Escaping to the CEO

Chapter 7

Cassandra POV

Knock, Knock, Knock.

I was alone at Anna's house, she had gone off to work. I grabbed a baseball bat that was in the closet and my phone was already calling Anna. I wasn't about to take any chances.

"Arina? I'm Michael. I'm a friend of Eric's. I'm here to help you with your current situation."

I slowly crept forward toward the door. I engaged the chain and opened the door slowly.

"How do I know you're with Eric and not here to bring me back to Joe?"

He pulled a photo out of his back pocket and handed it to me through the door. It was a recent photo of the man in front of me, a man dressed in motorcycle clothing, a man who looked like Joe's boss, a man who looked like one of the guards from the prison I was in and Eric.

"I don't understand if Eric is working with Joe? His boss is in this photo as well as one of my prison guards."

"No, Eric is our brother. Joe's boss, Tommy, didn't know what was happening with you until it was too late. The prison guard helped keep you safe. The day you escaped, Tommy called him into work early and kept him as late as he could, so Eric could get you out."

"So how are you here to help me out with my situation? I'm free and away from him."

"Well, I am here to make your name change more permanently, get you a license, birth certificate, social security card, things like that with your new name. You can choose any name you want."

I decided I could trust him. I closed the door enough to unhook the chain and I opened the door and let him in. He was somewhere around six foot-five, he was muscular and wearing a Taylor-fit suit. He had a suitcase and laptop bag. He headed right for Anna's table and started setting up.

"Would you like some coffee? Tea? Anything?"

"Coffee would be great with cream and sugar please."

I set up the Kurieg and pulled out a coffee mug with Daffy Duck on it. I filled his cup with sugar and let the coffee pour into the cup. I added the coffee cream that Anna had in her fridge. He smiled at the cup when I placed it in front of him and said Thanks in Daffy's voice. Which earned him a quick laugh from me. I covered my mouth, afraid of what might happen because I laughed and made a noise.

"Hey, laughing is good. You have a great laugh."

"Thanks. I said as I felt my cheeks redden."

"Alright, now it's time to figure out a name for you, since you obviously can't keep your cousin's name."

"I would like to keep my first name, but I don't know if that's possible."

"Sadly, we need to change your name to something no one will guess or even think about looking you up under."

"How about Carrie, Like Carrie Bradsaw from s*x in the City?"

"OK Carrie, now we need a middle and last name for you. Let's keep them something that is common but unique."

"How about Dawn for my middle name and Williams for my last name?"

"Instead of WIlliams, I'm going to give you my last name. I have my last name to alert me anytime someone searches for it. Since I am part of a very influential family, we protect our own. So, from now on, your last name is Genovese. So Ms. Carrie Dawn Genovese how does that sound?"

"Sounds like I have a new Identity."

"Perfect, let's fill out your birth certificate. And then we can get you a new social security card."

We spent the next few hours getting everything filled out. Within the next week I'll have a new ID and Social. My new parents are Barbara and Robert Jones. I was born in the town of St. Johnsbury, Vermont and I graduated from a small high school just north of Rutland.

We created a whole life with family and friends, and I was at one point married to Michael's "cousin" Thomas, and we recently got divorced, but I chose to keep the last name. We're still close, but our marriage wasn't strong enough, and he was never around.

By the time we finished with everything, the sun was getting ready to set. Anna's car pulled up the driveway and Michael was packing everything up.

"Can I convince you to stay for dinner? I'm making a roast chicken and grilled veggies."

"I wish, but I have other business that I need to do this evening and will be heading back to Texas."

"Oh. Well thanks for everything and have a safe flight."

"Thanks. Till we meet again Carrie."

He took my hand and kissed my knuckles, before he turned and walked out the door. Anna was walking in and gave him a hug. He hugged her back and walked down the few stairs to the driveway.

"I see you met Michael."

"Yea, he helped me get a new identity and everything will be coming in the mail over the next few weeks."

"So what's your new name?"

"Carrie Dawn Genovese. I'm from a small town above Rutland. Born to Barbara and Robert Jones."

"Wow, so he gave you a whole backstory and everything."

"Yea, It's a lot to remember, so I had to write everything down."

"It'll take time, but you'll remember it all. So why did you choose Carrie?"

"The movie. I figured it could be like my rebirth story, without getting covered in pig's blood at the prom."

Anna started laughing. We watched that movie behind our parents back one weekend. We had snuck out of the house when she was sleeping over and headed to the movie theater. They were having an anniversary showing and tickets were like five dollars a piece. It was the best night we ever had and when we got back no one knew we were gone.

"Well, if you're going to pick a name, that is a good one. Hopefully you can gain telekinetic powers and kill Joe by stabbing him with kitchen utensils."

Now I was the one laughing. That would be a sight to see. The vegetable peeler flew through the air and stabbed him in the hand. A girl could dream.

I spent the next several weeks getting into a routine around the house. I had done all the cooking and cleaning since Anna worked, and I wanted to pull my share of the load as much as possible. I hadn't seen or heard from Eric since he helped save me. I was too shy to ask about him. I tried looking him up, but there was nothing about his life before he became Eric Printz. No high school where he was most likely the quarterback, no previous addresses. Nothing. Just Eric Printz, owner of Printz Construction.

I wanted to get to know him better. I remember him calling me CD and how much he looked like Eric Danielson. But I couldn't find anything about him either.

My "fake" birthday was coming up. I'm going to be twenty-two on December 13th. Joe would always get so angry when I would sing along to Taylor Swift, so I felt this was a good day to have my birthday. Anna and I were planning on going out to a bar here in town to celebrate. She was telling me how it's also the Printz company's annual holiday party, so it would be good for me to get out and mingle with everyone.

So I borrowed a dress from Anna's closet. I had to take it in from the shoulders and adjust the chest since I was much smaller than her. Even these last few weeks, I've been getting healthier and gaining some weight and muscle. I was still really skinny. She did my make-up and styled my hair so it was pinned back to size. The dress was knee-length, green and had thick straps. She placed me a red sweater to go with it and I slid on my black boots that I had recently purchased along with my Winter jacket.

My brand-new ID came in this afternoon just in time to go out and use it for the first time. I tucked it into my borrowed wallet, and we headed out to Anna's car. Five or so minutes later we pulled up to the bar. The music was flowing out of the door every time it opened. She parked the car and we headed inside. The bouncer checked our ID's before opening the door. The Black Eyed Peas. I got a feeling hit our ears the second the door opened. Anna locked arms with me and in we walked. Anna and I handed our jackets over to the lady that was at the coat check.

The bar was filled with employees and their spouses or guests. Everyone was dancing and drinking. Along the side wall there was a buffet laid out and there were people eating and talking. It was quite the party. Anna led me over to the bar.

"Hey Jerry, this is my cousin Carrie. She just moved in with me a couple of weeks ago."

"Nice to meet you Carrie. What can I get you to drink?"

"White wine?"

"And you Anna?"

"s*x on the beach."

"Now Anna, you know I'm married."

"I know, but you do it so well."

He was teasing her as he started mixing the drinks. They were laughing and joking like they were old friends. For all I knew they were. I'd only recently been back in Anna's life. There are tons of stuff I have no idea about.

After Jerry handed us our drinks, she started introducing me to some of the employees of the company. We danced and had drinks and snacked here and there. A slower song came over the speakers, and I was exiting off the floor so those with spouses could dance. A hand that gripped me lightly on my shoulder caused me to flinch and have an internal panic attack.

"Hey, it's OK, take a breath, it's just me."

It was Eric and he was right behind me. I could feel my panic start to deflate, and the quick breathing settle once again.

"Sorry about that. I called your name a few times, but I guess you didn't hear me."

"Oh yeah, it's really loud in here."

"Wanna Dance?"

"Uh Yea, ok, sure, why not?"

He took my hand and led me out to the dance floor. We danced, and he twirled me around a few times before the music changed, and it was a fast song once again.

"Can we go somewhere and talk? I want to ask you something."

"Yea, let's step outside."

It was lightly snowing out. There was a thin layer on the ground and on the cars.

"What did you want to ask me?"

"Uh well, I was talking to Anna, and she mentioned how you promised you would help her if I ever asked for help, and how she had seen an article about me on your desk, and you had gotten so angry when she told you what happened to me. So I guess I'm curious as to why a man who is as right and powerful as you would care about someone like me? I'm a nobody who was such a disappointment that her husband chose to beat her on the regular. I'm someone whose first love left one day and never tried to contact her again."

"I'm interested because you looked like someone who needed help. I'm interested because you are the family of my greatest employee. Don't tell her that it'll go to her head."

"You called me CD when we first met. Why?"

"Anna said that was a nickname of yours."

"Anna didn't know about that nickname. Why did you call me CD?"

There you two are!