Queen of Blackmail

The apartment had a joyful, festive air to it that evening as Natasha happily skipped through the living room and into her bedroom while Marion entertained a few female friends, one of whom had brought her boyfriend along. Marion was a lot more sociable than she was and loved to have friends visit and visit them as well. For some reason, the company gave Natasha a sense of peace and happiness that evening. She could do her own thing in her room but left the door open because she found the chatter, with sprinkles of laughter coming from the living room, to be soothing. It gave her a sense of being with others while having solitude at the same time. When she couldn’t have Marion to herself, she looked forward to when she could. She loved being alone with her in the apartment and on their trips. She just didn’t like it when Marion would bring up the video. It was like she was quizzing her and testing to see if she still had it and if she would actually share it. Lately, she seemed more interested in whether or not Natasha had a timer set to launch the video every 72 hours if she didn’t delay it by resetting the clock. Her gut instinct told her it was important not to let Marion know that no such timer existed. Then she thought of Phillip, and her festive mood plummeted. She missed him so much, and every moment she found herself enjoying her time with Marion made her feel guilty. She almost felt like she was cheating on him even though she wasn’t. It felt like years since she’d seen him, even though it had now been 10 months. They had agreed to wait a year before she returned to the US under a false identity, just like she had left with. Phillip was to wait a few months so as not to appear suspicious and get a place off the grid. Then, using a proxy, he would create the fake profile account several months before he was to contact her, to make the account look more legitimate. He would contact her from her own bogus account in a name they had agreed upon up front, posing as an old classmate of hers. She’d seen the account online and assumed he had seen hers as well, so she could do nothing but wait for him to reach out to her. But the more they stuck to their agreement, the safer it would be for her. When it came time for her to return to the US, she would hear from him by way of a casual greeting and then drop enough hints as to when and where she would return. “I would love to visit such and such a place at such and such a time” would be code for this is where and when to pick me up and take us to our new home. She would have to lie low and be extra careful for the rest of their lives, but at least they would be together again. A tinkle of laughter brought her back to the present moment. She tried to will herself back into a festive mood as she wove her way through the living room and into the kitchen for a snack. Together, they had baked cakes and cookies earlier. She grabbed a couple of chocolate chip cookies and returned to her room. The sweet treats managed to perk her up again. The only thing she didn’t like was when people got drunk, especially Marion, because she got a little flirty at that time. She was flattered that Marion was showing interest in her, but this was no longer cyber flirting from thousands of miles apart. This was actually living together. It still blew her mind that she was in this situation and in Marion’s apartment, of all people and places. She was loving it and hating it at the same time. Had she been single, she wouldn’t have hesitated to have a little fun with Marion, but she didn’t think she could get serious with her. Marion was a hottie, but all wrong for her. They may have liked their travels together and had some interesting chats, but that was where their similarities ended. Then there was the most important thing… blackmail. However accidental it may have been, Marion had still killed someone, and she knew she had a video of it, and Marion knew she was wanted in her own country. It was this ammunition they held over each other’s heads that really put a lot of added stress on Natasha. She wondered how Marion would react when it came time to leave.