Respect

Chapter 34: Caged In

Athena's POV
It had been two days since I had seen Daniel. You'd think I was happy, but it was the opposite. Before, I wanted to stay with him in his house, but now, I wanted to leave. This place felt haunted.

I was walking down the stairs heading outside. I stared at the place where those men were killed. It was so clean yet so stained. I wanted to run out of the house so bad, but I couldn't. I wouldn't make it to the door even if I tried.

I looked away and went to the back. I took a deep breath in, I felt so suffocated in there.
I stood outside for hours, trying to get any clues as to where the hell this man was keeping me.

Nothing

There was nothing but vast thick forest. I felt trapped. I wanted to leave. To get away from him. But how?

I walked around the house, on the upper level, counting the number of guards and where they were stationed. I knew that if I wanted to leave this place, first, I needed to get passed his hounds, and two, I needed a car, and Daniel had enough of those, he wouldn't miss one.

He wasn't home, which made it easier, but neither did I know when he would be back. The last thing I needed was for him to catch me and lock me up.

I approached one of the guards and dared to ask.

"Excuse me" I chocked out

"Yes ma'am. Do you need anything?" he asked

"Umm, I was just wondering, I'd like to get a few things, for myself, I wanted a car"

"I can ask someone to get them for you..."

"NO! I mean... um... their women's stuff. I'd know what I want best"

"I'm sorry ma'am, but we have strict orders to not let you out of the house. It's not safe for you"

I was disappointed and mad. He was treating me like some hostage and kid.
I went back to observing, miserable. I had to find a way to leave. But with these men around, gosh, it wouldn't be anything less than hard.

Night time came, still no Daniel. I went for a walk around the house, looking at the guards. These men seemed to be robots, they stood there without tire. I noticed that they changed guards. It was the same routine. No one stood guard for more than five hours.

What the hell

It was hard to know exactly who was standing guard at a time. Just what I needed.

I went to the garage. It was never locked from the inside out, for security purposes. I went in and was in awe.

He was into sports cars

Daniel had lots of expensive looking cars. And the best part was, the keys were labeled in a glass cabinet embedded in the desk.

I looked around and took my pick. His copper Lamborghini Aventador. I pin pointed the keys in the desk and prayed that is wasn't locked or attached to some security alarm. As I was figuring out how it opened, I heard footsteps. My heart stopped as I listened and prepared for that door to fly open.

It never did. He walked passed the garage door and I breathed a sigh of relief and continued to open it. It came open so easily. I changed the labels so that the Aventador's keys were first to the bottom right. Easy for me to slip in and grad them.

I looked around for the garage door opener. The garage was guarded yes, but not hard to access in case they needed a quick get away. Works for me.

I left the garage and closed the door quietly. When I turned and felt the little hope I had leave me.

Cameras

There were cameras facing the door and the passage to the garage.

"Are you kidding me!"
I growled

I feared that they had seen me and would tell Daniel. But they didn't. I mean, if they did see me, wouldn't they be here already.

Walking to my room, I counted all the cameras in the path I would take. Then it hit me, this house was well equipped. I have to hand it to Daniel. He was prepared for anything.

Heading to my room, I stopped and looked at the end of the hall; Daniel's room.

I walked to my door, but felt like I should go to his room. Something in me wanted to go to his room. I gave in, looked around, and proceeded to his room. I opened the door slowly, walked in, and closed it behind me.

I turned on the lights and was immediately caught by his scent. Not intoxicating at all. It reminded me of the time we spent together in here. Lying on his bed, talking like normal people, and falling in love.

Could I leave?

"Focus Athena" I said to myself

I went to his desk and looked around for anything, anything at all. I went into his closet and realised that he really liked suits. It's like, that's all he wore, not that he looked bad in them. They were all tailored for him.

I didn't know what I was looking for, but I was looking for something, that's for sure. I started running my hands through his clothes, imagining myself as his wife, weirdly, when I saw something. I parted his suits and saw a wall, that didn't look much like a wall at all.

I pressed and pushed on it. To see if it would open. Frustrated, I hit it, and must have hit something because it opened. I pulled on the exposed space and kept pulling and the whole area dedicated to expensive tailored suits practically disappeared, revealing a literal arsenal in his very room.

I gasped, covering my mouth. I stepped back and looked at the number of guns he had. All polished and well kept.

I turned to the other side and dared to do the same. Pressing the wall forcefully, to my luck, it opened, revealing even more fire arms.

Staring at them; my heart pounding in my chest and my body shaking, the painting on the wall adjacent caught my eye. Something told me to take it down, and I did. Embedded in the wall; something you could easily look passed, and mistake for a wall, was a safe the height of a standard sized door way.

I felt my heart sink. Tears ran down my face without haste.

I had to leave, and soon.