Xander

I have the best daughter in the world. Not many five-year-olds would accept what happened today so well. We told Tori the Disney World visit was off for the day. She took it like a trouper. She thinks it’s about keeping Sasha safe, and she loves her enough to sacrifice the happiest place on earth—for a day anyway.

Hopefully, Tito will be able to eliminate the threat tonight and our day of fun with Mickey Mouse will be back on tomorrow.

Sasha spent the morning in the panic room, but when Enrique stopped communicating via text, and we didn’t find any evidence that he had been close to Tito’s house, they came out.

Tito called in two more bodyguards so we could spend the afternoon swimming in his pool. The four men stood guard outside the six-foot-high privacy fence armed and dangerous ready to take out any Mexican man named Enrique. We couldn’t see them, but we knew they were there.

Tito’s house is beautiful, and his yard is spectacular. He has flower gardens overflowing with colorful flowers and plants and two large, old palm trees that provide the perfect amount of shade.

“Can we swim later?” Tori asks as I usher her inside for dinner.

“We’ll see, I think after you eat, you might be too tired.”

“No, I’m not tired. Sasha, can we surf in the pool?”

She chuckles. “No there aren’t any waves in the pool. You have to go to the ocean.”

“Can we go to the ocean then?”

“Bug, we talked about this. We have to stay at Tito’s house for a while until we are sure everything is safe for Sasha, remember?”

“Yeah, I remember.” She’s trying to stay strong and be a good sport, but her tolerance is waning.

“I’m going to take a shower,” Sasha announces starting upstairs.

“I’ll get Tori in the bath,” Zion says shuffling into the kitchen. “Come on, child, time to wash off all those chemicals.”

Tito’s house has a very open concept. The living room, dining area, kitchen, and his office are essentially in the same room. He is sitting at his desk when he glances over the top of his laptop to make sure I don’t follow Sasha upstairs for a little pre-dinner sex.

I promised him I would stay one hundred percent focused on our plan to flush Enrique out of hiding and that means no distractions. “I know, I’m staying put,” I say, and he lowers his eyes back to the screen.

“Have you figured out where he is yet?”

“I’m closing in on him. He’s not far from here, but I think he’s got eyes on the house. That text was perfectly timed. She hasn’t received any more, has she?”

“No, but they were in the pool for hours. I’ll ask her when she’s out of the shower.”

“Do you trust her, Xander?” he asks.

“Yes, why do you ask?”

“Because you haven’t known her long. You’ve never gotten any weird vibes from her?”

Now I’m starting to get pissed, what is he implying? “What are you getting at, Tito? Spit it out.”

“I mean people have been known to run long-term scams. She and that ex-husband of hers could be setting up to kidnap Tori and hold her for ransom.”

“Why would the son of a wealthy drug lord need to hold a kid for ransom?”

“I don’t know? Maybe because he’s a crook, maybe she needs money, maybe his daddy feels like being evil. People like that don’t need a reason.”

“No, no way. What we have is real, and she would never hurt Tori, ever. I’d bet my life on it.”

“All right then, that’s good to know.”

Half an hour later, Tori and Zion return from her bath. Matt is grilling dinner outside. Mark is guarding the front of the house, and Tito is still doing something on the computer, but Sasha hasn’t come down yet.

“Daddy, I’m starving,” Tori says dragging out the word starving like a drama queen.

“Matt’s making dinner.”

“Matt? Where’s my Sasha? She’s the bestest cook. I want her to make my dinner.” Zion rolls her eyes. She’s not very happy about being replaced in the kitchen, but she admitted on more than one occasion that Sasha is a much better cook. Sasha’s so good about it, she has asked Zion to teach her how to cook authentic African dishes several times. Every time, Sasha’s food tastes better.

“I don’t know, bug. I was just wondering the same thing. I’ll go up and check on her.” Tito gives me a warning look, and I wave my hand at him dismissively. I climb the stairs listening for water running but hear nothing. The stillness in the air causes a mild irrational panic to rise in my chest. Maybe she just laid down before her shower and fell asleep? Yes, that has to be it.

I push the door open while knocking softly. She’s not in the bedroom. I check the bathroom, and she’s not there either, although there are signs that she showered. She loved the balcony outside the bedroom… maybe she’s sitting out there? I open the curtains and step outside the French doors, but again, she’s nowhere to be found.

Where in the hell has she gone? I lean grabbing hold of the wrought iron balcony to look down at the pool while I think. She was feeling guilty of that I’m positive but guilty enough to skip out on us while on vacation?

I told Tito I knew her well, but now I’m beginning to wonder if I know her at all. The woman I thought I knew wouldn’t walk away from a love like ours. She also wouldn’t walk out on a little girl who loves her so completely. I told her we had the situation under control. I told her Enrique would be dealt with. I told her to trust me, but she didn’t.

I push off the railing and go back inside to root around in her bags. She left her things. I check all the other rooms upstairs to be sure she isn’t resting in another bedroom, but there is nothing.

Taking a deep breath, I make my way back downstairs to Tito’s desk. Tori’s busy in the kitchen with Zion helping her make potato salad. She doesn’t see me cross the room.

I place my hands on his big wooden desk and lean over. “She’s gone,” I say quietly.

“What?” he says turning his full attention to me.

“Sasha, she’s gone. I went up to check on her, and it looks like she showered and disappeared into thin air. All of her clothes and shoes are still here, but she isn’t.”

“Fucking hell. Where do you think she is?”

“No idea, maybe she went back to California? Or home to Minnesota?”

“If she took off to protect you, she’s probably going home to California. Did she leave her purse? Credit cards? Driver’s license? Anything I can track her purchases with, and see if she bought a plane ticket.”

“I didn’t look. I’ll be right back.”

“I’m going to ask Matt and Mark if they have seen her since she got out of the pool.”

“Where’s my Sasha?” Tori asks entering the living room and finding us whispering to one another.

“I’m not sure, princess. She isn’t upstairs.” I don’t want to lie to her. It’s possible I’m going to be telling her Sasha abandoned her soon, and she’s old enough to put two and two together.

“Do you think the bad man got her?” she says rushing to hug my leg. I lift her up and hug her.

“I don’t think so. Maybe she went for a little walk?” So much for not lying.

“She wouldn’t go on a walk, it’s too dangerous,” Zion says joining the conversation.

I turn still holding Tori putting her back to Zion. I give her a stern look that she correctly interprets as a shut the hell up look. She wipes her hands on a dishcloth and returns to the kitchen island.

“Do you know where her purse is, bug?” I ask, and she nods. “Could you go get it for me? Maybe we can figure out where she went from the things in there.”

I set her down, and she’s off like a shot up the stairs. Tito stands to follow her. “She isn’t to be left alone for a second from now on in case your girlfriend isn’t as upstanding as you thought,” he says as he passes me. There’s anger in his voice paired with anxiety and frustration. He thinks I’m a fool for getting mixed up with a woman with Sasha’s past. He’s told me in the past just not in so many words.

He doesn’t consider the fact that I didn’t know anything about her ex before I started seeing her, although it wouldn’t have made any difference. I think I started loving her the moment we met in the ER.

Matt comes inside while Tito and Tori are upstairs. I fill him in on Sasha’s disappearance, and he goes to tell Mark. Tito and Tori return with Sasha’s wallet, and he sits down behind the computer to begin his search.

“Dinner’s ready if anyone’s hungry,” Matt says like it’s an afterthought, and it is, I suppose. Nobody’s mind is on food anymore. We have to find Sasha.

Did Enrique kidnap her? Did she go willingly? Is she the woman I fell in love with, or is she a professional scam artist? The latter idea scrapes at my insides. How could I have been so wrong about her?

I wasn’t. That’s what I have to believe whether Tito does or not. We love each other. She had to have been taken or blackmailed into leaving. It’s the only thing that makes sense.

Mark enters the room looking around for Tori. “She’s upstairs with Tito.”

“I checked everywhere… she’s not on the grounds. I asked a neighbor, and she says she saw a woman climb down the drainpipe about an hour ago. She says she took off going east on foot.”

“Alone?” I ask hungry for more information.

“Yeah, she turned the corner, so she didn’t see if she got into a car or anything. I wanted to let Tito know. I’m going back out to see if anyone saw her getting into a car.”

“Okay, I’ll let him know.” The back door opens and closes when Matt leaves.

“Mark talked to a neighbor who saw Sasha climb down a drainpipe and leave about an hour ago. He just took off to see if any other neighbors saw anything else.”

“Alone?” Tito asks.

“Yes.”

“Well, that’s better than nothing. I’ll look to see if she booked a flight.” He holds up her credit cards and dumps the rest of her purse on the desk. “Look through her things for clues.”

“What kind of clues?”

“I don’t know, you’re dating her. You’ll know it when you see it.”

“Tori, are you hungry? Dinner’s ready. I can make you a plate before I go upstairs if you want.”

“Is my Sasha in trouble, Daddy?”

“I don’t know, honey. We’re going to find her, though. Don’t you worry.”

“Promise?”

“I do, bug, I do. Now, dinner?” She nods her head not looking confident regarding my promise but willing to eat.

“I’ve got her,” Zion says taking her hand and leading her to the island where a plate of steak is cut up into tiny pieces alongside potato salad and corn on the cob.

“Thank you, Zion.”

She pats me on the shoulder. “Go find her.”

“I’ll try.”

Upstairs, I go through everything Sasha brought to Florida, her clothes, toiletries, and shoes, but there is nothing unusual. Her phone is even on the night table charging where she left it earlier. I pick it up and try to get in but there is a passcode, and I don’t know what it is. I make a few guesses with no success and decide that Tito might have a way to get into it.

As I’m walking out of the bedroom, phone in hand, it begins to alarm. It’s 5:00 p.m. What’s supposed to happen at 5:00 p.m.? Nothing, we didn’t have plans for tonight even before the Disney World plans were thwarted.

I press the stop button quieting the phone, and when I do, it unlocks giving me full access to everything. I say a celebratory yesss when I enter the living room, and Tito looks up from his computer.

“Find something?” he asks.

“Maybe, she left her phone, and it was locked, but an alarm was set for 5:00 p.m., and it just went off. When I hit stop, the phone unlocked.”

“She left her phone?”

“Yes.”

“That’s strange. You’d think if she went of her own accord, she would have taken her phone to keep in contact. She hasn’t booked any flights, her email is all normal, boring things, and she hasn’t used a credit card. I wish she had taken her phone, at least then I could have tried to track her.”

“So, we’re out of luck?”

“Not necessarily, I can look at her phone, and I have a guy who has connections with the Sanchez family. He says Enrique’s father has been on his ass lately for getting into trouble. He’s been off the rails with a manic episode and refuses to take his meds. I’m guessing that’s why he’s been bothering Sasha so much.”

“Yes, she said he’s pretty bad when he’s manic.”

“That’s an understatement. He’s a menace to society.” Then under his breath, he says, “We would be doing the world a favor getting rid of him.”

I don’t like the idea of murdering anyone, but this guy is ruining my life. If Tito can find a way, I’m not standing in his way.

Sometimes a drug dealer’s son is better off dead.