Chapter 9
The Mayor’s fundraising gala. Apparently, he held one of these events every quarter.
One to garner support, two to steal his constituents’ money.
At least that’s what Reign passively heard when KC was in the car rambling about it.
Since they landed, he’d found unnecessary bullshit to talk to her about.
How the dress looked, how nicely she’d done her hair.
What restaurants he wanted to eat at in the city and what she should wear once she had the mayor in her pocket.
All of it fell on deaf ears. She’d determined the moment she was free of KC’s watchful eye, she was gone.
She didn’t care about the clothes at the hotel room.
She didn’t care about the jewels or anything else.
She was one thousand two hundred eighty two miles away from Javier.
That was enough to space to run, hide, and never look back.
If only it were that easy. As Reign started to exit the car and head inside of the mayor’s mansion, she was snatched back by KC. A sarcastic laugh pushed through his lips. “Where the fuck you goin’?”
“Inside,” Reign replied, attempting to snatch away from him.
He held her wrist firmly and smirked. “You think you slick or some shit? You’re with me all night, until it’s over. And even then, I’m going to be right there. I’m not getting killed behind you.”
Reign swallowed the lump in her throat and schooled her features. She had to remember the plan. Surely once inside, there would be a way to get out. So for now, she obliged and relaxed her shoulders.
“Fine,” she yielded.
“Here take this, it’ll relax you,” KC said, handing her a heart-shaped pill. Ecstasy. She hadn’t taken a pill on her own in a year and refused to. She refused to dance with those demons. Refused to invite the devil in knowingly. Again.
“I’d rather snort it. If that’s okay? Quicker release,” she lied.
KC smirked. “I knew you wasn’t changing on us.”
She was. She had changed. They fought with the rocks to keep her in the daze she once basked in. She watched the driver watch her as KC crushed the heart-shaped pill and another on the tray of the seat and then point.
“Do your thing.”
Reign mastered the art of pretending. The right noise to make and perfect sweep of her hand to ingest just enough, hold in her nostril and sweep the rest away. KC, unaware of her trick, smiled, put the tray up and exited the car. When his door closed, she looked at the driver.
“Can I have a napkin?”
The driver, who was ordered not to hear or see shit, couldn’t help but help the woman in need. He handed her his cloth handkerchief. “Take care of yourself tonight.”
Reign blew her nose and stuffed the fabric down her dress before KC could open her door. “I will.”
“If you need an exit, the mayor has windows in every bathroom,” the man muttered as if he was humming a song.
Reign blinked in gratitude before she exited the luxury vehicle. She chanted her plan internally as she clutched KC’s hand and smiled. She needed to make it look like the drugs were doing its job.
“Does he know I’m here for him?” Reign asked.
KC nodded. “He does. Javier sent you with his deepest regrets. His wife is here, he’ll signal for you when he’s ready.”
Reign allowed KC to move her about the party for an hour. She ate when he told her to, drank when he told her to, smiled, laughed, and played the part. She’d been to enough of these things to know how to blend in. Javier hosted plenty of parties for corrupt politicians in Port Lucia.
Mayor Norman was nothing different. His custom suit had to be priced well over five thousand dollars.
His nails were manicured, skin was like black silk, pearly veneers, and the Rolex on his wrist proved that there was money he was getting and it wasn’t just from the gala.
Reign took notice of his wife. Her orbs, her bubbliness, her movements as if she were in an odorless daze herself.
Reign was in a pit of vipers. The question was, who was going to bite her first?
“Stay here,” KC muttered in her ear. “I got to piss.”
She nodded and watched as KC maneuvered through the crowd to a nearby bathroom. Just as he disappeared, a man appeared. He appeared to be a security guard, the earpiece in his ear giving him away.
“Mayor Norman requests you in his office,” the man spoke, skipping over the pleasantries.
“Okay but my-”
“I’ll inform your handler. He’ll join you shortly.” The man placed a firm hand on her back to give her a nudge in the opposite direction of where KC strolled off to. Reign swallowed the lump in her throat, hoping to settle the flipping of her stomach.
“Is there a restroom I can freshen up in?” she questioned.
“There’s one in the mayor’s office. You can make yourself comfortable there until he arrives.”
“Thank you,” Reign hummed. Her heart now drumming in her ears as her anxiety spiked. Security escorted her inside of the office and stood outside the door. There was no time to waste.
Finding the bathroom, Reign slipped inside, spotted the window and began to pull the dress off of her body.
Dress off, heels off, the long-sleeved shirt she tied around her waist pulled over her torso.
With haste, she hoisted herself atop the counter and found the window unlocked.
It was big enough for her slip out. Headfirst, she wiggled her body out.
The tightness of the space causing the metal of the window frame to press against her bruises.
She couldn’t stop to wince. Not with the door of the office opening and KC calling her name.
“Reign!”
“Fuck,” she huffed, sweat starting to pour from her pores as she pushed herself halfway out of the window. “Come on. Come on!”
“Reign!” KC bellowed again, banging on the locked door. “Open this fuckin’ door Reign!”
He was running himself into it, attempting to break it off of the hinges.
Just as he broke in and ran to where she was, Reign was three quarters of the way out.
KC grabbed her ankle, yanking her back. It was do or die.
She hadn’t fought back but tonight was the night to fight to the death.
She held on to a gutter drain and used the leg KC held to kick him in the face.
As hard as she could, repeatedly, until he released her.
The sudden release forced her to fall out of the window and sent her crashing down into a landscaped area of rose bushes and rocks.
Running off of the need to be free, Reign ignored the cuts and fought to be free of the bushes.
She had no sense of direction, and the sun had gone down, but she could hear cars.
Through the dense woods she ran, stumbled, and almost fell before she reached the access road that ran alongside of the mayor’s mansion.
With her hands up, she ran in front of a car, the headlights blinding her.
Even if she was hit, anywhere would be better than where she was. The car came to a screeching halt as it swerved to miss her. The driver laid on the horn before jumping out to cuss.
“Bitch, what the fuck is wrong with you!”
Reign whimpered, knowing there was no time to go back and forth. “Please…help me.”
The driver squinted her eyes and studied her tattered state. Torn shirt, cut feet, ripped leggings, a small gash on her head.
“Get in,” the woman directed. “Hurry up before someone notices you’re gone and I have to shoot a muhfucka out here.”
Reign rushed to climb into the back seat and laid down on the floor. She wouldn’t risk being seen. The woman, now back inside and pulling away, spoke. “Grab that hoodie and put it on.”
Reign did.
It was another five minutes before the woman spoke again. “We’re in the clear. Mind telling me what the fuck this is about?”
Reign winced as she pushed her body off the floor and into the seat. “I’d rather not. I just need you to drop me off at a hotel where no one is going to care about me.”
“I have a feeling whoever you’re running from is going to tear the city up looking for you.”
Reign said nothing, just peeked out the back window to make sure no one was following them.
“Is it the mayor?” the woman asked.
Reign muttered, the pain along with the cold setting in. “The mayor is the least of my worries.”
“Your handler?”
Reign caught the woman’s eyes in the mirror.
“I can take you to a women’s shelter. There’s a few around the city. They’ll protect you.”
“They ask too many questions there. I just need a cheap hotel.”
“And clothes. You can’t get around Majestic Heights with no shoes. What size are you?”
“Seven.”
The woman nodded.
The ride falling silent until the car was stopped at a hotel in the lower east side of Lynnwood, The Lynnwood Grand.
“No one is going to bother you here, if they do, you call me and I’ll handle it,” the woman said before getting out and going to her trunk.
She returned with a duffle bag. “You look like you’re a little smaller than me.
Same shoe size. In this bag is clothes I haven’t worn yet.
Just shit I wanted to blow money on. Take this. ”
“I can’t take that from you,” Reign protested.
“You can and you will. And I put my card on the inside. Whatever you need, a ride, your hair done, whatever, you call me. If anyone bothers you, you call.”
Reign nodded. Kindness from a stranger was something she hadn’t experienced until today.
“Put those shoes on, I’m going to get you a room.”
“I can-”
“No. Keep whatever money you have. You’ll need it.”
The woman left Reign to don her cut feet with socks and shoes. Once she returned, Reign was outside of the car, hoodie pulled completely over her head and tied securely.
“Room 709. It’s paid up for a week. Get you some food and some rest okay?”
“Thank you. How do I pay you back?”
“You don’t. You just don’t go back.”
“I won’t,” Reign felt her voice crack.
“I’m Nia, by the way.”
Reign twisted her lips.
“You don’t have to tell me yet. Tell me when you trust me, okay?”
Reign nodded before nervously glancing down the street. Nia encouraged her inside.
“Go, I’ll be waiting on that call.”
Reign gave her a barely there smile before moving her sore body inside.
When she reached her room, a flood of emotions hit her like a freight train.
Back pressed against the door, Reign dropped her face into her hands and sobbed uncontrollably.
She was free. At least for tonight, she was out of the web of darkness.
She knew it wasn’t over yet. Javier was going to send his goons to find her and KC wasn’t returning to The Port without her if he wanted his life. For tonight, she would pray she was safe enough to plan her next steps. The goal was freedom. Little did Reign know, she was at the cusp of her forever.