by C. I. Lopez
Confident that Tomas must keep his promise, Yasmin reminded him that if she didn’t arrive at Sofia’s house today, the police were sure to be notified. Manuel could identify the driver of the Mercedes.
“Your cab driver will not be identifying anybody, and the police will not be notified.”
“Yes, they will, Tomas, and by the way, I couldn’t find a phone anywhere in this house. Who are you? I know that businessmen keep those phones in their cars, but not having a phone at home is very strange.”
Tomas laughed at the angry teenager. “My dear girl, do you really believe that the cab driver is still alive?”
A trickle of fear crept up Yasmin’s spine, and her mouth dropped open, her hands rushing to her face, hearing what Tomas had just implied. The idea that the man she had felt drawn to the previous night was a monster brought a torrent of tears. She realized that because of her, poor Manuel was now dead.
“Now, I understand you are someone I shouldn’t have trusted!” she screamed and backed away from him. “Who are you, and what do you want from me?”
“You will find out soon enough, my little one after you marry me.”
Yasmin gasped as the fear of this man grew in equal proportion to her repugnance of him. She stared at him in disbelief. “Tomas, I am pregnant. That is why I was running away from home. I am going to the capital to have this baby, and then I will return to marry my fiancée.”
Tomas’ expression didn’t change after hearing her confession. “I am very sorry to hear that.” His ego was deflated considerably, and he lost his respect for the girl, now in the knowledge he had not been her first lover. “We can talk about what to do about the baby later.”
“I don’t want to marry you, Tomas. I am leaving now, as soon as you tell the gorilla at the door to let me through, and you’ll never hear from me again.”
“Yasmin,” Tomas said in a condescending tone. “I can provide you with a life the like of which you’ve never known. You have to realize that you won’t get away with this plan of yours. I assume the child you carry was not fathered by your fiancée.”
“You don’t understand anything about me, Tomas, and it’s not worth explaining it to you. I need to leave. My whole future depends on this.”
Tomas reached out to gently touch her face. “I want you, and when you become my wife, you’ll belong to me, and I don’t want you involved in activities that take you away from me.”
“You are not listening to me. I am not marrying you. Didn’t you hear anything I said?” Yasmin’s face was red with indignation, her body shaking with frustration.
“You’ll never have to see your family or your fiancée again. I’ve been thinking about marrying you all day. We will figure out what to do about the baby. After you marry me, you’ll never want for anything or have to work a day in your life.”
Yasmin was repulsed by the idea of marrying this monster. She thought of the man at the door and the guards all around the house. She realized that Tomas would never let her leave the house unless she agreed to marry him. In desperation, she thought that perhaps as his wife, she would have time to formulate a plan of escape, after her baby was born.
“I can’t live locked up in this house, Tomas, and I will need to have a phone installed if I say yes.”
“Yasmin, I said you wouldn’t lack for anything, so, of course, I will provide you with a chauffeur to drive you anywhere I approve. You can have a phone installed, with the same restrictions if you marry me.”
The teenage girl stood, defeated, tears spilling down her pretty face.
“Baby, you will have more freedom as I learn to trust you, and you will go out with me every night to the most exclusive clubs in town. You’ll be wearing the most beautiful clothes so I can show you off to all my friends.”
Staring into space, allowing a numbness to overtake her, Yasmin thought of Ofelia, her beloved nanny since her birth. She also thought of her sister Eva who’d been her constant companion, her mother Narcisa, and her dear Federico, the love of her life. Yasmin wanted to retain the memory of their faces, to recall the events in their lives that linked them all.
“I will marry you, Tomas.” With those words, Yasmin entered an underworld of danger and intrigue by becoming involved in the life of Tomas Chacon, Panama’s drug czar.
Thus, the stage was set for horrors she never knew existed until after their marriage. Guarded around the clock in his mansion, she became his prisoner.
PART TWO
Chapter 3
Oh … Baby
No sooner had Yasmin agreed to marry Tomas, he left the house without explanation, leaving Yasmin alone for the afternoon. Consequently, Yasmin felt shaken with fits of regret and self-loathing on the day before her wedding to a man she despised. With her head buried in a pillow, the girl cried tears of regret and remorse until the sobs shook her entire body. She pondered the foolish decisions she’d made that delivered her to this situation.
How selfishly she’d chosen the comfort of Tomas’ automobile after he’d collided with Manuel’s taxi. She’d ignored the implied warning of danger from the humble man, forsaking him to his unfortunate demise. Yasmin blamed herself for everything that had happened. After all, didn’t it begin with her vulnerability to Toni’s attack?
Meanwhile, the pragmatic young bride-to-be-promised herself she’d continue her search for an escape from Tomas’ imprisonment. Playing by Tomas’ rules wouldn’t be easy, but Yasmin would endure until her infant was born in seven months. She would find a way out of this house and deliver her child to the safety of Sofia’s home. Safe in the knowledge that there would be a future for her child Yasmin could return home and marry Federico.
In bed, Yasmin’s mind filled with memories of her family and Federico, until eventually, she succumbed to a troubled sleep. She dreamed of once again being in the house where she lived with her family since childhood. Under her feet, she felt the cool marble-like-floors made of ceramic tiles. Above her head, she saw the wooden rafters of the high ceilings.
A thousand flowers were dancing and gleaming in their courtyard. Yasmin saw the lattice terrace that lined the yard, and behind the ornate woodwork, there was the silhouette of a man who stood in the dark, waiting. Although she was unable to see his face, she knew it was the only man she’d ever loved. It was Federico waiting for her.
She was awakened by the sound of a door being opened. Yasmin pretended to be asleep, out of fear that Tomas would detect her red eyes and tear-streaked face.
Tomas entered her room, carrying boxes of gifts for his future bride. “These are the clothes you will wear to our wedding and whenever you will be seen in my company.” He spoke in a loud voice, hoping to wake his future bride, proud to be bringing such expensive items.
Yasmin remained still and continued to feign sleep.
Material things were Tomas’ method of showing his worth. He was disappointed at Yasmin’s lack of enthusiasm for them, and seeing her sleeping, he became angry. “I thought you’d be too excited to be sleeping so early on the night before our marriage. What did you think you’d wear for the wedding?”
Yasmin dried her tears on her pillow and sat up in bed. She pretended she’d just awoken and hoped it would justify her swollen face. “Please leave the clothes on the bench, and I’ll look at them in the morning, Tomas, I have a bad headache.” She thanked Tomas for his generous gifts in a sweet but somber voice, explaining she hadn’t been feeling so good and must have dozed off.
Her lack of enthusiasm brought out the expected ire in the man. “You’re not feeling so good on the night before our wedding, are you not? The proverbial feigned ‘headache’ to keep me away, already?” Tomas exploded in a fury, flinging the boxes of clothes at his future bride. The sharp corner of one box caught precisely at the edge of Yasmin’s eye, leaving a nasty cut. Without looking back, Tomas exited the room, slamming the door behind.
The boxes spilled open over the carpeted floor to show elegant clothes that Yasmin never imagined
she would own. At fifteen, the clothes seemed fit for someone older and more sophisticated than her. Yasmin placed her hand to her stinging eye. Feeling a drop of sticky blood, tears once again rolled down her face as she thought of her upcoming nuptials. She remembered the excitement she and Eva had shared with the preparations for her engagement party and eventual wedding, full of happiness, music, and love.
Yasmin knew her eye would be swollen for the next day’s wedding ceremony. Tomas’ angry rebuff, scared the young girl who was not expecting such a violent reaction from her husband-to-be. She placed a wet towel over her wounded eye, and exhausted from crying, finally fell asleep. The boxes with the clothes Tomas had flung at her were left scattered on the floor.
*
Early the next morning, Yasmin was still half asleep when she heard the sound of her bedroom door being opened again. By now, her anger at Tomas’ temper tantrum of the night before had festered. Moreover, assuming it was Tomas entering her room, Yasmin exploded with rage at the thought of him brazenly entering her room.
“Don’t you ever knock?” The annoyed girl asked, reaching for her bedside lamp in the dark of her shaded room.
“I’m sorry, pretty Boss Lady,” Miss Belky said. I will knock in the future if you prefer, but I thought you were still sleeping and I wanted to clean up a bit. It looks like the Boss Man wasn’t pleased last night.” The housekeeper cast an eye over the gift boxes spilled on the floor and over part of Yasmin’s bed.
On seeing Yasmin’s face, Miss Belky hurried from the room and returned to treat the injured eye before the wedding. “I brought ice for your face, and some makeup to cover up the bruise.”
Yasmin was embarrassed at having spoken in such a rude way. “I’m sorry, Miss Belky. I’m a little jumpy this morning. Thank you for your thoughtfulness, but forget the ice and the makeup. My face will show what this marriage is all about. Would it be okay if I called you Belky, and you call me Yasmin?”
“I am no Boss Lady. I am a slave of Tomas Chacon, but in private, you may call me Belky, if you prefer.”
“Well, you aren’t my slave.” Yasmin climbed from the bed to help Belky pick up the mess. There were several boxes with dresses that looked more appropriate to wear to fancy nightclubs. They were dresses that would fit skin-tight and show much more of Yasmin’s body than she preferred. Nothing like what the teenager had ever worn or ever thought to wear. The two women began to organize the clothes in the ample closet of her room
As they were examining the new clothing that Tomas picked for his bride to be, Yasmin reached to one outfit. “That one’s good.” It was a fitted light gray dress.
“But, gray?” Miss Belky looked puzzled. “Gray, for your wedding?”
Yasmin gave a weak smile and nodded slowly.
Miss Belky located a pair of gray silk shoes from the massive closet. “These should match your dress. Maybe the Boss Man bought this outfit for you to wear to his funeral?” The young maid-cum-housekeeper was beginning to like the new addition to the usually dreary household.
In her first act of defiance, Yasmin wore the gray silk dress and stood by the bright light of the sun entering through the recently opened shades.
Miss Belky smiled and admired Yasmin. “If you look at the dress under bright light, it’s almost silver instead of gray, and you do look beautiful in it, Boss Lady.” Belky smiled, having assured Yasmin that she would continue to call her ‘Boss Lady’.
When Belky offered to fix Yasmin’s hair, the girl refused, preferring a simple ponytail, that she fashioned herself, tying it with a rubber band.
A somber-looking bride-to-be walked down the stairs, arriving at the oversized living room, her subdued expression showing her unhappiness at the event.
Tomas had been impatiently waiting until he saw the girl walking down the steps. His annoyance immediately disappearing as he looked at the beautiful girl. However, his eyes twitched as Yasmin approached, and he noticed she’d used no makeup at all. She had not even covered the slightly swollen and discolored skin around her eye.
Conversely, the impatient Justice of the Peace was ready to perform the ceremony, allowing for no conversation between Yasmin and Tomas before the service. Along with the two cooks and Miss Belky, who stood as witnesses, the ceremony began.
Tomas surprised Yasmin with a pair of diamond rings that must have cost a small fortune, and she accepted showing no enthusiasm. The short ceremony concluded with vows exchanged and legal papers signed, while Tomas gazed at his wife with longing. He leered at his bride’s shapely young body. His eagerness embarrassed Yasmin in front of the cooks and Miss Belky.
The groom wanted Yasmin in his bed, having her surrender to him. The moment the pair were declared husband and wife, and the champagne toasts were done, Tomas kissed his bride. He did so in an inappropriately, passionate manner on the lips, mouth open. His tongue searched for hers, but his kiss was not reciprocated. The passion Tomas felt was lost on the girl.
The cooks had uncorked several celebratory bottles of champagne, and they were consumed by all but Yasmin, who was not in a party mood.
Tomas whispered, “Now, you belong only to me.” With a wolf-like sneer before he shamelessly picked her up in his arms and carried her up the stairs to lay her gently on his bed, where he wasted no time in removing all her clothes.
The man hesitated for a moment to admire the beauty of the naked possession in his bed before he began removing his clothes, eager to take his pleasure. He wanted Yasmin. He wanted to feel her tongue in his mouth, her caresses on his chest, and her passion.
She lay still, submitting entirely to him but not responding. That night Yasmin accepted her betrayal at having shared the most private and untouchable parts of her body with a man she detested. From now on, she would accept Tomas’ taste and the smell of his flesh by closing her eyes and remembering Federico. Her mind would be miles away from her body and what was being done to it.
Yasmin cringed, trembling with dread at the moment of penetration, remembering Toni’s attack.
Tomas continued, regardless of his wife’s discomfort. “Now you are mine, baby,” Tomas repeated the endearment numerous times, while his needs became ever more urgent, and more repugnant to Yasmin.
There had been a minor attraction for the handsome man who had sweet-talked Yasmin into spending that stormy night at his house. It dissolved into disgust in the knowledge that he was a murderous monster. Yasmin’s single short-term desire was to break free of this deal with the devil in which she found herself. The teenager no longer recognized herself as the simple girl who’d left home two days before, seeking refuge from scandal.
*
When Yasmin awoke the morning after the wedding, she sat up and looked out the window to see the sun barely peeking over the tree line. Much to her displeasure, she was in Tomas’ room. She wanted to be in her own room, which provided her with some false sense of freedom. As she was about to get up from the bed, she heard voices whispering outside the door.
Yasmin recognized Tomas’ muted tones speaking with a man whose voice she didn’t recognize. At first, the hushed murmurs frightened her, but she assumed that it was Tomas conducting some nefarious business with one of his guards. She didn’t think he’d bring clients into their private part of the house.
Feeling an urgency to get out of Tomas’ room, she climbed out of bed, reminded that she was naked. Without bothering to look for her clothes, she craved a shower to wash away Tomas’ touch from the previous night. She was repulsed by the memory.
Hoping the voices outside the door meant that Tomas was ready to leave for work and she would be without him for the rest of the day, her mood lifted. Yasmin yawned, feeling a moment of relief at having been handed a reprieve, which she would use to scan through the house looking for possible escape routes.
Yasmin was heading to the luxurious bathroom when she heard the bedroom door opening. Tomas stood with another man whom Yasmin had never seen before. Instinctively, she grabbed a blanket
from the bed to cover her body, feeling humiliated. She was appalled at her husband’s lack of respect, bringing a strange man into the bedroom.
“How dare you, Tomas!” Her anger was evident and natural.
“Yasmin, baby.” Surprised at seeing the outraged expression on Yasmin’s face, Tomas approached, even as she backed away from him, trailing the blanket she used to cover herself.
“Get out, Tomas, and get that man out of here.” Her body trembled in fear as she tried to imagine what Tomas might have in mind.
“There’s nothing to worry about, baby,” Tomas said. “This is Dr. Torres. He’s come to check you out.” He spoke as if it were the most rational act in the world to bring a strange man into the marital bedroom without his wife’s permission.
“Why, Tomas? I don’t need a doctor, and you should have knocked before barging in.” Yasmin slipped back into the bed in an act of modesty, pulling the covers up to her chin. She was embarrassed, having this discussion in front of a stranger while standing naked. “I didn’t ask for a doctor, Tomas. Please ask Dr. Torres to leave.”
Out of courtesy, even as she was fuming inside, Yasmin sat up in bed. She was the blanket to her chin. In a tremulous voice, she turned to address Dr. Torres, to let him know that she was sorry he was summoned. Still, as he could see, it must be a misunderstanding as she was in perfect health.
Dr. Torres remained in the room, impassive, not moving, or responding to Yasmin.
Tomas said, “This won’t hurt a bit, baby, and you’ll be so happy when it’s all over.” He grabbed Yasmin by her shoulders, forcing her body to bend over her knees, exposing her naked back. Her desperate struggles were futile as he placed his weight over her.
All Yasmin could think of was that Tomas was going to kill her with the assistance of the doctor. She saw the man approaching the bed, holding a syringe with a needle as long as a pencil. Panicked, Yasmin struggled using all her strength to break out of her husband’s tight grasp.
Never having been exposed to hospitals or childbirth, Yasmin did not recognize the syringe with the extra-long needle was an epidural to be injected into her spine. It would control the pain of forced childbirth. Her terror became intense as she felt the needle inserted between her vertebrae, inducing an immediate somnolent state.