To say that I was surprised when I woke up would be a very very big understatement.
I was lying on a beach, on the warm sand in yesterday's clothes. The ocean was so bright and blue and the waves were calm. A large palm tree was above me providing nice shelter from the beaming sunlight rays.
It was all very nice, but how did I get here? And where was here?
A deep, gruff voice behind me startled me and IÂ gasped.
"Well, good morning, Maria. I see you have finally woken up."
No no no no! This was that same Russian man who had been threatening me. I had immediately recognized his face.
I knew he spoke Russian, and so I began to yell at him in our native language. He simply just laughed and waited until my yelling fit came to an end.
"Darling, darling. Settle down please!"
I sat in the sand and turned away from him.
What did he want? Where was Alexander and where was I? I knew this wasn't New York, that's for sure, so how long was I out? And how did they drag me here?
Oh, so many questions were flooding my brain and IÂ felt my heart start to accelerate. Oh, this was awful, I should have told Alexander or anyone! Why am I so stupid?
"I'll answer all those questions swimming in your mind, but you must do what we tell you. Mrs. Vasilievna, trust me, we mean you no harm whatsoever. So, if you simply do what we instruct you to do, then you will have no trouble at all and no harm will come to you."
I knew IÂ could believe that. Russian people have this amazing characteristic of being extremely blunt. If he had wanted to hurt me, he would let me know.
I took a few deep breaths. The man saw that I calmed down and proceeded to explain to me the situation.
"I'm Stephan. For the next... well, for as long as we need to, you'll be pretending to be my daughter. Does that make good sense?"
I nodded. At least he didn't want me to be his mistress.
He was a man with wrinkles already lining up his face and all over his hands. I would give him 50 or 60 years of age. He had dark eyes and thick eyelashes and a very kind smile that showed his not-so-white teeth. Yes, I know, he didn't seem like a regular threatener, he actually seemed like a slightly alcoholic but very nice father.
"Very well."
"I'm glad. Now, you must attend an event with me tonight. Your clothes are in your room that Sasha will show you to."
I opened my mouth to ask just a few of the millions of questions piling up inside of me, but Stephan interrupted me.
"Questions later, Mrs. Vasilievna."
A young and very gorgeous blonde woman came up to me. This was probably Sasha, and so I followed her. A little from the place I woke up at, there was a beautiful beach house. It wasn't very large or fancy, but it still very beautiful and elegant, in a simple way. She walked me inside and then showed me a door and then left.
Very strange, but... let's just get this day over with. I opened the door and walked into my new room, I suppose.
Right away my feet fell in love with the clouds that I stepped on. The carpet was extremely comfortable, just like heaven.
'Oh, the vacuuming that I would have to suffer through though, from all that sand!' I immediately thought.
It was painted a very light blue color, like the colors of a crashing wave on a warm, clear day. A chandelier hung from the center of the white ceiling. The room contained a large white bed, several white couches that were covered with blue pillows. Matching blue curtains hung from the large doors opening to a little veranda. A few paintings hung, and there were some lamps and other decorations on the tables. It wasn't bad for a cute little beach house.
On the bed was an outfit. I looked down at it and frowned. This is not what I would wear. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't what I would usually wear. It was quite different and much more modern than I was used to.
'Maria. Suffer through it, it won't kill you to wear something a little out of your comfort zone. Besides, let's just try to get through one day without getting killed.'
I sighed and slowly got dressed into this awful little outfit. It was composed of white, high-waist and wide pants with four buttons at the top. A sleeveless checkered white and blue blouse and navy blue stilettos completed this absurd outfit.
I walked out to find Stephan already waiting.
"Come along, Maria, come along. We must not be late."
He led me outside to a nice, stone pathway leading to a street where a black car was parked.
Of course, it would be black, of course.
There were other simple, but beautiful beach houses lining the shore, but they were of good distance between each other. It was actually a very adequate place for a kidnapping.
I hesitated but then decided to just get in the car. Just one day, I kept reminding myself. Get through one day.
We began our drive and Stephan cleared his throat. "Let me answer some questions, Mrs. Vasilievna. And let me tell you a little about me... as your father."
Oh, I could not wait.
"Where shall I begin? First of, and this is quite a very important detail, I have a little bit of money. This comes from my company which is why we are in this entire situation."
He took a pause and then continued, "My company has been growing for a good long while and has prospered very well. Until recently, there were no complications. However, we did come across a little bit of trouble and this is where you, well, more specifically your husband come into play."
He paused again to look at me with a playful little smile.
It disappeared when he said, "Your husband refused to help us, at all costs. For the past years, he has been stubbornly refusing any support."
After a few moments, he continued, "My company was falling fast. Much faster than it grew and I had to do something before I completely lost everything that I had worked so hard to build. I needed Mr. Alexander Vasiliev to help me and that would require for me to give him a little push." He turned to look right into my eyes, "Nothing pushed Alexander. Not money, family, threats, employees, public humiliation, nothing... until he got married to you, Mrs. Maria Vasilievna."
My eyes widened to the size of plates. No, not me. He couldn't care less about me! I knew that. My husband was a cold and often emotionless man and I was one of those unfortunate people who simply did not receive the affection I often desired. I was not someone who could ever push my husband, the great Mr. Alexander Vasiliev.
"Oh, don't act so surprised Mrs. Vasilievna. Your husband adores you and you are the one thing he is afraid to lose. You were our secret weapon, and you never knew about it." He smirked.
"Stephan, I am sorry, but you must be extremely, extremely mistaken. My husband, although I am very disappointed and quite saddened to report this, does not love me the way you think. I am close to nothing to him, and I am the last person on this planet who would be able to push him to do anything."
"No, no no Maria, that's where you are extremely mistaken. We have watched you ever since you said 'I do' and we have watched Mr. Vasiliev after you became married. You are much more powerful than you realize, and it is sincerely sad to see you think so low of yourself."
An idea popped into my head and I blurted out my question before thinking about it. "If I am, as you say, so powerful and loved by Alexander, wouldn't it take only days or hours for him to find me?"
Stephan smiled with a little laugh at the end. "No, Maria. His fear and paranoia of losing you forced him to keep watch over you like a hawk. He never let you out of your sight which led you to lose all friends and all relations to the public world. No one has been able to get an adequate picture of you in the news, and he turns down all interviews or anything of the sorts. You are completely hidden from the world and down here it will be even easier to hide you." He laughed, "This is actually the funniest part. You will be walking around in broad daylight in the public and no one will find you."
I couldn't lie. This man was quite genius.
Another questioned came to me and so I decided to ask.
"Wouldn't my husband give my picture to find me though?"
"Yes, Mrs. Vasilievna but even then... you know the old Russian saying. Have 100 friends rather than 100 rubles. And so is the case here. I have many, many good friends all over the world who excel at many different things. Your husband does not."
I frowned. "Yes, but?"
"You see, I have people that can very quickly shut down anything your husband starts. For the past two years, I have been working hard to make sure that this entire scheme goes perfectly. Your husband only has money, and I'm afraid that this time, he won't have enough to find you."
I sighed. "But why my husband? Aren't there many more, and most likely much richer men to harass than my husband?"
He laughed. "Your husband is one of the richest, Maria. He is in the top five. However, what makes him even more valuable is his ties with different countries. No other man has such good relations with the governments of so many diverse countries. It is quite... astonishing and very dangerous to everyone. He is a very feared and respected man, Maria. Very feared."
As he was talking my eyes grew larger and larger until I thought they would pop like those puffer fish.
No freaking way! No way! This is... no! Alexander was rich, but he was never that rich! No! How was I so blind to everything?!
I felt sympathy from Stephan when I looked up at him. Indeed, he actually looked quite worried for me. I just found out that my husband was one of the most influential men on this planet.
"He never said anything," I whispered. "I never knew."
"When you first got married he wasn't quite as powerful, but the entire world saw the power he was quickly gaining. He actually tried to be casual with this power he had and sometimes he even tried to step away from it. But he still inherited all of it. All that power. And with great power comes great responsibility, and that's why Alexander was forced to start going out to different public events and meetings in foreign countries. It's the only way we were ever able to get to you."
I silently watched through the window as the car kept driving.
"We won't hurt you, Maria, if you simply do as we ask. We need to simply push Alexander and when he gives us what we desire we will let you go. I am very dearly upset that this had to happen to you, but we must all somehow survive in this cruel world. I will try my hardest to have your kidnapping as comfortable as I can, but I do need you to simply act as my daughter for now." Stephan quietly said.
I nodded. I stared at the window at the clear sky and relaxing blue ocean and large palm trees wondering what the hell just happened to my life?