Chapter 7
Y/n couldn't say the specific moment the decision was made. Whether it was after her checkup with Dr Gray, whom Steven did call, who fully supported Steven's nutritional regimen; grinning cheerily at her as he explained the need to keep healthy when thinking of starting a family.
Or the day after during her final dress fitting when she saw herself in the completed bridal gown; it was annoyingly perfect. The most perfect she'd ever seen, even imagined. It was it the look of pride and the joy in her mother's eyes. It could have been Riccardo's insistence that hers was the best gown he'd ever made. Sometime then she had to have decided because when Yves took her home that afternoon she felt calm, her mind was unnaturally silent.
She'd known of no plan but an hour after the Chef had left, there was a change of shift between Yves and Peter (her other new babysitter courtesy of Steve). It's like she became suddenly aware that her additional security had honestly never meant to be overpowering. Especially the new one. He was decent at the job but unlike Yves he was a big softie. He served more as a comfort to her (and Steve's mind) than anything. Poor Pete, she hated to do this to him, he'd been so friendly to her but he was honestly her only option.
She had exactly three minutes to pull this off.
Calmly she found herself walking to her closet and used her phone apps to activate her car's alarm. She heard Downstairs Security call Peter, he had no choice but to check it out, she snuck into Steven's office, his server's password was her birthday, how did she know that? She sent a command to the AI to stop her security footage and open her access.
She was calm as she took the service lift down to the ground floor, hailed a cab, and got inside.
She had some cash in her bag that she'd taken from the emergency stash in the closet safe, a couple of outfits and a pair of sneakers.
She'd had her ride drop her off at a seemingly random corner in the student village and ducked into a bar. It was thebonly kne she knew that had an two entrances, each opening to opposite streets. She used the restroom to change her outfit. On some level she knew it may not be enough to avoid detection but she knew she had to try and confuse Steven's team as much as she could. They'd figure it out eventually but she'd keep the element of time on her side. So she took off the valentino silk set and exchanged it for black jeans and a blue hoodie; the least conspicious outfits she could find in her closet. Her heels were swapped for converse and a cap.
She could almost see herself as though she stood outside her body, in the toilet stall, using her phone to buy a flight ticket to LAX and then requesting a ride to JFK on her phone. Soon after she left the bathroom calmly, methodically put a tip in the jar and threw her phone in one of the bins outside as she hailed a passing cab.
The cab took her to the bus terminal and on arrival she bought a ticket to St Louis, Missouri.
She would take the bus. Hopefully Steve's team wouldn't expect her to do that and would rush to the airport instead. She'd never even been to both places in her life but that was the point; to be as random as possible and pray Steven and his team took the cold trail. She only chose St Louis because it was the quickest departing bus that had open seats; she had to run to board after grabbing the ticket from the bored looking slow moving cashier.
She arrived at the last call to board and tried to fake a shaky smile for the suspicious looking security officer who checked her ticket and nodded her into the bus.
She didn't relax until she felt the bus pull out of the station. Still she couldn't get too comfotable. She decided she'd buy another bus ticket as soon as she got to another station, maybe this time to Georgia.
She'd ended up taking three different busses for paranoia's sake and aquiring a wig along the way.
She couldn't bear to cut her hair, she'd just recently achieved the length she'd ached for since childhood so she put her hair into snug braids and tucked it under the mass of red curls.
She'd looked at herself in the gas station mirror after a day and a half of travelling and not a wink of sleep, realising she looked tired enough to be unrecognizable to many people who'd only met her as a high society trophy wife. Maybe some of her friends from college would recognise her sleepless look.
She decided she enough was enough when she got to a station in Houston, ass sore and sick of sitting in a bus.
She'd decided to follow a lively elderly lady she had sat next to in the bus, who'd happily chatted away about her excitement to visit her son and grandson in the city.
When she asked Y/n bluffs about being a college grad needing a change of scenery while job hunting.
Maybe the salt and pepper hair reminded her of her own mom, she missed her so much, she wished she could go home but it would defeat the purpose, she'd never get away from Steven then. Besides getting away, her family would be powerless to protect her from Steven even if they tried. He just had too much influence in New York.
She had texted her Mom before leaving the penthouse, she hopes it would be enough to assuge her worries.
She keeps the lady's company until the lady meets her son who welcomes her with a warm hug. The man is brown skinned, chubby and kind. He thanks her for keeping his mom company and offers to drive to her destination but she politely declines, avoiding the truth she has no clue where she's going. To avoid crying, she decides to write the old lady's number down on a random lottery ticket and promises to call before she stuffs it in her backpack and waves as their car drives away.
She'd get a burner. She'd deduced from the movies they were useful in such circumstances. She out of around the station, and finds a few stores, luckily one of them is a phone repair store and she decides to buy a mobile and a prepaid sim from them. She also heads to rusty looking general store to pick up some basic food bread, sandwich fillings, ramen, chicken.
While she shops she checks the area out on the web and find a motel nearby. It was shabby enough for the owners not to bother asking for ID but the bathroom and bed were tolerable. The rate was mild enough to allow her to stretch her cash for at least a month or two, and then she'd need to figure something out.
For the first three days she hides out in the motel, eating once a day and watching the News like a hawk for any reports.
Even after the third day, the News remain blissfully oblivious to her disappearing act. Steven must be keeping it quiet. Knowing him, he had every confidence of finding her and bringing her back. The thought sent her pacing, in the small motel room.
On the fourth day, nearly going insane from being locked in, she decides to don the wig and brave the city.