"There is a woman at the beginning of all great things"
-Alphonse de Lamartine-
***
Henri's P.O.V
It has been a few weeks since Phoebe gone missing. What the heck is going on? How can she just disappear in a blink of eye that night after the part. The strange thing is the fact that no one has seen her.
Man, I'm going crazy.
I have been aiming for her for so many years. Ever since I first knew her, I knew that she is the one and I will one day end up marrying her. That has always been my plan. But now she isn't even here anymore. Just where in the world is she at?
How come none of my hotel staff know about her whereabouts. She stands out amongst the crowd so how can no one sees her. Are all the people here blind or something?
Where is she? I need to find her or I will lose it.
I have hired some private investigators to help me but none of it works. It's like she just gets swallowed by the earth.
It's terrifying.
I am currently in my hotel checking all the hotel's progress when my phone rings. I pic it up and it's one of my private investigator.
"Is there anything? Do you find her?" I ask him and he asks me to calm down first which makes me feel really annoyed.
How can he ask me to calm down?
"There is a report about a woman that looks like the woman you are looking for. One of my men has taken a picture of her, and it fits all of the category. It's just..."
He stops for a while and take a deep breath.
"It's just what?" I ask him.
"The woman you are looking for, well, she is currently on Moscow, Russia."
My eyes widen at that statement.
Moscow, Russia? How is that even possible. She wouldn't have enough money to go and stay there for this long even if she did go there.
Something is definitely fishy about this whole situation.
Wait a minute, that couldn't possibly be it. That would just be too weird and sudden.
Could she be searching for Elodie? No, it has been a long time. Phoebe isn't as irrational as her. Phoebe is a smart woman. She wouldn't do something as reckless as finding Elodie in another country.
But it's still worth a try to do so.
"Hello, uh, yeah, can I ask you another favor."
The investigator at the other lines says yes, and I speak again. This time, it's me who takes a deep breath and speak.
"Can you search for a woman named Elodie Rousseau, she moved to Russia around three years ago, yes...yes... thank you." I speak and close the door.
Elodie, why do you have to interfere again, if it's her than that woman is really...
Well, let's stop thinking and I better get back to work.
***
Phoebe's P.O.V
I wake up to find a beautiful beast beside me. He still smells like alcohol but it has faded away slightly now. I feel his hands around my waist and he hugs me as if I am a pillow.
Geez, what happened again? Right, I remember, he got drunk and this happened.
I try to stand up but it seems to awaken him and he slowly opens his eyes and stand up on the bed. He touches his forehead and it is obvious he is still having a headache and slightly feeling unwell thanks to the alcohol.
This is why you simply don't drink too much, but some adults just don't get it.
He looks at me and it is funny that he has a confused gaze on his face right now.
"Phoebe? Oh gosh, why are you here?"
Great, he doesn't remember when he acted like a spoiled man last night. I try not to laugh because I kind of pity him right now and I smile back at him and speak.
"You got drunk, I carried you here and we accidentally fall asleep, nothing happened, promise."
He sighs in relief and I look around and feel the silence is getting awkward, so I speak once again.
"Okay, I guess I better go, I need to make breakfast today." She says as she is about to leave.
"No, no, you don't have to do that today." He says as he grabs my wrist gently.
"But it was you who said that I should act like one of the maid here, didn't you?"
"I did, but I can also tell you to not do the chores so don't."
Man, this man right here is so confusing.
"Okay... so, what do I do then, I can't even get out from the house so..."
"I'll take you outside today."
My eyes widen at his words. Is he seriously saying that he, out of all people on this world is taking me out? Seriously?
I can feel my lips slowly forms a small smile and then he speaks again.
"But don't you dare run away, or I'll get you and I swear you'll never see the sun again."
I nod my head and put on a big grin on my face. Still even if he does threat me with the last part, I'm still happy to be out from this place. The farther I've gone is when I sneaked outside while they were all asleep and took a walk around the place but somehow because I didn't know where to go, I went back inside and no one found out about it.
It was such a waste of opportunity, but it was like, a few days ago already.
Because even if I tell the police about it, no one will ever listen. because they are afraid of them in a way, there are many mafia clans and His mafia group holds so much power in this place, besides, based on what I have heard so far, from the maids and all, Edgar is friend with other mafias.
I don't know a lot about this man but his life is too complicated for my taste. Is it bad that I feel sympathy and pity for him, even though he never asks for one?
"So where are we going?" I ask him.
"To the mall, Viktor's girlfriend asks him to accompany her or else they would break up, and Viktor, being Viktor, he just had to drag me and Nikolai into this as a return for yesterday."
I chuckle, well, what this man doesn't understand, is the fact that he has a soft spot somewhere in him, he just doesn't see it, because he could just refuse and I'm pretty sure he did refuse at first, but he eventually let Viktor win.
So I wonder.
What could turn this man into such a person? What happened on his life that turned him this way?
Why is it that whenever I look at his eyes, all I see in him is anger and a certain feeling of hatred and strength, yet at the same time, what I see in him is a crying boy?
Man, I should stop thinking like this, I barely even know him, that is just straightforwardly weird.
"Well, I guess I'll go get breakfast now." I tell him instead because we all know I will still just make at least my own breakfast.
"See you later." I tell him as I hear him standing up, but I'm already closing the door when it happens.
I get down to the kitchen and I see Ivan and Nikolai on the living room near the kitchen, and I try to smile at them, which is the most awkward thing I've ever done.
Nikolai smiles at me while Ivan is just acting annoyed at me like usual. He just hates me for no reason, and now that I'm staying here for a while, even as a hostage, can't they pretend to be nicer, at least?
"Are you going to make breakfast?" Nikolai asks me as he stands up from the couch.
"Yeah, but only mine because Edgar told me that I shouldn't do my chores today."
"He did what?" Ivan finally speaks, acknowledging my presence.
"Uh, he didn't let me do the chores?" I tell him in a questioning tone.
There is a brief silence before I speak again.
"Is there... anything wrong?"
"I bet you she put something on his drink."
Ivan suddenly speaks nonsense which makes me feel annoyed because it almost as if he accuses me of giving Edgar drug or something, while all he did was telling me that I shouldn't do my chores.
What is wrong with that?
"Edgar never lets a hostage act this way, ever, getting her out from that basement was strange enough, giving her her own room is strange enough, and now, letting her roam around free of chores, that is next level of strangeness, hey, did you hypnotize him or something?"
"Are you telling me that I hypnotize him to be nicer to me? I don't know about you, sir, but I feel offended right now."
Ivan stands up and approach me with a scary expression.
"How dare you talk back to me!?" He glares at me and right now he is so close to hitting me, Nikolai steps in trying to tear us away from each other.
"Hey, you guys, you should get away from each other." Nikolai says trying to calm the situation down.
However, my gut gets in the way and I speak faster than my mind.
"You are one hell of a man."
With those last words, he hit me. He actually hits me.
He hits me faster before Nikolai can even interfere with it.
I can feel my body losing its balance as I fall to the floor, injuring my knees, but there is a throbbing feeling on my cheek and it doesn't take long to realize that I'm about to have a dark bruise from it.
"What were you thinking!" Nikolai says as he faces Ivan.
"Gosh, do you not realize what you just did?" Nikolai says again as he glares at Ivan.
He approaches me and helps me to stand up. I crouch a bit trying to find balance back, and Nikolai slowly touches my shoulder and He has a concerned expression on his eyes.
How funny it is that I don't cry even with the pain.
I wonder why?
Right, because this pain is inflicted by someone whom I have no interest in, that's why it doesn't hurt so much.
Just then a voice is heard from the stairs.
"What the hell happened?"