THE REGNALDS

“How did you get this?”

“He gave it to me himself.” I sighed and rolled my eyes at the chubby middle-aged policeman who barely seemed interested in my complaint.

“Why would a sexual offender leave his contact info with the victim? Think about it, bud.” He squinted his eyes at me as if searching for answers I wasn’t saying.

Why does he think I’m lying? Do I look like I would lie about being sexually assaulted at my age?

“I’m telling the truth, you sir.” I stood up to explain with my body language since the man wasn’t taking this seriously at all.

“He asked me to join him in his car, which I did, then he suddenly started touching me all over…”

“Why would you even join a total stranger in his car?” he interrupted my attempt to make him understand my plight.

“That’s because… I… I…” I stopped to watch him trail off to continue punching his computer, obviously not interested in what I was trying to say at all.

“Hahhh.” I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair in disbelief. I was starting to get pissed off now. What with this shitty attitude?

“What’s going on?” a fellow cop asked from behind me.

I turned to face him. He looked younger and easier to read than the chubby cop.

“A sexual assault complaint,” the chubby cop replied, stood up, and walked over to the younger cop, then handed him the business card.

It seemed the younger cop was higher in rank since he could make the uninterested man light up with a little vigor, and he walked over to his side.

I watched warily as the two of them discussed in hushed tones with a serious yet surprised look on their faces. It seemed the younger cop was taking it more seriously than the older.

“What’s your name and address? Here, fill this out…” The younger cop handed me a sheet of paper that seemed like a personal profile request. I collected it, then sat down to fill in the details and handed it back to him.

He patted my shoulder and said to me with a dry smile, “Don’t worry, pal. Be on your way, we’ll get in touch, okay?”

“Okay.” I turned to leave when he spoke again.

“You should keep this.” He was referring to the business card.

“Here.” I hesitated a bit, thinking again before collecting it from him.

“Thank you,” I muttered, then proceeded to leave the place.

Outside, the sun was fully bright now. There were both regular cars and police vans in the parking space, and a few people walking along the road.

I walked out of the vicinity and noticed a signboard that read “The City’s Safe With Us.”

“What a joke…” I scoffed at the signpost. When they can’t really catch a big-shot sexual offender?

Rowen Regnald.

The name had been on my mind since I went back to class. His appearance and voice haunted my thoughts as I could barely concentrate on the professor’s teachings. I couldn’t stand the fact that my whole body was still stinging from his abominable touch, so I had to hurry to the nearest police station to report the assault.

Leaving me with a clear conscience that I didn’t consent to that lewd offer he made.

Whoever he is, it was clear he was a big shot—rich and handsome enough that he could get even the most beautiful celebrity in the country. Why did he have to set his eyes on my girl? And now he’s demanding some weird compensation. Who in his right senses would fall for that?

It was around 4 p.m. in the afternoon when I got to my dorm. I should get some rest after all.

I punched in the passcode to my dorm room and entered, only to see Dave.

“Wassup, buddy?” he chirped at me.

“Good to see you, bro.” I walked over to greet him.

Dave is my almost non-existing roommate. I could count the number of times I’ve seen him since we’ve been supposedly living together.

Dave is what you call a total extrovert. He’s always cheerful and loud with his bright green eyes and messy blonde hair. He is what you should call a golden retriever boy.

“What got you coming back home?”

“Nothing, I got off rehearsal early today, so I wanted to pick some of my old stuff on my way to Cherry’s,” he said with a bright smile laced on his freckled cheeks.

Dave is a performing arts major and also a popular influencer/blogger on social media. I remember some girls in my department saw me with him one time during our sophomore year and pestered me for weeks for his contact info. Even though we spend little time together, he always seems happy to see me whenever we meet.

“Done with classes?”

“Yeah… how’s Cherry?” I relaxed into the only comfy chair in the room while watching him lying on my bed. His own bed was packed up since he barely used it.

“She’s fine… she asked me to send greetings.”

“Hmm.” I responded with a nod.

Suddenly, a thought came to mind.

“Dave, do you know who Rowen Regnald is?”

“Rowen… never heard of him. But you should know the Regnalds.”

My eyes lit up.

“Who are they? Why am I supposed to know them?”

He looked at me with disbelief.

“You don’t? No way!” He sat upright from the bed.

“Don’t you know the popular TRX group?”

“Yes I do, I mean, who doesn’t?” I answered.

“The Regnalds are the conglomerate’s family owners.”

“The hell…” I exclaimed with surprise.

“You should know this, you major in business administration.”

“I know about the TRX group, I just didn’t know that…”

“So, is this Rowen a part of the Regnalds too?” I continued, getting closer to him as I focused intently on what he was about to say.

“Dunno…” he shrugged.

“He should be, since they are a large family and somehow they all seem to look alike and bear similar names starting with ‘R’,” he added.

“Wow.” I gasped. I knew he was some big shot, but not this big!

“Do you know Roselle Regnald?”

“Who’s that?”

“She’s a popular influencer and pop star.”

“She’s from the family too?”

“As her name implies, yes.”

“Also Ronald Regnald, an international footballer. And a lot more than that. The family seems to have at least one successful relative in each sector of the world,” he added.

While I was lost in thought trying to process everything he was saying, Dave kept rambling on and on.

“Recently, a distant relative of theirs got married to the female state commissioner of police here in Texas. I tell you, bud, the wedding was off the charts and all over the tabs.” He seemed delighted as he continued. The Commissioner of Police, huh? No wonder those two poor excuses for cops were acting weird.

“Heard they even have connections to the mafia underworld.” That struck me.

“What?!” I gulped.

“Hey, you seem a bit nervous?” He finally came around to observe my reactions.

“I’m fine. So tell me, this Rowen… does he belong to the mafia part of the family?” I probed him, scared for my dear life.

“I’m not sure. Like I said earlier, I’ve never heard of him.” He reminded me.

“Why don’t you search him up?”

Right. I should have done that in the first place.

I brought out my phone and typed in the name I had become strangely familiar with since this morning.