~~~~~
Alexis walked into the police station, taking off her cap as she did so, and approached the police officer at the front counter.
"I was told that someone might be looking for me," she said quietly, and the officer redirected her to another officer, who took her into a small office.
"You are … Lexi Montgomery?" he asked and she immediately corrected him.
"I am Alexis Montgomery - only one person called me Lexi, and he is the man I have been hiding from."
The officer looked at her, trying to identify what she said that would be real and what wouldn't be.
"The police in Melbourne received a report that you had been abducted," he said and saw her nod and look down. "Did you escape your captor?"
She looked up at him.
"There was no captor. I left town … to get away from someone. Whoever made that call to you was … lying."
"Why would someone do that, do you think?"
"He controls everything, and I ran," she said simply, as if that explained everything to the officer before her. She didn't want the one question to come - she wanted to avoid it. But she couldn't.
"Who controls everything?"
She sat silent, willing to keep his name unknown. He had put her through things she shouldn't have had to do - but really the truth was that they were things that she didn't have to do. She had only had to say no - but was he an evil person? Now that she was so far away from the situation she wasn't sure.
"Ms Montgomery," she heard the officer encourage her. "Who controls everything?"
Alexis felt herself start to panic. She was never to tell anyone about their time together. She was never to tell anyone that she knew him - it was one of the rules. But she was here in front of a policeman - should she lie to him and possibly get herself in trouble? What would he do to her if she told?
The officer watched the young woman in front of him start to hyperventilate, in a panic.
"I can't tell you - it is one of the rules," she started to say out loud, over and over again, while getting more and more anxious. "I don't know what he will do…"
She was now past the point of being logical, he saw, and was repeating the same words over and over. "I can't tell you. I don't know what he will do."
Finally the officer called in another officer - a woman - presumably to be there as a witness, feeling deep within him after all his years of being in the police force, that something serious had happened to the young woman in front of him.
"Ms Montgomery," they both said to her but she didn't respond, just kept saying the same things over and over.
"Lexi!" he said finally, forcefully, and before both of them, Alexis immediately left her chair and dropped to the floor, on her knees, head down, and silent.
"Tell me what you want me to do," she said then, as if in a trance.
~~~~~
Alexis felt like she was in a dream. She could hear voices around her, but she couldn't find his voice. She kept searching through them, in her head, but he didn't seem to be near.
Then her logic seemed to come back to her again - like it had the night before - like she could find a way out of where she was. She just had to stop trying to find him.
Finally the officers saw her eyes open and refocus, while a look of horror came over her.
"What…?" she started to ask, realising that she was back up in the chair again, even though she had thought she had been on the ground. Someone must have lifted her up…
Now the woman officer spoke.
"What happened to you just then, Lexi?"
"Please don't call me that. Only he calls me that. My name is Alexis."
"Alright, Alexis. Has this happened before?"
Alexis nodded and took her time to find the right words.
"It was happening too often. That is why I had to leave - it can't be right … right? It isn't normal…"
"Alexis, who is the man that you speak of? If he has done this to you - if he has hurt you…”
"Please, I just wanted to make sure that you knew I wasn't missing and I wasn't abducted. I am just trying to start a new life. Can we just leave it at that?"
The officers looked at each other.
"Whatever he has done to you, he might go on and do to other girls. But you could prevent that…"
Alexis shook her head. "No, he won't. He is worried. If he wasn't he wouldn't have associated himself with my name in that broadcast…" she started to say before she really thought what she was saying.
"The … news broadcast? About your disappearance?" the male officer asked and saw Alexis nod her head slightly. He turned to the woman officer, whispered something in her ear and then walked out, leaving the two women alone.
~~~~~
After a few minutes the man came back and sat down again.
"Ms Montgomery, the news station have told me that the broadcast was initiated by them after they heard of your abduction from the police in Melbourne," he said and she nodded at him, not wanting to say anything. "But there is one person - a man - who was mentioned in the broadcast. Do you know who that was?" he asked and she nodded again, her head sinking lower. "Lincoln Kokiri," he said and immediately saw her look away completely, and a tear come to her eye. "Do you know Mr Kokiri, Ms Montgomery?"
"He owns the chain of supermarkets I used to work in," she said, avoiding the real question.
"Did you ever see him outside of the supermarket?"
Alexis looked at both officers, her eyes moving from one to the other.
"I cannot say. Don't you understand? I don't know what he will do!"
"He won't do anything, Ms Montgomery. He is presently in custody in the central Melbourne police station."
Alexis thought she must not have heard correctly.
"What?"
"Lincoln Kokiri is in custody. He can't hurt you."
"He has people everywhere…"
"Yes, he does. But you don't understand. He is the one who has come forward and confessed to lying to police about your abduction. He has admitted he made it up. He won't get away with that easily."
Alexis looked at the officers again, now feeling tears flow freely from her eyes. What had she done? This was all her fault. All she'd had to do was say 'no'.
"Can I please leave? I have not been abducted, and I am fine. That is all I wanted to tell you, so I can start a new life. Can I please go?" she asked and was greeted in return by a lengthy string of questions from both officers. They asked everything - how she had met him, how long she had been seeing him … what they had done together when they were alone. She answered every question honestly, but inside she felt a little piece of her die with every word that she spoke.
~~~~~
"We need to get your contact details, Ms Montgomery, before we let you leave. What is your mobile number?" the woman officer asked but Alexis only shook her head.
"I destroyed my phone and SIM before I left Melbourne. He knows how to track me by my phone. I had to stop using technology…"
~~~~~
Eventually she was let go, after telling the officers she was not fearful of her life. She just needed to be away from him, and if she could just find a home and a job, all would be well.
Alexis walked out of the police station feeling a new sense of freedom, but also a deep ache in her gut. She had never wanted to get him into any trouble - she had never wanted to tell anyone she even knew him. Why did he have to put her face and name out there in public with that broadcast? What had he been thinking, to go and do that? No, she knew, that was the issue, wasn't it. He hadn't been thinking when he did that. He hadn't been thinking at all. At least, not clearly. Not like a sane person.
She walked in a daze to her hotel room, and when she got there she felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness again. That led to a strong temptation to use the little cash she had left to buy a train ticket and go to Anthony - but she couldn't do that. He had done enough. And she didn't yet know how things would play out, as far as Lin
coln was concerned. No, she would have to turn her back on that - at least until life returned to some kind of normality.
Her first step had to be finding work. She couldn't - wouldn't - go work in the same supermarket chain, so that left only one supermarket in the city she was in, and she showered and changed into the only feminine thing she had with her - a dress she had bought at the charity store, for exactly this purpose.
She walked in and asked directly to talk to the human resources manager, and didn't quite beg for work, but after offering to start there and then, and work for two days without pay to prove herself, found herself in a supermarket uniform and at a checkout once again. She had paid for the room in the guest house for another three nights. All she had to do was prove herself here and maybe she could get a regular pay, and find somewhere to live…
It felt strange being on checkout this time. Something had changed in her in the short time that she had been in hiding. She greeted the customers with enthusiasm, and enjoyed smiling at them, and she knew who she had to thank for that. He had passed through her life so quickly, but he had made a profound effect on her. He had initiated the healing process in her, and given her the confidence to move forward and try to work toward enjoying her life again. She had to get this job, and she had to find a home - and then she would buy a train ticket and go and see him again.
~~~~~
In another town, Anthony was walking into his home. And as he did so, he felt … empty. The house felt empty. He hadn't realised when he was with her, quite how much of an effect she was having on him, but he had started to feel the full effect of that when he was on the train ride home.
Inside he didn't know if he had done the right thing, leaving her alone in a city she didn't even know. But it was her journey - her life that she wanted to start over - and he did believe she had the strength to do that.
He opened up the windows and doors to let the sun and fresh air into the house, and suddenly found himself not knowing what to do. He had been so consumed with her since the moment that he had met her, that he hadn't really had time to just let his mind rest, and now his mind didn't know what to do since she wasn't here to think about. To watch and monitor. To protect.
He decided on a movie, but on turning on the television, caught the news instead, and found himself catch his breath in shock.
'Multimillionaire and entrepreneur, Lincoln Kokiri is in custody tonight after confessing to police that he had made a false call to them last week, about a young woman, Lexi Montgomery, having been abducted. Police have not yet released any further details about Mr Kokiri's intention, or any involvement Mr Kokiri had with Ms Montgomery.'
"Shit," Anthony said out loud to nobody. He wondered if she had seen the news broadcast or not, and found himself wishing he could call her. He could call her, he realised - all he had to do was call that guest house and ask for her.
Overall it was just a crap situation. Something messy that probably had never needed to be messy. That man could have just let her go, without creating a situation where she had to run and hide. No, Anthony conceded - she had said she had not heavily broached the subject of them parting, with the guy. She had lightly suggested it on occasion, but never really pushed it strongly to him. Perhaps if she had, he might have just let her walk away easily.
But for now, should he try and call her at the guest house? No, he would let it rest for a bit. Let her think about what she wanted. By now she would probably have forgotten him anyway. No, he argued with himself again, she would not forget him immediately. He did believe she had liked spending that time with him as much as he had enjoyed spending it with her.
~~~~~
Over the next two weeks Alexis found herself in a nice normal routine once again. The supermarket manager liked her, and was happy for her to stay working with them, with perfect timing since one of their staff was due to give birth any week now and take a year of maternity leave.
Serving people on the counter felt easier now. She received the odd look from people, like they had seen her before but couldn't place where. When they voiced that to her, she laughed and told them she just had 'one of those faces'.
The previous three years she tried to keep suppressed from her mind. She didn't look at a television, and she had heard nothing from the police so assumed everything was alright in the world. At least for the moment.
She had worked every day over the two weeks, happily signing on for extra shifts to get some money in her pocket again. Now that she wasn't reported as missing, she could probably start accessing her old bank account again, but she still wanted to have some anonymity from Lincoln. She didn't know what would happen if she revealed her location through withdrawing money from the account she knew he had access to. And it wasn't just her own self that she worried about. Anthony had helped her so much - she didn't want to even ponder lightly at what Lincoln might do to him, if he found out he had helped her to start a new life.
At the first opportunity that arose where she had cash and two days off, she decided to catch a train. She wasn't sure if she would be welcome or not, but she decided to try anyway. The train would pass through there in the morning and by today's schedule, would then come back through once again late in the afternoon, so worse case scenario was that she went there, found he didn't want to see her, and she could still come back the same day.
On the train Alexis found herself extremely nervous. Before it was nerves about not being seen and identified. Now it was nerves about whether he would welcome her or not.
As she stepped down onto the train station platform she realised it was early, and it went against her nature to approach someone's house without organising it first. But he had seemed open to her coming to see him, when he had left - he had told her straight out to get on a train whenever she wanted to. So she fought the natural instinct to not go, and walked up to the house.
She walked up the path and again took a long look at the house from where she stood, admiring its beauty. Then she moved forward, to go to enter.
Except that the door was open … and all down the front side of it, on and around the door handle … was blood. Alexis went into a panic, immediately thinking that he had found him - he had learned about Anthony helping her and he had sent someone to come after him. To deal with him. To teach him a lesson. To make sure he kept away from her.
Alexis ran into the house, not now caring if it was considered polite or not.
6 ~ LEXI & LINCOLN: THE FIRST YEAR
Lincoln lay on his back and watched her moving up and down on him. He had been coming to her home every Thursday night for six months, and often felt like he was drunk with desire for her.
"Lean forward and bite my nipple," he said and she did so. She didn't really like biting - she didn't feel right doing it - but it was what he wanted, so she did that for him. He never used pain on her so she was thankful for that. He had asked her in earlier months about the possibility of pain during sex and when she had told him that she didn't want it, he had said he would respect that. And so far he had.
Lincoln felt himself harden even more inside of her as the biting was happening. He had never even dreamed that he would like something like that, but as soon as he had asked her do to it, he had loved it. And now he wanted more of it. In his pleasure of her he never hurt her - she didn't want it, and he always respected women. And when he was honest with himself, what he most wanted to do to her all the time was simply use his tongue on her. That, he could never get enough of. She was so responsive to it, and he loved the taste of her and how easily she reached orgasm through his pleasuring. Even that alone was so different from what he had enjoyed - endured - with his wife all of these years.
Six months in and he always looked forward to this evening every week. He never stayed too long - just a couple of hours at most, before going back to his office, showering, and doing some work. All so he could always answer his wife's question about the work he had been doing, when he got home to her later that night.
Nothing seemed to have changed for him at home. Diana was there, as she always was. The sex was no different - he was careful to not bring anything from the sex with Lexi back to his home. He did not try and pleasure Diana - he did not try and pull her on top of him - he did not try and get her to pleasure him with her mouth - because if he did she might get suspicious. And if she got suspicious, she would start watching him. That was what he expected, anyway.
"Harder, Lexi!" he said to her with a firm authority in his voice, and she bit down as hard as she could, making him instantly explode inside of her. He now had a taste of giving orders - and he was liking it.
She pulled away and looked down at him, and watched his face as he moved on from the 'sex Lincoln', to the 'soft Lincoln'. He pulled her to his lips, giving her what always felt like a loving after-sex kiss.
"Lie beside me," he said and she immediately pulled off him and lay down on her side next to him.
He turned onto his side and they faced one another.
"I want to see you more often," he said, surprising her.
"You can come here any evening you want, Lincoln."
"I want to move you into an apartment in my building," he continued and she blinked in surprise.
"You want me to live … near you?"
He smiled at her, seeing her misunderstanding.
"No, the building where my main office is, has apartments over three levels of it. I want to move you in there. It won't cost you anything - I will cover the rent and other expenses."
"But Lincoln, I have to be able to walk to work. I know that my job seems small and unimportant to you, but I love it and I want to keep it."
She saw him look thoughtful, and then slightly unimpressed at her not being more excited at the offer.
"Alright, what if I found another apartment that was still within close distance of your work?"
"Why do you want me to move?"
"I want to be able to see you more, without worrying about people seeing me come and go from your home. This once-a-week isn't enough. I need more of you. But I can't risk coming to this part of town very often. Anyone seeing me would question why I am here."
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