Chapter 5 The Escape Plan

He leaves Henry in the room alone as he goes over to Annie's room to inform her about their plan to move to a different hotel.

"Yes?.... Doss? Is that you?" Annie responds to Doss, asking to confirm who it was from the bathtub as she was having a warm bath.

Doss stands in front of the bathroom and speaks to her through the closed door; "Pack your things we're moving to a different hotel" he says.

Annie couldn't care less about the new development, she was still in shock but was also glad Doss was around. She feels good knowing he cared enough to spend that much time, effort and resources to rescue her. She was grateful.

She walks out of the bathroom with a tied Towel knotted above her breasts;

"Okay, I'll get my things," she says.

"Yeah, okay," Doss says as he turns to take his leave.

"Did you have sex with her?" She asks suddenly, as she stands and stares at Doss with a straight face.

Doss is surprised at the question, "Are you okay?" "What the fuck are you talking about?" He asks calmly in his Masculine tone.

"The Lady you asked Henr....." She says.

"Bitch, I know what you're talking about" he cuts in, raising his voice. "How is that your business? " he adds.

She stays silent for a while and then says,

"Well, I just wanted to know..." as Doss approaches the door to leave.

He stops and turns back; "First of all, you're not my wife, so you do not even have the right to ask such a question,"

She says "But I'm...."

"Secondly!," He cuts in with a higher tone. "You're a prostitute who'll fuck anything that pays..." he says.

She is hurt, hearing these words come from Doss's mouth, tears roll down her cheek as she says "I'm not a prostitute!"

Immediately, a certain anger possesses Doss. He moves close and gives Annie a dirty slap to her face, the slap is so hard it throws her to the wall, slamming her face to the wall and causing blood to rush out through her nostrils.

"Exactly the way you met her at Terry's hotel room" These words echo in his head instantly. But he ignores it and says, "You're not a prostitute but you willingly followed a stranger to his hotel room and fucked him, Yet you have the guts to respond when I tell you who you are"

"I swear, I'm not..." she says as she cries hard, holding her bloody nose to reduce blood flow. "I'm sorry I messed up" "I did it to spite you, but I regret my actions, I'm sorry"

"Fuck off!!!! you have no idea what love is" he responds in anger.

His words hurt more than the beatings she'd received both from him and Terry.

"I'm so sorry, Dossy I'm sorry, it's the first and surely will be the last time, I promise," she says as she goes on her knees.

"It is indeed the last" he mutters and walks out of her room, leaving her on her knees.

Doss sits at the bar of the hotel; For the first time in a long while, he feels ashamed of himself for hitting a woman, especially Annie knowing what she had gone through at the hands of Terry.

"How wicked can I be?" he thinks to himself.

He is remorseful and deeply regrets his action.

He decides to go back up into her room and apologize but later objects "It is in the past now, I can't apologize to her, if I did, I'll appear weak, and it'll prompt her to misbehave in the future and expect an apology" "... she'll end up seeing me as a weak man," he thinks to himself.

It was 11:30 pm, They packed up and drove to a small isolated hotel for safety, far from the one they initially lodged in. On their way, Henry rides in front of Doss and Annie who are in a different vehicle, both vehicles driven by hired drivers.

On getting to the hotel; "Aren't you hungry?" Doss asks Henry, "I'm famished, and you must be as well" he turns to Annie as he suggests they all stop at a nearby restaurant.

They make their way the nearby restaurant, just a few blocks away from the hotel.

Seated in the restaurant, they made their orders.

"How are you feeling?" Doss asks Annie.

"I really do not know, I'm just glad I'm safe here" she responds.

"Is she really safe in your hands?" The question echoes in Doss's head.

"Oh Yes!" He speaks out.

"What??" She asks, as his words seem like they weren't his.

"Yes, you're in safe hands" he reassures her as their order arrives.

Henry knows about Doss's abusive nature but chooses not to get involved as it isn't really his business, he sacrifices his conscience to remain friends with Doss, not necessarily for Doss's wealth but for his influence and friendly personality. Doss is really friendly and nice to his friends, but not the numerous women he has affairs with, including his side mistress Annie and his Wife Elizabeth.

The three of them sit at the same table.

"Is there any nearby clinic, Pharmacy or something? " Doss asks Henry as he stretches his hand across the table, and lifts Annie's face to get a better view of the scars she had gotten from Terry's punches.

"The closest hospital is in the city, near the Hotel, the one we just left" Henry responds.

"Ohh! Shit!" Doss exclaims, at the mention of the other hotel, remembers he hadn't reached out to his PA.

He brings out his phone and calls his PA; "Is the flight still available for tomorrow?" he asks.

"Yes Sir, it is.." his PA responds over the phone.

"Okay, forward the flight details to my email," Doss says.

"Okay Sir" his PA responds.

He ends the call and turns back to Henry; "Henro! You said the nearest hospital is in the city, just after the previous hotel?" He asks because he intends to take Annie to the hospital in the morning.

"Yeah," Henry responds while thinking of a better option and munching on his food.

Annie eats slowly and minds her business.

They finish eating and leave for the hotel.

They arrive shortly and are about to lodge but for safety, Henry goes in alone and does the checking in, while Doss and Annie wait outside.

"How are you feeling?" Doss asks in a very calm tone, showing genuine concern.

"I'm okay" she gives a direct response in order not to offend him.

"Henry will take you to the hospital first thing tomorrow," he says as he holds and squeezes her hands softly.

She feels relief; "Okay, that'll be fine" "Thank you for coming for me," she says with honest gratitude, "So we're leaving for New York tomorrow, yeah? she adds.

"Yes we are," he responds.

"And that was the origin of all this problem, If only I had kept quiet," she thinks to herself as she subtly shakes her head in regret.

As if Doss knew what she was thinking; "Don't blame yourself for any of what happened to you, I got unnecessarily angry and lashed out......."

Henry interrupts; "we're clear!"

They wear shades and hats to disguise themselves, then they walk briskly into the hotel, in an attempt to avoid being recognized or noticed by any of the hotel staff. It is a small Hotel.

Henry had booked two rooms, one for Himself and the other for Doss and Annie.

It is morning in SA; "Annie!, Annie!!," Doss calls out as he shakes her to wake up.

"Ahhhh" she groans in pain as she wakes; She feels pain all over her body.

"You have to leave for the hospital with Henry" he says then he helps her up into the bathroom.

"Be quick!" he says.

"Hmm" she responds, still feeling sleepy but goes ahead to have a quick bath.

Henry knocks at their room door,

"Come in," Doss says.

They both shake hands and extend morning greetings.

"I've forwarded your details to a friend, your passport to Mauritius will be ready in about a week from now," Doss says, "I Know that isn't what we planned, but you have to leave SA for the time being, Terry's men, associates or whoever cares must have gotten the news and they'll be looking for us now, I'll not forgive myself if anything bad happens to you"

"I understand, okay.. so how about Annie? Aren't we going to the hospital again?..." Henry says.

At this moment Annie walks out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her naked body and knotted above her breasts. Henry excuses himself and goes back to his room to wait.

"You look good," Doss admires Annie.

She smiles Profusely as she dries her body with the towel.

"Thank you" she responds.

"I'm sorry about last night,"

Annie is so excited, she is filled with Joy as tears come down her cheek, but tries her best to hide it.

Doss continues; "I Know I've been terrible towards you, I felt really bad after killing a man for doing to you what I've been doing to you all these years," he says.

"No!, It isn't the same, I chose to be with you because I love you, but I didn't want him when he forced himself on me" Annie responds.

"That's not the point though, I have treated you badly, countless times despite you being very nice to me, and even though it is now normal to you, it shouldn't be that way" Doss says because he had really deep thoughts about the way he had been living with Annie in the past and how he treated her yesterday.

"If you disrespect your woman you have no right to stop an outsider from doing the same, they're only learning from you," he had thought to himself Last night.

Annie had mixed Emotions, she couldn't say anything....

"I want to be a bet......" Doss is completing the statement when he hears a heavy bang on their room door.

"Who Is that?" he asks as he reaches for a short gun he had gotten earlier for protection and then drags Annie by her hand to stand behind him.

"They're looking for us"

Doss immediately recognizes the voice and opens the door. It is Henry.

"I just got a call from one of the hotel staff who happens to be my friend, some men came around midnight, looking for us, they even killed two persons," Henry says, "'If we had checked out, we would have died by now, nobody knew where we went and they assumed we'd return, so they were waiting for us.' My friend told me this" he adds

If the Hotel staff who were held hostage by Terry's men knew Doss, Annie and Henry had moved to a new hotel they would have told Terry's men and that would have made them search in every other hotel in the city including the one they (Doss, Annie and Henry) were currently in.

"I knew they'd come," Doss says, calmly. "Change of plans, Annie, you'd have to endure for now. We'll go straight to the hospital when we arrive in New York," he adds.

He turns to Henry; "Do you know a safe route we can take to the airport?"

"Yeah yeah" Henry responds quickly as he nods.

"Then let's go!" Doss says.

They carried their luggage, and boarded a taxi, burning their cars behind as Doss suspects Terry's men had the description and possibly pictures of the cars and would be looking out for them.

They head to the airport, on their way, Doss calls his Friend, and in that instant, they prepare a temporary document to aid Henry in flying to Mauritius for safety. Doss's influence at the airport made the whole process pretty fast.

A week later, in Georgia at the Cruise's, Vanessa is preparing a meal for herself and Dale, for dinner when she receives a call, her face goes pale, her eyes filled with pain, and she trembles in agony; Vanessa Cries bitterly as she......