The Mafia's Runaway Wife

Harper- Not Just A Bedtime Story

“Mommy, will you finally tell us the ending of that princess story for our bedtime?”

I snapped out of my thoughts listening to the bedtime request I’m too familiar with.

“Yes, please, ma. You never finished it.”

As I look at my twins Nicklaus and Amora with admiration, I can also feel the guilt trying to creep itself on my face. I want to tell them that the story isn’t some fairytale but real. That their mother got way over her head and had no choice but to run for her and their lives.

That the three brothers are none other than their father and uncles. But I know I can’t tell them that, at least not yet. So, I will give them the most honest answer I’m able to muster right now.

“Well, my loves, I can’t finish the story because it’s not finished yet. It’s still ongoing and all we can do is add to it day by day. So, why don’t I read you another story for tonight and we can go on with that other story another time?”

“But we really like the story. It’s like Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and Beauty and the Beast with a twist.”

“I highly doubt that, my love.”

“Can you tell us the beginning again? “

“Fine, get into bed and then I’ll start.”

‘Once upon a time, there was a princess who lived with her parents and little brother, and they were happy. The princess and little prince were loved and well taken care of, they got everything they wanted if they did well in school and used their manners. Both brother and sister were way too smart for their age, so they got to finish school early. The little prince loved sports, so he decided to go to a sports tournament.

However, the princess wasn’t sure what she wanted to do after school and decided to stay with her parents a little longer.

Then one day the princess heard a yelling downstairs and went to look. She found five bad wolves trying to attack her parents. She fought them, but her parents were already wounded.

She never stopped fighting, even after her parents went to heaven. She fought so hard that she slept for six days. When she woke up, she was locked in an underground prison made of ice.

No matter how much she tried to escape, she couldn’t. So, she waited and waited. While waiting, she made two best friends who were also princesses and had the same thing happen to them.

None of them were allowed to talk, so they figured out a different way to talk to each other. They were abused badly, and It was like that for a year. Then the biggest wolf who owned the prison decided it was time to sell them, so he could have space for new princesses.

The three princesses were sold to three brothers. One brother was bad, the other one was nice, but the third was terrible.

The three brothers took the princesses to their separate castles and kept the princesses away from each other for a year and the princesses didn’t talk to anyone that whole time.

Sometime later, the princess was able to talk to each other and the three brothers. The brothers would be nice, get them things, take them places, and spend time with them and, eventually, the princesses fell in love with them.

But there were times when the brothers would be mean, lock them up, starve them; one brother even beat one of the princesses. Some days things were good and some days things were terrible. This went on for years until the three princesses found out a secret that they couldn’t tell anyone else.

The secret was too big to keep, and they knew that if the brothers found out they would be in worse trouble than before.

So, they find a few nice foxes to help them escape. After escaping, they did all they could to hide their big secrets. Even though the three brothers never stopped looking for them, the princesses continued running and hiding just so their secrets and most priced possessions never get discovered or get hurt…. To be continued’

They both fell asleep by the end of the story. I tucked them in again, leaving Amora’s purple cosmic nightlight on before making my rounds around the house. I triple-checked all the windows and doors, making sure every lock was secure and that the security system was functioning. It takes about 45 minutes, like every night for the past 8 years.

For some reason, tonight I’m more on the edge.

The paranoia is eating away at me with a vengeance. I can feel the panic attack creeping through my skin, the tightness in my heart and throat as I fight myself to breathe. If not for myself, then for my kids.

I can do this, I can do this, I’ve been doing this. I tell myself over and over. This has been my mantra over the years. I know I don’t have a choice but to get through this. I just wish it was easier, just a little bit simpler.

Eventually, I got a hold of myself, or at least as much as I can pretend that I did. I grabbed a glass of wine and a piece of cheesecake before sitting on the couch.

I turned on my laptop, after going through the firewalls and making sure it was secure, as I waited for the only two people who called for this annual “celebration.” If one can really call it that.

Today marks eight years of marriage, eight years on the run. Today, more than any other day, reminds me how badly I f****d up. I understood where and why I am where I am in life. But understanding doesn’t make it any easier.

Not when I have Cheslav’s words engraved in mind. “All you’ll ever be is an overpriced colored pet.”

but as my laptop screen lights up with the purple, white and blue coding sequence, I know the two faces that are now on the screen will disagree with me.

“Garmoniya”- Anastasia and Willow sing in unison.

“When will y’all stop calling me that?”

“Never but HAPPY FREEDOM-VERSARY” they laughed. Sometimes, they were more childish than the twins.

“Likewise”

I can never get used to that. Even though my two best friends, the godparents of my kids, have been calling this day by that name for eight years now. I’ve never felt free. If anything, I feel like I just transferred cages.

But I don’t tell them that, instead we talk about the kids, businesses, and everything else that’s been going on with us since we last talked a few months ago. We drink our wine and eat our cake of choice to celebrate this FREEDOM-VERSARY, but we all know that the celebration won’t last.

We all know what we need to discuss but try to put it off until tomorrow. We can all sense the unease tension hanging over us, but for tonight we’re hanging on to our front and pretending that just for now we’re all okay and at ease.

Due to our different time zones, tomorrow is already here for some of us, but we pretend anyways, at least until we hang up the video call and sweep our laptops after we all receive our encrypted messages. “RUN”