MAFIA BLOOD

DON'T TELL

3 Weeks before the wedding…

“Dad, please let me go! You’re hurting me!” I struggled to get free of my father’s vice grip, as he pulled me by the hair into my bedroom. When he finally let go, he gave me a strong push that sent me falling to the floor face first.

“You will stay here while I go get Olga for your dress fitting. If you even think about running again Lavender you will deeply regret it!!” Dad yelled at me as he stepped out of the room. “Just test me Lavender and see what happens. You better be off the ground and smiling by the time I get back with Olga. Got it?!” I quickly nodded my head in response and dad slammed the door shut behind him.

Today was the day of my wedding dress fitting and the woman Vladimir hired to design my dress had just arrived for the moment of truth. When she arrived, I tried to run and hide, but my father out smarted me. So here I am; laying face down on the floor, feeling frustrated. Everything that has happened to me in the past and that is happening to me now, all felt like one horrifying nightmare that I believed I would wake up from soon. Fitting that wedding dress though, would just crush my hopes of ever waking up from the nightmare, because it wouldn’t be a nightmare anymore, but a reality.

“You look simply beautiful Lavender, dear!” Olga complimented as she stared at me in my wedding dress. I was standing on top of the makeshift platform she placed in front of my full length mirror.

“Are you sure? It looks a little too plain.” I said with uncertainty. Not that I cared anyway. The last thing I’d want to do is marry Vladimir, let alone stress myself out over some stupid wedding dress he had designed for me, without so much as a suggestion from me. Nonetheless, I had to sound and look like the stressed out fiancée for the public eye.

“Trust me, dear. Plain is simple and simple is always more beautiful than complicated. Wouldn’t you agree, Romeo?” She asked and we both turned our attention to him.

“Uhm… Yeah, I guess. To be honest Olga, I couldn’t agree with you more. You look beautiful in that dress Lavender. So much so that it makes me wish that I was the lucky man who will be standing at the altar, watching you walk towards me. And in that moment I would just be thinking how lucky I am that I managed to score an angel among humans.” Romeo replied with that annoying smirk on his face. I couldn’t help but want to roll my eyes at his cheesy comment. At the same time, I couldn’t help but want to kiss him for that cute, but honest compliment.

“You see? Even Romeo agrees with me. Now stop stressing yourself. You’ll give yourself wrinkles before the wedding. Vladimir is going to marry and love you no matter how ugly you think the dress is. Besides, he’s the one who went for this design and I’m sure you both agreed on it.”

Oh, please! You don’t know the half of it lady. I thought to myself and rolled my eyes.

“Okay. Can I please take this hideous dress off now?” I said in an annoyed tone, while looking at myself through the mirror. I know that you’re thinking that I’m probably over exaggerating about the dress, but I’m not. It is hideous and it’s not at all what I would’ve gone for.

It’s a strapless, lacy dress with a super poufy bottom, which gives it that princess ball gown look. It has lace sleeves that cover my arms. It’s a full dress that covers just about everything. Which means no cleavage, no nothing and I know that that’s exactly what Vladimir went for. The worst part of it all is the design. It has no flowers or diamond embedded studs or anything beautiful. It was just a disaster of a dress.

At least there is one benefit to the dress. I won’t look beautiful for Vladimir and that’s all that matters. He doesn’t deserve to see me in all my glory and beauty.

“Okay. Since you hate it so much, you can go take it off. Just stop being a pain.”

“Finally!” I exclaimed in relief.

I stepped down from the platform with the help of Romeo and then I walked off into the walk in closet to strip out of the dress and back into my casual clothes. When I came out of the walk in closet, Olga had just finished packing up the makeshift platform and was just about to leave.

“Thank you for the fitting session and for designing the dress Olga.” I said as I crossed my arms on my chest.

“It’s only my job and pleasure, Lavender dear. I can’t wait to see you walking down the aisle in that dress. You will be simply gorgeous!” Just then Olga’s wrist watch beeped. “I better pardon my leave. I don’t want to be late for my next appointment. Goodbye dear. See you at the wedding.” With one last hug and kiss on my cheek, Olga left the room.

When Olga was out of sight, I walked over to the dresser and grabbed the novel I was reading before Olga got here. Opening it up, I took the book mark out of the book, jumped onto the bed and continued reading where I left off.

A few minutes into my reading I felt someones presence in the room. Curious as to who it was, I lowered the book from my face and found that it was Romeo. He was sitting on the single couch placed in front of the bed to the left of the room. He was watching me intently.

“Do you seriously have to watch everything I do?” I asked him, annoyed by his actions.

“It’s what I’m paid to do, sweetheart.” He replied.

“Yes, I know. I would just like some time alone. So if you would leave, I would really appreciate that and I won’t even tell Vladimir.”

“No can do Lavender and you know that.”

“Oh, come on Romeo. What? Do you think I’ll climb into this book and escape into an imaginary world while you’re not here?” Romeo didn’t answer my question. He just kept staring at me with a straight face instead. “Okay… How about you go tell one of the maids to make me a cup of tea? You’ll only be gone for a minute and if you do this for me I won’t complain about you following me around anymore.” Romeo took a moment to think it over before saying:

“Okay, since you are so desperate. I’ll be back in a second. No running off while I’m gone.” Romeo then got up from the couch and walked out.

“Yes, sir mister Romeo, sir.” I muttered underneath my breath and rolled my eyes.

About five minutes later, Romeo walked into the room with a cup on a saucer in his hand. “Here’s your tea, your highness.” He said as he placed the cup on the bedside table next to me.

“Whatever. Thank you though.” I said and continued to read without sparing him a glance. Seconds later, I felt the bed dip as Romeo sat down on the edge of the bed next to me.

“I can see right through you, you know.” He said in a whisper. His statement caught me off guard and caused me to look at him.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked while setting my novel aside and propping myself up with my elbows.

“I can see that you are being forced into this marriage. You don’t love Vladimir and the first chance you get, you want out.”

“Who told you that? Because your sources are wrong. I love Vladimir and I’m going to…”

“Oh please, Lavender. You aren’t fooling anyone and you are most certainly not fooling me. I can see right through this persona you’re putting on.” Romeo said, cutting me off. “I see the way Vladimir treats you. He is an over possessive, abusive and manipulative monster and you’re afraid of him. You just want to be free and happy and you want the same for your children, but you can’t be all that if you’re still living under the devil’s roof. Maybe I want to help you, but I can’t do that unless you cry out to me for it.”

Romeo was right about everything he just said. I do want freedom and happiness for my kids and me. I just wasn’t sure if I trusted him or wanted him to help me.

“How can I trust that you want to help? Because for all I know, Vladimir could’ve put you up to this. He wants to find out if I’m planning to escape again, so he can stop me before I even do it.”

“Lavender just calm down and look into my eyes. They will tell you whether I’m lying or not.” I did as he said and looked deep into his pitch black pupils. Sure enough he was right. Nothing about them told me that Romeo was lying and because of that, I was convinced to open up to him.

“Okay… You’re right, I want out. I don’t want to marry Vladimir and I most certainly don’t want to carry on living under the same roof as him. I’ve tried on countless occasions to escape, but have only been met with failure. I’m tired of the abuse and torture; both for myself and my children. My mother went through the same thing I’m going through and she wound up dead, shot in the heart by my father. I’m afraid that I’m going to end up just like her. Because I’m following the exact same pattern as hers. History is going to repeat itself if I don’t do something about it.” I said as I burst into tears.

“You can do something about it Lavender and I’m willing to help you.” Romeo said in a sweet calm, voice. He then reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a tissue and handed it to me. I took the tissue from him and dabbed it under my eyes.

“Are you serious about helping me? You’re not just lying to me because Vladimir told you to, right?”

“No. I want to help you Lavender and this is coming from me, not Vladimir. You can trust me.” I looked deep into Romeo’s eyes again trying to catch him in a lie, but all I could see was honesty and sincerity. Not the slightest hint of deception did I find in his eyes. That is how I knew I could trust him.

“Okay. So, what are we going to do? What’s the plan?” I asked while grabbing my cup of tea from the bedside table and taking a sip.

“Okay. So, I was thinking we could execute the escape plan on the wedding day.”

“That’s a perfect time to do it. He won’t see it coming. So how will it go? What do I have to do?”

“Let me write it down for you step by step. Hand me that pen and notebook over there.” He said, pointing to the pen and notebook on my bedside table. I handed them to him and he opened up a new blank page. “Alright. It will go down like this.”

….

“Are you a hundred percent sure that you understand and know what to do? Do you think you can pull it off?” Romeo asked me when he finished explaining the escape plan.

“Yeah, I got it and I can definitely pull it off.”

“Good. Don’t worry Lavender, I’m going to get you and your children out of this place. I promise you that.” Romeo reassured me with a smile and I smiled back at him.

“Miss.” Inna called from the doorway. Her sudden presence startled both Romeo and I and left me wondering if she heard everything about the plan. I immediately jumped from the bed and slowly made my way towards her, fear evident in my body language. Living with Inna for the last ten years has shown me just how loyal she is to Vladimir. She tells him about anything and everything that goes on in this mansion. She is Vladimir’s second pair of eyes and ears. So if she heard the little plan we just hatched, I was rest assured that it would make it to Vladimir’s ears within the hour, thanks to his little snitch Inna. So I had to find out if she heard anything and if she did, I had to make sure she wouldn’t tell a soul about it.

“How long have you been standing here, Inna?”

“Long enough.” She replied with an attitude.

“Inna if you heard any of that, you have to promise not to tell anyone especially Vladimir! It’s not something you will understand, but I have to get away from here sooner than later. I can’t vow my loyalty, love and dedication to a man I don’t love, a man I’m afraid of. You do understand, don’t you?” I asked her with tears on the brim of my eyes.

Inna just gave me a quick once over and said:

“I came up here to tell you that dinner is ready. The rest of the family is waiting for you at the table.” With that said she turned around and strolled down the passage, leaving me more sacred and terrified than I’ve ever been.

“Inna please don’t tell!!” I yelled out to her from the doorway of my bedroom.