She pushed me toward Jose, and I tripped over the carpet and fell flat on my face. I stayed on the ground as my legs and hands were shaking uncontrollably by that point.
“Are you okay?” Escabar asked.
I could see his feet standing right in front of
me. He had on shiny dress shoes, and his hand reached down in front of me. He held his hand there and waited for me to grab on to it and accept his assistance in getting up.
I knew I had to accept his help, so I reached out with my shaking hand and grabbed onto him to stand up. My whole body shook from the combination of fear and the cold air in the room. I really didn’t have anything I could tell Escabar. I didn’t know where the book was, and I couldn’t even tell him why Chase had taken it. From what I could tell, even Chase didn’t know why he had taken the book.
“Yes, I’m all right.”
“You have an accent. Where are you from?” Escabar asked me.
“I’m from Liechtenstein,” I said as I looked into his dark brown eyes.
“Wow, now that is a small country.”
“She’s lying, sir. She told us she was from Europe!” Salina said as she looked at Salvador and then at me.
“Excuse them. They aren’t the brightest,” Escabar told me before he turned to the other two. “You two can leave now.”
As much as I didn’t like Salina or Salvador, I wasn’t sure I really wanted them to leave me alone with Escabar. Although, he was being nice to me at the moment. He didn’t really have a reason to be nice to me. For all he knew, I was in on the theft and knew exactly why Chase had stolen the black book.
When Salina and Salvador finally left, Escabar went to his bar and poured us a couple drinks. He handed me my drink and then motioned for me to sit next to him on the couch. I felt like he wanted something from me, something more than just his black book. The way he was looking at me had me worried that he was going to try to get me to sleep with him.
“Tell me how you know Chase,” he demanded.
“I don’t really know him. He sent for me from overseas to come and marry him.”
He laughed, and it took me a second to figure out why.
“So, Chase ordered himself a mail-order bride. That’s amusing. Do you know why he ordered you?”
“I think so. He said something about tricking his father into handing over his company to him.”
Escabar just nodded his head in agreement, as though he approved of Chase’s plan. I continued to sit there quietly and waited for him to ask me another question. I really didn’t know all that much about Chase. I hoped the fact that I had just met him might keep me safe from being hurt.
“So, did you marry him yet?”
“No, we haven’t even been on a date yet,” I said with a smile.
I decided trying to win Escabar over with my sweetness was my best bet at possibly getting him to let me go. What guy didn’t want a cute girl to flirt with him?
“Are you really this innocent or is this some sort of game to win Chase over?”
I just stared at Escabar. Obviously, I couldn’t admit to playing some sort of game with either Chase or Escabar. I wasn’t exactly innocent – I could tell there was some serious danger going on. But I also was innocent in the way that I thought he meant. I had not even considered men like him would be in the United States. As much as I watched television and the criminal shows, I never expected that I would run into a man like Escabar. It was scary, and I knew enough to just look at him and keep my mouth shut.
As he stood over me, I simply sat there looking at him. I was waiting for him to tell me what he wanted. What did I need to do to ensure my safety? What would I have to get from Chase to ensure his safety, as well? The only option in my mind was that both Chase and I would end up alright at the end of everything.
I watched Escabar as he appeared to contemplate what he wanted to do next. There was a fear that he might decide to keep me for himself, but I figured the prospect of getting all his money out of Chase and his black book was probably on his mind.
“Do you think Chase’s father will sign over the company soon?” he asked me.
I had no idea. I only knew about Chase’s father what I had been told. There was no way I could know if that information was even true. I certainly couldn’t know if the man was anywhere near signing his company over to Chase.
“Yes, he’s signing it over soon. Chase has grown his confidence. They are going to meet together and make company changes.”
“Can you get me my black book back?”