I grinned. “No, that’s fine.” We were silent again. “Do you know how to get in touch with Tessa’s parents?”
Sophia smiled tightly. “No, I don’t.”
“Shit,” I muttered. “They should know.”
“Tessa’s never given me their number or anything.”
“Do you—” My phone started to ring in my pocket, and I hurried and fished it out. It was a number I didn’t recognize, but it said it was coming from San Francisco. “I need to take this.” I stood and went outside as I answered. “Hello?”
“Vinny, it’s Brandon.”
“Thank you for calling me.” I closed the door behind me.
“What’s up?”
I sighed and leaned against the wall. “Tessa’s been kidnapped.”
“What?”
I told him everything. “So, I was hoping you might have some recommendations on what I can do.”
“Our situation was different. Even though I knew where Spencer was—like you know where Tessa is—when the cops went in, she wasn’t okay.”
“Tessa’s not okay.”
“But they said she went on her own?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “It’s bullshit though.”
“Fuck, dude. Either she went on her own, this guy is holding her hostage, or the cops are on his payroll. I honestly don’t know what to tell you.”
I knew in my soul that she didn’t go on her own, but the other two options? In a world of confusion, they were the only two plausible conclusions that made sense.
A little before noon, Sebastian came storming into the house through the garage door. “Come. Now,” he ordered.
I looked at Colton, who was playing on his iPad on the couch, and then to Sebastian who was walking toward the stairs. “We’re about to have lunch.”
He stopped and turned around. “It’s not the time to test me, Tessa.”
“I’m not testing you. I’m telling you that we’re about to eat lunch.”
“Where’s the teacher?” he asked and looked at Valentina who was dusting the fireplace mantel.
“Ms. Tess—”
“I sent her away,” I interjected.
“Why would you do that?” Sebastian asked.
“Because she doesn’t know how to teach my son.”
“She’s qualified,” he replied.
“No, she isn’t.” I sighed. “He has special needs—a different way of learning—a different way of communicating.”
“When does school end?”
“It doesn’t.”
“What do you mean it doesn’t?”
“The school year will end in a month, but he will start an extended school year a week later.”
“Why?”
“Because he can’t take a break. He needs continued education and therapy, at least at this age.”
“What’s wrong with him?”
“Nothing’s wrong with him,” I spat.
“Something’s wrong with him if he needs therapy.”
“You need therapy,” I countered.
Sebastian chuckled and moved to where I stood in front of the couch. He tried to cup my cheek, but I hit his hand away. “I have to admit, Tessa, I really like this feisty side of you.”
“Fuck. You,” I hissed.
“You will. Tonight. But first, I need you in my office.”
“Why?”
“Get your ass up to my office, or I will carry you.”
We stared at each other until Valentina spoke, “It’s okay, Ms. Tessa. I can watch Colton. What will he eat for lunch?”
“Grilled cheese,” I answered, not looking away from Sebastian.
“I make for him,” she stated.
“Now,” Sebastian ordered and pointed toward the stairs.
I sighed and rolled my eyes before I started to walk. Then I stopped and turned around. “I don’t even know where your office is.”
“You didn’t have a hard time finding it last night.”
I didn’t respond. Instead, I turned around and went up the curved staircase and down the hall to the door that would forever haunt me.
“Go on,” Sebastian said from behind me.
I sighed and opened the door, and then took the stairs one at a time. When I got to the top, I stopped and looked around. There was no evidence of a murder taking place the night before. The chairs in front of his desk were turned around, and it looked like an office. The sun shined through the windows framing the desert mountains in the distance. In front of them was his desk that looked to be solid wood. The room was masculine, with brown leathered chairs on the right with a table and lamp between them. A floor to ceiling bookshelf sat behind them, and instead of death, the room smelled like tobacco. Across from the chairs was a closed door.
“I had a visitor this morning at Red Diamond.” Sebastian moved to sit behind his desk in the high-back leather chair.
“And I care because?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.
“He was from the escort company, Saddles & Racks.”
My heart stopped. Vinny? Did he come looking for me? Of course he would. We had plans for him to stay the night and I’d vanished. Did that mean he talked to Melony? What had she said? “Okay?”
“You’re not surprised?”
I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to play his game. I wanted Sebastian to tell me what he knew before I offered any information. “Why would I be?”
“He asked for you.”
“And?”
“Wanted to hire you to go on a date with him and a client.”
“And? When’s the date?” I was hoping this was my way out, and that Vinny was trying to get me back.
Sebastian chuckled. “I’m not stupid, Tessa.”
“Okay. So why are you telling me this?”
He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the dark wood. “I know it was your boyfriend. So the question is, what am I going to do about him?”
I stared at him as I stood in the middle of the room. “And?”
“And you’re going to call him, tell him that you came here on your own.”
“And if I don’t?”
“I will kill him,” he stated without hesitation.
“I hate you,” I seethed.
“You’ll grow to love me.” He smirked.
“Never.”
“We’ll see about that.” He picked up the phone on his desk and held out the receiver for me. “Now, call him.”
“I don’t know his number. It’s in my cell phone.”
“Not a problem.” He unlocked a desk drawer and pulled out my clutch that I’d dropped in the struggle with Mateo. “What’s your password?”
“Just give me the phone, and I’ll call him.”
“Tell me your password.”
I glared at him again. I didn’t want him to go through my phone. There wasn’t much on it, but I felt as though he’d have a piece of me if he looked at my pictures, my texts, my emails, whatever.
“Now,” he ordered.
“442687.”
He punched the numbers in, not bothering to ask me why that was the code. I wasn’t stupid enough to use Colton’s name as my code, but the numbers did have a meaning. “And his name?”
“You don’t know?”
He smirked. “Never got the pleasure before I had him thrown out.”
I stared at him again. I didn’t want to tell him Vinny’s name because I feared if Sebastian knew his real name, he would hurt him.
He spoke as he pressed buttons on the screen of my cell phone. “We can either do this the easy way or the hard way, Tessa Baby. The easy way is for you tell me his name, and I—” He stopped talking, and my heart stopped too. “Never mind—found it. So, you did have plans with him last night.” His blue eyes met mine. “Lucky for me, you’re nosy.”
“Just hand me my phone, and I’ll call him.” I reached my hand out.
He started to do just that but stopped. “When Vinny answers the phone, you will say that you’re here wi
th me on your own. You will tell him everything he doesn’t want to hear. You will make sure he stops trying to get to you, or I will send Mateo to find him and pick him up so I can kill him.”
“You don’t need to kill him.”
“Then you better fucking convince him.”
Sebastian handed me my phone, and I hesitated. What was I going to say to Vinny? I hated having to lie to him, but I did this to myself, and I had never wanted to rewind time more than right now.
“Do it,” he ordered.
“I’m going,” I hissed.
“On speaker.”
I sighed and pressed the call button and then the speaker button as I silently prayed that Vinny wouldn’t answer. But of course, he did.
“Tessa! Oh my God. Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“Really?”
My gaze moved to Sebastian. “Yes.”
“Where are you?”
“My boss’s house.”
“Why?”
I hesitated, and Sebastian cocked his head to the side as he glared at me. “Because I want to be.”
“Really?”
No. “Yes.”
“Tessa.” Vinny sighed on the other end. “What the fuck is going on?”
I sighed too. “Look, Vinny. It was nice while it lasted—”
“While it lasted?” he yelled. “We barely got started.”
“I know. It was a mistake.”
“Bull-fucking-shit, Tessa. Just tell me what’s going on.”
I can’t. “I’m sorry. We’ll always have the Dodgers.”
Sebastian ripped the phone out of my hand and pressed the end button before Vinny could reply. “You’ll always have the Dodgers?”
I shrugged. “We both like the Dodgers.” Vinny would know differently, and hopefully, he’d realize something was wrong. I wasn’t sure how he could help me, but I had to try something.
“Go eat, take care of your son. I have work to do, but remember that tonight, you’re in there.” He pointed at the closed door.
“What’s in there?”
“My bedroom.”
That night, I was in his bed.
I tried to tell him Colton needed me, but that only lasted until Colt was asleep. Then I was ordered to strip, get down on my knees, and pleasure Sebastian in his brown walled room with a king-sized bed. At first, I hesitated, but then he wrapped his hand in my hair and forced me to lower my mouth onto his cock. The entire time I was on my knees, I thought about Sommer doing this exact thing. Why couldn’t it have been her? She was my friend, but she had done this before. I wanted to kick, scream, bite him, but I knew that if I did anything other than what he asked, he would hurt me. He hadn’t yet, but something told me he would, and I didn’t want to take that chance.
After Sebastian came in my mouth, he ordered me to get on the bed brown comforter on all fours. I did. I had no other choice. Maybe if Colton weren’t here, I’d try to run, but there was no way for me to leave with Colt, and I would die before I left without him. So, while Sebastian took me from behind, I closed my eyes and thought about Vinny, praying he would know what I’d said was a lie.
Once Sebastian was done, I cleaned myself up in the bathroom and I cried. I cried because this wasn’t how my life was supposed to be. I cried because my boss had raped me. And I cried because he hadn’t used a condom.
“We’ll always have the Dodgers.”
What the fuck? I stared at my phone in my hands, confused because we didn’t have the Dodgers. I had the Dodgers, and Tessa hated them. I replayed the short conversation over and over in my head.
“Look, Vinny. It was nice while it lasted—”
“While it lasted?” I’d yelled. “We barely got started.”
“I know. It was a mistake.”
“Bull-fucking-shit, Tessa. Just tell me what’s going on.”
“I’m sorry. We’ll always have the Dodgers.”
The more I thought about everything, the more my chest hurt—or I suppose it was my heart. But she was alive, and because of that, there was still hope. I needed Joss. I felt as though she was the only one who would be able to help me.
It took two days until I was able to track down Joss. Their undercover mission was over, and Gabe finally gave me Paul’s address. But when I arrived at the house, she asked me to go shopping with her.
“You want me to go shopping with you?” I asked as she walked to her car.
“Yes. Ride with me. I need to get Cat some clothes.”
When I’d arrived, Paul had mentioned something had happened to Cat, Joss and Seth’s … Well, she was Joss’s friend, but I wasn’t sure what Cat was to Seth because at Paul and Joss’s wedding only a few days ago, there seemed to be tension there.
“Oh, okay.” We got into her car, leaving Paul, Seth, and Cat behind.
“Gabe texted Paul you were on your way and you needed to speak with me privately?” she asked as she put the car into reverse and pulled out of the driveway.
I nodded. “Yeah, I guess it needs to be private, though I’m not sure.”
“What’s up?” We started down the road. I had no idea where we were going, but I told her everything as she drove us to her destination. “Local PD said she went on her own?” Joss asked.
“Yeah.” I bobbed my head. That was the only thing I knew for sure—though I felt it was a lie.
“And she called you and told you she was dumping you for her boss and moving in with the guy?”
“Yep.”
“Huh,” she breathed as though she was thinking everything over. “From what I could tell at the range and my wedding, she really liked you.”
“I thought so too. We’d just made it official the night before your wedding, and the night she went to the party, we had plans for me to stay the night.”
“And you’re sure he’s a drug dealer?”
“Pretty sure. That’s what her friend Melony told me.”
“And how does she know?”
“She said the girls at the club sell for him.”
We were silent for a bit while she thought about everything. “The case from last night was personal.”
“Okay?” I asked, confused about why she was bringing it up. It didn’t involve Tessa.
“I’ve spent my entire life hating the man who was taken down last night.”
“Yeah? And this has to do with Tessa?” I turned more toward Joss in my seat.
“No,” Joss replied. “I’m bringing it up because the bust happened and we essentially got the guy, but there’s more to it than that.”
“Okay?”
“A lot of my time has been spent working on this case, and it still will be while the investigation is pending.”
“What are you getting at?”
“While I care for you because you’re my husband’s friend, and I like Tessa, I’m not going to be able to spend a lot of time on this until that case is over.”
“And you don’t know how long that will be?”
Joss shook her head. “No. It’s not your average case.”
“So, what are you telling me?”
“I’ll put some feelers out and get in contact with the DEA, but I can’t make any promises. If there’s no evidence she’s not there by her own choice, then I can’t barge in and save her.”
“Can you at least talk to her?”
“I will when I can. It has to be on my own time because if local PD already did their welfare check, I won’t have any cause to go check on her.”
“She’s your friend. There has to be a way.”
“Let me look into it. The case we’re working on is my top priority. I’m sorry, Vinny, but give me some time.”
Hearing her say those words, made me think I wouldn’t know anything for a long time.
Forty-Five Days Later …
I wasn’t sure how many days had passed because the weeks were running into each other, and I didn’t have my phone or a calendar to remind me what day it was.
And most nights, he ordered me to be in his bed.
A few days after we moved in, Sebastian’s people went and got more of my clothes and pictures and things. I wasn’t able to tell them what I wanted, and I wasn’t sure happened with my apartment. I didn’t ask. Deep down I knew Sebastian got rid of all of my furniture and somehow got me out of my lease.
About the same time, I deduced that something happened to his friend Tony because a few days after I was held here, Sebastian became stressed, needing me to let off steam or something. He wasn’t rough with me, but he also didn’t try to make me feel good—it never was good anyway. He used me, and I never questioned Sebastian about what was going on, but I’d overheard him say to Mateo that Tony’s bust wasn’t going to be good for him because they were friends and the Feds could link them. Link them in what? I had no clue.
Every night, I would cry after Sebastian used me, and every morning, I’d put a smile on my face so Colton wouldn’t know something was wrong. But, something was wrong because the more time passed, the more I realized I wasn’t getting my period.
And I wanted my period.
I wanted the week break from Sebastian. I wanted to not have to cry after he was done with me. I wanted to not have to wonder every day if he’d want me to pleasure him when he came home. I wanted to escape.
But my period never came, and that caused me to become more depressed. What if I was pregnant with Sebastian’s baby? I’d be tied to him forever, and when I thought about looking at an imaginary child whom I had conceived with him, I feared I would always remember what Sebastian made me repeatedly do.
Every time he ordered me into his bedroom, I was Scarlett. I had to be. I put on a façade, pretended to not care, but I never enjoyed it. I never came, never had that shot of pleasure run through my body no matter what Sebastian did to it. I refused to let him win. He might think he had my body, but he’d never have all of it. There was only one man who would forever have my body, my heart, my love, and I’d told him what we had was essentially a lie.
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