Hooked on You

Found You

After an enjoyable brunch with Elena, Scarlett spent the remainder of her day unpacking all of the clothing, shoes and jewellery that she had purchased from the boutiques in the city with her future sister-in-law. 

Once she had finished that tedious task, her phone pinged with a text notification and she looked down to see who it was from.

Her heart warmed as she read the displayed name, ‘baby’ at the top of the message. 

Then she began to read the message aloud to herself...

“Hey baby,

Have to work late again tonight, it’s crazy in here. I will make up for it, I promise. Hope the brunch with Elena went well and you spoiled yourself rotten!

Missing you already.

D”

Unable to hide the disappointment she was now feeling after reading the message, Scarlett pouted as she placed the phone down on the bedside table. 

Dimitri had always signed his name as ‘D’ instead of ‘Dimitri’ as most people would have and he did this in all written communication including emails, letters, notes and texts. 

He had always said that he preferred doing it that way, though Scarlett hadn’t fully understood why. 

She never had a reason to question it; she had no idea of what his true job entailed, of what he really was.

With the knowledge that she would probably be eating dinner alone tonight, Scarlett decided to spend the rest of the afternoon watching her favourite TV series ‘Friends’ and snacking on fresh fruit and cheeses in their shared bed.

In truth Scarlett had a place of her own further into the city, a nice little apartment with three bedrooms and two bathrooms that she had saved up for and bought outright several years ago. 

She was currently sharing it with her roommate Kate, a twenty five year old graduate currently working on completing her masters. 

After arranging to have the place all to herself for the long weekend, Kate planned on celebrating her five year anniversary with her boyfriend while Scarlett had agreed to go and stay with Dimitri at his mansion until the following Monday. 

As it was currently Saturday, she had a few more nights to spend with her doting fiancé until returning to her apartment and she was intending to make the most of it.

But Dimitri worked unusual and unpredictable hours which meant that Scarlett hardly ever got to see him. 

He always made up for it by buying her expensive gifts and showering her with affection, but she was beginning to want something a little more predictable in a relationship. 

She hoped that after they married and settled down that he may lower his hours or something and she could see him more often.

Hours passed by and soon it was dark outside.

Scarlett was fast asleep on her bed when she was awoken by a strange sound, one she could have sworn was a large banging sound. 

As her sleepy eyes glanced around at the darkened room, she could see that her lights were on but Dimitri was nowhere to be seen. 

Frowning, she reached to grasp her mobile phone from the counter and began to type a message to him.

“It’s nine o’clock Dimitri, where the hell are you?”

Finishing her text she quickly hit ‘send’.

Rubbing her eyes Scarlett began to crawl out of bed and stumble across the bedroom toward the doorway. 

She was still wearing her floral yellow sun dress from her brunch with Elena earlier on in the day, with her long wavy hair down and messy from sleeping. 

Rubbing her hand through her hair, she opened her bedroom door and poked her head outside, peering down the long empty hallway for any signs of movement.

Nothing.

Glancing down at her phone, she waited for a reply from him, but after several minutes she decided she would go and look for him. 

Perhaps he had already arrived back home but was busy reading or had fallen asleep in his office. It wasn’t the first time after all.

As she walked barefoot along the carpeted hallway, she continued to glance at her screen, each time checking to see if he had replied to her message.

Stopping at the top of the staircase Scarlett lifted her phone up to see as she typed away at another message for him.

“Baby, where are you? I’m lonely.”

Once she hit ‘send’ her foot moved to take the first step down the staircase and she suddenly froze when the front door swung open and several figures marched inside, some of whom she recognised and others who were complete strangers to her.

But it wasn’t the fact that there were strangers in the mansion that had her frozen in place, her hazel eyes wide with terror and her mouth gaping widely, it was the manner of which the men wearing black sacks over their heads were currently being dragged in through the entrance of the mansion by their arms as they struggled against the men holding onto them. 

Their voices were clearly muffled as they tried to call out for help and continue pleading pointlessly with their captors who proceeded to pull them along mercilessly through the foyer.

Then she saw Dimitri and her blood froze.

“Where do you want ’em boss?” Gabrielle queried as Dimitri walked in through the entrance, checking his phone and busily typing away a response.

Not bothering to look up as he replied to his second in command, Dimitri spoke sternly.

“Take them down to the basement. It’s easier to clean up down there…”

Scarlett couldn’t move an inch, she couldn’t breathe as she watched him finishing his text message and hitting ‘send’. 

As soon as he did, her phone lit up with a loud ‘ding’ signalling that she had received a new text notification, but also drawing the attention of Dimitri from where he stood at the entrance. 

His gaze instantly directed upward to the top of the staircase just as Scarlett ducked out of the way and hid behind the wall from his view.

As he stood with his dark brown eyes fixed on the top of the staircase, he lifted his phone up and put two and two together. 

Was his fiancé standing at the top of the staircase? 

Had she seen those two men being dragged into his home against their will? 

He would soon find out.

Narrowing his eyes he grinned as he silently moved across to the foot of the stairs and began to ascend them silently while carefully typing away a second text to her phone. 

He intended to catch her out in the act.

Meanwhile Scarlett stood with her back to the wall and her eyes closed with terror. 

She had never been so confused and frightened in her entire life! 

What the hell was going on? 

What were they planning on doing to those men with the black sacks over their heads? 

Was this nothing but a horrible nightmare, one she would wake up from at any moment? 

She desperately hoped so.

With her heavily pounding heart thumping away inside of her chest so loudly she thought that her fiancé would have to of heard her, she lifted her phone to read his latest text...

“Baby,

Be up in a minute.

D”

Her hands were visibly shaking as she swallowed nervously and tried to type a reply but her fingers kept hitting the wrong letters and she panicked, lowering her phone and eying the master bedroom door at the other end of the hallway. 

All she would need to do is make a run for it, get back into bed and he would be none the wiser to what she had just witnessed. 

But she was so afraid she couldn’t force herself to move.

Just as she had willed up enough courage to make a run for it, her phone pinged loudly with a new message. 

Her eyes darted down to read it on the screen and she froze...

“Found you.”