The lady led her to a room at the far end of the hall. It was as big as her room back at home. Everything was in black or white, sparsely decorated, as if no one was using it. “My name is Merrill, and what’s yours, miss?”“Elena.”Merrill stared at her with sympathy in her eyes. “It is nice to meet you. I do housekeeping for Mr. Orlando, and there are other workers around. I’ll introduce you to them later on if you like…”Elena nodded absentmindedly.“We have never had visitors before, except of course Mr. Sebastian; he comes around regularly. He and Mr. Orlando are good friends. How long will you be staying?”She took a few steps until she was a few inches away from her. “I need you to help me, Merrill. I need to leave the apartment right now. I can’t stay here. I am here against my own will…”Merrill looked past her at the security camera peeking out at the edge of the room. Elena turned around. Merrill pulled away. “I am sorry, I can’t help you,” she said, taking a long look at her.
Orlando’s plans to have a quiet breakfast were short-lived when Luca pulled up a chair and sat across from him. “Orlando…”He had left home earlier without having any breakfast because Elena wouldn’t stop pestering him. He had driven up to his favorite coffee shop to have a nice breakfast alone, away from everyone else, and it was going great up until now… “Luca.”Luca looked around. It was a plain old shop, with a few people seated. Their table was to the side, overlooking the street. It was not the kind of place Luca would come to, and he was not expecting to find Orlando there either, but the man was weird…“What an eventful evening we had last night…”“Hmm.”Luca looked around. There were many questions at the tip of his tongue, but Orlando couldn’t make it any clearer that he was uninterested.A waitress walked up to him. “What would you like, sir?” She reminded him of his nana. “Emm…”He glanced at Orlando. “I will
Elena had to be held down by two security men before she could calm down. She just wanted to go home.Everything was moving so fast; it was hard to even comprehend. As the hours went by as she sat in her bedroom, with two security men on each side, reality slowly dawned on her.She was a captive to a mysterious man in the mafia, and her life as she knew it had ended. She wiped frantically at her eyes to stop the tears. She couldn’t afford to dwell on it. She had to find a way back home somehow; she had to find her way to Camila and reach out to her father. “Can I use the bathroom, please?” It was the first words she had spoken after a while.The men did not budge.“Really? I need to go. Are you going to prevent me from doing that?”One of them hesitantly gave her a nod of approval. She stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying; her hair was ruffled, there were streaks of tear stains on her cheeks. She felt
***The passenger door of his car opened up, and Sebastian Marconi hopped in. “It has been ages, man!” he said in excitement.According to Sebastian, ages was two weeks ago. He had known him for a long time, and in all these years, they had become best friends. “It has been two weeks, Sebastian.” his tone was flat, but he was excited to see him.Sebastian cackled loudly. He was a member of the mafia. Despite being the heir and son of one of the founding families, he had kept his dealings with them at a minimum. He was merely an associate; he ran a few errands for them, and because of his affiliations with the high and mighty, both criminal and non-criminals, he was privy to certain information which he gave to the family.He began driving. “Where were you this time around?”“Seychelles,” he announced. “A country in East Africa,” he leaned backward. “It was superb; the white sand beaches were amazing, and the resort I stayed at…” He sighed in s
Orlando appreciated the silence as he drove her down to the family house. She was pretty shook by him shouting at her, and the increase of security guarding her door. He couldn’t care about that, he loved that she was quiet. He parked his car, and got out before letting her out.She had forlorn expression on her face. He led her through the doors of the hotel, he waved at the receptionist and not long after they were in the elevator. He could have sworn the ride lasted longer than it should. He was acutely aware of her standing in front of him, the soft sound of her breathing, his eyes fixated on her nape. He looked away and adjusted his tie, it had been a busy week.The elevator doors opened and he waited a bit, trying to keep even the slightest distance between them. She stopped and turned around to look at him. Of course, she did not know where she was going. He extended a hand out to her but she did not budge. He did not react.He walked ahead of her, the s
Imani stared at her reflection in the mirror, her dark curls were hidden underneath a silk hair bonnet. She rubbed a white substance into her skin.Until a set of strong hands wrapped around her waist and lifted her up. “Shawn…” she called out to him in between giggles. “You startled me”He planted a soft kiss on her head. “I needed to get your attention somehow, you looked lost.”She smiled but it did not quite reach her eyes.He planted another kiss on her cheeks. “What’s on your mind?”"It’s Elena, I am worried about her” she answered.“Why is that?” he caressed her arm gently. “I haven’t heard from her, I know I have been so busy and…”“Hey, hey, Imani don’t blame yourself at all. None of this is your fault. You have been swamped with planning for your exhibition. If there is anyone who should be calling it is her…”“She used to, she was actively helping me plan for it, we went over the pieces I am going to
Camila clutched tightly to her small bag. “I need to go, I need to go now. I cannot take it anymore,” she said in a tired voice.“I don’t think that’s a great idea…”“It has been days without Elena. No one has heard a word from her, no one has seen her…” She wiped at her eyes frantically. “Mr. Richardson is nowhere to be found.”“They threatened to hurt her if you made any move.”“For all I know, they already did. I can’t sit tight any longer. I have to at least do something.”The man who had spoken up nodded in understanding. It was a small gathering of the domestic workers at home. Everyone had been thrown into a frenzy when they saw the security men at the entrance passed out cold and a hysterical Camila. They had spent the next couple of days trying to reach Mr. Richardson, they soon realized he was truly an island, with no living relatives or existing friends. It was hard to get to him with his phone being unreachable.They had e
Camila tossed around in her bed. She was unable to sleep, even the medications were of no help to her. Thoughts of Elena and Richardson filled her mind. Her eyes were sunken and tired. She exhaled deeply; earlier in the day, she had gone to the cops with information.She had met a young man at the entrance of the police station, when he was sure she was not lost and confused, he took her statement and said he would help but…“Can’t sleep, huh?”Her whole body jolted in fright. It felt like her heart would leap away from her chest. She scrambled in the darkness trying to reach for the bedside lamp, but instead, her hands brushed against another hand, and then the light was turned on. She scurried away as quickly as her tired body could.There was a man sitting on the chair beside her bed. He was leaning backward, his hand on the table, and his forefinger resting on the trigger of a handgun. He had on black clothes, and the mop of hair on his head h