Taken (Dark Desires 1)

"What do you think you can do, Natasha? Just walk away? Do you think my brother can help you?"

Now, I swear I didn't move a muscle on my face. I didn't shift in my chair. I didn't let out a sigh. I didn't do anything. But Joshua read my mind and saw Marty there.

"You do." he chuckled sadistically. "You think my brother the businessman will take you away from all this and what? Marry you? Will he marry you knowing I had you first? Will he stay with you knowing he owes it all to me? My brother will see you as a constant reminder of his baby brother who he hates."

"He doesn't hate you, Joshua." I said trying to appeal to his emotions if only to just get away from this place without making a scene.

"He doesn't?" Joshua asked, blinking. It was the venom in his voice that terrified me.

"No. He's never said anything bad about you. At least not to me. In fact, he's never said a word one way or the other." Again, the dry blocks. What was I saying? How would it help for Joshua to think Marty never gave him a second thought? Marty told me what he thought of his brother. And Joshua knew that or at least if he didn’t before he did now. He could see it in my expression. How dumb was I?

Joshua was practically shaking with rage. Any minute he was going to explode. And what did I do? I just sat there chewing my lip waiting for it to happen.

This wasn't me. This was how other women acted around guys who they were afraid of. Sitting and cowering and waiting for the abuse then once it was all over taking the blame and confessing their undying love for the poor, misunderstood brute. No. This wasn't me. Finally, I got my feet firm on the ground underneath my chair, pushed it noisily away from the little table in order to get every patron looking in my direction and stood up.

"You sit down." Joshua growled.

"I'm going now, Joshua. I'm sorry. Really I am. But you have made this a bad situation. Don't call me anymore." He tried to grab my arm but I wrenched it away, almost spilling the contents of my purse. A little fancy footwork and I was out of the coffee shop, out into the cool air and among the bustle of the sidewalk. Without looking back I ran for the subway.

I don’t know if he chased after me that day or not. It didn't matter. He made it clear that he wasn't going to just go away. And I did the wrong thing after that. I went to tell Marty.

Finally, snapping out of my daydream I saw Diamond push through the revolving door lugging a huge duffle bag with a backpack on her shoulders. I waved, no longer as afraid now that I felt the cavalry had arrived.

"I told you I just need a pair of jeans and a couple t-shirts." I said helping her set the bags down before giving her a big hug.

"I know but while I was there I thought you might need a few other things. There are pajamas, jeans, a sweater or two.

Your make-up. Boots in case it rains and few other things to make the time pass on the train to your parents’ house." Diamond let out a sigh of relief as she slid into the booth opposite me and smiled. "How long are your folks in Europe?"

"They've still got about four weeks left on their vacation."

"And you haven't told them anything about what is going on?"

"No." I said, looking at Diamond as if she had asked me to hop up on the table and moon the hostess. "What could they do except cut their vacation short to come home and sit. No, I'm not going to tell them anything about this ever, if I can help it."

"And what are you going to do there?" Diamond said, touching my hand gently across the table.

I shook my head and felt the tears start to burn my eyes as they surfaced for the first time since this whole mess started. I told her everything that had happened with Joshua. But she had no idea what came next after Marty got involved.

"I wish you would have come to me first, Natasha." he said over the phone.

"Why?" This was not the response I thought I was going to get. Was it too much to ask for Marty to say, "You poor thing, I'm going to protect you, don't you worry"? I guess it was too much to ask because instead of comfort I got a severe scolding like I was a four year old.

"My brother needs to be handled a certain way. Not the way you handled it. This is really going to be a mess if I don't get to him."

"What do you mean a mess?" Images of gruesome crime scenes flashed to mind. I could instantly envision my weird neighbors jockeying for fifteen minutes of fame talking to reporters.

"She was a quiet girl. But I heard she had gotten fired a few times so who knows. Maybe she asked for it."

"No, I didn't know her but I did see some unsavory characters coming and going from her apartment."

"I'm shocked. This kind of thing just doesn't happen around these parts. It happens two blocks down and over. That is the bad part of the city."

Snapping out of it I listened to Marty's voice on the other end of the phone line.

"I'll talk to him. I'll get everything straightened out and you won't have anything to worry about. I promise." Marty said, his voice much more gentle than Joshua's yet I could feel an edge to it as if he were upset with me.

"I thought I was doing the right thing." I said to Diamond who nodded her head. "And for a few weeks things seemed to just go back to normal. Well, as normal as they could be with strangers and photographers rushing at you half a dozen times a day."