My Father's Friend
My Father’s Friend – Chapter 36

At last the car stopped, Serena was grateful for this as her stomach was a complete mess. She still didn’t look up, until someone put a hand on her shoulder.

-Get out,” they order her.

She heeds and gets down, being gently led to walk and almost blindly she does. Suddenly she stands, not knowing where to go. All she did was shake like a jelly. Unwillingly tears sprang to her eyes.

-Serena -And just at that moment the brunette hears that familiar voice.

After Casey had breakfast with Cauther, the redhead didn’t know what to say to her “husband”, it was strange to see him as her husband.

-You’ll have a visitor in…” She looks at her watch. About 5 minutes, you should be on your way out,” Cauther told her as he read the paper.

-Visit? My father?

-Because you’re not going to see for yourself?

She stands up and walks towards the exit, when she hears the sound of the door opening. Filled with curiosity she quickens her steps and stops abruptly in front of a reddish figure. Behind her was Santino, her father Rafael had told her that this man was Cauther’s right hand man, whom she trusted blindly. She sees the man nod and then walk away. At that moment Casey mentions Serena’s name.

-Serena? -The brunette removes her hood and looks up.

-Casey? -She opens her eyes wide, shedding more tears. Caseyyyy.” He runs towards her.

The red-haired girl also runs to her friend and they both end up hugging in the middle of the hall.

-You’re okay, you’re alive… I can’t believe it, you’re still alive,” the brunette shouted with emotion.

-It’s so good to see you again, thank God you’re all right. I was so worried about you.

-But what happened? How come you’re all right? -He breaks away from her to look at her.

-Come on, let’s go up to the room.

-Room? -She asks fearfully.

Suddenly the brunette notices a male figure stop well behind Casey. She sees him cross his arms and feels a horrible knot in the pit of her stomach. All of her tensed as she watched the executioner so close. Suddenly he squeezes the redhead’s hand, and Casey realises what was happening.

-Calm down.

-Casey, we have to get out of here,” she whispers.

-It’s okay, we’re going up to the alcove.

-But…

-Casey pulls her.

Serena let herself be led by her friend, but without taking her eyes off the man. Who couldn’t take his eyes off her…

As soon as the two were in the safety of an impressive room, Casey set about telling her everything that had happened since the executioner took her, of course, leaving out some parts like Cauther’s past. Leaving Serena open-mouthed. She didn’t believe anything she was hearing, let alone knowing that she was now completely free to do whatever she wanted.

-So, can I go?

-Yes, and no…

-What?

-It’s just that we need to wait a while so you can get on with your life.

-And what should I do in the meantime?

-You can stay here with me.

At last the car stopped, Serena was grateful for it as her stomach was a complete mess. She still didn’t look up, until someone put a hand on her shoulder.

-And your husband will be okay with this, I don’t want to cause any trouble. Besides, he scares the hell out of me.

-It’s all right, it’s all right. You can stay.

The brunette smiles at her looking somewhat relieved, Cauther had told her about Serena. She had no home to go to, she lived from one foster home to another, no family member was looking for her, that’s why she stayed for so many years locked up in that place. He told her that he never had the opportunity to buy her because he always had someone on his list to rescue, when the news came out in the newspapers he already knew where to replace her.

He didn’t charge any kind of reward, he often sent Santino to return the girl, and sometimes he did it himself, in case he knew the girl’s relatives. And of course he asked for total discretion and to keep the victim hidden for a few months. Just to protect his reputation.

But with Serena it was a very different story, she had no family, and he certainly didn’t plan to throw her out on the street.

-Thank you so much for getting me out of that place.

-But there are still a lot of girls there.

-But it’s not so easy to get them all out, I don’t think verdu… I mean, your husband can get them all out.

-No, he can’t…” Casey looks at her friend’s attire. “You’d better take a bath and change, besides, you should get some sleep. You look like you haven’t slept well in days.

-Yes.” She agrees, showing exhaustion in her features.

-You can stay in this room, there are plenty of clothes in that wardrobe. I’ll get you something to eat and then you can rest.

When Casey left, serene, she let out the tears she had been holding back for so long, she was free, she was free! No more selling herself, no more men, no more mistreatment… she was a woman who could do whatever she wanted. The happiness she felt was so great that it made her scream. She never thought she’d see this day coming, and now that she was living it, she felt like the happiest woman on earth.

Casey came down the stairs and at that moment she sensed Cauther pretending to leave the house, wanting to please her by bringing her friend. So she ran up to him and threw herself on him and hugged him tightly.

-Thank you, thank you so much for bringing her,” she said.

He was very surprised by Casey’s changes, but he certainly wasn’t going to complain about them. He really, really liked that she was so… cute with him. So he hugged her back.

-I feel more at ease knowing she’s here, can she stay in the house?

-She can.” He didn’t like her, but for her sake he would agree to let her friend stay.

-Thank you,” she replied, pulling away from him to place a k**s on his lips. I’ll bring her something to eat.

And just as she arrived, she left, leaving Cauther astonished. He watches her walk away, and curiously, a smile creeps onto the CEO’s lips. Then he denies and leaves the house.

Once in his private office, Cauther was about to review some documents. But before taking some, Santino enters his office. He looks up at the man.

-Everything went well?

-Otto, he asked some questions. I don’t think you should do that again Lance.

-It won’t happen again…

-I’ve discovered something you won’t believe. -You’ll really be shocked.

-What is it?

Otto gathered his things as fast as he could, put in all the cash he had and made a single transfer to a single bank where he pooled all his capital. With a plane reservation ready, nothing tied him to the club anymore. He would leave that very afternoon, and be lost forever. With everything he had saved, he could live very well without worrying about anything.

Looking around, Otto stuffed the suitcases into the car. Quickly, he ran to the driver’s side and climbed in, somewhat clumsily. He started the car and immediately put it in gear, looking in the rear-view mirror at the name of the building. It had been a great idea to take that school and turn it into a club, but it was already in the past.

He accelerated the car along the desolate road that led to the highway, it seemed that everything was going well until he looked in the rearview mirror and noticed that a black van emerged from the undergrowth and began to follow him, getting closer and closer. That road was only travelled by customers attending the bar, that made him swallow his breath and speed up the accelerator.

-Shit,” he mumbled.

The van was almost on top of him, until it hit his bumper. He gripped the steering wheel tightly to prevent his car from overturning, but the blows didn’t seem to stop, they were getting stronger and stronger and he reached a point where he couldn’t get control of the car.

-F**k,” he shouted as the car came to a halt.

In seconds, Otto’s sports car was overturned on the side of the road with the man on his head and a large amount of b***d dripping from his forehead. Through his one remaining good eye, he could see someone get out of the truck and walk towards his car.

-Where is the girl? -He could only see the guy’s shoes.

-I don’t know, they told me she died.

-Who?

-I just don’t know… I have no idea who these two are.

-The address of the bank where they pay you, what is it?

-They pay, they pay in cash. Please…

At that the muscular guy leans over to look at him through the car window, Otto notices that in his hand he was holding a gun. He knew this was the end of him.

-They sent me to give you a slow death, but you’ve taken it upon yourself to bring it forward,” he points the gun at him.

-No wait…

But the man shoots him in both legs, then in the arms. Otto was moaning from the pain, out of that he was starting to bleed out.

-Give me the name of the guy who bought her. -Give me the name of the guy who bought her.

-F**k you.

-Okay,” he stands up and walks to the van. Burn the car.

-No, no, no, noooo,” Otto shouted from inside. I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you…his name is L.C., his right-hand man’s name is Santino. That’s it, I swear that’s it, that’s it,” he shouted.

The bodyguard nods to his boys to set the car on fire in the same way, they started spraying fuel on the wrecked vehicle.