Immigrant girl

Chapter 9. Anya.

Even if I wanted to scream, I couldn't. The man who had grabbed me held on tightly. He must be the same person who had been following me today. Anya, think fast. He slowly removed his hand from my mouth and pushed me further into the apartment.

"Move and don't even think about screaming," he stood almost too close to me.

"What do you want from me?" I tried to act naive. I needed to buy some time. "You can take the wallet in my purse, there's a laptop in the living room, but there's nothing else of value."

"Look ahead and shut up, you dumb bitch," his voice was almost breaking into a scream. He was nervous.

"What do you want from me if it's not money?" I glanced around the dark hallway, searching for anything that could be used as a weapon.

"I personally don't want anything from you, but my boss seems to have a special interest in you," his voice trembled even more.

I saw a coffee mug from this morning on a side table in the hallway. It seemed to be my only chance. Without thinking, I lunged toward the table, grabbed the mug, and hurled it at him. The man rushed toward me with his arms outstretched, trying to catch me in his bear-like grip. I ducked under his arm, and in his surprise, he collided with the table, knocking it over with a loud crash. He quickly turned toward me and began moving in my direction.

That's when I splashed the remaining coffee right into his eyes. He instinctively raised his hands to his face and hesitated, and I took advantage of the moment. With a forceful swing, I brought the mug down onto his head, and fragments flew as he let out a painful cry. I also kicked him in the knee, and he fell to the floor, clutching his bleeding head. Without wasting a second, I rushed to the stairs and slammed the door, locking him inside. I ran down the stairs and burst out of the building. Dovlatov's people, who were sitting in the Mercedes, quickly got out.

"Miss Stern, are you okay? What happened?" one of the guys ran up to me and started looking around.

"There was a man in my apartment. He attacked me as soon as I entered. I hit him on the head with a mug, and it seems I wounded him. I locked him inside,  so he won't be able to open it," I explained quickly, trying to catch my breath. I held my chest and leaned forward, watching as one of the guys ran into the building, while the other one stayed with me and made a phone call.

"Boss, Miss Stern was attacked in her apartment. She managed to escape and injured the attacker. She's fine, no visible injuries, just scared," he reported, his voice tense.

"I'm not scared at all, I'm furious!" I yelled. "Tell your boss that I've had enough of this."

"Okay, I understand, boss," he said, hanging up and turning to me. "Mr. Dovlatov will be here soon."

"Oh I'm so fucking happy about it!" I said, sitting down on the sidewalk and resting my head on my folded arms.

About five minutes later, the first guy came out of the building, explaining that the door couldn't be opened from the outside, and it seemed to be the same from the inside because the guy inside was conscious and trying to get out. About ten minutes later, a black Rolls-Royce pulled up next to us. He arrived promptly, almost jumping out of the car while it was still moving, and ran over to me.

"Are you okay?" he grabbed my shoulders and lifted me off the sidewalk. His blue eyes were clear and filled with concern. "Did he hurt you? Are you in pain?"

I pulled away from his firm grip. "I only have a headache from all of this crap. Alex, can you please explain why this Mendez guy is after me?"

"I haven't figured that out yet," he replied, his voice becoming serious and dark. "But I will, I promise."