From Russia, With Love...Part 2

As she folded her new clothes and put them away, she thought long and hard about how things had changed since her and Vladimir had gotten married. She had never felt so scared in her life. She felt like she should have known better: that a man who would be willing to break into her house and force himself on her instead of respecting her boundaries could not be someone stable. She felt like put too much faith in him and trusted him too easily and too quickly. She found her cell phone on their head board and pressed 5. That was Jeanine’s number on her speed dial. She closed the door, locked it, and the phone began to ring.
“Hello?” Jeanine answered. She answered like nothing was going on.
“Jeanine I don’t know what to do.”
“What’s…going on?” Jeanine sounded alarmed.
“Everything’s going wrong. Seriously, everything is going wrong. He’s hit me, shoved me, and like…grabbed me by the arm. He told me he’d break my arm. I don ‘t know what to do or how to make him stop.” Jeanine didn’t speak for a few moments.
“That’s it…I’m killing him. I’m killing him. Seriously. He’s going to die. I didn’t like this from the beginning, but after you guys started dating, I thought maybe it would be okay, but no…no, it’s not. I’m coming over there, and he will die.”
“Don’t do that. Please, don’t get involved. I just want to come over there for awhile.”
“Howbout you just throw him out of your house? It’s yours. He has no legal right to it.”
“Jeanine…just let me come over…”
“Fine.” They hung up the phone, and Renae put on some of her new clothes. She brushed her hair and walked out into the living room. Vladimir looked up at her.
“Sit with me…” he beckoned softly. She shook her head.
“I’m going to Jeanine’s. I need to get out for awhile.”
“I thought you were going to sit and watch television with me?”
“I thought so too, but I really need to get out. I will be back.” He got up and pulled her close to him.
“Promise me you will come back,” he whispered pleadingly, “Don’t leave me. I cannot live without you.” She ran her hands up his arms and looked up at him.
“I’ll be back, Vladimir, I just need some time. A few hours, okay?” He watched her leave. She could see him watching her from the front door until she drove away.