Rumor Has It: A Bad Boy Romantic Comedy (35 page)

Luke

The plane had barely come to a stop; I was already at the door pushing it open. A flight attendant was yelling at me to sit down and stay away from the door until we’d come to a complete stop, but I didn’t care. The flight had taken hours. That was precious time wasted. They could have fled the country by now. I may have just missed them. I’d have no way of finding them again.

I pulled on the door, but I couldn’t open it. I had to wait for the plane to taxi to a stop. Once the door was open, I jumped out with my bag in hand. I hadn’t brought anything except a change of clothes and a lot of cash. Half of it was in Euros, the other half in American currency. I had no idea who I was going to have to bribe to get the information I wanted, or how much it would cost. Hopefully, I had enough money.

A car was waiting for me at the private landing field. There are definitely advantages to having wealth. This was one of them.

The driver greeted me and opened the back door to the car. No questions asked.

I hopped in. Trent had managed to trace the call from the man who’d last seen Genevieve. The number was a cell phone belonging to a man named Antonio. Trent quickly figured out that the bar where he worked was on the same street he’d claimed to have seen Genevieve. It was a good bet she’d wandered into his workplace.

I gave the driver the address and told him to go as fast as he could. He took my instructions to heart. I thought he was going to kill us as he swerved through traffic and ran through stop lights. He pulled to a stop in front of the bar and I jumped out.

“Wait here,” I said.

The street was crawling with people. I was careful to guard my bag as I pushed my way through. The last thing I needed was to have it stolen. I made my way into the tapas bar. A man told me to have a seat. I asked him in Spanish if he’d seen Antonio. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously and shook his head no. I pulled out my wallet and slid a hundred dollar bill across the bar to him.

“Antonio’s in the back,” he said.

“Get him for me.”

It didn’t take long before they emerged together. Antonio did not look happy to see me.

“Can I help you?” he asked.

“I’m looking for Genevieve.”

Antonio considered me closely. “You must be Luke?” He didn’t wait for me to respond. “She came in here early this morning. She sat in the back.”

He pointed to a table in the corner of the room. I looked, half-expecting to see her sitting there now. It was occupied by an older couple sipping wine.

“She didn’t have money, so I paid for her meal, gave her a glass of wine. She was a pretty girl, y’know? So I took care of her.”

“Go on,” I said, gritting my teeth.

“She wanted to use the phone. I said no. This is a place of business. I can’t have her using the phone here for personal calls. After she ate, she begged me to call you and give you a message. I agreed. And that’s that.”

“That’s all? There’s nothing else you can tell me?”

He thought for a moment. “She wanted to know if there was a back exit. I think someone was after her. Also, she was soaking wet.”

“Wet?”

“She was wearing a white dress that was too big for her. It was wet and it clung to her body nicely. Anyway, I showed her out the back way and she disappeared. That was the last I saw of her.”

I thought for a moment, then reached into my pocket. I handed Antonio five hundred Euros.

“Thanks for helping her,” I said.

“De nada. When you find your girl, bring her back here? I’ll treat the both of you.”

“I will,” I said.

I left the bar and stood out on the street. I looked to my left. The street forked in two different directions. It was full of touristy shops and restaurants. To my right was the beach.

Why had Genevieve been wet? I found myself walking towards the water. Getting to the beach was harder than I thought. It was private and surrounded my homes. I opened someone’s gate and walked through their backyard. A dog barked, but no one came out to chase me off or call the cops.

I followed a winding path down a cliff before making my way to the beach. Several children ran and played. I looked out to sea. Fishing boats and yachts were anchored near the shore. I stared at them and wondered. Could Genevieve have jumped overboard and made the swim to shore? It seemed impossible. The distance was too great. But if they were holding her on a yacht, it made sense. The only escape would have been to jump overboard.

My cell phone started to ring. The caller ID said Unavailable. I frowned and answered it.

“Yeah?”

“I’ve been trying to reach you,” Val said. “Is there some reason you turned your phone off?”

I’d had to turn off my phone on the plane. I didn’t want her to know I was in Spain though.

“Just giving you something to think about,” I said.

“What am I supposed to be considering?”

“That you need me more than I need you.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“If you want child support, get a lawyer and sue me. I’m hanging up now.”

It was a bluff. I hoped she’d fall for it.

“Wait!” she said. “Don’t hang up.”

I smiled. She was losing control of the situation. It was a small win in my favor. For the time being, anyway. When Val loses control she becomes more dangerous than ever.

“Let me talk to Genevieve,” I said.

“Fine.”

There was a pause.

“Hello?” Genevieve said.

“Genevieve! Sweetheart, are you okay?”

“Swell,” she said.

She sounded strange. Her voice was high-pitched and had a singsong quality to it that reminded me of Val when she’s drunk.

“Where are you?” I asked.

“Around.”

“Did they give you something, Gen? Are they drugging you?”

She started to laugh. There was a lot of background noise. For a second, I thought she’d dropped the phone.

“Everything’s fine,” Genevieve said. “Just relax and give us the money.”

I didn’t know what to say. I never thought I’d hear Genevieve parroting the words of her mother. Something was wrong.

“Where are you?” I demanded.

“I’m in the water,” she said strangely.

“What? I need to know exactly where you are. Do you understand?”

She giggled. “I miss you, Luke. When the baby comes I think we should name him after Carmine.”

I squeezed my phone so tightly I nearly broke it. That bastard had done something to Genevieve. I knew it.

“Listen to me. Don’t drink or eat anything they give you. It’s drugged. Do you understand?”

“The drugs aren’t in the food,” she said. “They come in-”

Her voice cut off. Suddenly, Val was back on the line.

“There,” she said. “From the horse’s mouth. Give us the money. Genevieve wants to have her baby far away from you. You need to do the right thing and pay up, or you’ll never see your baby. Do you understand? You have an obligation as a father to take care of us.”

“
Us
? I don’t owe you anything. You’ve made my life a living hell. I don’t know what you and that doctor have done to her, but I’m going to make you pay for this.”

Val laughed incredulously. “The money, Luke. I expect it to be wired into my account by the end of the day.”

“No,” I said.

I tried to keep my voice even, but it was hard. Anger slipped through, giving my words a pointed edge.

“Are you seriously going to deny your child a future, Luke? What about Genevieve? Her life was quite difficult in that mental institution. It would be a shame if she was forced to go back.”

“You can’t-”

“I’m her mother. Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do.”

A loud roar and a splash sounded in the background of the call.

“Hey!” a man’s voice yelled. There was too much static for me to decipher what he said next.

Two boys sitting on the beach to my right started laughing and pointing out to sea. They were making fun of a man in a jet ski who had crashed into the side of an anchored yacht. I could see a man in a white uniform leaning over the railing yelling at the man in the water. I squinted and tried to make out more, but the yacht was too far away.

It had to be the yacht Val and Genevieve were on. The sound I heard over the phone matched with what I could see unfolding before me.

“Luke, are you listening?” Val asked.

“Yeah. You’ll have your money.”

“I knew you’d come around. You always end up seeing things my way. That’s my favorite thing about you.”

The line went dead. I watched a speed boat carrying teenagers shoot across the water. A man in a fishing boat was pulling up to a dock at the far end of the beach.

I smiled. A plan started to come together piece by piece. I had to get to the yacht and rescue Genevieve. And for once, I knew exactly what I had to do.

Genevieve

I watched as my mother spoke to Luke on the phone. She looked happy as she spoke to him. It made me smile. It would be nice if everyone got along.

I turned and looked out to sea. I spun around quickly and lost my balance. I giggled as I stumbled and fell to the deck. My mother frowned and rolled her eyes as I tried to stand up.

She covered the phone with her hand and said: “Really, Gigi? You’re acting like a toddler. Get a hold of yourself.”

Her words sent me into a fit of laughter. Distantly, I understood something was wrong. I felt detached from myself, as if the real me was far away looking down on the situation. I rubbed my face and looked down into the water.

Vaguely, I remembered jumping in earlier this morning. I’d managed to swim all the way to shore. Now, we were too far away, which was fine. I had no desire to go back to the beach or the busy street.

I would like to swim to the bottom of the sea and live there for the rest of my life. I wouldn’t have to worry about being hurt or used. Luke would find a new girl; my mother would find a new Sugar Daddy. They’d both forget I’d ever existed. It was the perfect compromise.

I crawled over to the railing and looked down. I’d never seen water so clear before. It was a perfect, crystal blue. Falling into it would be like falling into a mirror.

A hand wrapped around my waist and pulled me up.

“Where are you going?” a friendly voice asked.

I looked up into the face of Carmine.

“I was only looking at the water. I wasn’t going to jump. Honest,” I said.

He frowned and made a tsk-tsk sound, chiding me. “You’ve run away once today. No more, young lady.”

I shrugged and leaned against him, letting him lead me away like a little girl. I’d never met my father. I had no idea who he was. Carmine wasn’t my dad, but it was nice to have a shoulder to lean on.

My mother greeted us with a big smile.

“Were you being naughty again?” she asked.

I giggled and shrugged.

“You’re a chip off the old block,” she said.

“Is Luke coming?” I asked, ignoring her comment.

“In time, princess. What’s important right now is the money. Don’t you agree?”

“Yes. It’s very important.”

My mind was foggy. When I thought of money, I thought of Luke. Money connected us; it brought us together. I wanted him now more than ever. If the lure of money drew him near, then that’s what I would use to entice him.

“When Luke comes, I want to look nice,” I said. “Can I borrow one of your dresses, Val?”

“I never thought I’d live to see the day you’d ask me to borrow a dress,” my mother said. “If the Botox hadn’t destroyed my tear glands, I think I would cry.”

“Val, I want to look good for Luke. Will you teach me how?”

“Please, call me mom.”

Carmine gave her a strange look.

“Why are you looking at her like that?” I said.

Carmine’s eyes darted back and forth, as if he’d been caught in a private moment and was now embarrassed.

“Gigi, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Mother has taken care of everything,” Val said. “You’ll see Luke soon, I promise.”

Carmine gave her a severe look. They were keeping a secret from me. I was sure of it. But what didn’t they want me to know? When I tried to concentrate my head pulsed and my vision narrowed. The world spun around me. The memory of being pushed into the back of a car flooded my mind.

I rubbed my leg. It was sore. Then I remembered the needle. Carmine had injected me with a drug. Luke had warned me not to eat or drink anything because it was drugged. They weren’t bothering to drug the food anymore. They didn’t have to be subtle. No. They were in control now. All it took was a needle full of that mysterious drug to knock me on my ass.

I rubbed my leg hard. The site of the needle injection felt like a gaping wound. I tried to formulate a strategy. The urge to escape echoed through me like a distant memory or a long forgotten impulse. I couldn’t hold onto a single thought long enough to come up with an escape plan.

“Do you understand?” Val asked.

“Yes,” I replied dreamily. “Mother has taken care of everything.”

“Why don’t you go below deck and get some sleep. It’s been a long day for everyone.”

Like a robot, I followed a deckhand as he led me to a private bedroom.

“Sleep well,” he said.

“Yes, I will,” I said like a zombie.

I laid down and closed my eyes. Instantly, I fell asleep.