Him (A mafia story)

Chapter 26

For the first time in weeks, I woke up in an empty bed. Nikolai was nowhere to be seen.

I stretched out against the crisp sheets and yawned before pulling myself out of the bed. In an after thought, I decided to make the bed, pulling the covers back up where the belonged and rearranging the pillows.

I dragged my feet as I walked into the closet and pulled a pair of leggings and one of Nikolai's undershirts on. I headed for the bathroom next, brushing my teeth and scrubbing my face clean before going to war on the knots in my hair. I hadn't bothered untangling it after it had finished drying last night.

I had no idea when I was supposed to be leaving, but I was going to go find out. I breezed into the hallway and jumped when I found a man standing outside the room, waiting for me.

"Shit! You scared me." I breathed, putting a hand over my heart.

"Good morning, Destiny." He greeted me.

"Morning." I answered back, a little confused.

The man seemed to read the confusion on my face and introduced himself. "My name is Roger, Mr. Alexios asked me to wait for you to come out before taking you to your apartment."

I was really confused now. "My sister's old apartment is still under his name?" I asked for clarification. It had been empty for months now and I really didn't think Haley had been the type to pay that far in advance.

"No, Mr. Alexios has an apartment for you. He requested we leave as soon as you wake up." Roger said.

"There's a suit case on the top shelf in the closet in his room. Go get your things out of his room and I'll notify Charity that we will be leaving shortly."

I nodded slightly before turning around and making my way down the hall into the room we had shared. I pushed the door open gently and poked my head inside, looking around. The bed was made and the room looked empty. I couldn't help but feel slightly confused and hurt. I was still angry with Nikolai, furious even, but a small part of me had expected Nikolai to stick around long enough to say goodbye to me.

I had no trouble finding the suitcase, but I had to climb up the shelves to reach it. I pulled it down, stumbling slightly before dropping it open on the floor. In the few months I'd spent with Nikolai, I'd slowly taken over a small section of his massive closet. My hands shook slightly as I moved my clothes from the shelves into the suitcase.

I took a step back from the suitcase when I was done.

The shelves and drawers that he'd given me were empty. I looked around at the rest of the closet, my eyes landing on a neatly folded stack of dress shirts. I thought it over for a few seconds before grabbing one from the bottom and putting it in my suitcase. He wouldn't notice if one went missing.

I was downstairs within ten minutes, dragging the suitcase behind me. "So where exactly are you taking me?" I asked Roger, who was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, just as Charity appeared at the top of the stairs with her own suitcase.

"Doesn't matter, now come, come." He shooed us out the door and into an awaiting car, despite all of my unanswered questions.

"I'm sorry your whole life is being turned upside down because of me." I apologized to Charity as she climbed in next to me.

"You don't have to apologize, Destiny. You're my friend and I know you'd do the same for me." She assured me.

I gave her a small smile before looking out the window. I couldn't help but wonder what his angle was. There was no way Nikolai was letting me go, just like that, without a
catch. He had to be playing some kind of game with me, testing me. Maybe he was taking me somewhere no one else would ever hear from me again and was just keeping me under
the pretense that I was going somewhere else. Maybe he planned to never let me out again. Maybe he-