Chapter 73 Only You, Please
Chapter 73 Only You, Please
Gianna
I locked my phone after that and sat on the staircase for another minute, staring at nothing.
Whatever is going on between me and Tamer is getting more serious and more personal by the day, but it’s supposed to be just work. Not whatever this is becoming.
Below me, Dmitry and Braide are doing that thing where they’re not technically talking but deciding whether to resume fighting or not. The tension between them is thick and unsettled.
Braide looks more lost and blank than I’ve ever seen him.
Rhonda is gone.
That much is clear and Dmitry, as much as he’s trying to look nonchalant about it, still carries something sad in the set of his jaw.
I tried to see it from their angle. Rhonda who has been circling this house and Dmitry himself like bad weather for weeks just packed a bag and left and somehow that feels like the beginning of something rather than the end of it.
I don’t know why but thinking about it sends a shiver down my spine, the type that means something negative is coming and I’m yet to clock what it was.
My phone buzzed. When I checked it was a text from Roxy again.
Roxy : Gia I need you. Please come alone and don't tell Dmitry or my brother. It’s an emergency please come alone to this address.
My heart skipped a beat as I read her message before I replied immediately with shaky hands.
Me: Roxy what’s wrong?
Three dots. They disappeared for a few seconds. Another three dots before the message dropped.
Roxy: I’ll explain when you get here. I need you. Only you please.
That last part, only you please, had me springing up from the staircase. What could have possibly gone wrong?
Roxy is a kickass woman in her own right and she is more than capable of handling herself out of uncomfortable situations so why was she asking for me specifically?
Why not her brother who would storm in swinging, or Dmitry who would make it about himself?
Me. She wants only me.
Could this be a setup? Maybe Rhonda put her up to this. Or maybe she planned to hold me somewhere in exchange for information about her sister.
I glanced down the stairs and genuinely considered it. I could walk down there, interrupt whatever cold war is currently happening in the living room and say hey, Roxy asked me to come to a location without the both of you and I suspect it’s connected to Rhonda but don’t worry, I’ll be back in a bit.
But then I remembered the last four times I tried to have a real conversation with Dmitry and all I got was complications.
I stood up straighter and made my decision. I would go to Roxy even against my own gut, because that makes sense and she’s one of the very few people I would actually call a friend.
Right. I’m going.
I looked at myself in the mirror first because unfortunately I have eyes. My Bonnet and my flimsy robe with absolutely nothing underneath it stared back at me.
Not appropriate.
I grabbed Dmitry’s grey hoodie off the nearest door, seeing as it migrated from his wardrobe to mine about two weeks ago and has shown zero interest in going back.
Pulled on random black sweatpants with a drawstring I had to yank three times, swapped the bonnet for a scrunchie that immediately gave up on half my hair, shoved my feet into slides and grabbed my phone.
I took the back stairs to avoid any questions or unwanted bodyguards. The door clicked shut behind me.
I was in an Uber before the guilt fully materialised and it did try hard but I ignored it.
Twenty minutes later I recognised the street before I recognised why my heart missed a beat.
Then the fence came into view and my stomach lurched painfully, reminding me of my last experience in this location.
It was the tracks, not even the main entrance but the maintenance side. Same fence, same cracked walls, same stale air that reminded me of the last time I was here.
It was an unfortunate event I would very much prefer to never be reminded of but my body was already reacting.
My feet stopped before I told them to. I knew I was outside and I knew there was no door, no lock, and it was all open air all around me but as much as I kept reminding myself of that the memory came back anyway.
Cold floor under my palms, the suffocating pressure of being locked in an enclosed space in an unfamiliar place. The dark. Counting seconds because there was nothing else to do. The figure in the doorway who looked at me without one single
word and turned the lock from the outside and left.
“Gia.”
Someone was calling my name repeatedly but it sounded far away. My hands were shaking and I was sweating like I’d just run a mile.
“Gia.”
The voice was clearer this time. It was Roxy and she had both hands on my arms, watching my face with the look that meant she already knew exactly what was happening.
“You’re outside,” she said softly and pulled me into a hug. Thankfully she didn’t make it weird.
I nodded and squeezed her tighter, grounding myself in something real rather than something that already happened.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I completely forgot this was the same place. I wouldn’t have sent you here.”
“It’s fine.” Mostly true. “I’m okay.”
She waited another beat before letting go and I appreciated that she didn’t ask if I was sure.
“So what’s going on?” I said.
She pulled a folded piece of paper from her jacket.
“The track committee filed a formal complaint against me. Saying I cut someone off at the third bend on purpose. They want to use it to pull my provisional license.”
I took it and read it. The language was formal and dry and deeply unpleasant.
“Can they actually do that?”
“If I don’t contest it with a witness who was physically present that night, yes.” She crossed her arms. “And I need someone who isn’t Braide.”
“Why not Braide?”
She gave me a very specific look that said Really?
“Okay,” I said. “I was here that night. I’ll be your witness. What’s next?”
Something in her posture loosened properly this time.
“Thank you Gia. You are a lifesaver.”
We stood there for a moment while she typed furiously, communicating with whoever was on the other end.
“Also,” she said almost as an afterthought, barely pausing from her screen. “This whole place is privately owned so hopefully we sort this out before it escalates. Braide mentioned it once, that it traces back to some corporation.” She glanced toward the main building. “Honestly it wouldn’t surprise me if it was your housemate’s.”
I stared at her.
She shrugged. “Just something he said. Indirectly.”
I filed that away into the growing folder in my brain titled things about Dmitry Orlov I’m going to need a whole afternoon to unpack.
“What’s the update with the Rhonda situation?” I asked carefully. I might not like Rhonda but I’m not heartless and Roxy is my friend.
Her expression evened out to something more dismissive than careful. “She’s fine.”
“You’re not worried?.”
“I didn’t say that.” She folded her phone into her pocket, which felt like something to do with her hands. “She does this at times; Goes quiet, disappears for a day or two, waits to see who panics first. Nine times out of ten she’s in some hotel nearby."
“And the tenth time?”
Roxy looked at me but didn’t answer that.
“License first,” she said quietly. “Then after four days with no update, we can actually start worrying about her.”