Natasha was nervous upon reaching the bus station, but she was nervous in an excited way. Even more so when she spotted Marion. For a moment, she worried she might change her mind.
Happily, she accompanied Marion to her top-floor apartment. The silence in the car on the way was a bit awkward, but that was to be expected.
The apartment building was just outside the heart of the city in a slightly less congested area. Immediately around it, except for a parking lot and a playground for the children living in the building, was quiet. Natasha guessed there were roughly forty or fifty apartments in the building. The building was quiet when they went through it to the elevator and down the hall from the elevator when they arrived on Marion’s floor. Natasha liked that Marion had no neighbors above her and on one side of her. She liked peace and solitude as much as she was also looking forward to her time with Marion. If only Marion felt the same way!
The rules were simple, and her stay should go smoothly enough until it was safe to return home. Groceries were ordered, and until then, Marion was kind enough to let her have the leftovers to her dinner. In a way, she was a bit surprised. Natasha thought she might let her go hungry until her food arrived, but then she realized that Marion probably knew she couldn’t afford to be too mean of a host lest she risk the video being shared.
The first thing she noticed when entering Marion’s apartment was how good it smelled. It was a combination of flowers and some kind of earthy scent. The apartment was decorated with a Turkish theme. Natasha wasn’t surprised, knowing how much Marion loved the country. She once said she was born in the wrong country since she hated cold snowy weather. She had always loved the idea of retiring to either Turkey or Greece and often vacationed there. Blues, greens, and oranges were the most prominent colors, which also didn’t surprise Natasha, who remembered that Marion’s favorite color was blue.
She sat on the blue couch next to Marion. A throw with a mosaic print design was strewn across the back of it. Marion fixed herself another cup of tea, again not offering any to her unwanted guest. Then she got right down to business and said, “I know.”
“Know what?” asked Natasha, genuinely confused.
“I know you’re wanted for stealing money.”
Natasha’s heart lurched into her throat and she was barely able to hide her surprise. What made Marion think to check up on her? Natasha knew she had to play things down and appear nonchalant about it. “Oh, that? That’s nothing,” she said with a wave of her hand.
“If it’s nothing, then why are you on the run, and why is there a warning after your arrest? Why do they suspect you’ve hidden the money overseas? Money you seem to have plenty of when for years you claimed you never had that much.”
“It’s not what you think it is,” Natasha said, trying to buy some time to think of a good excuse. “You know how the media is. They’re not always very honest, and you can’t believe everything you read.”
“To lie like that would allow you to sue them for more than you supposedly stole.”
“I do have a lawsuit going now, and I can assure you that the arrest warrant has been revoked. I’m here because my husband and I agreed to take a little break from each other and experience life on our own for a while.”
Natasha could see that Marion clearly didn’t buy it. To be honest with herself, she wasn’t sure what kind of person would buy other than a blatant idiot.
“If you have a lawsuit going now, then why are you over here?”
“Because business like this can be conducted online and over the phone. This is a civil suit and not a criminal one,” Natasha explained, making things up along the way.
“I don’t believe you.”
“That’s okay. I know the truth. I don’t have any way to prove my innocence to you anyway unless you would like to go back to the US with me and to the police station.” Natasha tried to say with just enough of a hint of a challenge in her voice.
Marion raised an eyebrow. “So this is where we both blackmail each other?”
Natasha laughed, trying to lighten the mood, preferring not to return to Christiane’s place. Worse would be if Marion managed to turn Christiane against her, leaving her with no other option other than a hotel, which could eat away a large portion of her stolen money.
“Come on,” Natasha said gently, “let’s just give each other what we both want. I want a place to stay, and you want a servant. So let’s give each other that and call it a truce.”
“Things are different here in Europe. As you know, we get more time off than workers in the US typically get.”
“Okay,” said Natasha, not sure what Marion was getting at.
“Every three months, I travel for about a week, sometimes a little less and sometimes a little more.”
Natasha studied Marion’s grayish-blue eyes, waiting for her to go on.
“It’s not always convenient for friends and family to go with me, and while I can and have gone by myself, I would prefer not to, not to mention the fact that I don’t want you alone in my apartment for that long.”
“So?”
“So, you will be coming with me and splitting half of the expenses that we know you can easily afford.”
“Oh, wow!” Natasha exclaimed, barely able to contain her excitement. “That sounds like fun.”
“Well, don’t get the wrong idea. These are romantic getaways. Sometimes we’ll fly to other countries, and other times we’ll do road trips.”
“I like driving as much as I hear you like hitting the road in VR. For me, I guess you could say it’s like a live video game.”
Natasha grinned.
“In the meantime, you’re to stay out of my way and have as little to do with me as possible in and out of the apartment. Are we clear?”
“As a diamond.”
Marion turned to go through the mail she had grabbed down in the lobby on the way up, which she had tossed on the coffee table in front of the couch. A moment later, she looked at Natasha and said, “Well, what are you waiting for?”
Natasha rose from the couch and quickly scurried into her bedroom, closing the door behind her.
ns216.73.216.122da2
and then Add to home screen.