“Lorena, it’s okay,” I said.
Lorena shook my hand off of her.
“No, it’s not okay!” she yelled, “I can’t do this again!”
“I knew you wouldn’t approve,” I heard Roberto say behind us. I snapped around to see him frowning.
Lorena slowly turned to face him with wet eyes, “Roberto...”
Roberto sighed, “Sarah, you can go home now. Doesn’t look like I have much work to take care of today.”
I nodded and then looked back at Lorena one last time before walking away. When I got inside and slid the doors shut, I could see Roberto comforting Lorena the way that I wished I could.
I shook my head and walked away. There is a lot to report to Bobby when I get back.
***
Once again, after explaining everything to Bobby he gave me the same response. Keep searching. He knew that I was doing the best that I could, but after the breakdown I had earlier, it would be a while before Roberto actually took me to see the rest of the hidden children. That meant that I was going to have to risk my neck to find them.
The next day that I went to the mansion, the only thing that I was asked to do was watch over Alex and Lorena. Roberto had explained to me that Lorena was still upset, and that she needed a friend’s comforting. He also wanted me to get Alex in good shape so that he would survive through actual training when the time came.
I walked through the house and made my way up to the second floor. Down the hall were two large wooden doors that led to Lorena’s and Roberto’s room. I started to walk down the hall when I heard Alex speak behind me, “She’s still sleeping. I already checked.” I turned around to see Alex standing there with a blank expression on his face. “Mr. Bellerose said that I would be conditioning today. We could work out while she’s sleeping, and then when she wakes up you two will have time to hang out.”
I smiled, “and how do you know that I want to hang out with Lorena?”
Alex squinted, “Because you two have a very visible connection.”
I frowned and bit my lip, “How old are you?”
“I’m eight.”
“Eight,” I sighed. “Well, let’s get started then.”
Alex and I went to the backyard to train on the soft green grass, right before the garden. I didn’t want to show him the basement and scare him, so I decided to work him out under the sun and in the fresh air. I’m pretty sure that he didn’t get much of that at Ronald’s house.
Alex did everything that I told him, even if it seemed too hard. He did the pushups, sit-ups, and sprints the best that he could. He knew that there would be a time when he had to be trained by Roberto, and that would be a lot harder, so he was just preparing himself.
I actually had a little fun working out with the kid. Even though I was training him for fucked up reasons, I enjoyed coaching him. Alex reminded me a lot of myself when I was his age, and how I would go as hard as I could during my workouts.
“Okay buddy, last sprint,” I yelled. I held my hand out for him to hit. “Go!”
Alex sprinted as fast as he could, and then slapped my hand as he passed me.
“OK, we are officially done for the day,” I said with a smile.
Alex hunched over while breathing heavily. When he looked over at me my smile faded, and I was reminded of what I was actually training him for.
“Go and ask Marie for a bath, then get some rest,” I said.
Alex nodded, and then walked inside.
“You’re really good with him,” Lorena said. She was standing to my left in a blue two piece bathing suit.
I took a deep breath and gave a slight smile, “I’m doing my best. I’m a little new to this.”
“Oh, well it’s not as hard once you get used to them. Kids are actually pretty easy to look after.”
“Yeah, when you have maids like Marie around,” I laughed.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Lorena nodded for me to follow her. When she turned my eyes couldn’t help but travel downwards, but then I snapped them back up when she turned her head to see if I was following “Are you coming?”
“Right behind you,” I said, and she laughed.
We walked around to the pool and sat down at one of the white tables that surrounded it.
“Do you want something to drink?” Lorena asked.
“Um, orange juice?”
Lorena smiled, “You’re still the same huh?”
“I guess I am,” I laughed.
“I’ll be back,” Lorena stood and went through the side door. When she returned five minutes later she had a cup of orange juice in one hand, and red wine in the other.
“Drinking a little early,” I said, taking the orange juice.
Lorena sat down. “Always,” she said, before taking a sip and looking towards the pool.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“No,” Lorena said without looking at me, “I’m not. Haven’t been in a long time.”
“You will be soon,” I said in a serious tone.
That made Lorena turn to look into my eyes. I couldn’t tell if she believed me or not, but I hoped that she did.
“Until then,” I reached over and took her glass of wine, “try to lay off the wine.”
Lorena cocked her head to the side and looked from her drink and back to me “I’ll try,” she said.
“Good,” I poured it out on the pavement next to my chair.
Lorena sighed, “So how long will you be here today?”
I shrugged, “Not sure. Roberto just asked me to watch over you and Alex.”
Lorena smiled, “I guess you will be here for a while then.” She stood and walked towards the pool. Once again my eyes traveled down her beautiful Colombian body, and back up again. My eyes stopped on her right wrist with the bruised fingerprints around it. It wasn’t there before, which pissed me off, because she had to have gotten them after I left yesterday. Roberto had hurt her once again, and at the moment, there was nothing that I could do about it.
Chapter 19
The next couple of days it was just me, Lorena, and Alex. I would come by and train Alex, and sometimes Lorena would watch. After Alex got cleaned up we would all eat breakfast together.
Alex was still a little awkward to be around, but it wasn’t as bad as before. I was actually starting to like the little boy. He was a smart ass, but he was sweet, and it made me wonder where he lived before all of this.
Lorena had bonded with Alex perfectly fine. She got him to the point where he would take her plates and cups to the kitchen even though she said that it was Marie’s Job to do those types of things. We had yet to get the kid to smile, but we figured that after some time he would. I couldn’t wait to get him out of here and to a good family. Hopefully, someone would want him after all that he’s been through.
“So,” Lorena looked over to Alex, “how about we go and get you some new clothes today?”
Alex looked surprised, “Oh, no ma’am. You d-“
“Alexander, I’m tired of seeing you in those same dirty clothes. We’re going,” Lorena said with a smile.
“Will Mr. Bellerose be alright with that?”
“Of course I will,” Roberto entered the dining room and rested his hands on the back or Alex’s chair. “You’ll need some new clothes since you’ll be staying here for a while.”
Alex didn’t respond and kept to himself. Roberto had a way of bringing the down with his very presence. Even if he was in a good one.
“Sarah, I’ll need you to go with them.”
“No problem,” I nodded.
“Alright, well you three enjoy yourselves,” Roberto said. He walked over to Lorena and leaned down for a kiss. Lorena jumped, and for some reason that made him smile. He lightly touched her chin and lifted her lips to his. The sight made my stomach turn.
When I looked over to Alex, I could see that he was as irritated as I was. He wasn’t giving his original blank stare, but a little more of a glare.
Roberto pulle
d away from Lorena. “I’ll see you all when you get back,” he turned around on his heel and left the room.
Lorena looked up at me, but then dropped her eyes again and said, “Come on. Let’s go.”
***
Mark drove us out to a large mall in a very busy area. Right after I had gotten out of the car I received a text from Roberto saying to take good care of them. Apparently he was worried about her leaving his sight. He also probably wanted me to make sure that she didn’t try and run away again.
For most of the day we went into different stores and let Alex pick out his own clothes. At first, he didn’t want to pick anything, but after Lorena gave him a look comparable to Miss Shy’s, he went right ahead and did as he was told. It was weird seeing Lorena act like a mother, but then again it looked beautiful. I had never really thought about having children of my own, but I knew that I would want them one day. Maybe when I can finally settle down again. Maybe with he-
“Hey, you hungry?” Lorena asked.
“Yeah, I could use some food,” I shrugged. “You hungry little man?”
Alex squinted at me. He didn’t like when I called him little, but I couldn’t help it. He was pretty short for an eight year old.
“The food court is downstairs,” Lorena said. She led us over to the escalator. Once we were at the bottom we picked what we would like to eat and sat down at a table.
“Well, that was fun. Haven’t been away from the house this long in forever.” Lorena smiled at Alex, “You picked out some pretty nice clothes.”
Alex just shrugged, took a bite of his chicken finger, and looked away. I couldn’t help but smile, and Lorena blushed.
“So, are we done for today?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’ll call Mark around,” Lorena said, pulling out her phone.
I sat back and looked around. The once busy mall was almost empty, and it was almost closing time. That’s when I noticed someone staring directly at me. It was a man around my age wearing a dark blue T-shirt and black jeans. Next to him was another man who glanced at me, and then whispered something into the other man’s ear.
Alex turned to me, “I think that we should leave now, Sarah.”
“I agree,” I said, standing up. “Let’s go Lorena.”
“Alright?” Lorena knew something was wrong. “Mark’s not answering his phone.”
I sighed, “We can call again in a minute.”
The three of us had left the food court and just made it up the escalator when I saw that the two men had left their seats and were nowhere in sight.
“Let’s hurry up,” I said, pushing my hand against Lorena’s upper back.
As we neared the doors I saw that it was already dark outside. I was surprised that Roberto hadn’t called me, but then figured that he really just trusted me to keep them safe.
When we walked out of the mall we looked around for Mark and the truck, but there was no sign of him, and when I called his phone, there was no answer.
“What’s going on?” Lorena asked.
“Nothing good,” I responded. “Come on, he may just be lost.” I had started walking down the sidewalk when I saw two familiar faces walking in our direction.
“What is it?” Lorena asked.
“Who are those guys?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” Lorena answered as she backed away.
The two men passed under another street light and I could see their dark smiles.
“Other way. We need to go the other way,” I said. There was no one around now, and the parking lot only had but a few cars, so there were no witnesses to what was about to happen next.
“I don’t think that way is okay either,” Alex said.
When I turned around I saw two more men. I had reached back to pull out my gun, but stopped when I saw that one of them already had one out.
“I don’t want to have to use this,” the dark haired man said.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“Oh, nothing with you. Just Mrs. Bellerose. I’m surprised that Roberto let her leave with such light security,” he said.
“What do you want with me?” Lorena asked.
“Ah, well,” he shrugged, “to repay Roberto back for having my brother, Leon, killed.”
“Leon came after us!” Lorena explained.
“After Roberto had him beat senseless,” the dark haired man looked serious now. “On top of that another friend of ours was killed as well. I can’t just let him get away with that.”
“So you’re going to kill us?” I asked. There were four of them, and I was sure that each of them held a gun. I didn’t know how to get us out of this one, but I would figure something out.
“No, I don’t want to do that,” the man chuckled as he slowly approached us. “We just want to send him back a message.”
Alex quickly side stepped in front of Lorena and had both his fists up ready to fight for her. I looked down at Alex and wanted so badly to pull out my gun, but that would just end up with bullets flying, and one of them could hit Lorena or Alex.
“Wow,” the man laughed. “A kid and a dyke was all he left you with?” He stepped in closer, but then I moved in his way.
“That’s close enough. Now just walk away. You have a problem with Bellerose, not her,” I said.
The man stared into my eyes and probably thought that he was intimidating me, but he was far from it. If I didn’t have to be so cautious I would have been knocked him out.
The man took a deep breath, “Don’t make me hurt you. I just want that one.” He nodded towards Lorena.
My heart raced and my hands slightly shook. It’s been a while since I’ve actually felt like this before. The last time was when Cameron grabbed me, but I didn’t go crazy because I didn’t want to hurt him.
“I won’t be the one getting hurt. Now just let us go,” I said sternly.
“Look,” the man raised his gun by his head, “I’m the one with the g-“
Without thinking, I grabbed his wrist and twisted his hand until I heard a crack and he dropped his gun. It was fairly easy because of all of the adrenaline.
“Get down!” I yelled as I whipped out my gun and shot the other guy in his chest. I couldn’t worry if I killed him or not, because the two men behind us were about to make their move. Luckily, Mark came crashing in to save the day.
Mark screeched to a stop after scaring off the other two men by riding up on the sidewalk.
“Get in!” Mark yelled.
Lorena and Alex ran to the truck and jumped in the back seat, and I hopped in the passenger seat.
“Sorry I’m late,” Mark said, pulling into reverse. The side of his head was bleeding onto his shirt. “Ran into a little scuffle.”
“A little? You need stitches!” Lorena said while examining his head from in between the seats. “Marie should be able to fix you up.”
“She always does,” Mark chuckled. He drove us back to the mansion.
Roberto was already waiting for us in the entrance hall. I had called him and let him know what had happened on the way back, and apparently he had been waiting for our return since.
“Darling, are you okay?” Roberto asked. He held Lorena’s face in his hands and looked her over. “Did they hurt you?”
“No sweetie,” Lorena put on a fake smile. “I had Sarah and Alex protecting me.”
Roberto glanced over to me and Alex, and then looked Mark up and down.
“Marie!” Roberto called.
Marie came walking in from around the corner, “Yes, Mr. Bellerose?”
“Think you could stitch Mark up?” Roberto asked.
“Oh dear,” Marie walked over to Mark and examined his cut, “Certainly. Come Mark, we don’t want that cut to get infected.”
“Thanks Marie,” Mark said as he followed her towards the kitchen.
Roberto closed his eyes and took a deep breath, “Are you alright Sarah?”
“I’m fine,” I nodded.
“Good. I’m glad. Come see
me in my office,” Bellerose said before kissing Lorena on her forehead and walking away.
“I’ll get you ready for bed tonight Alex. Could you just go and get the bags out of the truck first?” Lorena asked.
Alex nodded and walked out to get the bags.
I sighed, “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. This isn’t the first time you’ve saved me,” Lorena giggled.
“Yeah, you didn’t seem very worried,” I said.
“Well, I trusted that you would keep us safe. Plus, I’m Roberto’s wife. There are things much scarier than four other men,” she kept smiling, but I knew that she was serious.
Alex came back in dragging all of his bags of clothes behind him. “I have the bags,” he said tiredly.
“Great, take them upstairs. I’ll be up there in a minute,” Lorena said.
Alex sighed and dragged his backs up the steps.
“Well, before all of this, I enjoyed my time with you,” I said.
“I did too,” Lorena said. She stepped in close and gave me a tight hug. “Thank you.”
I wrapped my arms around her lower back and hugged her back. I had forgotten how good it felt to have her soft body in my arms, and I didn’t want to let her go.
“I have to go and see what Roberto wants,” I said with a sigh.
“Okay, well see you tomorrow,” Lorena pulled away and bit her bottom lip.
“See you,” I watched as she walked away and headed up the stairs, then I went to meet Roberto in his office. “You wanted to speak with me?”
“Yeah,” Roberto answered. He spun around in his chair to face me. “Please explain to me exactly what happened?”
I sat down and told him about the four men and what they said, then gave a description of each of them. When I was finished Roberto looked up in thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers with a smile.
“I know who you’re talking about now. It took me a moment to remember what Leon’s brother looked like. Anyways, I know who the other three are as well.”
So...what are you going to do?”
Roberto grinned, “Nothing out of the ordinary. That's all I need from you. You may go home now.”
Caged 2 (Caged Series) Page 13