The Russian Billionaire’s Secret(54)

Chapter 2

Boom

I guess the one nice thing about having an electric keyed car, is that you can turn it on without being in the car. If I hadn't turned my car on in the driveway as I was walking towards it, I wouldn't be alive. My car exploded in the driveway, injuring one of the maids who was walking towards the house. It could have been me. It should have been me.

John jumped on top of me as soon as the explosion happened. It occurred so quickly I barely had time to register the ground shaking as the car split into pieces that just flew everywhere. I felt shrapnel from the metal shards raining down and cut into some of my skin. He was covering my head and neck with his body, and I suppose he was less worried about my extremities than my brain. Although I'm not sure why, laughing to myself, I thought I had very nice arms and legs that would have been worth protecting. I think I may have been slightly hysterical. Slightly.

I'd made a point to torture him over the last couple weeks. I egged him on and poked at him, like a bear in a cage. So far, he'd kept from responding to me on the surface, yet I couldn't seem to resist trying to get a reaction out of him. It was rather shocking to realize that no matter how much you picked at someone, they just ignored you. It made you feel invisible and the more he ignored me, the more I was determined to get a reaction out of him.

My car blowing up was not how I intended to do it though. It shook me to the core and I realized in that moment the seriousness of the situation and the threats to my life. While the concept of actually being in danger had been vague and I could sort of understand the seriousness, having bloody arms and having to pick glass and shrapnel out of my skin and flesh had a better effect on me then someone telling me I might be in danger.

“Are you alright?” He asked me as he got off me and helped me to my feet. He looked me over and must have decided most of my wounds were superficial because he seemed to relax slightly after he examined me.

I wasn't sure entirely, I felt numb and my ears were still ringing from the shock of the explosion. The maid was lying on the ground, unmoving. I moved to look around him and he blocked me. I could get a glimpse of a big chunk of metal sticking out of her back and a pool of blood getting thick on the ground. Guards and people came running around outside and ended up blocking my view of her. John directed me away from the scene, but I had a bad feeling she wasn't as lucky as I was.

“Is she alright?” I finally asked him, looking up at John's face.

When he grimaced and then quietly shook his head, I knew the real answer. There had been a victim in this explosion and while I was lucky it hadn't been me, a real travesty had happened here today. I was angry. On her behalf, on behalf of her family. For myself too. That could have been me, should've been me. The poor maid had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is why families like mine didn't deserve to exist. Innocent people got caught in the crossfire and it just wasn't fair.

“It's okay to feel angry,” John told me, as he checked my arms and shoulder, making sure I didn't have any serious injuries.

I appreciated the gesture, but just being alive was enough to make me feel relieved, the shock and adrenaline from the explosion had me shaking and he took me inside to clean me up. But I still felt guilty. I had lived and my poor maid hadn't. What a mess, and it was my fault.

“I need to talk to your father,” John told me, and looked concerned. “I think you may need to go into hiding for now.”

“Hiding?” I asked him, confused.

John nodded, “I'm going to make arrangements with your father, and then I'm taking you away from here, until it's safe for you to come back. Listen to me Sofie; I don't think I can protect you if they'll bomb your car in your own driveway. Next time it might be a sniper through your window. I won't see it coming. I can't keep you safe in this environment.”

Surprising both of us, I gave him an answer that didn't come with an argument. “If you think it's best.”

John looked surprised for a moment, but then nodded and walked me the rest of the way to my room, one hand on my lower back protectively. In the moment, all I could do is shiver. The pain of the cuts and glass in my arms started to hurt and I cringed.

“I'll send someone to you to clean you up, I won't be gone long, I need to make a few phone calls and talk to your father, okay?” He asked me quietly, and I nodded feeling numb about everything while my brain tried to catch up to what just happened.

I sat on the edge of my bed and started to cry. I wondered if this was how my mother felt before she died, afraid, hurt, scared, realizing that loving my father was a death sentence. I needed a way out. After seeing and experiencing this for real, I realized I couldn't stay.

“John?” I hesitated, realizing that if he told my father what I was about to ask him, I'd never get free.

“Yes Sofie?” He paused in the doorway and turned to look at me.

“After this over, I want to disappear. I'll pay you whatever it takes. I have money saved up, I'm fairly rich in my own right, and my mother left me everything she had. I can pay you a lot to help me escape this life. I can't do this anymore. I already watched my mother die, and seeing that poor maid get killed when it was meant for me, I need to disappear. Please don't tell my father, he'd never allow it.” I searched his face, hoping he'd understand. Praying my gut feeling about him was right.