Uncle Henry had walked over to the buffet with an empty plate, so I stayed to have a chat with him. He was a man of very few words, but I liked him. He never judged.
“Uncle Henry, did you enjoy the ballet?”
“It was nice. Your Aunt loves it so I come for her but, between us, I’d rather be reading.” He dumped some pasta on his plate. “That’s our little secret, though.”
“I doubt she doesn’t already know that but, just in case, I won’t say a word.” I handed my plate off to a passing server. “I’m going to go join Murphy dancing. See you later.”
Dancing was one of my favorite things to do. I made my way across the dance floor until I was next to Murphy and Sabrina. Unfortunately, it was short lived. Sabrina bolted from the floor and immediately left the room with Yury. I’d been worried about her and the others before tonight. Now I felt like I needed to run after them.
“Cota, I see what you’re thinking. Don’t you move. I’ll go check on things.” Murphy pushed past me. “Go grab my mother’s bodyguard, Bond. I saw him by the side door with my mother.”
“Just wait for Bond to go with you. I don’t trust that guy.” I stopped her from going. “You go get Bond.”
“Let’s just go together and we can text Bond,” Murphy called back to me.
We got just past the stage when we realized everyone was already gone. We walked in a little further. I could hear Yury yelling. I put my hand up to stop Murphy from walking further. I wanted to be near but hear what he was saying.
“Did you text Bond?” I whispered.
“Yeah, he said he’d be here in a minute,” she whispered back.
As if on cue, he appeared in front of us. “What’s going on?” Bond asked.
“The guy, Yury, who runs the troupe has been rather mean to the dancers,” Murphy explained. “We are concerned for the lead dancer because he is back there now yelling at her.”
“Well, let’s put a stop to it.” Bond walked away in the direction of the yelling. “Why don’t you wait there.”
“That’s not happening. I’m coming.” I followed behind him. “What’s the plan?”
“Don’t have a plan. You want the guy to leave her alone, right?” Bond stopped and looked at both of us.
“Yes, we want him to leave her alone, but we don’t know if stopping him will cause more trouble for her later,” Murphy said. “Do you have any experience with this?”
“Some. Let me go back there and assess the situation. Either way, she’ll be good for now.” Bond turned back to walk away. “Later, you’ll fill in the missing details.”
I waited with Murphy for what felt like an hour but was only less than ten minutes. The yelling had stopped, which had to be a good thing. Finally, Bond came walking back with Sabrina next to him. I could see she had been crying yet again. Murphy ran over to her, grabbing her in a hug. Bond joined me.
“That guy is not a nice guy. I’m sure that he is physically and verbally abusing her. He’s gone for now though,” Bond said. “Be prepared, you are involved and may have set her up for his wrath.”
“What can we do?” I asked.
“She needs help. If she asks for it, then we know what to do, but she has to want it.” Bond rubbed his hands together. “He won’t stop, that’s for sure.”
“Maybe my aunt will know what to do?” I rubbed at the back of my neck. “Can you stay with them while I go find her?”
“She knows where we are. I told her Murphy needed my help.” Bond leaned against the wall now. “Go ahead and get her. She usually has good ideas.”
I nodded, then walked off to find my aunt. “Aunt Victoria.”
ChapterFifteen
SABRINA
It all happened in slow motion. Yury was screaming at me and threatening to send me back to Russia as a disgrace. I no longer had control of myself and the tears flowed. At one point he raised his hand to hit me. I remember ducking to try to avoid the hit. Then, out of nowhere, this huge man appeared and Yury was gone.
Where did he come from?
“He’s gone for now. Are you alright?” the huge man said. “They call me Bond and I work for the Hawthorne family.”