What Marion didn’t know was that Natasha was just as nervous as she was. That was because Natasha never had any such program implemented that would automatically share the video if anything happened to her. That was just a bluff to get Marion to do what she wanted her to do.
Later in the day when Natasha, Christiane, and Marion met up, Natasha told Christiane, “Marion and I have chatted, and I’m happy to say we’ve reconnected. Therefore, we’re looking forward to spending more time together. So I thought I’d return to your place with you and then hop a bus down to Munich and spend a little time with her.”
Christiane looked a mixture of surprised and disappointed. “Oh, really?”
“Really,” said Natasha.
“We’re going to see how it goes, you know?” said Marion.
Christiane looked at Marianne and back at Natasha, who flashed her a wide smile.
“Oh, okay.”
Sensing something was amiss, Christiane asked Marion if anything was wrong as soon as she got the opportunity to do so without Natasha knowing.
Putting on her best fake smile, Marion said, “Everything is fine. Just thought it might be neat to spend some time together, and that way, Natasha can get a little taste of Munich.”
“So you’re sure about this then?”
“If it doesn’t work out, I’ll kick her out,” Marion said, hoping her friend wasn’t seeing through her lies.
Christiane still wasn’t sure how she felt about this sudden change of plans but said nothing more. They were all adults with the right to do what they wanted. She would miss Natasha’s company but knew she had to move on sooner or later.
Upstairs in their hotel room a short while later, Natasha happily packed her stuff, a devilish grin on her face.
At the same instant, Marion was entering her hotel room, grateful to have a moment alone. She needed time to think and to do some research. There had to be a reason why Natasha was so desperate to stay with her. If she really wanted to blackmail her, then why not just demand money? The whole thing was just too weird. The way she came overseas without her husband. The way she latched on to her friend. And now the way she was jumping at the opportunity to weasel into her life and worse, her home. Natasha may be weird in her own way, but she wasn’t crazy. She had to be doing this for a reason. During their online friendship, Natasha had stated more than once that she would never want to travel without her husband or a close friend.
So then why would she take off to a foreign country she had never been to before by herself?
Marion sat down at the table and opened her laptop. “Okay, what are you hiding, Natasha?” she said softly to herself.
She Googled Natasha’s full name and received an answer right away as a handful of news articles popped up. She began to read the horrible truth.
The truth was that Natasha was on the run. She was wanted for hacking the database of a large online retailer and accessing the credit card info of numerous customers, making off with nearly a million dollars.
“So that’s how you can afford to get around. That’s how you bought your ticket to Europe, and then to Turkey, and that’s how you can afford to pay for your own food and other items.”
But what about Natasha’s husband? Marion wondered. Had he been a part of the theft as well? Had he at least known what his wife had done? Apparently, he hadn’t been arrested, according to the article, and swore he had no idea what his wife had been up to or where she was.
Marion got up and poured herself a large glass of wine. Then she sat back in her chair and allowed her mind to digest what she had learned. She realized that she now had just as much leverage over Natasha as Natasha had over her. Well, maybe not quite as much. After all, someone had died in her case, even if it was totally unintentional. But this was still pretty big. Something she could definitely use against her. Getting Natasha out of her life and that of her country was simply a matter of making a single phone call. One phone call and she would be carted back to America and made to face the consequences of her actions.
But what if she didn’t make that call? What if she kept Natasha’s secret to herself? She was still curious about Natasha, and she couldn’t deny the fact that she rather liked the idea of having someone cook and clean for her to give her more free time for socializing or simply relaxing when she wasn’t working. All she had to do was provide the woman with a room in her house, right? So why not keep the secret as ammunition against her if she stepped out of line in any way?
It was risky but she was curious about what it would be like to spend time with Natasha. So yeah, maybe what Natasha didn’t know she knew wouldn’t hurt her after all.
Now it was Marion’s turn to smile a devilish smile.
ns216.73.216.158da2
and then Add to home screen.