Interpreting a millionaire

Must be funny in a rich man's world

After driving around for a while, they finally arrived at a part of town she didn’t recognize and so her driving got more cautious. At first she wasn’t sure what was pressed to her head as a threat, but during the ride she found out it was a gun. She was unfamiliar with such a weapon, never held more than a plastic one or a rubber model during a self defence class. In the beginning she thought it was a pocket knife, due to the click being similar as when the knife’s blade jumps from it’s handle. But she also found it weird to use a knife to threaten in a k********g.

She realized they entered a wealthier neighbourhood, judging by the appearance of the houses. It was at the edge of the city, set on a small hill, overlooking the surrounding country. Almost all of the houses had a spacious balcony, for the residents to enjoy the view they paid more for. Some of the houses were modern with large glass walls and straight lines, some were more in the traditional style. All of them looked expensive and the further they went, the larger the properties got. It got to a point where she couldn’t even see the houses properly, only the driveway and greenery in the front, houses being so far back, that she could only catch a glimpse every now and then.

It was suspicious to her that they would make her drive to the kidnapper’s house. Seeing the route and location. Maybe they thought she couldn’t remember it? There is an assumption that women are bad with orientation. She always considered that stupid, because her sense of direction was quite good and she could always find her way around. Maybe they didn’t know that? Then suddenly she blurted out a question that was eating at her brain since the beginning.

“Why me?”

“I don’t know.”

‘Well, that was helpful.’ She just scoffed internally.

“Is it still far?”

“No, so just comply and drive a little more.”

Then the car fell into silence again. She succumbed to her thoughts once more. Why her? Yeah, that idea floated around her brain, almost like the dvd logo on a screensaver. She wasn’t exceptionally pretty or delicate to be picked as an easy victim for human trafficking. Then again, that seemed like a business that wouldn’t let its victims drive around like that. It wasn’t a robbery for sure, or at least not yet. So she was left with a killer, maybe serial killer or she was deliberately picked for some unknown reason.

No matter how much she racked her brain, she couldn’t think of a reason for somebody to pick her. She heard her friends telling stories of unwanted, mostly male, attention and how scary it could get. She read heaps of encounters online. But it never happened to her. Sure she had been catcalled a while back, but given her figure, she never feared for her safety. She would never want to experience it herself, best would be if no one had to experience it ever, but it still made her both more and less aware and cautious of her surroundings. Come to think of it, she was never really afraid of real threats other women faced daily. She was tall and not exactly thin. She always thought of herself as big, not only when it came to weight or height, but overall built of her body. Again, she wouldn’t want to experience any of the sketchy situations, but it solidified her view of herself as somewhat intimidating. So when there was a man hiding in her car, she didn’t check her backseat, she didn’t pay much attention to the parking lot. Her thoughts ran as she watched the scenery around change slowly from one neighbourhood to another.

“Stop here, to the left.” The blinker signalled in an orange glow her intention as she entered a driveway. They were at the very end of neighbourhood. The houses weren’t houses anymore, that word would not be suitable anymore. These were villas and enormous residences with properties the size of a golf course. The driveway was asphalt at first but soon changed into a gravel one as she drove through what felt like a forest. She caught a glimpse of a pond hidden in the shadows of the willow canopy. It must have been a few minutes at the very least before the tree branches parted slightly to reveal a view of the building. Correction, buildings. There were two from what she could see, still coming up the hill. The trees finally opened into a front garden, if it could even be called that. There was a circular flower bed in front of the bigger building, showcasing a variety of flowers that even for an uninterested person looked expensive. The gravel driveway winded around the whole flower bed, creating a loop. She slowed down, almost stopping, just taking in everything she could see.

“To the right, in front of the garage. The car will be taken care of.” Taken care of?

She did see a narrower gravel road splitting from the main one before the curve leading to the main entrance. From a habit she turned on her blinker and drove to smaller building. It was only one story high, but there were four garage doors next to each other. It’s walls were plain white with black roof. Not much thought was put into it, just a four walled building to serve sole purpose of shielding cars from outside influences. On the left side upper corner was an ornamental black number. Probably the house number.

She stopped the car and cut the engine.

“Give me the keys.”

“Please don’t hurt him.” She said, reaching around to pass her car keys to the man.

As soon as he had the keys, he exited, waiting for her to do the same. She grabbed her bag, swinging it on her shoulder. As soon as she stepped out, he was behind her, one hand on her left shoulder, the other holding the gun to her right shoulder blade. She didn’t even manage to close the door. 

Her body tensed up as they walked towards the grand entrance of the villa. It looked modern with it’s black and white design, using mostly rectangles in its shape. From their perspective it seemed like it was only one floor, wider than it was taller, but as they walked around floors two and three came into view, further back. She was reminded of lego as she saw the structure, the base piece was the biggest, from what she could see, it was not only wide, but also long as the second-floor block started about halfway back. It was perpendicular, so it looked to have about quarter, maybe half of the width of the base one. The third, highest, floor was again perpendicular to the second one, parallel to first, creating a terrace in the space between, on the second floor. She noticed there was a lot of whole wall glass windows, although they appeared to be tinted, creating a one way visibility through them. The front garden, as insufficient as the name was, was large, but mostly made up of wild greenery, only kept at a tame level so it wouldn’t completely take over. But there was nothing else, only a bench near the pond she glanced earlier, so she assumed, there was a backyard of sorts. Maybe she gets to see it eventually.

Before she could notice any more details of the house – scratch that – villa, the backs of her knees got smacked and she tumbled to the ground. Not expecting an assault after the whole driving ordeal, she ended up smacking face first into the gravel. At the last second, she was able to turn her head, so only her right cheek and jaw got scratched up. Her palms suffered too in an attempt to catch her fall, small particles embedded into the soft skin. Blood already seeping through.

“What the hell?” Her long hair got into her face in the fall and so her vision was obstructed as someone’s feet went by.

“Stand up.” A different male voice said.

With a thread of swearing under her breath, she stood up. While it wasn’t exactly effortless, at least she wasn’t tied up.

“Put your hands behind your back.” She did as the new man said. Her attempts at looking back at her kidnappers were fruitless as her hair kept falling into her face. Any sharp head movements to try and get the hair away were only rewarded by a light smack at the back of her head.

A variety of cuss words ran through her mind, as if it all only now dawned on her. As if only as her hands are getting tied she realized what the situation means for her.

She tried to struggle, but realised her body wasn’t capable of moving. Stress took over and all she could do was just stand there, with hands in a rope behind her back and wobbly legs.

As soon as they wanted her to move forward, her knees gave out and she was sent tumbling to the ground again. Somebody caught her left elbow and so she just swung to the side above the ground, before being laid down on her back.

Then she saw the two men towering above her. One had a gun, so she assumed it was her passenger for the ride. He was just a bit shorter than her, with muscular build and bald head. His eyes were small and it seemed as if his face was stuck in a frowning expression. He was dressed in all black, the only colourful piece on him was a golden ring on his ring finger. She looked from the ring into his eyes, but she could not see anything there. His gaze lingered only for a moment before he looked ahead of himself. He made sure the gun has safety on and tucked it into its holder hanging on his waist.

For a moment she felt betrayed by his indifference, but then she remembered they did not talk much on their way here. They did not bond like it sometimes happens in the movies, softening the heart of the kidnapper. The other man grabbed her elbow again and hoisted her into a sitting position.

“Get up.” He commanded. His voice was not as deep as the other man’s, and it was also softer, more pleasant to the ears. He was a lot taller than the other two people present, her head reaching just above his shoulder the slightest bit. As she stood up, she lost her balance momentarily, sending herself into the man’s chest accidentaly. Her scratched cheek left a few bloody marks on the white t-shirt. Panicking slightly, she stepped backward hastily, but the man still had a strong grip on her elbow. She was stuck looking up at him, waiting wide eyed for what comes next. He just stared at her face, unspeaking, unmoving. In the silence, she studied his face. It was framed by shoulder length black hair that came down in loose waves. His cheekbones were sharp and high, casting harsh shadows on his cheeks. His chin was narrow, ending in almost cartoonishly defined point. If she were capable of thinking in such a way, she would probably recall some character it reminded her of. In general, this was a face of a villain. His dark eyes still did not move away from her face as she noticed his long eyelashes and thick eyebrows. Under different circumstances, she might have found him handsome, maybe even charming, but given her state, it was impossible.

She was curious what the rest of the man looked like, but at the same time she was too scared to break the staring contest. At long last, he spun her around, her back facing him. He nudged her forward and she started walking hesitantly.

They stopped in front of the luxurious entrance, made of double ornamental doors made of dark glass, or stone, she couldn’t tell from her position. Somebody slipped a black cloth over her head and she couldn’t see anything apart from a small slit at the bottom, which didn’t help much. Ever since she got out of her car everything went downhill, stress piling up like a snowball. Soon all of it caught up to her and the sudden realisation forced a rush of blood into her head. Her knees wobbled as her head throbbed and breath shallowed. The last thing she remembered was her falling face first into the gravel road in front of the entrance.