Page 46 of Virgin Bratva Hostage

I climb out, following close behind him, wondering if I should run, but not finding the courage to do so. I remember how organized his office at home is—this is a man who has planned for everything. If I run—he knows how to get me back.

We walk into the beauty salon and two of the girls working there smile and say, “Good morning, sir.” At the same time.

“Ruslana, this is Rebecca and Leonora.”

“Hello. Pleased to meet you,” they say cheerfully.

“I’m showing Ruslana around a few of my businesses today,” he smiles at them, then wraps his arm around my waist and guides me to walk with him.

He’s showing me a few of his businesses? I can’t believe it. He is taking me on a tour of where he works. This is so incredible.

All of my fear and worry turns to excitement. He was listening last night when I spoke about how much I’ve taught myself. Maybe he was even impressed.

Well, this is my chance to impress him even more.

“A beauty salon—so you get a lot of cash payments, which makes it a good option for laundering the income from whatever business you are running downstairs,” I grin, as we walk down the stairs, no one else around.

He chuckles.

“That’s correct. What else can you tell me?”

“Because of the nature of the business upstairs, you have a lot of people coming and going all day, so when people come and go around the back as well, it isn’t suspicious.”

I chat openly sharing my thoughts and hoping that it is earning me some points with him. He is impressed. The smile on his face gives it away.

He walks me around the operation he is running downstairs. Smuggling. Everything looks familiar to me because it is very similar to how my brothers run things. I don’t feel out of place at all.

After the beauty salon, he drives me to a laundromat nearby. Another one of his businesses. I walk inside, determined to keep it up and continue to share my knowledge, but when a really cheerful older lady greets me so warmly and steps forward to give Avraam a one-armed hug, I am a little thrown off.

“Hello, sweetie. Avraam told me he was bringing a friend in, so I made sure we had cake to enjoy with some tea. I hope you two have time. I know how busy you youngsters are,” she grins.

“Ruslana, this is Betty. She’s worked with me for years.”

An older man comes out and looks just as excited to see us. “Ah, they have arrived. I’ll put the kettle on.” He steps forward to shake Avraam’s hand. “This is George. Betty’s husband. They go everywhere together. They’ve helped me start up a number of laundromats around the city.”

It’s so weird to walk into a laundromat and feel such an incredible welcoming. The people here are lovely. In the back, in the staff room I meet other people who work for Avraam. He explains to me that while most of his business—he keeps thefront and back ends separate and the front-end staff don't know about the back end—with Betty and George they have worked for him for so long, so they know everything.

Because of that, they interact with the people working downstairs and everyone seems to get on with everyone.

George ushers Avraam out of the room, telling him he has to help him carry things. Betty and I are in the staff kitchen, getting the tea ready.

“So, sweet girl. Are you interested in business? Avraam said you were quite passionate about it.”

We chat for a little while about me and then I ask, “What is it like working for him?”

Her entire face lights up. “Working for Avraam? Oh my goodness. Anyone who gets a job with him is lucky. You know, at my age, it’s not easy to earn a decent amount of money. But he pays double the going rate for employees—and he gives us all of the benefits. We have the best health insurance, a good pension and both George and I get a very generous bonus on our birthdays and at the end of the year.”

She talks freely about how wonderful Avraam is and in all the conversation, I completely forget that I wanted to impress him, and I just relax and start to enjoy the company.

Soon the two men join us, with one or two of the workers from downstairs. They are such a great group of people and I can see how much love and respect they all have for Avraam.

After far too many pieces of cake and two cups of tea, we say goodbye to everyone and Avraam leads me up to his office at the top of the building.

I follow him in, happy and smiling, wondering why he did this for me. He could have just left me at home today, wanderingaround the house alone, but he listened to what I said last night and then he did this for me.

I don’t think he understands what it means to me.

My brothers never even paid that kind of attention to the things I said. When I told them I was interested in business and I was reading about it, they laughed—they didn’t go out of their way to give me a tour or teach me more.

---