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I call Star. She answers on the second ring.
“Oi you! I’m surprised you have time for me with all the hot sex going on over there.”
At the sound of her voice, I burst into tears. I didn’t even know they were coming, but once they start, I fear they won’t stop.
“What the fuck?” Star never swears and hearing her do it makes me cry harder. Star makes soothing noises down the line, letting me cry it out. I finally get myself under control when my sobs turn into a series of broken hiccups.
“Tell me what happened?” she orders, her voice brisk and businesslike.
I tell her everything. About Alex and I and how I thought we had something special. Then about Petra’s revelation, and my ‘accident’. And finally, the worst part, how I confronted Alex with what Petra said and he didn’t even try to deny it.
“I have to leave here, Star. I can’t stay another night. It was one thing lying to make Alex’s great aunt happy, but I won’t be a part of someone trying to deceive her so that he can take her money. And then there’s Petra. Alex warned her to leave me alone, but I don’t know whether or not she’ll listen to him. She might slit my throat while I’m sleeping.”
“I totally get it. I’d be out of there too,” Star says.
I sniff. I really do have good friends if nothing else. Star hasn’t even said I told you so. And she would have been well within her rights to do so.
“The thing is, Star … I hate to ask you this, but I’m desperate. Is there anyway Nikolai can get someone to pick me up from here? I remember you saying that he keeps a plane in Russia …”
“What time do you want to fly?” she interrupts me.
“As soon as possible?”
“Right. Let me make some arrangements and call you back.”
“Thank you,” I say. Knowing that Star is on my case causes such relief to flood through me that I almost start crying again, but I hold the tears back. I have to stay strong and get away from here. I can cry all I want to, all I need to when I get home.
Alex
I don’t recognize the number of the caller, but since it is my private line that no one other than family and a few close friends know, I take the call.
“Alex, this is Star. I am a friend of Cindy,” a woman says coldly.
A cold claw grips my insides. I know what this call is about. She doesn’t wait for me to answer her, but goes on.
“I’ll be sending a plane for her to your estate in two hours. I don’t think you deserve to be told, but my husband says you are capable of shooting the pilot of any plane landing on your land if I don’t ask for your permission first. So consider this call as my notification that I want my friend back and I’m sending someone to get her. She may not be precious to you, but she is extremely precious to me. So please do not stop her from leaving, or I will come there myself to collect her.”
A bitter smile curves my lips. How well her husband knows me. That is exactly what I would have done if anybody had tried to come between me and my woman, but as it happens this offer is exactly what I need. I need Cindy gone. And there is no better way than in one of Nikolai’s planes. I trust him.
“All right. Send your plane. A driver will take her out to the airstrip to wait for you,” I tell her.
She gasps. I know what she is thinking. She’s thinking I’m a monster for cheating my own flesh and blood and for using her friend. I guess I am, if she had seen the things I’ve done, this would be nothing in comparison.
“Thank you for that.” Then the line goes dead.
How very, very stupid I’ve been. I exhale and look out of the window. Oh Cindy, Cindy, Cindy.
Cindy
I end the call with Star, relieved that there will be a plane in two hours to pick me up. Quickly, I grab my suitcase and start throwing my things into it. In my haste, I throw everything in so haphazardly I can’t then fasten my suitcase. I feel my hands clenching with a strange panic. I don’t want to leave this paradise, and yet I want to run away from this place as soon as I can. My heart feels like it is breaking.
He betrayed me. Used me. Lied to me.
I should have listened to my instincts that night at the casino. He was too slick, too smooth, to James Bondish. But foolishly I bought his bullshit because I was taken in by his beauty.
