Bianca’s POV
“You said this was Siobhan Hayes!” Dez argued.
“I said this is the girl, don’t put words into my mouth, Dez. And try not to argue with me. What did you learn?”
Carol had sent Dez out early to scout for information around town. She wanted to be sure the police weren’t on their tail. But Dez didn’t have such good news.
“The news is, one of the students missing from Edwin and Co., the Head Girl, is Bianca Davis and she was last seen in the company of a gang woman in Mainland.” Dez, though short had the build of a boxer and from the scars on him, I could see he has been in his own fair share of vicious fights. If I tried to escape how many steps would I take before he overpowered me?
I didn’t even want to think about escaping. I just prayed silently that some miracle would happen and I would be allowed to go home.
Carol listened to Dez for a moment and then nodding her head, looked in my direction.
“Turns out you are causing a whole lot more trouble than I expected.” She turned back to Dez and said something to him in low tones to which he nodded. As soon as he left to do her bidding she came back for me and squatted. “Alright, Bianca, it seems I underestimated you. Who is Mr. Hayes to you?”
“I thought you did your assignment on me already?” I shot back.
“Don’t play smart with me Davies! I am not your friend and don’t think because I can’t kill you I can’t hurt you. There are many ways to torture a person I would hate to give you a lesson today.” She moved closer. “Now, who is Anton Hayes to you?”
“Siobhan’s father.”
“And why does he refer to you as his daughter?”
“What sort of a stupid question is that?”
She looked like she was going to hit me and I braved myself for a blow that never came. She sat back on her heels. “He is willing to pay whatever amount of money we ask for if we release you.”
That was shocking news but…not so shocking since I do consider the Hayes my parents.
“What is he to you? If he’s willing to pay more I need to know what secrets you both share to use as a leverage.”
My eyes widened. “Are you implying Mr. Hayes and I may be having some sort of affair?” the answer was clear in her eyes. I couldn’t help laughing at the stupid assumption. “You do realize Anton Hayes is like a father figure to me right? If you’ve done your assignment me and Siobhan like you claim you have you will know we are practically sisters and her parents will not leave me to rot here. Sorry, there isn’t any juicy leverage for you here. You can ask for whatever you want, just let me go back home.”
She thought about my words for a few seconds as though she was trying to detect lies in them. She couldn’t find anything false so she returned her gaze to my face and narrowed her eyes. “I’ll take whatever Hayes has to offer but you will only return home when I have Andre back to me.” Her eyes suddenly turned sinister. “Although I am beginning to wonder if letting you go is a smart thing to do given how much you know already. Who’s to say you wouldn’t go to the cops and tell them everything you know just to take revenge for abducting you?”
Fear gripped my heart. “Look, Carla – Carol…I swear to you, I just want to return home to my family, I’m not going to expose you I swear. You don’t have to do anything drastic…I will not tell on you, I promise.”
She suddenly burst into laughter. “Oh, you should see your face. I swear I won’t tell on you,” she mimicked me. “Relax, I am not going to kill you even though it does sound like a good idea but Andre would not forgive me if I do so I’ll let you go home to your Mommy and Daddy. Now, I have an assignment for you,” she squatted again and reached into her pocket for a phone. “Let me have Anton Hayes’s number.”
**
Andre’s POV
If my bones were in a sack they would rattle and knock against each other because of how scared I was. Somehow I had managed to stammer my way through my story. And I held nothing back. I told Anton everything that happened from the very start to the end and when I finished I waited for him to speak.
I expected an outburst and I readied myself for when he would call the cops to come take me away but it never came. Anton simply stared at me in disbelief and…awe.
I waited nervously for him. I bet if I had told my story to Cole he would have compressed my head and feet together. I guess I should be grateful that Anton wasn’t doing the same to me.
“You are Andre Rios?” he asked finally.
For a second I was confused by the direction of his concern. It didn’t matter that I had a hand in the kidnap of his supposed daughter.
“Y-yes, sir.”
“Your father is Ignacio Rios?” he asked.
I hadn’t specifically mentioned Dad’s name, although I had mentioned the business and how it crashed.
“Yes, sir.”
“Oh my God,” he muttered under his breath. “Oh my God. I know your father…he was – is my friend. The man who duped your father? That’s me.”
I couldn’t believe it!
Dad…Anton Hayes?
How many more surprises can I handle in 24 hours?
“I-I don’t understand, Mr. Hayes.”
He looked at me with pity. “I might be the reason your brother had to resort to crime. I…yes I am definitely the reason.”
I could look stare dumbfounded as he spoke.
“It was a little after your mother’s death. Your father already lost a lot of his money trying to find a cure for her. Ignacio Rios was always a proud man, he would never ask for or borrow money even if he was on his deathbed. I could have easily given him the money he needed but he didn’t want my money. So I gave some advice. I told him to invest his money and to prove to him that the investment was legitimate, I did the same. But while my investment was successful, his crashed. I don’t know how, maybe by a stroke of bad luck. I felt responsible for his loss and I wanted to help him but he went under the radar and no amount of searching turned up positive. He disappeared from the face of the earth.”
My eyes stung with tears as I listened to him speak.
“I couldn’t find your father. All I wanted was to pay back the money he lost but he just…wasn’t existing anymore.”
“That is because the business crashed and my father became a living shell. I tried to help him revive it but…” I was choked up with tears.
To my amazement, Anton reached out his hands and pulled me in for a hug. My body went stiffly into his arms.
Ask Diddy your most personal interrelationship questions. Tell Diddy everything. Go on! We dare you!
Remember, the reason Ask Diddy is added to the school newspaper is to help students interact with a fellow yet an anonymous student. All secrets told to Diddy remain secret.
Dear Diddy,
My whole world is crashing around me. My whole life has been a lie. I don’t know what do to. How do I forgive the woman I call mother? How do I forgive her sins? Is she redeemable?
Why can’t anyone love me?
_ Diddy
Dear Diddy,
Even Diddy wrote a letter to herself. Edwins and Edwinas, I, too, am a student like you. I have flesh and blood and feelings. Is there anyone out there who loves me?
-Diddy.
“I am so sorry,” Anton wiped into my shoulder. “I didn’t know you boys have grown so big. Alex used to be so small and full of life and you were only 4 when I last saw you. I am sorry, if I had known, if I had remembered that Ignacio had children I would have tried harder to find him. I wanted to pay him back all the money he lost.”
In my choked-up emotional state, I looked at Bianca’s dad and saw him staring curiously at me and Siobhan’s dad.
Anton released me.
“It is all my fault. All these that happened are all my fault. I’m sorry you are caught up in this mess because of me.”
“You are not angry?” I asked incredulously.
“I know no child of Rios would willfully resort to kidnapping and extortion. I believe your story and this Carol…whatever it is she wants we will give her.”
I couldn’t believe my luck. It was like a dream. Everything was falling into place and I wanted to pinch myself to convince my head that I wasn’t dreaming. He wasn’t calling the cops on me. He believed me. That was definitely not what I was expecting. And his story about him and my dad was also something I wasn’t expecting. But I believed him because it made a lot of sense with the story Dad told us.
He patted my shoulder. “We need to get Bianca before something drastic happens to her. It’s bad enough that Siobhan is hanging for dear life, if she wakes up and finds out something happened to her best friend she might lose her mind.”
I nodded my agreement unable to speak.
“Do you know how we can get through to Carol? How much will it take for her to release Bianca and leave us alone forever?”
I didn’t know but I gave him her number. But before he could call, she chose that moment to call him.