You Don't Own Me: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance (The Russian Don Book 1) (4 page)

Dahlia Fury

She’s my sister. Break her heart and I’ll break your face.

                                                                                      -Dahlia Fury

‘D
ahlia,’ my mother says urgently.

‘What is it, Mom?’ I shoot back, my stomach contracting with dread.

‘Has your sister been in contact?’ she demands anxiously without answering my question.

Thrown by the unexpected question, I blurt out, ‘Daisy? No. Why?’

‘When was the last time you spoke to her?’ she goes on.

‘Uh … four days ago. Mom, what are you panicking about?’

‘She hasn’t called me, she hasn’t updated her Facebook, and her phone is switched off.’

The dread becomes a cold clamp of fear deep inside me. ‘When did you speak to her last?’

‘She hasn’t called for two days.’ My mother’s voice has become high and screechy. ‘You know how she promised me that she will call me every single day. Day before yesterday she stopped. I was a bit worried, but I let it go because she warned me that some of those remote places she was going to would have bad Internet connection. But nothing again today. That’s two days, Dahlia. She’d never not call for two days.’

My mother holds back a distraught sob. ‘I’m worried, Dahlia. I know something has happened to her.  I’ve got this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I’ve had it for two days. Something’s wrong. I know it. I shouldn’t have let her go. Even at the airport I knew it.’

I clutch the phone hard. ‘Calm down, Mom. There’s bound to be a simple explanation. It’s probably as she said, she’s stuck in some little town where there is no Internet connectivity.’

‘What about her phone? Why has that been switched off?’ my mother fires back.

‘Maybe her battery’s run out.’

‘And she never got a chance to charge it for
two
days?’ she challenges. When my mother sounds more logical than me it usually means trouble.

I want to get my Mom off the phone and just think for two minutes. Obviously there is a reasonable explanation, but I can’t think with her close to hysterical in my ear. ‘Mom, can I call you back in half an hour? Let me see if I can contact Marie.’

‘I already did. Her phone is switched off too.’

I feel goose pimples start crawling up my arms. ‘What?’

‘Why do you think I’m panicking?’ my mother wails.

‘Have you tried Marie’s mother?’

‘No, I don’t have her number.’

I need to get my mom off the phone. ‘OK, I do. I’ll call her and call you back, OK?’ I coax gently.

‘Please hurry, Dahlia. I’m going out of my mind here. I’m so afraid. She’s only nineteen. She’s my baby,’ my mom whispers and starts sobbing again.

‘Mom, stop crying. Please. There’s bound to be a reasonable explanation. I’ll call you back in half an hour, or as soon as I know something.’

‘Yes, please, Dahlia. I wish you were here. Oh God! I wish I’d never let her go. I warned her never to hitchhike and she promised not to. I only let her go because she promised and she’s such a sensible girl. I don’t know what could have happened to her.’

‘Don’t worry, Mom. Like I said there’s probably a very simple explanation. I’ll call you back in half an hour, or sooner if I get some news.’

‘I’ll be waiting here,’ my mom cries tearfully.

My heart breaks to hear her little frightened voice. ‘I love you, Mom,’ I say, almost in tears myself.

‘I love you too, Dahlia.’

I end the call.

‘What’s wrong?’ Mark asks.

For a moment I don’t answer. I can’t. My mind is a big, empty blank. Then the words come to me.

‘It’s my sister.’ I look at his concerned face. ‘Daisy. She and her friend, Marie, went backpacking in Australia. My Mom hasn’t been able to contact either of them for the last two days.’ I am surprised to hear how calm my voice is. I think I don’t, or just can’t bring myself to believe anything bad has happened to my sister. Not to sunny Daisy. Who’d want to hurt her laughing, freckled sweet face?

Mark narrows his eyes. ‘She’s nineteen right?’

I nod.

‘I don’t get it. Is it really so unusual if a nineteen-year-old on a backpacking holiday doesn’t call her mother for two days?’

I press my lips together and take a deep breath. ‘Daisy promised my mom she would call every day. She knows very well if she doesn’t call my mom will worry like crazy. I’m twenty-four and I’ve been living in this country for the last year. I still have to call my mother at least twice a week or she’ll go out of her head with anxiety.’

I start biting my thumbnail, realize I’m doing it, and stop.

‘Besides, my sister is not like other girls her age. She is incredibly responsible. She always keeps her word no matter what. If she hasn’t called it is because she can’t. I’m just praying that they’ve lost their phones in the desert, they’ve had their phones stolen, or something equally innocuous.’

Mark rubs his face thoughtfully. ‘Don’t get me wrong, but she’s a teenager on holiday. Is it so unthinkable that she could have let her hair down in a place where no one knows her? In fact, it is usually teenagers who are the most responsible that feel the need to let off steam when they are far away from home. She could be trying to appear more of an adult by not reporting in to your mother daily, having fun, meeting people, partying and kicking up her heels a bit.’

I shake my head. ‘Daisy doesn’t drink. She’s into clean living, healthy food and mystical things. She does yoga and chants mantras. The reason why she wanted to go to Alice Springs in the first place was because of the Aborigines. She thinks they are special and she wanted to go on a long ‘dreaming’ walkabout with them.’

‘There you go then. She’s on a walkabout.’

If only it was as simple as that. ‘She would have told my mom then. Warned her that she would be out of touch for a few days.’

‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ Mark asks, frowning, finally getting the seriousness of the situation.

‘Can you drive me home please?’

‘Of course,’ he says, and springs up instantly.

I get my bra on, quickly button up, and numbly follow him out of his apartment.

‘Have the police been called?’ Mark asks in the lift.

I can’t think. All my thoughts are muddled. ‘I don’t know, but I don’t think so. There must be a simple explanation,’ I insist. I realize I am desperately clutching at the idea that it is all a simple misunderstanding.

In the car I get onto Daisy’s Facebook page. As my mother said, Daisy stopped posting two days back. Her last post was a picture of her and Marie standing outside Olive Pink Botanic Gardens in Alice Springs.  I go into Marie’s page. Her last post has a picture of her feeding a tame kangaroo. She is laughing, and I can see a little bit of Daisy in the photo too. I click out of Facebook and go into my email account. Daisy’s last email to me is from five days ago. I read through it carefully. There is nothing in it but a great excitement and happiness to be out in the big wide world. I find Marie’s mother’s number in my address book and call her.

‘Hello, Mrs. Reid. This is Daisy’s sister, Dahlia,’ I say calmly. If she is not worried I don’t want to alarm her.

‘Hello, dear. It’s been a long time. You’re in England now, aren’t you?’

‘Um … yes.’

‘Have you met the Queen yet?’ she titters.

‘Er … no. I was actually calling to see if Marie had called you.’

She pauses. ‘The last time I spoke to Marie was Thursday. They were going to go into the desert and I think she’ll only call again when they get back to Adelaide.’

‘Right.’

‘Is anything the matter, child?’ Worry has climbed into her voice.

‘No. No, I just wanted to contact my sister. Her phone is off.’

‘Oh yes, apparently there is no reception in the desert,’ she says, relieved.

‘Of course. I’ve got to go. Somebody’s calling me. Thank you, Mrs. Reid.’

I end the call.

‘You’ve got to call the police, or the American Embassy in Australia,’ Mark says softly.

‘I plan to,’ I say quickly, but I don’t want to call them yet. That would be acknowledging that she was truly missing. She can’t be. I just want it to be a misunderstanding. I don’t want Daisy to be missing. All kinds of horrible thoughts flash through my mind. They were going to the desert. What if they are lost there? What if they are lying somewhere, robbed and raped? Oh God!

I frown and try to think of where Daisy had told me she was going to stay in Alice Springs. I go back into her WhatsApp messages and find the name there. I Google the budget hotel and call them. A very sleepy man with a thick Australian accent answers the phone.

‘Yeah, yeah, this is the bloody Traveler’s Center. What do you bloody want?’

‘I’m looking for my sister. She should have arrived yesterday.’

‘Do you know what the bloody time is?’

I swing around to Mark. ‘What time is it in Australia now?’ I whisper.

‘Day time,’ he whispers back instantly.

I speak into the phone. ‘I’m very sorry I woke you up, but please, I’m calling from England and I really need to find her. It’s an emergency.’

‘Go on. What’s the Sheila’s name, then?’

‘Daisy Fury.’

‘How you spelling that?’

‘Daisy: D A I S Y Fury: F U R Y.’

‘I got no one here by that name.’

My heart is racing in my chest. ‘Can you check for one more name please?’

‘Is that another sister of yours?’ he asks sarcastically.

‘No, it is the friend who was travelling with her.’

‘What’s her name then?’ he grumbles bad-temperedly.

‘Marie Reid.’

‘How you spelling that?’

‘Marie: M A R I E  Reid: R E I D.’

‘Sorry. No one here by that name.’

‘Are you expecting anyone by that name?’

‘Bookings are in a different book,’ he says reluctantly.

‘Please. Could you look? This is an emergency.’

He sighs elaborately. ‘Hang on a minute.’

I hear him put the receiver down and move away. I even hear the thud of the book hit the surface of wherever he has thrown it on, then pages being turned. ‘Yeah, it looks like they booked for five nights but were no shows.’

My heart is in my throat. Now I know without any doubt that it’s not something simple. It’s not innocent. ‘OK. Thank you for your help,’ I say and end the call.

‘It’s time to alert the police, Dahlia,’ Mark says.

‘Just one last call.’ My last hope. I scroll up on my WhatsApp messages from Daisy. I know for sure she gave me the name. Bingo. Koala House. I Google Koala House. An aggressive sounding woman picks up.

‘Hello, I am looking for my sister, Daisy Fury.’

‘Yeah, I know her. She and her mate haven’t settled their bill. All their stuff’s still here. I’ll keep it for two more days then I’m auctioning it off to the highest bidder.’

My stomach drops. My last hope is gone.

Mark parks outside my apartment. ‘Do you want me to come in with you?’

‘No. I’m sorry about tonight, Mark, and thanks for everything.’

‘Are you sure you don’t need me to go to the police station with you?’

I shake my head slowly. ‘No, I need to speak to my mom first.’

‘I’ll call you in the morning. If you need me at all just call me. Doesn’t matter what time of the night. Just call, OK?’

‘OK,’ I say distractedly. My mind is elsewhere. There must be some clue I’m overlooking. Something she told me. I refuse to believe that she is missing.

‘I hope you get good news during the night.’ He doesn’t sound very hopeful.

I open the car door and let myself out.

‘Goodnight, Dahlia.’

‘Goodnight, Mark.’

I let myself into the apartment and find Stella stretched out on the sofa in front of the TV.

‘You didn’t put out again? The guy’s going to end up with blue balls,’ she says with a laugh.