“Then punch me.”
Without hesitation, Michaela punched me right in the mouth. I felt the sting of it as the pain radiated through my entire jaw. Soon, I felt the wet trickle of the blood as it fell from my split open lip.
Michaela and I had our differences, but she knew as well as I did that there was no messing around with Stephano. If I was going to go back to him and beg for him to help take care of me, I needed to look like some serious shit had happened.
r /> I still didn’t know if Stephano had actually told his goon to strangle me behind the club. I didn’t think he had said any such thing, but I really had no guarantee. I could have been walking right in Stephano’s house when he wanted me dead. There was no safety net, no right or wrong, I had to just go with my gut.
“Thanks,” I said as I turned to leave.
“You be safe. You know he’s no one to mess around with. I can help you if you ever decide to actually get away from him.”
“Thanks again, Michaela. Take care of yourself.”
I knew she didn’t hate me. Michaela was just trying to protect herself from what she knew Stephano was capable of. I would be doing the exact same thing if I still lived in Miami and had tried to escape Stephano. The thing Michaela didn’t understand was Stephano knew exactly where she was. He always kept track of his girls after they left him, just in case he ever needed a favor. The girls thought they had gotten away from him, but he never truly let them get away. He always kept them in his sights.
My plan had always been to get far away from Miami, so far away that he wouldn’t bother looking for me. I had thought about moving out to Seattle or Portland. Anyplace that was on the west coast would have been just perfect.
After meeting Jackson, though, I started to think about what life would be like if I really had a normal life. It was motivating to meet him and to have a semi-normal relationship with a man. Even if Jackson and I didn’t last after we rescued Ana, I would always be grateful to him for opening my eyes to what a normal life I could have away from Stephano.
I didn’t take a taxi, and instead opted to walk to Stephano’s house from Michaela’s salon. It was early in the morning still, but I knew Stephano could track down a taxi if I took it to his house. He would find out where I had been and even find out where it had originally picked me up at the hotel before going to Michaela’s. I couldn’t risk that for Jackson and everyone else, so I walked.
As I approached the front security guard, I took off my sunglasses so I could look him in the eyes. I had made an effort to smear my makeup so it looked like I had been crying. I was carrying the high heels and had dried blood from my broken lip on my face.
“I’m just going to see a friend,” I said as I looked the man in the eyes.
“Okay,” he said without asking me another thing.
I had to assume that the security guards had more than a few women coming and going from Stephano’s house. They probably didn’t consider a woman in a miniskirt and bare feet as a threat to him. Although, I was a huge threat to Stephano. I was going to get Ana out of his house – and any of the other women he had there. It was a fact that I was going to help take him down.
“I need to see Stephano,” I said as a man came to his gate.
“He’s busy.”
“Tell him Roxy is here.”
The man stepped away from the gate and talked into his walkie-talkie before he returned and opened the gate. I knew Stephano would let me in. I knew there was no way he could turn down the opportunity to tell me I was wrong and he was right.
Or, Stephano was letting me into his house so he could finish the job that he set his goon out to do the other night. I felt my heart beating faster as I walked toward the door. I could have just willingly brought myself to the home of Stephano Copal when he wanted me dead.
I felt sweat start to form on my brow and I wiped it off before Stephano could see me. I couldn’t let him know how scared I was of him. He had to think I was so scared of the man I had been with that I was willing to come back to him. I needed him to see that he was needed by me. That was the only way I would ever be able to convince him to let me stay in his home.
As I walked inside, it looked surprisingly normal. There wasn’t a big party going on and there weren’t dozens of security guards all around as I had expected. There were expensive paintings on the walls and high end furnishings throughout the house. It was a very stylish house that could have been in a magazine even. It surprised me.
“Have a seat, he’ll be right here,” the guard said as he pointed to the plush couch in the middle of the room.
“So, your independence didn’t treat you so well?” Stephano said as he walked in from the kitchen.
He was dressed casually in some linen pants and a button up silk shirt. It looked like he had just woken up, and I felt like it was the perfect time for me to come and see him. He seemed to be in a good mood, and I felt at ease very quickly. It certainly didn’t appear that he wanted me dead at all.
“I’m sorry. I just wanted something normal. He seemed like a good guy.”
“They all seem like good guys until they don’t get what they want. Then they turn ugly. Do you want me to take care of him?”
“No. But he knows where I live and I didn’t feel safe going back there.”
“The boys say he’s a good fighter. I’m surprised that’s all that he did to you.”
“I don’t think he meant to hit me. He said he was sorry right after it happened. But I couldn’t stay. I thought he was different. I thought he was the one,” I said as I started to cry hysterically.