Rum & Coke

by Kimberly Knight

  “Tell me why you think she’s missing.” I told him what I knew as I continued to drive to his house and his first reply was, “Go to the cops.”

  “Yeah.” I sighed. “Seems that’s my only option.”

  “Keep me posted. I’m here to help if you need me.”

  “All right.” I hung up and pulled over. A Google searched confirmed no local police stations were open at this hour. How was that possible? Where did the calls go? I was about to find out. I texted Melony, got Sebastian’s address, and then dialed 9-1-1. Maybe I should have called the non-emergency line, but something wasn’t sitting right, and I needed them to act fast.

  “9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”

  “I think my girlfriend’s been kidnapped by her boss.”

  “Why do you think that?” she asked. I told the dispatcher everything I knew. “It sounds like she went on her own.”

  I sighed. “She didn’t go on her own.”

  “You said—”

  “I know what I said,” I snapped. “Can you help or not?”

  “The only thing I can do is send a call for a welfare check.”

  “Do that then.” Something was better than nothing.

  “What’s the address of the location?” I told her. “I’ll send someone to check on her, but if she went on her own—”

  “She didn’t go on her own.”

  “Whatever the case, we’ll call you back when we have word on her well-being.”

  “Thank you.” I hung up, typed Sebastian’s address into my GPS, and drove toward his house. I wasn’t going to sit back and wait. Time was ticking, and there was no telling what was happening to my girl. When I arrived close to the address, I had to stop at a security gate.

  “Address?” I gave the guy the address. “Name?” I gave him my name. “You’re not on the list.”

  “There’s a list?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh. Well, I’m here to pick up my girlfriend.”

  He smiled. “Sorry. Can’t let you through. You’ll need to have her meet you at the gate.”

  Of course this asshole would live in a gated community. “Look, man. My girl went to a party at this house, and I haven’t heard from her in several hours. I just need to check on her.”

  “Sorry. I still can’t let you in.”

  “The cops are on their way,” I stated.

  “Why?”

  “Because my girlfriend went to a party at that address and I haven’t heard from her in hours.”

  “That’s no reason to call the cops.”

  I didn’t want to tell this guy any more detail than I needed to. “I have my reasons.”

  “Then pull over to the side and wait for them. I can’t let you in.”

  I groaned. “Fine.”

  I pulled over to the side and waited for Metro to show. It took them almost two hours to arrive, so it was well after three in the morning. I was running on adrenaline, but I couldn’t close my eyes for even a second.

  When the cop car arrived, I watched him pull up to the gate. “You’re the one who called?” he asked as he stepped out to talk to me.

  I nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  “Tell me what’s going on.” I did—again. “All right. Stay here, and I’ll go check it out.”

  “I can’t come with you?”

  “It’s better if you stay here.”

  I sighed. “Fine.”

  As I waited for the cop to come back, I felt as though everything was stacked against me and I didn’t like it. How was this happening? Just yesterday—hell, this morning—Tessa and I were happy and laughing and fucking. She’d told me she hadn’t been with anyone in five years and now—and now, it was as if it was all a lie. I couldn’t believe that, though. Tessa wasn’t that type of person. Even if she didn’t want to be with me, she wouldn’t have left Melony like she did. In a matter of hours, I’d gone from high on life to confused as fuck.

  Time seemed to crawl as I waited twenty minutes for the cop to come back. “Well?” I asked the moment he stepped up to my car.

  “She said she’s fine.”

  I balked. “What? You saw her?”

  “Yes, her and her little boy. Said she came on her own.”

  “She told you she took her four-year-old son to a house party?”

  “There’s no party.”

  I sighed. Of course there wasn’t. Whatever had happened caused this fucker to cover his tracks. But why was Tessa saying she was okay?

  Was it all a lie?

  I was scared, terrified, petrified, that if I didn’t do what Sebastian told me to do, he’d kill me, too.

  After I begged and pleaded over and over to no avail, Mateo drove Sebastian and me to my apartment so I could get Colton, as though Sebastian thought it was better for me to subject my son to this danger. I’d only mentioned Colt because I was begging for my life. Now, I felt as though it had backfired on me because I didn’t know what was in store for us. Would he hurt us? Hurt me? Kill us? If he were going to kill me, he’d have done it already.

  Right?

  When I walked into my apartment, I tried to hide my fear from Sophia. I couldn’t let her know something was wrong because I didn’t want to involve her. I couldn’t think about Vinny either, because if he got tangled up in this, he’d be in danger too. So, I told Sophia to go home, and when she left, I packed bags for Colton and me. I made sure to grab his essentials: his nightlight, iPad, baseball and fidget spinners, and after I grabbed what I could in a hurry—per Sebastian’s orders—Mateo carried the bags, and I carried Colt to the car. I was shaking and crying, and all while I was trying not to wake Colton. I held him while Mateo drove us back to Sebastian’s. There was no car seat, nothing to keep Colton safe except my arms, and I wasn’t letting him go. I didn’t know what was going to happen to me, but when we came back to Sebastian’s, the house was empty, and that made me even more nervous.

  “What are you going to do to us?” I asked as I held a sleeping Colton tightly in my arms in what I assumed was the living room. When Melony and I had arrived, I thought it looked like a hotel. Now, as I stood in the empty room, it looked like a prison.

  “I don’t know,” Sebastian replied.

  “Then just let us go back home.” I’d stopped crying and was hoping to talk to Sebastian in a reasonable manner.

  “Can’t do that,” he responded, moving to what I assumed was a bar and pulling out a decanter of caramel colored alcohol.

  “Why not?” I started to bounce slightly, hoping Colton would stay asleep. It also helped calm my nerves in a way.

  Sebastian frowned. “You know why. Don’t play dumb with me now.”

  “So, you’re just going to keep us locked up in your mansion?”

  He closed his eyes briefly, and then took a sip of the alcohol he’d poured himself. “For now.”

  “He has school, therapy.”

  “Therapy for what?”

  “He has special needs, Sebastian. You can’t just keep us locked up.”

  He stepped around the bar. “I didn’t ask you to go snooping in my house, Tessa. This is as much your fault as it is mine.”

  I blinked. “It’s my fault you killed a guy?”

  “No, he had it coming, but what I do is my business and you,” he pointed at me, “interfered.”

  “Please let us go. I won’t say anything, just like I never said anything before.”

  He sighed and responded in a stern voice, “For the last fucking time, no. Now, Valentina will show you to your room.” An older, Hispanic lady stepped into the room from the kitchen. “It’s late, and we all need sleep.”

  “Colton has school in the morning.”

  “He’ll be absent.”

  “Sebastian, please,” I pleaded. “His schooling is more than drawing and taking naps and whatever you might think he does in pre-k. He has special needs and therapy.”

  “Then I’ll hire someone.”

  “What?” I breathed.

  He walked t
he few feet to me and cupped my cheek. I moved my face away, not wanting him to touch me. He smirked. “This little game is going to be fun.”

  “Fun?” I questioned.

  “I’ve had my eye on you for a while, Tessa Baby. Now that I have you, you’re mine.”

  “I’ll never be yours.”

  “You’re wrong. I always get what I want, and I want you.”

  Never.

  I stared up at the ceiling covered with blue waves as Colton laid next to me in the strange bed. He hadn’t woken up for more than a few seconds when I put him down in the guest room. After I changed into my pajamas, I got into bed and replayed everything over and over in my head.

  Arguing with Sebastian hadn’t got me anywhere. I needed to think. I needed to come up with a plan. I needed to escape. I wasn’t sure where Colt and I would go now that Sebastian knew where we lived, but I couldn’t stay with a man who had essentially kidnapped my son and me.

  And then it hit me—like really hit me. I’d been kidnapped.

  By my boss.

  By a drug dealer.

  By a murderer.

  The tears started to fall again. How was this happening? Why was this happening? And how was I going to get Colton and myself out of the situation? Colton needed extra care, and being trapped in a house wasn’t going to be good for him. But I didn’t know what to do. I’d dropped my purse when I was running, and I had no way of calling anyone. No way to tell Melony what had happened. No way to call for help. Maybe I could sneak back into the room where I saw Sebastian kill the guy? That seemed like an office of sorts. Maybe I could find a computer and send an email to Melony. Maybe there was a phone in there. Maybe …

  “Get up!” Sebastian came into the room without knocking and turned on the light.

  I scurried up against the headboard, covering myself with the blankets. I wasn’t naked, but I didn’t want him seeing me in my pajamas either. “Can you be a little quieter?” I whispered. “My son’s asleep.”

  “You’re getting feisty. Didn’t think you’d have it in you, my angel.”

  I rolled my eyes. “What do you want?”

  “Cops are here.”

  My heart started to race. “Really?”

  He grinned. “They’re not taking you, Tessa.”

  “Then why are they here?”

  “Welfare check.”

  “Yeah?” I glared. “Well, you fucking kidnapped me and my son. We’re not doing too well are we?” I mocked.

  Sebastian shrugged. “You’re fine. I haven’t hurt you, and we’re not going to keep going around and around about this.”

  I got out of the bed. “Then I’ll tell the police everything,” I hissed.

  He laughed. “Tell them.” I started for the door, and then stopped and looked back at Colton. “Don’t worry. I don’t hurt children.”

  “No, you just kidnap them,” I sneered and turned back around to leave. When I stepped into the hallway, I stopped when I noticed a person standing just outside the door. It was Mateo. He nodded, and I walked down the hall toward the stairs. How was Sebastian letting me tell the police I was kidnapped? He acted as though it was no big deal. Just as I was about to take the first step down, a hand wrapped around my upper arm and pulled me back into a hard body.

  “Whatever you tell Officer Cameron won’t matter. He’s on my payroll,” Sebastian stated into my ear.

  I closed my eyes, a lump forming in my throat. Now it made sense why he didn’t care if I told the police what had happened. “Who are you?” I whispered. I worked for this man for a year and knew nothing about him. We were never close, never spoke more than a few words to each other except for the night of the fight and when I went to him about my stalker. I thought he was a decent guy—a perv, but decent.

  “I’m the man who’s going to take care of you for the rest of your life.”

  “Excuse me?”

  He spun me around so that I was looking him in the eyes. “I get plenty of women in my bed, Tessa, but now I won’t have to worry about them going to a cop who’s not on my payroll. You’ve seen the worst, and if you tell anyone, I will kill you. I won’t hesitate again.”

  “Just do it.” I regretted the words as they left my mouth. Not because I didn’t want him to kill me and end my misery, but because I was scared of what he’d do to Colton once I was gone.

  He grinned. “Where’s the fun in that?”

  I stared at him, confused. “What fun?”

  Sebastian leaned in, and before I knew it, his lips were on mine. I resisted as his tongue tried to break the seam of my lips. It only made him smirk wider when he pulled back. “I’m letting you sleep in the guest room tonight, but that changes tomorrow.”

  “What?” I thought I knew what he meant, but I didn’t want to believe I was right. Though when he answered me, I realized I wasn’t only kidnapped and held hostage in a mansion that once looked like paradise to me. Now it was a cage.

  “You’re going to sleep in my bed, and do whatever I ask of you, whenever I ask you to.”

  I swallowed. “And if I don’t?”

  “You don’t want to piss me off,” he warned.

  “Because you’ll kill me?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “I will make you.”

  I glared at him. “So, you’ll rape me?”

  “Call it whatever you want, but one way or another, you will be in my bed pleasing me tomorrow night. I’m letting you have tonight for your son. Tomorrow, you’re mine.”

  “Why are you doing this?” I cried, the tears no longer at bay. “Just let us go. I promise I won’t tell.”

  Sebastian finally released my arm. “If you say that one more time, I won’t give you tonight in the guest bedroom. Now, go downstairs, tell Officer Cameron you’re fine—not that it matters—and go to sleep. You’re going to need your energy tomorrow.”

  When I walked down the stairs, I was no longer Tessa. I was Scarlett. Scarlett could get through this. She knew how to fake it and faking it was what I needed to do until I figured out how to leave.

  Because one day, I was leaving.

  When I told the cop I was at Sebastian’s by my own volition, he shrugged and told Sebastian he was sorry he to come by so late. When I asked him who had called it in, he didn’t answer me. Was it Sophia? Melony? Vinny? Melony was the only one who knew Sebastian’s address because she was the one who had called us a car when we went to the party. Did she tell Sophia what had happened? Tell Vinny? What did Melony even think?

  I was tired of all the questions I had swimming in my head. They didn’t stop when I tried to fall asleep either. It was as though Satan was coming in the morning and not Santa as I tossed and turned thinking about everything on repeat. It was nowhere near Christmas, but that was the only thing I could think of because like a kid waiting for Santa, I was restless. I wished Santa was coming. I wished I was at home with Vinny. I didn’t need a big bathroom, didn’t need anything except Vinny, and I’d lost him.

  But Santa, of course, didn’t come.

  The next morning, I showered, gave Colton a bath, and when we walked downstairs in search of food, I came to a stop when I noticed a woman sitting on the couch. “You must be Tessa,” she said as she stood and reached her hand out as she moved closer to me.

  I took her hand. “And you are?”

  She smiled warmly. “Mr. Delarosa hired me to teach Colton.” She bent at the knees and got in front of Colt. “Hi, Colton, I’m Joanna.”

  He didn’t respond. Instead, he stared at his iPad.

  “What do you mean that Mr. Delarosa hired you to teach Colton?”

  She stood and faced me. “I got a call this morning that Colton needed to be homeschooled.”

  I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. “Do you know how to teach a child with autism?”

  She blinked. “Autism?”

  I sighed and started for the front door, hoping this lady would follow me. “I’m sorry for the confusion, but Mr. Delarosa doesn’t kno
w what my son needs.”

  “I—”

  “You can go.” I opened the door and waited for her to move. It took her a few moments before she did. “Sorry again.”

  “He owes me for today,” she stated as she walked outside.

  “I’ll tell him.” I shut the door in her face. It wasn’t like me to be rude, but I was tired, scared, pissed off, and frustrated. Plus, Scarlett didn’t take anyone’s shit. That was how it worked at the club when I was using the persona, and I needed to keep the front up, even if Sebastian wasn’t in the same room.

  Valentina walked into the room. “Ms. Tessa, I made breakfast for you and Colton.”

  “You did?”

  “Si.” She nodded.

  “Why?”

  She blinked. “Because you need to eat.”

  That was true, but I didn’t understand why she took the liberty to make us food. “I can make us breakfast.”

  She smiled. “It’s my job, Ms. Tessa.”

  The night before, I hadn’t thought to ask what her role was when she showed me to the guest bedroom. I didn’t care, and I was still terrified of what was to come. But, I guess it made sense. “You’re Sebastian’s maid?”

  “Housekeeper,” she clarified.

  “And the difference?”

  “I do more than clean, Ms. Tessa. I take care of the house.”

  “Cook, clean, and?”

  “Whatever you need.”

  “Do you know why I’m here?” I crossed my arms over my chest again.

  Valentina smiled warmly at me. “Yes.”

  “And you’re okay with that?”

  She grabbed my hands, bringing my crossed arms down. “Mr. Delarosa’s a good man.”

  I sorted and stepped closer before lowering my voice. “Right. He won’t let me leave and he will rape me tonight.”

  “No, cariño. He will provide for you and Colton.”

  “I don’t need him to provide for us.”

  “You may think that, but he will take care of you.”

  “I don’t want him to take care of us.”

  “You should. He saved me from Colombia. He’s a good man.”

  “How did he save you?”