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“So, you learned quite a bit about me, then?” I laugh lightly, trying to hide the pain in everything I’m feeling, but it’s hard.
“I did, but you’ll come to realize that you and I relate on a deeper level. When I was a teenager, I got pregnant. I entrusted my aunt to help find my daughter a good home. Unbeknownst to me, she had sold my daughter into child trafficking. I thought my daughter was going to have a good, loving life, but she didn’t. She hasn’t discussed what she was put through with Lom or me, but I have her in therapy to help her sort through all the horrible things I’m sure she endured.”
“Heavens, I’m so sorry. That must have been terrible.”
“Oh, it was. It was fucking horrid. I found out about my daughter not too long ago, and Lom helped me get her back. I guess it’s a common trait in these Umarova men—to help children who need them.”
I sure hope so because, without Nazyr’s assistance, I don’t know if I’ll ever see my little girls ever again. “Without Nazyr, I don’t know what I’ll do,” I admit, stating my internal thoughts aloud.
“Don’t worry too much about it. I have no doubt in my mind that Nazyr will end up helping you as much as he can. He made it seem like he made a promise to you, and he isn’t the kind of man who doesn’t follow through on his commitments.”
“So, Nazyr is a good man then?” I think this might be my first opportunity to understand more about him as a person, and even though we’re staying in the same house, I haven’t had any “deep” conversations with him. Emily could be my first bit of insight into understanding the man whose home I’m living in.
“That’s a loaded question. All the members of the Umarova family are good people who sometimes do bad things. I don’t think any one action makes us good or bad, but the actions as a whole. I think that’s what really matters. So, to answer your question, he is a good man. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have taken you out of that situation or even given a flying fuck about you. If he were a bad one, he likely would’ve left you there.”
I slowly absorb everything Emily tells me, and I think Nazyr must be a good man. Like she said, if he wasn’t, I wouldn’t be here in his home. I’d likely be dead already or locked up in a cage. “That’s reassuring, thank you.”
“Of course. Don’t worry. You’re safe now, and that’s what matters.” Emily smiles brightly at me again, making me truly believe I am safe.
“How is your daughter doing now that she’s with you and Lom?” I’m trying to make conversation here, but I figure if I learn more about her daughter, it will help me bond better with Emily.
“Sierra is okay. She was a bit untrusting in the beginning, but it wasn’t a surprise, given what she had likely been through. Now, she’s a normal child. She has nightmares some days, but they’re very seldom. I’m really proud of how far she’s come along. Lom’s been a huge help, and he’s an amazing stepfather to her. Better than I ever could’ve imagined, honestly.”
“I’m glad for you. It sounds like you have the whole package with him.”
“Oh, I do, and then some. I mean, he fucks up sometimes because men are absolute idiots, but it’s never something I can’t forgive him for.” Emily smiles and wraps her arm around her protruding belly.
I end up smirking at the statement she made about men as a whole because it’s true. When I was in college, I dated this guy for a while. He was decent to me, but he just did stupid shit that made me shake my head. I ended up dumping him before finals because it didn’t make sense for us to be with one another for the long term. He wanted to live off in the country, whereas I needed to be in the city to make any sort of decent money. Then, of course, life threw a pile of shit at me and screwed everything up for me.
“So, you said you went to college. Where did you go, and what did you major in?”
“I went to Trinity College, and I majored in business studies and Russian. It was a dual major. I figured being fluent in another language would make me more appealing to prospective workplaces.”
“Right on, I’m sure it did.”
“I never got the chance to find out. I was trafficked before my final grades were even submitted by my professors.” I glance down at the ground, struggling with the reality my life has turned out to be.
“God, I’m so sorry. What happened, if you don’t mind me asking?”
I shake my head, “I don’t mind. I figure you’re going to find out eventually, so I might as well tell you now.” I lick my lips and then continue. “I went on a vacation with my uncle in Lisbon, and we were supposed to meet each other for dinner at a restaurant he’d found on Yelp. It seemed like a good idea, and for the most part that day, we’d gone our separate ways since he had some work he needed to get done. I went shopping, then eventually headed for the restaurant. Only when I got there and called him, he didn’t answer. In hindsight, I should have left and gone back to our hotel, but I didn’t. I stayed and had some drinks and some really good food. But eventually, I got dizzy. The last thing I remember is hitting the ground and the waiters coming around me.”
“Fuck.” Emily shakes her head. “Your story is what my parents would tell me to scare me away from visiting foreign countries.”
“They weren’t wrong. Things like that do exist, but I never thought anything like that would happen to me, you know?” Even now, I don’t know why I thought it wouldn’t happen. It’s not like I was special by any means or like I knew what to watch out for. All I did was trust people a bit too much, and it got me into a shitty situation.
“I do. You never think bad things will happen to you like that. Hell, I never thought my aunt was going to sell my daughter.”
Emily and I share a stressed gaze, but it quickly fades away. “I guess we can bond over the fact we’re two lasses who have gone through some intense shit.”
“That we can, girlfriend, and as soon as I can drink again, we’re going to share one. If anyone needs it, it’s the two of us.”
Emily isn’t wrong at all, and I’m starting to not feel so bad that Nazyr left me alone with her. She’s lovely, really, and the more I talk to her, the more I think if I’m here long term, I could grow to call her a friend.
It might sound odd, but so far, my time with Nazyr hasn’t been terrible by any means. He’s treated me like a queen in comparison to Duarte, and Nazyr hasn’t made one sexual move on me at all. I really feel as though I’m turning over a new leaf. For the first time in longer than I can remember, I feel like I’m looking forward to the rest of my life… because I truly don’t think it’ll be anything like the past.
Since Emily and I have spoken a bit, I want to ask her something a little more serious. “What do the Umarovas do? I mean, I know they’re involved in the criminal world, but I’m not sure what their jobs are… so to speak.” I wait for Emily to say something to me, but she doesn’t. At least, not at first. It’s like she’s debating what she can or will say.
“I really think that’s something you should ask Nazyr when he returns.”
