Looked like she would have to crash Luis’s party after all. She could only hope Rafael had left her passport in his usual hiding place rather than stashing it in hissuitcase.
Tomi clutched Cowie under her arm and left her house, cautiously approaching the back entrance to the mansion. The soft strains of classical tunes still floated from the stately house, but no guests could be seen from the back windows, and when she entered the house, it seemed almost eerily empty. She paused at the bottom of the staircase, staring up at the golden crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling nearly three stories up in the foyer. Maybe if she was lucky she’d make it up to Rafael’s bedroom and back out before anyone even realized she wasthere.
She ran up the staircase, down the hall, and then quietly eased into his bedroom and over to his favorite hiding spot—a tiny, hand-carved gold chest his father had given him for his last birthday. Rafael had instantly declared it a treasure chest and hidden it beneath his bed. Tomi had discovered more than one set of missing keys within its tiny confines. She set Cowie on the mattress, dropped to her knees, and pulled out the small chest, sighing in relief when she saw her passport lying in thebottom.
Tomi made it down to the bottom of the staircase, her steps growing lighter with relief. She was going to make it—no one was going to see her. But no sooner had the thought skated through her head than she turned the corner around the curved banister and slammed into something large and solid. A hand wrapped around her arm and a bruising grip kept her from falling offbalance.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I was just looking for my passport,” she saidbreathlessly.
She’d never seen this security guard before, but he looked like something straight out of her nightmares. His cheeks were hollowed out and pockmarked, his black eyes as expressionless as death. Instead of releasing her or even responding, he turned and dragged her down the hallway behind the staircase. Alarm blossomed out from her chest through her fingers and toes and she tried to dig her heels into the worn carpet leading to the back of the house. “Letgo.”
He just grunted and yanked harder; Tomi stumbled off balance and would’ve tripped if he hadn’t been holding her so tightly. As they neared a dark brown door she’d never been through before, her alarm turned into fear. Luis had never allowed her into this section of the house.Ever.
She yanked her arm harder, trying to pry his meaty fingers from her bicep, but couldn’t even budge his pinky. He flipped up a small black lid on the metal keypad next to the door and punched in a code. The door buzzed and opened. Loud pulsing music, completely different than the classical songs piping throughout the rest of the house, blasted through the opening. The staircase was illuminated with deep red lights leading down to a level at the mansion she hadn’t even known existed. Tomi didn’t know what was going on, but she knew enough to know she really didn’t want to go downhere.
“Let go!” Tomi yanked away with all herstrength.
The guard lifted his hand over his shoulder, as if to backhand her. “Shutup.”
Shaking now, she struggled futilely against his viselike strength as he drove her down the staircase, her terror rising as each step brought her deeper into the dark, red-lit cavern. The guard paused in front of another steel door at the bottom of the steps; it was massive with long metal hinges and a cage for a peephole. He banged on it twice and the door opened as if bycommand.
The loud music blasted out in an auditory assault, and the flashing lights, reminding her of a techno club, revealed glimpses of men in suits flanked by half-naked women. The guard pulled her deeper into the room, past the obscene display of bare flesh. She caught glimpses of women who looked young enough to be teenagers, some of them with thick black collars wrapped around their necks. Others were draped in positions that she couldn’t even imagine. This play party was waaayyy beyond any she’d seen. With each step, she was forced to take, her throat closed down like a giant fist had wrapped around it andsqueezed.
The air in the room seemed to thin. The music changed, dropping lower and slower, the bass vibrating so hard it shook her entire body. It was then that she picked up on the low moans in the room. Moans of pain, not pleasure. Before she could make sense of any of it, the guard flung her to her knees on the floor. She caught herself with her hands, jarring her palms and shoulders. “Ow!”
“Carlos, you bring her inhere?”
At the sound of the familiar furious voice, she jerked her head up in surprise—and found herself staring in mute shock into the deep soulful eyes of Luis Despasco. He sat on a black leather sofa, next to a beautiful young blonde girl. “Luis?”
He tsked and shook his head from side to side. “What are you doing here,Tomi?”
“I—I forgot my passport,” she stammered out, still too shocked to comprehend the scene around her. “What isthis?”
The girl next to Luis cringed away, only to be yanked back into the spot with a harsh command. Luis turned his attention back to her as if nothing had happened. “This is something I’d hoped you would never see. This is my business, the business I like to keepquiet.”
“I thought you sold computer chips or something,” she said in a smallvoice.
Luis bent down and gently lifted her from the floor, allowing her to shake free of his hold once she was on her feet. He rested his shoulders back against the couch, swinging his arms out across the back with a chuckle. “I do that also, on the side, but I’ve found this trade to be much more…lucrative.”
Luis slowly wound a long strand of hair around his finger, tugging the terrified blonde girl closer. Tomi started toshake.
“I—I’m sorry I interrupted.” She needed to get out of here now. This wasn’t a normal party—not even a normal play party—something was seriously wronghere.
“I’m sorry too. Rafael is going to be very upset when he comes home and finds his favorite nanny missing.” Luis stroked the blonde’s cheek as he said it, as if Tomi were no longer worthy of hisattention.
She took a terrified step back and bumped into Carlos. Before she could take another step, his thick arm wrapped around her waist, trapping her arms at her sides. He spoke, his hot breath right at her ear. “Boss?”
Luis’s hand dropped to the girl’s chest, toying with the breasts barely covered by a thin strap. “Take her to my personal holding area. I’ll need to make arrangements. And you – we will have a discussion about your ignorance,Carlos.”
“Arrangements?” She tried to swallow, but her throat had closedoff.
“You are too old for this shipment, but we can still get a good price for you at the Golden Auction nextweek.”
Auction?
“Luis, don’t do this,” she managed to gasp out. “I signed your NDA. I won’t sayanything.”
Carlos’s arm tightened, cutting off herwords.
