+1+

 

It’s only when I get home that I realize I lost my cellphone in the scuffle.

I’d driven at top speed out of Day’s subdivision. I was afraid the security guards would stop us on our way out of Cherrywood Villas, but we made it home with no issues.

Sera didn’t want to go the hospital, so I spent three hours on the landline until I could find a concierge doctor to come look at her. She needed stitches and had some slight swelling, but was otherwise fine. She was an expert at making sure welts didn’t become bruises but the scratches would show up on any lives she did. Not a good look for a Domme. It really wasn’t good considering she had a gig booked at Rapture’s Sunday Saints and Sinner’s event tomorrow.

 “So I think we really fucked this up”, I say while making her some tea after the doctor left. Sera is sitting on the kitchen counter and watching my every move. I wonder if Sky would have been so intimated by her in basketball shorts and a faded Columbia t-shirt with her stress acne on full display.

“I’m…sorry, Paris.” She speaks for the first time in hours, “I just snapped. I mean there her husband was openly admitting to fraud but I was somehow the villain. Insecure fucking bitch. You started this. She should have pushed you down those gaudy fucking stairs.”

“Sera.”

She rolls her eyes.

“What? No one can hear us.” she takes a tentative sip of her tea and downs the Vicodin the doctor gave her, “I can’t believe you are going to the feds. I can’t believe you would fuck over my clients. My livelihood.”

The whole drive home I ran the scenarios in my head. There was no way for me to bring this case to the authorities without them wanting to subpoena my laptop. I couldn’t guarantee Sera’s client list wouldn’t become public. Her very wealthy clients would sue us for breach of contract and any fallout they might experience.

“We’d be wrapped up in litigation until we die. Day called my bluff. I’m not going to the feds.”

“Let’s just get out of this town”, Sera says the anger rising in her voice, “let’s just go back to the city.”

“The subletters signed a five year lease.” I remind her, “Where are we going to live? You offloaded most of your high-dollar clients.  Do you really want to escort again?”

She sets the empty mug down so hard it almost broke.

“No. But I’d do it.  At least then I could find someone who take care of me the way I deserve. I’m tired Paris. I was all in for this one and we were barley here for three months. Fuck this whole full-time wife bull shit.”

She pushes herself off the counter.

“Sera.”

“I can’t wait around for you to figure your shit out. Sven is back in New York for the summer. I thought I’d talk to him about New Orleans or maybe I’ll take Hidalgo up on his offer to be my sugar daddy. I have options.”

“Options that involve using your looks. Pleasing men. You’re almost 30. Don’t you want a little bit more-”

“Don’t”, she cuts in, “You know exactly what I’ve done for the past eight years. When did I have time for more? I was fine with that because you needed the get through school and live your dreams. Seriously, what the hell was it all for?”

I didn’t know what to say. I’d let Sera down. I’d disappointed her.

“I…Sera. You can’t leave. I mean you hate Florida”

Sera gestures to the cuts and welts.

“Not as much as I hate this.”

+++

I woke up early Sunday morning and went to a farm-to-table juice café to pick up Sera’s breakfast. I knew I was being paranoid but I felt like everyone was staring at me. As I drove back through the neighborhood I noticed people who’d waived or been friendly before were now keeping a distance.

After our little talk Sera had spent the night in the basement. She usually never went down there unless she was working. It was the one place in the house I wasn’t allowed in. I’d listened pathetically at the door while she talked all night with Aria about how frustrated she was.

Before heading to the house I remember to swing by the Apple store to pick up a new phone. When I get back to the house Sera is setting down the landline. She looks pensive.

“Everything okay, Darling?”

She cuts her eyes at me and lets out a sigh.

 “That was Emile. He was updating me.”

“What did he say?”

“Everyone left after the incident. No one saw Sky push me. Day convinced everyone we were on a tour of the house. He told them I was drunk and overacted to accidently falling down the stairs.”

“That’s good.”

“Maybe for you.”

 “Sera, I thought about this whole thing. I’m going to walk away from it all. I’m calling Day and giving him the dossier and my resignation letter. He can decide if he wants to do the right thing. I’ll draft up NDAs for us to sign so we legally can’t talk about this. Your client list is an asset worth protecting.”

She picks up her smoothie and stares at it.

“Emile and I were talking about the news.”

“Sera I told you not to watch that.”

“It’s just…these privileged assholes are fucking everyone over and they don’t make it easy for people like me or Emile to fix things or have better lives. It would just be nice to have someone enlightened for a change. Someone like you.”

 “Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.”

“Eight years. These past eight years have been for your dream. You always find a way to…”

“Sera, did you want me to take Day’s bribe? Do you want me to stay here and become one of them? Taking money from the county? Look out for my own self-interest?” She brought her hands to her forehead again, “Darling--“

 “Leave me alone Paris. This is such a mess.”

“Sera—“

“Fuck off, Paris.”

 

+++

I hunker down in my home office and write a brief, earnest and noble resignation letter. I also draft two air-tight NDAs for Sera and I to sign. Day would no doubt want a lawyer to look over it but I felt it covered all the basis.

I dutifully work on New Aeterna’s legal filings, billing and invoices. I write up some new contracts and read through our e-mail box and schedule meetings with the building manager, front office coordinator and social media freelancer. Our business finances were okay and our living expenses were carefully budgeted. All it would take is one unexpected emergency and our finances would be a mess.

Sera is still in a mood. She’d turned on an annoying 2000’s radio station over the house’s sound system while she got ready for Rapture’s Sunday Saints and Sinners party. I’d let Sera down in every single way possible. Worst of all I hadn’t stuck up for her when Sky pushed her down the stairs.

I picked up the landline and dialed Cortland’s cell from memory.

“Hello?” he sounds tired.

“Cortland…it’s Paris”

There is a tense silence.

“I’m glad you called Paris. I’ve been giving this situation lots of thought. First I was out of line when I offered you money.”

“Let me just say this. I don’t approve of what you’ve been doing but I know a fight I can’t win. I’m going to walk away from this.”

“What do you mean?” Day sounds instantly relieved.

“My wife and I are willing to sign NDAs keeping this quiet. Then we are leaving town. In return you can’t ever let anyone know about me transferring public files to my personal computer. I’ll give you the dossier I compiled and all the evidence I have against you. What you do next is up to you.”

Day is quiet.

“I want that laptop too. I want to personally destroy the evidence on it.”

“Fine. Look Day, I’m doing this more for my wife than you. If her client list wasn’t at stake I’d be talking to the feds right now.”

He starts and stops a few times.

 “Look Paris. I just inherited this problem from my dad.”

“You and the others forged hundreds of invoices on your own. Your father had nothing to do with that.”

 “Paris, you were a kid during the recession. It was bad. We all needed that money. Bruno and Lee had kids in college. The Hollins’ practice was hemorrhaging money. The mortgage on my house skyrocketed.”

I shook my head. Excuses. Maybe it started that way but they hadn’t stopped.

“That doesn’t make it right.”

“I told you the developers are going to make us whole.”

“Come on, Cortland. It doesn’t work that way. If the developers give you a lump sum to cover the stolen money you don’t think those blood hounds you work with are going to want take it. You don’t think the developers are going to want favors in the future?”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I’ll drop the dossier and my resignation off Monday morning. I’ll bring the NDAs with me. Sky will need to sign one too.

Silence

“…Let’s not prolong this. Can you drop it all off tonight? Leave it in my office? There is a key in Ms. Ginger’s side drawer. I’ll have the communications team work up a press release for your departure. We’ll say you have an illness in your family.”

“Whatever”, I say ending the call.

I jump when I realize Sera had been standing by the door. Listening.  She has on a black mini dress with two slashes precariously cutout across the chest and sternum.  She’d had that dress for years and still looked good in it. She’d brushed a little warm colored highlighter on her exposed skin to draw the eye there. Her lips were a matte dark pink and her hair was cascading down one side in big loose curls.

“My resignation will be announced tomorrow.”

“Great”, she says sarcastically.

“I need you to sign this NDA”, I try to sound nonplussed, “By signing this you are agreeing to never disclose or discuss the embezzlement or me transferring public records to my laptop. If you do you will face legal action.”

I search for my Mont Blanc pen but I can’t find it, Sera had probably hidden it from me.  I hand her a roller ball pen.

“I feel like I should have a lawyer look at this.” She says reading over the document.

“I’m your lawyer. Sign it…please.”

 Sera makes her way behind my desk, I think she is about to sit in my lap but instead she leans forward, placing her elbows on my desk. I get a good view of the back of her thighs. I notice her thigh highs are at different lengths and the leather garter belt holding them up is loose.

“Can you fix these”, she asks lifting her dress unnecessarily over her hips while she signs the NDA. I oblige even though I know she is more than capable. Her sheer lace underwear is embroidered with dragonflies. Over the sheer fabric I trace my thumb over the scripted ink tattoo just under her ass

Hedonist

I was not in the mood to deal with her mood swings. She’d gone from angry to horny in the span of a few hours.

“Can I see your forehead” I ask bringing her dress down. She pushes herself onto my desk and I study the slightly blurred skin where she’d expertly covered up the bruises from yesterday. She takes her time putting on her tiny daggar shaped earrings. She wasn’t at all dressed for the Saints and Sinner’s theme. Probably a little too close to sacrilege for someone as moderately religious a Sera. She could have been more on theme though, she probably would have looked good in angel wings.

 “Paris, I’m planning on staying in the city for a few weeks. Maybe see if The Gilded Cage has any work. Hidalgo will also be in town. We might just have fun together. Actually we will have fun together.”

Hidalgo was in town. That explained her mood.

“Maybe I’ll come down later this week. It’s not like I have a job anymore.”

“No. You’re going to stay here. I need a few weeks to myself.”

“What does that mean?”

 “This isn’t a discussion, Paris. Take my bags to the car.”

I lug all of Sera’s suspension equipment and gear to the car. She’d also packed two suitcases, her red travel case and a rolling case of toiletries. She leans against the hood monitoring me. All the while pretending not to notice the looks the neighbors are sending our way. Word had definitely spread about Sera and outburst.

She reaches around her neck and hands me the key to the cage.

“Here. You take this. I’ll take this...”

Sera slips off my wedding band. I feel exposed without it.

“What the fuck is happening. Are you leaving me leaving me?”

“I just need to figure things out on my own and I don’t want to have to keep up with you. Call me if you need me.”

“Sera. I’ll fix this. I promise. I love you. I’ll make this right.”

She laughs and gets in to the driver’s seat.

“We’ll see about that.”

+2+

 

I wait until about a quarter to 8:00 p.m. to drop off my resignation letter and the dossier. I’d spent half the evening going back and forth on wording. It feels eerie driving down SR-8 at night. It’s quiet and pitch black. The air feels thick and I get the feeling it’s about to rain.  I hum along softly to the radio to distract me.

When I make it to Old Town Hall, I park on the road and trudge across the lawn to the building. Maybe it was ease of convenience or because it was closer-- but instead of using my keycard to get in the front door I quietly go through the broken emergency exit.

Maybe if Day and his cronies hadn’t been embezzling money they could afford to fix up Old Town Hall. I could see now why the supervisors had elected to stay in this old building instead of moving to The Municipal Complex building—there would have been too many eyes and ears on them.

I jog up the steps and enter the office for the last time. Truthfully, this wouldn’t have been a bad place to start my career. I find the key in Ms. Ginger’s desk and open the door to Day’s office. I set the dossier and resignation letter on his desk. I set my Chromebook there too. I’d transferred New Aeterna’s data onto Sera’s MacBook but it still made me nervous giving him this.

I stop to look at the photos on his bookshelf one last time. Day had the kind of life I’d dreamed of. How could he have fucked it up so badly?

I head to my former office to grab my few scant personal belongings. When I reach for the light switch a force shoves me forward and my head cracks against something hard. Pain shoots through my skull and when my head stops ringing I hear my office door slam shut. It’s pitch black.

“The fuck.”

I feel around for the light switch. I find it and the dim florescent lights flicker on. I try to open the door but it’s locked. The handle is destroyed so I can’t open the door.

“Hello?” I call, “Is someone out there?”

I hear heavy breathing and the pattering of feet.

“Hey”, I pound against the door, “Let me out.”

Something sloshes around outside. Some clear liquid slips under the door and I recognize the strong odor of lighter fluid. I keep banging and throwing myself against the door. My anxiety plummets straight to my stomach.

“Fuck….Day? Is that you? Day?”

It’s quiet for a long time. Then I hear a few soft clicks followed by the familiar smell of smoke and fire.

“Fuck. Fuck Fuck FUCK.”

I stop and try to think logically. There was no fucking way I could break down my office door with my shoulder. I touch the gash on my head. What the hell had I hit my head on?

For the first time I notice that the pile of wood that had been my unassembled desk wasn’t there. My desk is now neatly assembled. I walk around the desk and stare at it. Then something catches my eye. On the ground next to the chair was an Allen wrench. I dive for that stupid piece of metal and get on my knees to examine the door.  Then I start removing the screws. I focus on each turn and don’t let my mind wander to the inferno on the other side.  

My eyes water and each cough feels like my last.  I have to get out of here. There are too many things I haven’t done. I can’t leave Sera. I can’t die without reconciling with my brothers.

I remove the remaining hinges in record time. The hinges are gone but the lock is still engaged. I push the door until it flips and lifts from bottom. There is just enough space for me to shimmy underneath. I have to leave my—Hmjeu’s--- messenger bag behind. I pull my jacket over my nose and mouth. The entire office is engulfed in smoke. I can barely see a few inches in front of me. Smoke is pouring out of each supervisor’s office…including Day’s office.  Day’s office.

The dossier

I dash into Day’s office. Day’s bookshelves are up in flames. All of his photos and mementos are destroyed. The Chromebook is melting but I grab the dossier off his desk and run out. I shut the door to keep the flames from spreading. I notice my pant leg is on fire and roll to put it out.

I shut the doors to all the burning offices.  I try to go into the building’s main hallway but a fire has been set there. I’m trapped.  I run to the window in the suite’s common area.

I feel for my cell phone then remember my new phone is still in the box in my car. I pick up the landline and get a dial tone.

Surely someone has called 9-1-1?  I look out the window. SR-8 is quiet tonight. I barley saw anyone drive on the road during the day let alone on a Sunday night.  I cough involuntarily and consider my options.  I look up at the sprinkler in the celling. There is a patina of dull orange rust coating them.  I hug the dossier to me. No one is coming to save me.

I push open the window and sit on the edge. I’m only on the fifth floor. The building is small.  It’s barley a fifth floor really. If I’m careful I can make it. The night air whips through my bones.  I prepare myself for the velocity and jump.

I remember to land on bended knees but my body rolls over itself and my shoulder thuds against a hard rock. The dossier seemed to have fared better than I did. Not a single page out of place. I stand up and take a step back. The entire building is an inferno.

I ran to get my phone out the car. My blistered fingers paw at the plastic until it rips. I slide the phone out and press the screen with my swollen fingers until it lights up. As it goes through the set up screens I have time to collect my thoughts.

Then it hits me

This wasn’t an accident.

Someone had intentionally locked me in my office tonight

… and tried to burn me alive.

Someone tried to kill me?

As if on cue a pair of bright lights shines on me and I hear a menacing engine rev-- a champagne colored SUV guns its engine and drives right for me.

“Fuck”

I jump into the passenger seat of my Mercedes then crawl to the driver’s seat as the SUV rams the back of my car. I looked to see who is driving but the brights are blinding.

“Fuck it.”

I put the car in gear and shoot off down SR-8. The SUV. follows close on my tail. I glance at the dossier in my backseat and realize it’s not alone. There are several empty canisters of industrial lighter fluid in my backseat. Those had not been there when I walked into Old Town Hall.

I hear a gunshot and slam on the gas. The gunshot is short and clipped. The gun backfired a little after each shot. It was a glitch. A glitch I only knew about because Sera had complained that one of her guns (The pink one?) kept doing it. 

Where to go

Where to go

Rain begins to patter on my windshield. I squint to see through the falling shower. The roads are getting dangerous but I can’t stop.

I take a risk and sped through an open marsh field and around several construction sites. I eventually swerve on SR 8-04 going west into the 4^th district. I am still being followed. I make a sudden left turn into a field of grass, turn my lights off and drive as fast as I can. For a while the SUV’s brights help light my way but eventually I lose them.

I drive in pure darkness for a few more minutes. When I feel like it’s safe I turn my lights on and power through another field until I see road sign up ahead.

SR 8-04 East

It’s quiet so I get out the car and take in my surroundings—I’m not even phased by warm summer rainstorm. I open the backdoor and look at the empty industrial lighter fluid containers. Whoever had been driving that SUV had planted those there.

“Fuck.” I say quietly to no one. I consider my options. I consider where to go. Who to trust.

I look at the sign for SR 8-04 East.

Determined I get back in the car and drive. I didn’t know where I am going but I know it has to be out here somewhere. I slow when I see a marker that looks promising. I follow the sign and then 20 minutes later there is a decorative wood sign for LMF Estates.

Emile’s home. I hoped.

He’s said he’d lived out in the 4^th district. There wasn’t much out here. Most of it was former New England farmland and I’d imagined there was some far-off subdivision hidden. But no. There is a large revival style mansion at the end of the road. I didn’t have time to really appreciate it.

I run for the front door with the dossier stuffed under my shirt. I pound on the door not caring who I am waking up.

A light turns on and Emile opens the front door.

“What the hell—“

“You have to help me. Someone tried to kill me”, I say and proceed to cough up a lung, “My…car…fire… chased me.”

“Oh my God. “

He looks at my car and takes in my disheveled appearance. My adrenaline is slowing down and I can feel the smoke in my lungs and my irritated skin. Emile ushers me inside. The place feels warm and smells like flowers. He leads me to a side room and a very nice couch even though I’m covered in soot.

“My car”, I try to explain, “We have to hide my car. They were chasing me.“

“It’s okay.  I’ll move it. ”

I continue to cough while he moves my car to the back. I drink a gallon of water from the sink but still feel dehydrated. When he comes back in his has my cellphone.

“I figured you might need this. Paris, what the hell is going on?”

I open my mouth but no words come out. I’m suddenly back inside Old Town Hall. In my head I haven’t made it out. In my head I’m still trapped in my office breathing in smoke—

“Paris”, Emile says shaking me. My entire body has gone stiff and pain roils deep in my stomach.

I’m…safe? Maybe? For now?

The gunshot? Was that Sera’s gun?

She wouldn’t

My mind flashes to Sera standing at the door. Listening to me make arrangements with Day.

No.

 “What is all this?” Emile asks again flipping through the dossier.

“You have to keep this hidden. No one can know this is here. He tried to kill me. Cortland Day tried to kill me.”

“Paris what the hell is going on? Who is chasing you?”

“I didn’t see their face. I think it was Cortland. I…”

I tell him everything. I tell him how I’d been tasked with working on the audit and how I was being frozen out of all the other meetings. I tell him how Day acted odd whenever I mentioned the budget and how I’d uploaded public data to my personal computer and found the discrepancy. How I discovered that Day’s and Hollins’ fathers had forged documents.

For this first time I verbalize that it didn’t stop there. That Day, Bruno, Lee and Hollins, Jr.  were doing the same thing. Using the budget like a piggybank. That they’d been cutting and pasting fake bills and submitting them for payment for years.

Emile hands me a glass of water as I tell him about Day asking me to drop off my resignation letter tonight and how I’d been locked in my office while it was set on fire.

“Are you sure it was Day?” Emile asked.

“It had to be. He was trying to destroy all the evidence of the scandal. Including me—fuck. Do you have a computer?”

 “Uh, yeah”, Emile runs to the kitchen and comes back with a MacBook, “Aren’t all the archives digital?”

I sit up on the couch and log into the county’s intranet using Mrs. Ginger’s credentials. I click through to the archives and get a blank screen. I refresh and try going in through the back end. Nothing.

“It’s all on servers. Servers that are in the basement of Old Town Hall. Servers that are now gone. All the records are gone except what you are holding.”

Emile looks at the dossier in his hands, “We have to call the police.”

“We can’t. Not yet—“

“What do you mean not yet?”

Sera.

 Had that been Sera’s gun?

It couldn’t have been.

“Day is from a powerful family. I have to be sure. Besides I saw all the cops at his cookout. I have to be careful. Emile, can I ask you a favor?’

“Sure”, he says though I can tell he is wary

“Can you keep this here?” I hand him the dossier, “I don’t think the person who was chasing me followed me here?”

“Mr. Prince when I said hoped you’d bring change to this county this is not what I meant.”

“Emile you said it that first day. People aren’t happy with the way the county is being run. The information in this dossier is why. Day and the others have only been looking out for themselves and the developers. This is the answer to everything and Day tried to kill me to keep it hidden.”

Emile stares at me and I am afraid he is going to call the cops. I must sound crazy to him.

“I…might have some clothes you can change into.”

Or maybe I don’t.

“Thank you.”

I manage to open my new iPhone and slide it out the box. I set it on the charger and the time show it’s a bit after 10:00 p.m. It hadn’t felt like two hours had passed since I left the house

 When I activate the SIM card the phone hums to life and nineteen missed calls from a number I don’t recognize flood in.

I dial the number. It picks up on the first ring.

“McGill’s, how may I help you?”

“…I have a missed call from this number.”

“Oh. Um. Hold on . . . hey. Ma’am. Make it quick please.”

“Paris?”

It was Sera but she sounded different. Her voice was softer and slightly higher pitched. This was good. She was okay. Day hadn’t gone after her too. He must not have realized she was out of town.

“Seraphina. Darling are you okay. Where are you? What number is this?”

“Honey, I’m at exit 34. Off the interstate ---on Rocktown Parkway. I locked myself out the car. My purse and phone are inside. Please come and get me.”

I knew that exit. It was 7 miles outside of Harrison County. I check the grandfather clock in the corner of the…am I in a parlor? It’s 10:21 p.m. What is Sera doing a few miles outside of town? The bash  didn’t end until midnight.  Also, Sera had also never carried in a purse in her life.

What the hell was going on?

“Sera your Tesla can’t lock from --”

“Hurry up.”, she says and hangs up.  

Emile comes down stairs with some folded clothes. I close my eyes and take in a deep breath. I can still smell the smoke and fire. Fuck. I was still processing my near death experience and now Sera was acting weird.

I closed my eyes and thought about that gunshot. It was her gun. I just knew it.

 “You okay?” Emile asks.

“Um…My wife needs me.”

“Are you sure you’re okay to drive? It’s a downpour out there.”

I grab my keys and fight to keep my hand from shaking. Surely that SUV wasn’t still out there.

“I’m fine. Can you keep this dossier safe? As far as Day knows it burned up in the fire. Don’t tell anyone I was here. I don’t know who I can trust.”

“Maybe this wasn’t Day. Maybe this was an accident”, Emile offers, “Be careful, Paris.”

“You too.”

I duck out into the rain and survey my car. The back end and side is dinged up, but otherwise the SUV is in good shape. I inventory the empty lighter fluid containers they had been planted in the back of my car.

If I’d died in that fire it would have looked like arson-suicide. Day tried to take my life and my reputation just because I’d threatened his family legacy. When I get to a quiet part of the road I throw the lighter fluid containers out. Hopefully the rain would wash away any fingerprints.

+3+

It’s pouring down rain when I pull into the parking lot of McGill’s. It’s a giant roadside diner with a massive gas station and greasy looking motel attached to it. There are a few truck drivers in the lot but other than that it’s empty. Where the fuck was Sera’s car? I grab an umbrella out the backseat and run up to the entrance.

Sera is standing by the door and walks out to meet me. She’d wearing a tight stylish mini trench rain coat I didn’t recall her ever owning. She definitely hadn’t been wearing that when she left eight hours ago. She doesn’t even wait for me to reach the door, she runs out into the rain teetering on five-inch stilettos. She pulls open the driver’s seat door.

“Get out. I’m driving.”

“Sera where is your car—“

“Get out.” she snaps taking off my seat belt and pulling me out the car. I dash over to the passenger side and get soaked by the rain. Sera starts the car and peels out the parking lot before I can properly close the door. She seems to notice the smell of lighter fluid and glances at my disheveled appearance.

“Sera—“

“Paris you listen to me.”, she says her eyes on the road, “For the next hour I need you to follow my instructions. Whatever I say I need you to do. No questions and no backtalk. You need to trust me. I know what’s best for you. For us. Do you understand? I’m protecting you. Okay?”

There is a wild look in her eyes I don’t like

“Yes”, I say out of habit, “Sera something happened tonig—“

“I need you to be quiet.” she says and she sounds…scared.

Sera pulls down a side road and stops the car in the middle of nowhere. She turns the brights on and kicks off her shoes.

“Get the flashlight out the trunk.” She says.

I do as I’m told and grab the industrial flashlight I kept in the back. I’d all but given up on staying dry and the rain doesn’t seem to bother Seraphina who is soaked through. She’s standing on the side of the road looking down into a small embankment. I join her and I see it.  

About 10 feet down Sera’s Tesla is stuck in the embankment. The front bumper looks like it’s been smashed and it is split in two. The back end is stuck in the mud. I shine the flashlight on Seraphina’s face. Her expression is cold and emotionless.

“What happened?”

She shakes her head. Right. No questions.

I shine the light along the embankment and that’s when I see the second car. A light blue Toyota Sienna is completely turned on its side in the embankment.

I half walk half slide down the embankment to the Sienna. The window is partially open. Someone was still inside, “Fuck. Call 911. Call-“

I shove the window down and see a woman in the driver’s seat. I reach through the passenger window to check her pulse but I can’t reach. I’m able to skim the woman’s light blonde hair and as I push it aside I immediately recognize her.

Skylar Day

I turn back to Seraphina. I need answers but Sera is too busy opening her trunk. She is removing the industrial chains she sometimes took to events and securing them to the front of her car and the back of mine.

 “Sera….we have to call 911. We have to—“

“You drive. I’ll push”, she says cutting me off.

“Sera--”

“I said no back talk, Paris.”

“We have to help her.”

“It’s too late for her.”

“Sera look at me”, I pull at her jacket and she almost slips, “Tell me you didn’t go after her. Sky came after you, right? Right? This was an accident. Tell me this was an--”

“Start the car”, she says.

“Sera-“

Sera pushes me back toward my car and forces me against the trunk

 “Damnit, Paris. Just do what I fucking tell you or…”

“Or what, Sera?”

She takes a step back and I reluctantly get into my car and press on the gas. My car lurches. Sera tries to clear away some of the softened earth and signals me to start the car again. I do and something gives. The wheels screech but sure enough my car is able to haul the Tesla back on to the road.

Sera quickly unhooks the chains. I watch carefully realizing she has very little on under that coat. Not at all what she left in. I get out the car.

“We have to get help for, Sky.”

“Get in the car”, she snaps, “We’re going home.”

“Sera”

“Just get in the fucking car, Paris. Drive home. This never happened. Do you understand? This never happened. We were never here.”

“We can’t leave Sky here.” I shout, "She has a family."

“It’s too late for her Paris.”

“But—“

“She’s dead”, Sera says decisively and gets into her car. I drive mechanically back to Harrison County. Sera tailgates me the entire way. I feel sick to my stomach when I pull into Mount Laurel. The looming house never felt less like home.

 Sera pulls her car into the garage and I watch while she covers her Tesla’s mangled front bumper with a tarp. I catch a lot of skin and slivers of thick black silky fabric underneath her coat.

“Don’t just stand there”, Sera says, “Get my stuff out the car.”

I mechanically open the trunk. Her gear bag, red travel case and the suitcases she’d packed are still in the car. I guess she wasn’t going anywhere now.

“Sera…what did we just do? Did you even go to Rapture?”

For a moment a hint of worry crosses her face but she just walks inside. Her gun case is in the trunk of her car. It’s the last place it should be, but convenient for me. I open the case and sure enough her bright pink gun is missing.  

I find Sera in the kitchen going through the cabinets. She reaches into the back of a cabinet above the fridge and pulls out a warm bottle of cheap clear Soviet liquor. She drinks a good half of it in record time. She sets the bottle down and for the first time that night really looks at me.

“You look like shi—“

Her insult is cut off by a forceful knock at the door. Sera shoves the bottle back above the fridge. I peer out the kitchen window and see a police cruiser outside.

“Shit”, I pull off my mud caked clothes and shoes then stick them in the oven, “Go upstairs. I’ll get the door”

Sera rushes upstairs and I splash a bit of water from the sink on my face. I don’t have to make much of an effort to look tired, I take a deep breath and pad over to answer the door in just my underwear. I open the door a crack and find a tall woman in boot-leg jeans, a rain coat, and wrinkled button-up is on the other side. Her dark red hair is plastered in curls around her forehead. A gold badge hangs from her neck.

“Mr. Prince.”, she says.

“Yes”, I say

“I’m Sherriff Rainer.”

“Ah, yes. I’m sorry we haven’t met yet. What brings you here so late?”

She leans in a little closer trying to get me to open the door more.

“Can I come in?”

“I…um…I’m not…It’s late…what can I help you with?”

“Is your wife here?”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck

“…I…”

“I’m here”, Sera calls from the top of the steps. I can hear the tinny sounds of her heels as she comes down the steps. She’d taken her coat off and put on a tight silk and lace robe. Her hair and skin were slightly damp but glowy. Sera pushes the door open so Rainer can see inside.

Rainer’s eye shift from me to Sera.

“Mr. and Mrs. Prince I’ve been personally notifying all the supervisors that there has been an incident tonight.”

“…an incident?”

“I’m sorry to say Old Town Hall burned down tonight.”

 “Fuck”, I say because the reality hurt more.

 “It was arson.” Sherriff Rainer informs us. I catch a glimpse of Sera behind me. Her expression was neutral, “We think the blaze was started earlier tonight. There were traces of lighter fluid. The reason I’m here is because we found a body. I wanted to let you know before it became public”

I take a step back. I’m about to faint but Sera holds me steady.

“What? Someone…died ?”

“Alec Mortiz. Al. The security guard.”

Looking good, Mr. Prince.

I can picture the old man sitting comfortably at his post by the American flag just a few feet from the elevator.

“Al? That can’t be”, I say out loud, “What was he doing there on a Sunday night?”

“We don’t know. He was in the basement supply room. When the fire reached the first floor…he must have gotten trapped.”

Memories from earlier that night flicker back to me.  When the arsonist shoved me into my office I’d hit my head on my desk. That stupid fucking desk I’d left sitting in a heap in the corner of my office on Friday. Al. Fucking Al. He’d been in the office on Sunday putting my fucking desk together for me. He’d seen how out of touch I was with the others. He was trying to help. He must have gone to the basement to put the tools back.

Except the Allen wrench

He’d forgotten the Allen wrench and that had saved my life. How could I explain what happened to me given what I’d helped Sera do tonight. How could I convince anyone that Cortland Day had tried to kill me?

“The fire was started in your offices. Right now the Fire Marshall thinks the assailant set fire on each floor as they left.  The supervisors and Al are the only ones with weekend access to the building. Due to recent events I have to ask…. where you two were tonight? Specifically you, Mrs. Prince?

“What? Why?” I ask going into lawyer mode.

Sherriff Rainer frowns, “Because when I went to notify the other supervisors it was bought to my attention that a threat was made against the county yesterday.”

Rainer looks up at Sera. Sera scoffs which did not sound good.

“That was barley a threat”, Sera says.

 “Tell me Mrs. Prince”, Rainer continues, “Did you say and I quote ‘I’m so tired of this fucking town and these fucking people. You’re going to burn. I’m going to fucking kill you’”

“I--”

“Don’t answer that”, I tell Sera.

“I’ll ask again”, Rainer says, Where you two were tonight?”

Sera slightly readjusts the robe she was wearing not so subtly flashing the strips of black fabric that made up the complicated bandage teddy wrapped around her muscular body. Rainer’s eyes scan down to the stripper shoes she was wearing.

“We were just spending some alone time together”, Sera says running her hands through my hair.

Sera was lying but my flush of embarrassment was real.

“Mr. Prince?” Rainer asks.

“She—Yes. We were together all night.”

Rainer doesn’t look convinced.

“I need you to…get dressed and come down to the station Mrs. Prince.”, Rainer says.

I jump in.

“This is a lot to process. Can’t we wait until morning? “

“No”, Rainer says, “I know things weren’t handled by the book before but that’s not how I run things—“

“Rainer. 2349 This is dispatch. Rainer do you read.”

Rainer rolls her eyes and snatches off her radio, “What”

“We have an 11-80 off Exit 34. Up the parkway. Marker 2.2. All hands are requested.”

“I think the deputies can handle it, Lana.” Rainer tries to whisper to the dispatcher.

“…10-21. 555-4523.”

“Repeat that?”

“10-21. 555-4523.”

Rainer holds up an impatient finger and turns away from the door. She pulls out a satellite phone and dials a number. Sera wraps her hands around mine to prevent it from shaking.  

“Ahem…Governor?” I hear Rainer say, “I…what? I understand. Yes, Sir”

She hangs up.

“Is everything okay?” I try to sound innocent but I know what that call is about. Or who.

Rainer just points her radio at us, “I have to handle a situation. But I want to talk to you first thing tomorrow morning Mrs. Prince.”

Sera stares down Sheriff Rainer as she jogs back out to her cruiser.

+4+

The minute the door closes I feel like I can breathe again. Then I remember what I just did.

I lied to the police.

To the fucking sheriff. 

Al died in that fire trying to do me a favor. I was supposed to die in that fire not him.

I was a good man. I always did what was right and I kept getting fucked over. Now someone had died because I’d been too noble. I’d been too upstanding and too empathetic. Too righteous. It had never done me any good.

My hands clenched at the memory of the light blue Sienna. I could still see Skylar Day laying there in a ditch because my vile emotionally-stunted fucking wife did something crazy. I’d covered up a murder and there was no running from that. My life trajectory was fucked the day Seraphina Grigori walked into my life.

“You”, I spat turning around. Sera was already half way up the steps, “This is your fault, Seraphina. I should have gotten out when I had the chance. The minute I met you I knew I could never have the life I planned but this is unfathomable. I know why I’m such a failure. I know why I’m about to be a 28 year-old felon instead of a politician. It’s because of you. It’s because I hated myself so much as a kid that I married the dumb fucking cunt slut from high school. You fucked with my trajectory. I drained everything out of me and gave it to you. You were nothing when I took you in. A dirty drunk whore. I saved you. I saved you. I made you. I worshiped you. I gave you everything and this is how you repay me? You killed my boss’ wife, you turned me into an accomplice. I should turn you in. Fuck. I should kill you and throw you in that embankment with Skylar Day.”

My body was shaking with the fury with the anger. The words were bitter and sharp.

Sera had stopped on the top of the stairs. She turns on her heels to face me. Her expression went from passive interest to absolute fury. She takes her time walking back to the stairs, each click of her heel causing my awful words to replay back to me.

I’d almost died tonight. But the fear I’d felt in that inferno was nothing compared to what I felt now. I shouldn’t have said those things. I didn’t (entirely) mean what I said. I was just stressed. I just…lost it. I took a few steps back.

 “I-I-I’m sorry, Darling. I’m just…I didn’t mean it.”, I wipe the tears from my eyes and take more steps back, “I don’t know what came over me. I’m sorry. I just…I’m so sorry.”

“Come here”, She says quietly lowering herself to sit on the last few steps. She lets the robe fall over her shoulders. She most certainly hadn’t been wearing that black silk bandage teddy when she left. Elegant ribbons criss crossed and clung to her skin. It looked expensive.

“Come here”, she says again.

“Sera—“

“Now”, she demands.

I take a step forward but her she holds out a hand and I stop.

“Crawl”, she orders.

I don’t know what else to do. The hell of tonight feels heavy and endless. The only thing that makes sense is doing what I’m told. I place my palms and then knees on the cold floor.  My boxers cling to my naked body still damp from the rain and I feel the chill in the air. My shoulder is still sore from trying to ram the door down during the fire. I half crawl and half drag myself to the steps. To her. Sera waits as I move hand and knee to where she is sitting. I crawl to her feet and start kissing her shoes and ankles up to her calves.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Sera I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. I don’t know what came over me. I’m so sorry. Everything is fucked up. I just—“

She lifts her foot and swiftly kicks me onto my back, she stands up and grabs my wrists in a vice grip. Then she drags me across the living room and down toward the basement. I try to gain purchase but it happens so fast. I can see the fury on her face. The same look she’d given Skylar Day yesterday.

“Sera. Stop. Sera. What are you doing?”

“Shut up.”

She has to let me go in order to unlock the basement door. I try to get away but she’s quicker. She grabs me and carries me down the steps. She is carefully to lock the door behind us. I wasn’t getting out of here.

The basement. Her studio. Her dungeon was a space I’d mostly seen on my computer screen. The soft purple gel lights fade on and I take in the faux exposed brick wall and the intimidating wrought iron bed and black brocade wallpaper. Bedroom sized BDSM equipment and furniture is carefully set up around the room to be in view of the camera. One wall is filled with a selection of tools to quell any masochist’s desires. There are also plenty of things she can kill me with. Before I can catch my breath Sera shoves me into to a corner of the room where an over-sized wrought iron cage is sitting.

“Sera—“

“Stop fighting”, she says. She knees me in my groin and the sudden pain takes me down. She takes the opportunity to force me into the cage and locks me in.

There is just enough space for me to lay flat on my back and prop myself up on my elbows. Sera sits on top of the cage and we settle in to the longest silence of our relationship. My mind goes to work. I could fix this. I had to fix this.

 “Sera…umm...what are you going to do to me—“

“Tell me what happened to you tonight.” she snaps.

I twist my head to peer up at her. I tell her everything in detail. Except the part about the gunshot. That I keep for myself.

“Your turn”, I say once I finish, “Is what happened to Skylar apart of this.”

Maybe Day went after me and Skylar went after Sera? It seemed unlikely. Sera was out of town. How would the Days have tracked her down?

“Sera…what were you doing back in town? Did you even leave?—“

“We can’t talk about that. What I did I did to protect you? I would do anything to protect you. So you just have to trust me.”

Silence. My mind starts running.

 “Fuck”, I say

“What?

“My messenger bag and laptop. I left them behind in the office when I escaped. Shit. If Rainer finds them she’ll know I lied about my alibi and that I was at the Old Town Hall when it burned. She’ll think I set the fire.”

Sera turns to look at me

“Hmjeu’s bag?”

“…yeah”, I say defeated.

“We’ll say someone stole it. We’re each other’s alibi.” Sera says pacing the room, “We told Rainer we were together all night. We just have to keep saying that. No matter what.”

“I can tell Rainer didn’t believe it. It’s a weak alibi. She’s going to poke holes in it. Unless….we use Vacation. “

“What?”

 I look around the studio and narrow in on the high-powered laptop hooked up to the A/V equipment.

“Darling, you have to let me out. I have an idea, okay. It will protect both of us. But you have to promise me you didn’t mean to kill Sky. You have to promise me it was an accident and I’ll help cover it up."

“I did what I had to do. That’s all I can say.”

I guess I have to take that. I’ll get us past this hurdle and dig for the truth later.

 

+5+

“Vacation”, I explain, “Is a program. Do you remember the programmer that set up the system for CraveLive? Green23.”

“No.”

“I hired them because they were a part of the group that hacked CraveLive a few months back.”

“You hired a hacker?”

“White hat hacker. Anyway, I hired them because they developed some black market software plugins for the site. One of them is Vacation. It’s a hack that mimics a live stream. You upload a pre-recorded video and it generates bot that will respond, interact and chat like a real live show. It even tricks the system so you get paid as if it’s a live show. It’s a stupid expensive underground plug-in for when CraveLive Stars want to go on vacation but want to do a live. All the big Stars use it.”

Sera turns on some overhead lights and the room fills with a soft gray tone. She looks suspicious.

“Why would you buy that? We don’t take vacations.”

This so wasn’t the fucking time.

“Aria wanted to surprise you with a trip this year to Hilton Head. Two weeks just the four of us and the kids to celebrate us finally settling down. Our first vacation together.”

Sera moves to sit back on the cage, “That sounds nice.”

“I doubt that will happen now. If I can get Vacation up and running I can make it look like you live streamed a post-Saint and Sinners show in your dungeon from 8:30 pm to 11:39pm. That’s around the time the fire was set.”

“Why 11:39pm?”

“That’s when Rainer knocked on the door. I can make it look like the live ended when Rainer knocked on the door. It would explain your…outfit.”

She shifts her weight on top of the cage and turns to look down at me between the bars.

“Okay. So that’s an alibi for me. What about you?”

“Actually. I’m going to make it an alibi for the both of us. I need time.”

 “Is this what you want? Or is this me draining you.”

She threw my least volatile words back at me.

“You know what I realized? I turned on you as fast as Day turned on me”, my hands gripped the thick metal bars and I pulled up so I am closer to her, “Day thought because I was a young nobody that he could walk all over me. I bet they all think that. Day tried to kill me and failed. He accidentally killed someone to save his own fucking reputation. I don’t trust the authorities. I don’t trust anyone. Forget embezzlement. I’m going to prove Cortland Day tried to kill me and bury his fucking reputation. Let me fix this.”

 I’m also going to find out what the hell you were up to, Darling. I thought to myself. Because even though you’re my Mistress that doesn’t mean you can walk over me either.

If Seraphina killed Skylar Day I wasn’t going to let her get away with it.

She unlatched the cage with her heel.

“Okay, Paris. Get to work.”

 

 

                                                                                           End of Part 1

Le Sigh. Okay so this was the stopping point I came to about nine months ago. My plan was to make this a nice breaking point for me to write the second half. But I already wrote the second half. The rest of the chapters are complete they just need to be edited for continuity.

We will take a very short break for me to line up all the remaining chapters

Things are just getting started in Harrison County