Chapter Two — Michael.

I rake a hand through my messy hair and tuck my knife into the strap at my ankle, concealing it with the leg of my trousers and then walk over to the closet to grab a tie.

It's been barely fifteen hours since I've moved into the guest apartment at the Hendersons. The place was a massive mansion in my opinion and there are two other bodyguards hired to cover the rest of the family but they mostly stay the night out with their families closeby.

The guest apartment is just a stone throw from the main house but was still private in all aspects. Normally, I don't move into the house owned by my employers but Mariah told me that I had to repay her for all she's done for me and this was the only way possible.

I was raised in Russia though I don't recall my town or village. I lived off the streets and laboured in warehouses as a young boy until I discovered some of the older boys wanted runners and were willing to offer up money for volunteers. I was an amateur at that time, still learning the ways of the world but I gave myself up because I needed the money to survive.

According to the old lady who picked me up from the gates of an orphanage just outside Moscow, my Mom had to throw me away because my father wanted nothing to do with us and she being in love with him had to give me up to please him. The old lady was the only family I knew of until her death and I was forced to run away instead of staying back at the orphanage. I did the work I could find and begged around.

I found a much better job delivering packages and when my employers trusted me with big deliveries, I made sure to turn down the money I got from the sales in all honesty. I was grateful to those who treated me like their own family but with time my compassion waned, my heart hardened and I started to lose myself.

Days became weeks and afterwards years when I finally joined the Russian underground mafia. The organization was well structured but equally dirty and as much as I tried my hands on dealing loyally to them, I still couldn't comply with some of the directives they gave. But they were my new family and it all comes down to survival.

Nothing ever lasts forever and soon, the mafia changed hands to a more ruthless government who demoted most high ranking men and in as much as everyone tried to belong to dry land, most still got pulled back into the raging sea. I didn't want to get demoted especially as members were being killed one by one. It became a tough game of survival, one wrong move and you lose your right to the world.

I had no problem dying. Nothing I owned seemed precious to me but I also knew it was time to get out and find my footing. Luckily, I received an order to go down to Boston and get a company which the Russian mafia had chosen to work with vetted. It was my perfect escape plan to get to somewhere safe. Not a land of lost dreams but a fresh start. I needed to rethink my choices all over again and all I ever asked for was a simple, comfortable life.

My name was among those struck out to be eliminated and it was staged to look like a fatal car accident, by my driver and assistant on my way to the company. They were people I trusted and eventually, they were killed weeks later for failure in executing my death.

I arrived Wisconsin with nothing but the suit I had on and a small phone. My findings proved that some of my loyal friends had known about the execution and had therefore swung into action to save me and get me across the border.

Alex Russo was waiting for me at a resort. We exchanged information and plans. He gave me a new passport and also a complimentary card.

“What's this for?” 

“Work,” he shrugged, smirking as he packed up his briefcase.

“Is this a joke? I just escaped from death and you're placing me into another?” I fumed.

He held his hand up in surrender. “Hey, hey it's your choice if you want to take it, I'm simply offering you an opportunity. We'd never meet again after now,” I saw the truth in his eyes. “People need you. It doesn't have to be the mafia whom you must work for. The pay's better and should last you years if you choose to retire,”

Before crossing the border, I hadn't dwelt much upon what I wanted to do with my life after escaping. It'd always been finding a safe place first.

“Sleep over it, when you've made up your mind to work, give the number there a dial,”

I trace my fingertips over the boldly written Mariah Henderson on the top centre, a number below it. I never planned to play security or watching over anyone. I preferred keeping things simple but saying no was totally out of the question.

So I take up the position working for Petrakis Corp and snooping about, sniffing into the private lives of rival bosses and reporting my discoveries to my employers. It's completely legal and I have nothing to fear of. My isolation bared at me and loneliness crept up faster than daylight.

A part of my life was missing and until I found out what exactly it is, I'm doomed to remain like this, no real family or friends, no one to confide in, relatives to spend the holidays with or girlfriends to shop with too. I craved something unknown, deep down in my soul, I knew just what it was.

When I wrote to Mariah, asking if I could resign, she was all for it. According to her I'd worked hard enough for them and deserved rest. They scheduled a replacement to fill in my position but I was a bit sad to let my job go. Much to my relief, Mariah sent me a text the next day stating I had one last offer to complete and after that, I'd be free.

Mariah and Blake were kind-hearted employers who I'd met severally. We shared a cordial bond though I hardly visit them and long hours were spent talking business behind office doors. They travelled together and had their love going strong like newlywed couples. Sometimes I choose to drone out whenever they get all lovey-dovey with each other. It was difficult glimpsing at something you're sure you'd never have so most times I'd excuse myself out of their presence, not bothering to imagine that sort of affection for myself. I needed someone who desired me, someone who'd love me for real. Soft-spoken and delicate.

I took up the offer which surprisingly enough was so simple. The deal was to protect their one and only son. Travelling back to the States was something I'd thought of often but never acted on and now I was living off my dreams. I tighten the knot, dusted my shirt for lines and ambled out the door outside, into the darkness of the sidewalk that separates the guest apartment for the main house. In our contract, it was agreed I'd stay here till James decided on which college he'd like to study in. Drawing close to the patio doors, I stare at him at the farthest end of the room from my position outside the window. He was dancing, yipping wildly about without a care in the world, his blonde hair falling back from his blue powerful eyes. As if reading my thoughts, he stops swiftly and swivels around to lock eyes with me. His eyes held all the innocence I'll ever see, igniting something shocking within.

A chill sweeps all over me and I feel my chest loosen up to embrace warmth. It's exactly like the first time we saw each other.

One look was all it took.