the night prior, and I knew she’d be leaving that day. I didn’t know how much time had passed, but she was there staring back at me, while I tried to open my lips to ask her why she would do this to me.
My throat was dry, and it hurt to talk but I was desperate for answers. I couldn’t believe the look on her face, the quick change from a sympathetic friend to a woman that had looked like she just received everything she could’ve ever asked for. It made me absolutely sick, and I began to wonder whether this had been a long time coming.
“W-what are you doing, Natalia?” I asked, but she didn’t want to answer me, as if explaining herself would be far too difficult for me to understand.
“Why are you doing this to me?” I asked again, and she inched closer to me, looking down at me while I watched a smile emerge on her beautiful face. I didn’t understand for a moment why she’d be so happy about all of this, but that’s when the memory of that day began to flood back in, realizing that I had glanced up in the mirror over the sink when she came up behind me, slamming my head down into it, then everything faded to black.
“You really are a gullible woman, you know that Annika? I asked you to come back with me willingly, but you left me no choice other than to take you by force. You see, there is something I need that only you’re going to be able to get me, and I have to make sure I don’t come up empty-handed otherwise my family really are planning on disowning me. I’ve been rather enjoying my introduction into this lifestyle, much like I know you have been as well, but you have no idea what you’re up against now,” she said, and I could feel the pang of betrayal hit my heart, leaving it to sink into my stomach as I realized she had been playing me all along.
“What the hell could you possibly want from me? You know, my father always warned me about getting too close to you, saying that our friendship was a disaster waiting to happen, but I never believed him. Our families always played it off like they just hated each other, but I never thought that it would come to this. What do you want, Natalia? What do you want so badly that it would make you give up all the years of friendship we’ve built together?”
“It’s not in your possession, I’m afraid. It’s in your new boyfriend’s. When my father came to me with the proposal of playing with your feelings, of continuing to befriend you even when I shared in the same hatred my family had for such a long time, I thought that it would end badly for me, but now I see that you were probably the easiest target for me to take advantage of. It’s such a shame that you couldn’t have seen it coming, Annika,” she said, and I still had no idea what she was talking about, or how she could’ve pulled this off for so long.
“I didn’t ever think you’d be the one to betray me, Natalia. We shared so many great memories over the years, and you’re going to tell me that you were able to fake all of those good times for this? What could be so important that you would sacrifice everything to get it?” I asked, refusing to believe that all of our friendship had been a lie.
“I didn’t start hating you from the very beginning, Annika, but it got to that point the moment I realized that your father was doing everything in his power to take mine down. You think that our families have just been engaging in a few family squabbles over the years, but it is far deeper than that.”
I knew our families were bitter rivals but I had no idea the hatred ran so deep.
“There is so much more at stake that you don’t even know about, “ Natalia continued, “But the truth is I don’t really care what happens to you at this point. I’m just counting on the fact that Stephan likes you enough to come looking for you. Everything played out perfectly, and you managed to bag a Volkov. I have to say, even I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do that,”
I didn’t know what Stephan’s last name or family history had to do with anything. I absolutely hated being kept out of the loop, especially because I wasn’t sure what they were planning on doing with me after they got what they wanted.
“You’re disgusting, Natalia,” I spat.
“On the contrary, dear, I’m the only one doing anything to secure a future for myself. All you’re doing is chasing hopeless dreams and running after a man you barely know. You still have no idea what he’s keeping from you, do you?” she asked, and I furrowed my brows at her.
“What are you talking about?”
“He’s been keeping secrets, Annika but I tried to warn you about that. He has a pretty expensive piece of art in his collection that I’m going to be needing. It’s a lost Malevich painting that is worth much more than you can imagine, and that’s what my father’s men were looking for when they stormed your house the night of the party. It’s a shame Stephan didn’t give it up right then, but I suppose he decided it would be best to drag you both through the mud for the sake of keeping that painting a secret.”
I couldn’t believe that Stephan would keep something like that from me, and the conversation that he shared with the intruders that broke into my house. Although I was angry at him. I wasn’t angry at him for holding on to a piece of art that was clearly in high demand, and it was everyone’s fair game.
Natalia and her family just took it upon themselves to use me to play dirty, but we all knew that Stephan would come for me. I just hoped he knew what he was walking into because from the way Natalia spoke, she seemed to have everything in place to steal that precious painting and get rid of us both, but I was too afraid to ask.
This is what Stephan had been trying to warn me about, the dark side of the crime world that I wasn’t ready to experience for myself, but here I am, and if he doesn’t come for me, I need to find a way out of this mess. If he doesn’t come looking, I know they won’t hesitate to kill me, and I can’t let that happen. I can’t let Natalia and her family win. If there ever was a time to honor my family, it would be right now.
“It’s only a matter of time, Annika. He’s going to come for you, and once he gives me what I want, I’m going to make sure my family’s men show him no mercy,” she said, with a chuckle that made my stomach turn.
Stephan, please be careful.
I feltthe room around me begin to spin, my eyes struggling to stay open while I was left alone in silence, with Natalia nowhere to be seen. I felt a slight trickle fall behind my ear, realizing I was still bleeding from my head injury. My stomach began to turn at the thought of what was going to happen to me if Stephan didn’t get to me in time, or what would happen to the both of us if he decided not to hand over the painting.
No matter how close the two of us had become over the last few days, I wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted to protect his painting over me. We hadn’t had the opportunity to grow together, to spend enough time together, and while we may have had a spark, I wasn’t sure it was enough for him to put everything on the line to save me.
I glanced around the room, looking for anything that could help me get out of this situation, noticing that Natalia had taken me to another guest room after I passed out. My hands and feet remained tied, though.
I heard the sound of muffled voices coming from downstairs, and I realized they probably had company. I listened closely, hearing soft laughter and pleasantries being exchanged, and it dawned on me that these people had to be sick to be able to entertain while they had me tucked away, tied up, awaiting my fate. I had no doubt that they were going to kill me the moment they got what they wanted, but it didn’t help soften the blow of acknowledging how long Natalia had been playing me for.
I couldn’t believe that I didn’t see it coming earlier, and while she and I didn’t always agree on things, I never thought that she would do something like this to me. We always seemed to be quite comfortable around each other, ignoring what both of our parents did for a living, just trying to live seemingly normal lives. I’d begun to see just how much of an effect her family has had on her, dangling the idea of a perfect, luxurious future over her head so she could do what they said.
I had to have faith in Stephan, because if Natalia went to all this trouble to get this Malevich painting, then she was also betting on the fact that he was going to rescue me, otherwise, she would’ve already thought of a much better plan to get what she wanted. I struggled to keep my eyes open, widening them while I tried to scoot the chair I was in over to the balcony window.
I thought back to all of the things he taught me, about trying to seize any opportunity to get out of a bad situation, and it made me think of how well he was able to handle himself the night of the break-in. I had a quick flashback to that night, to how well Natalia played her part, acting as scared as ever when her family was the one that called the attack in the first place.
