Joseph
Why the fuck would they call me? That has never happened before - because it’s not supposed to happen. Everything is clearly stated in the contract. There’s to be absolutely no contact between the agency and me, or the agency and her.
Unless there’s an emergency.
But how could there be an emergency? Everything is going perfect, almost too perfect, with Ruby.
For a moment, I consider not picking up because this must clearly be a mistake. But not picking up would be another breach. I’ve agreed to answering if they try to reach me, no matter what. I have to pick up.
“Yes,” I say, sounding as irritated as I am.
“Mr. Bennett?” a female voice at the other end asks.
It’s Lisa, the woman who handles the ‘contacts,’ as they call them. She has been my contact person for every part of this transaction.
“Yes, of course it’s me,” I bark at her.
“This is Lisa speaking, from Violent Delights-”
“I know,” I interrupt her. “What’s wrong? Why are you calling me?”
Lisa clears her throat, letting precious seconds pass before she replies.
“Mr. Bennett, I’m surprised we didn’t hear back from you already,” she says. “We were just contacted by Miss Ruby Red, and she said she was never picked up. I don’t know why she waited this long to inform us, but I’m even more surprised you never let us know that the arrangement was off?”
Her words knocked every wisp of air from my lungs. I stand motionless, not even breathing, as my blood runs cold through my veins and the words bounce back and forth in my skull.
They were contacted by a woman named Ruby Red.
The woman I bought to play my slave. The woman who’s supposed to be upstairs right now, waiting for my return.
And she said she’s never been picked up.
“Mr. Bennett?”
“Are you… are you sure?” I stutter, my voice cracking on every word.
Lisa appears to be startled by my question.
“Yes, she came to the agency herself and said her time window passed without being picked up,” she says. “She’s asking for compensation because of the stress and the inconvenience.”
I can’t reply. I feel as if a clamp is closing around my chest, stealing my breath and robbing me of my ability to speak. My face is stuck in an incredulous expression with an unblinking stare as my brain desperately scrambles to make sense of this.
“Did something come up?” Lisa asks, breaking into my stunned stupor. “How come you never contacted us? Is something wrong?”
She clears her throat, pausing for a moment before she continues speaking.
“Mr. Bennett, if there’s anything wrong with Miss Red, you’ll have to tell us. Is she telling the truth? Did something about her not please you? If so, why didn’t you let us know?”
I’m still rendered speechless, my mouth opening and shutting like a goldfish with no sound coming out, as I try to gather myself. I fail to comprehend what’s happening, managing only a stunned shake of my head as the woman on the other end of the line starts losing her patience.
“Mr. Bennett?” she presses. “Are you still with me?”
I have to say something. Something.
My first instinct is to tell her that this must be a mistake because there is a Ruby Red in my house right now, and she has been here for the past three weeks, just as agreed upon.
Everything is fine.
Everything is fucking fine.
Except that it’s not.
“Mr. Bennett, I-”
“Yes, it’s fine,” I croak. “It’s… something came up. Family emergency. I’m sorry, I was too preoccupied to contact the agency.”
“Oh, I see,” Lisa says. She’s not sounding convinced, but if there’s one thing these guys are good at, it’s discretion.
“Pay the girl the compensation,” I tell her.
“Okay, thank you, Mr. Bennett,” she says. “I’ll get things sorted with her. Please, could you let us know next time? I know how stressful things like this can be, but we’re working in a very delicate business here. With very delicate subjects.”
I roll my eyes, unbeknownst to her.
“Yes, I’m sorry for the trouble,” I tell her. “But I have one question. This Ruby girl, did she do what she was told to, during the days when her window was open?”
“According to her, she did,” Lisa tells me. “She’s been out and about, wearing everything that she was asked to.”
I had just been able to breathe again, when her words take the air out of my lungs anew.
Ruby, or whoever she is, didn’t wear any of the things I asked. She didn’t wear stockings under her skirt, and she didn’t understand why I got so mad at her in the beginning. She didn’t follow the most mundane commands, and she looked at me with a terror that looked so real it was bone-chilling.
It looked real, because it was real.
I made a mistake. I kidnapped the wrong woman.
How could this fucking happen?
“Oh, but she did mention something,” Lisa interrupts my distressed stream of thoughts. “Her red coat was stolen one night. I believe it was meant to be her token?”
Yes.
That fucking coat.
I’d watched her run around in that coat for days, I watched her enter a bar wearing that same coat, and I watched her come out of that same bar in that very same coat.
Or so I thought.
“It was stolen in a bar?” I ask.
“Yes, I think that’s what she said,” Lisa says, sounding surprised. “How did you-?”
“Just a guess,” I hurry to say. “Listen. I have business to attend. Will you handle Miss Ruby and let her know I’m very sorry for the trouble?”
“Yes, sure,” she replies. “So, I shouldn’t file for a new arrangement?”
“No, not at this moment,” I tell her. “Goodbye.”
I don’t wait for her final words before I end the call and throw the damn phone across the room. The noise as it hits the floor echoes through the hall, piercing through my head like a thousand knives.
My chest is still tight, a cold wrath of panic closing in on me as I try to gather together the pieces of this fucked-up mix-up.
She’s not Ruby Red. She even fucking told me, she’s not her.
“Do you think I’m Ruby?” she said. “Because I’m not.”
But I was too occupied to listen, too certain, too immersed in the game. Just like her when she first got here, I’m overwhelmed with questions – the most salient one banging against my skull with urgent precedence.
If the girl upstairs is not Ruby Red, then who the hell is she?