by Mia Ford
“Okay, so we fly home, pick up our son, and take him with us,” she said, smiling. “Make it a family vacation. He would be thrilled.”
I sat there for several moments thinking about the prospect of taking Casey and Seth with me on this business trip. I had never taken anyone with me but the idea of making a family trip not only seemed like a warm and inviting idea but reminded me of when my father used to take us along on his trips. We saw so many amazing places as kids and it would be so neat to offer that to Seth and Casey as well. The tension released from my shoulders and I took a drink of my whiskey, thinking about how much fun Seth would have in Caracas. I nodded my head and turned to Casey, who was waiting patiently for my response.
“I think that’s an amazing idea,” I said with a smile. “You and Seth will absolutely love all the things you can do there. I won’t be able to be with you guys the whole time but there are several guides that can take you to all the shops and the events they have for kids. I honestly don’t know what I would do without you.”
“Drive yourself nuts.” She laughed.
I stood up and kissed her on the head. “I’m going to go let the captain know we need to go back to port and have the jet ready for our departure. Thank you for being so understanding,” I said, running my hand down her cheek.
“I get a really cool family vacation out of it.” She laughed. “How could that be bad?”
I smiled and set off to make the arrangements. This was a new way of doing things and I was lucky to have Casey there to help guide me through the unfamiliar waters. On the flip side, I would get to see my boy, who I missed so much it made my heart ache.
Chapter 24: Casey
Since our arrival in Caracas, we were shown the most amazing hospitality. The locals immediately swarmed around us and made sure everything we desired was fulfilled. Seth couldn’t get enough of the desserts they kept sending to our room and I laughed at his wide eyes every time he heard a knock. The suite was bigger than the penthouse and extravagantly decorated with ornate furniture and amazing details etched into every surface. Seth had his own room in the suite and the hotel had made sure to make it kid friendly before we arrived. The view from the suite was amazing and I couldn’t help but stand at the window and look out over the city. There were gorgeous buildings, tropical details, and people all over the streets. This city was like a more rural version of New York where everyone rode bicycles and you could purchase goods from the immense street markets near the center of the city. Dex was in and out of meetings but he made sure we were entertained thoroughly before he left. We hadn’t gone out into the town yet and were planning on doing that in the next day or so. I thought it would be nice to bring my mother and Natalie some beautiful tapestries back from the markets.
Dex had surprised us by coming back early and taking Seth and me downstairs for a light lunch to spend some together time. He looked stressed but he tried to hide it when he played with Seth. I sipped my tea and grazed on the small sandwiches and salads that had been ordered for us. Seth was content with a plate full of potatoes and eggs that the chef prepared just for him. At first, I thought the extra attention was for everyone but after watching the other guests in the hotel, I realized it had more to do with who Dex was than it did with the hospitality of the restaurant. I smiled as Dex’s partner, Joe, came in, ruffling Seth’s hair and leaning down to whisper in Dex’s ear. Dex nodded and stood, stepping to the side. They were hard to hear but I caught most of it.
“I am surprised you brought your family,” Joe said. “There has been some serious political unrest brewing in Caracas recently.”
“I wasn’t aware,” Dex said with a worried look. “Everything was fine since I was last here.”
“It started shortly after you last left,” Joe explained. “You know how these things are, they escalate quickly. You should definitely go to the security office and hire guards for your family. They should stay here in the hotel, it might not be safe for them out in the streets.”
Dex rubbed his hand down his face and nodded his head. “Thank you, Joe. I’ll do that.”
“Are you free for the meeting after lunch?”
“Yes, of course,” Dex said, looking over at me. I put my head down trying not to show that I was listening.
“It was good seeing you,” Joe said, putting his hand on my shoulder.
I nodded and smiled, slight fear bubbling in my stomach. Dex sat back down and smiled at Seth who handed him some of his potatoes. I could tell he was more worried than he wanted to let on. I took a sip of tea before approaching the subject.
“Will you be taking Joe’s advice?” I asked nonchalantly, peering over my cup at Dex.
“Of course,” Dex said, swallowing his water with a gulp. “I plan on going directly over there before the meeting and sending guards up to the doors. This is all very unexpected, I should have kept a better watch on things.”
I laid my hand on his leg and smiled, trying to show him I had the utmost confidence in the situation. Inside, however, my nerves were surging and I quickly realized that being married to a billionaire businessman required a lot of restraint when it came to how I expressed my emotions. It wasn’t so much for the people around us but in support of Dex, so that he could feel more comfortable and be able to concentrate on his business. If I knew anything about Dex though, it would take a lot more than a confident look from me to calm any nerves he might have, especially when he was already pissed about having to come back here so soon.
“I’m sorry about this,” he said, leaning over and kissing me on the cheek. “I promise we will get this done as quickly as possible and I’ll whisk us all away to a safer place to continue our family vacation.”
“We will be fine,” I replied. “Just focus on the business, we will be fine. It’s an adventure, right?”
“Well, that wasn’t quite the adventure I had in mind for my wife and son.” He chuckled. “With the wedding happening so quickly, I didn’t take the time to pay attention to the political status of where we were headed. I guess I’ve never had to really pay attention to that before now.”
I shook my head, trying to make him feel better. I poured more water into his glass from the pitcher on the table and offered him some of the salad. He refused, his nerves obviously too high to eat anything. In fact, I wasn’t feeling much like eating but I needed to stay calm for all three of us, especially since I didn’t want Seth to know anything was going on. I wanted him to be carefree and have a good time while we were out there, something all five-year-olds should be able to do. In the meantime, Dex would take all the measures we needed to keep us safe should anything start to happen.
“Dex,” I said, leaning over to him and kissing his cheek. “You cannot take all the blame for this. You did not know anything like this was going on. And besides, I’m equally to blame, I didn’t want to be separated from you for even a second. I haven’t reached that point as your wife yet, I guess.”
“I know,” he said, smiling at me with that same charming smile. “I just feel bad that you’re going to have to be locked up in the hotel the whole time.”
“Oh, no,” I said sarcastically. “You mean I have to stay in a luxurious suite with room service out the wazoo, more room than the penthouse, and every movie I’d ever want to watch at my fingertips? How will I manage? Did I get the rich wife thing down?”
“Perfect.” Dex laughed, wiping his face and standing from his chair. “I have to go my love. I’ll be back as soon as possible and I’ll send the guards over to your door.”
I watched as Dex kissed Seth on the top of the head and then turned to me, pressing his lips firmly against mine. As he walked away, I sighed and watched him until he disappeared. My love for him was stronger than ever. I knew he would do everything in his power to keep us safe but part of me still worried about his safety. He was so absorbed by everything going on, I hoped he would remember to keep himself safe during all of this as well. I looked over at Seth who was building a town out
of potatoes and shook my head, wishing we could all stay together.
When I was finished with lunch, I ordered some hot tea to be sent up to the room and walked through the lobby hand in hand with Seth. He had never seen anything as amazing as the architecture of these buildings so getting from the restaurant to the suite took us quite a while. He asked a million questions that I didn’t know the answers to and told myself I would do some research when we got upstairs. Inside the elevator, I leaned against the wall, watching the floors tick by on the screen. My thoughts were lost in Joe’s warning and I wondered if there would be anything on the news about it. On second thought, I knew I should probably keep all that to myself so there was no chance that Seth caught wind of it and became scared. The last thing I wanted to do was ruin this for him, he was having the time of his life. He thought the penthouse was the fanciest thing in the world but when he got here, he just about lost it with all the amazing things to do and look at. Not to mention, everyone catered to him directly, making sure he was having fun and always had a full belly. By the end of the trip, we are all going to have to go on a diet.
When we got into the penthouse, I asked Seth to put his trucks back in his bags so we could keep everything together. In reality, I wanted to get our things settled so that if we had to leave suddenly, there wouldn’t be any issues. While Seth did that, I grabbed our passports and ID’s and stuck them in my pocket so that no matter what, I had them on me at all times. The last thing I wanted was to end up stuck at customs not able to get back home because we didn’t have any of our identification. Seth wandered through the suite, looking at all the different pictures hanging on the walls. I offered to turn on a movie but he wasn’t really a movie kind of kid, so I grabbed his sketch book and his pencils and sat him down in front of the floor to ceiling windows so he could draw any building he wanted to. He was almost overwhelmed by the amount of choices so I suggested he start with the smaller dome-shaped building below us in the center of the city. He shook his head excitedly and went to work on his masterpiece.
In the meantime, I went through the rooms and repacked our things in case we had to leave in a hurry. I folded our laundered clothes and placed them neatly in the suitcases, daydreaming about our time on the yacht. I peeked out the bedroom door and noticed Seth was lost in his art so I flipped on the television and watched the news. There wasn’t anything big, that I could tell since they spoke a different language, that was going on at the time so I clicked off the television and moved to Seth’s room. His toys were scattered everywhere so I grabbed his bag and began to neatly pack them, though I knew within an hour he would pull all of them back out. As I packed, Seth walked into his room holding his drawing in his hand. He lifted it up to me and I smiled, looking at the building in the courtyard below. I squinted at the surrounding drawing, looking at little circles all around the building.
“What are these?” I asked, pointing at the circles.
“All the people,” he said. “They all started coming. There must be something important down there.”
My head popped up and I handed the drawing back to Seth, slowly making my way back to the windows. As I approached, I could see lines of people marching across the city streets and collecting at the foot of the hotel. They were carrying signs, flags, and some of them were wearing masks. I could see they were chanting but from that high up, I had no way of knowing what they were saying. I took in a deep breath and looked at the enormous scene forming below us. The protests they were talking about had brought themselves to our doorstep and fear immediately shot up my spine and rested on my chest. I couldn’t move as the scene unfolded before me.
Chapter 25: Dex
Immediately after kissing my wife and child goodbye, I knew I needed to do what Joe advised. I jumped in the car and had the driver take me over to the security firm’s office. I didn’t want to waste any time getting guards sent over to the hotel. I regretted bringing Casey and Seth along on this trip but at the time, I could only think about how much I didn’t want to be away from Casey so soon after our wedding. I was more tense than I had been in a very long time and part of me just wanted to say screw it, pack up Casey and Seth, and get the hell out of here. However, my partner and I had put in a lot of work on this deal so I needed to at least see it through to the end. Either way, from now on, I would be doing some serious research before I brought my family along to these meetings. I would never put them in this kind of situation ever again if I could help it. I knew Casey was keeping her cool for my sake but I also knew her better than that. I wanted to make sure she felt as safe as possible.
When I arrived at the security office, the driver opened the door and ushered me straight inside, having called them in advance to let them know who I was. They nodded their heads and walked me to a room at the back to go over the logistics of their services. I used a security service a few times before but it was only for the safety of the dignitaries I was working with, not for myself or my family. I was told this was the best service in the city so I was ready to receive some assurance of Seth and Casey’s safety.
“Hello, Mr. Canton,” a large man in a black suit said, shaking my hand. “I am Sebastian Mateo, the owner of this company. I have been told your family is staying at the Hotel Cayena and needs our protective services.”
“Yes, it is my wife and my child,” I said with a nod.
“It is a very dangerous time for us here in Venezuela,” he said, typing on his laptop. “I am sorry your family has to go through this. This city is usually such a lovely place to visit.”
“I was unaware of what was happening,” I said. “I just want them to be safe.”
“Not a problem,” he replied, looking up at me. “We have dispatched a team over to the hotel. They will be stationed at the elevator and any other entrances that lead up to the suite. I have also taken the liberty of calling Mateo. He will be escorting you to your meeting and wherever else you need to go while you are here.”
“Thank you,” I said, nodding my head at the large man standing in front of me.
I signed the papers for the services and headed back to the car, Mateo in tow. We jumped in and headed through the streets of Caracas, noticing several groups of people along the way. They were all holding signs and headed in the same direction. My chest felt tight and I wondered just how bad things could get. I had seen many protests in New York but I knew they were completely different in other countries, especially out here. I knew that violence was prevalent and many of the people carried weapons. I tried to take a deep breath and remember that Seth and Casey were safely tucked away in the hotel and that the security would be arriving at any moment to make sure they stayed that way. It was difficult, knowing how much I loved them and how vulnerable they were, especially this being their first real trip out of the country.
When we pulled up at the offices to sit down with my partner, I rushed inside, not wanting to waste any time. Joe had everything set up and I assured him I had sent security over to the hotel to protect Casey and Seth. He began going over the details of the deal, which the seller had completely changed since the last time I was here. It was incredibly frustrating since he was taking advantage of my time away with my family. This guy thought he had us over a barrel but there was no way I would agree to his terms. I knew he wanted to sell and he thought he could pull one over on my partner, not realizing I was the one who made the decisions. I glanced over at Mateo who was answering his phone, a look of determination crossing his face. I put down my pen and looked at him as he approached.
“I need you to see this, sir,” he said, handing me his phone.
I looked down at the screen and watched the video playing. There were thousands of people marching through the streets, chanting and carrying signs. There were police on the other side with large weapons and riot gear, striking fear into my heart. I watched to the end, recognizing the domed shaped building they were surrounding.
“When was this from?” I asked, handing the phone back to t
he guard.
“Sir, that is a live feed,” he said. “They have gathered at the foot of the hotel. The police are surrounding them but my people say they are expecting a standoff. Things have escalated quicker than we could have foreseen. It is getting very dangerous out there. Here in Venezuela, the police shoot first, they don’t ask questions like in your country.”
I rubbed my face with my hands, realizing this situation just got dire. I picked up my cell phone and texted my pilot, telling him to pick us up in the helicopter on top of the hotel. How did I not see this beforehand? How did I miss an extremely dangerous situation unfolding around us without seeing the danger in it all? Caracaras was in bad shape. It was like a powder keg surrounded by flames and from the looks of it, it was about to blow. I flipped to the call screen and dialed the airlines, letting them know we would be leaving as soon as possible so get the jet ready and I would call back with a destination. Everyone seemed to already be expecting the response, as news of the uprising had spread through the city like wild fire. I didn’t know what the political issues were but the protestors were angry and the police were ruthless, a mixture that promised nothing but disaster right at the feet of Casey and Seth.
“Where are you going?” Joe said, watching me stand and gather my things. “We have to give word for this deal.”
“I’m leaving and I’m taking my family to safety, I suggest you do the same thing,” I said abruptly. “Joe, it isn’t safe here. Your life is worth more. As far as the deal goes, it’s off.”