Page 87 of Rum & Coke

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 andyou,” 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.”