Chapter 80: If Your Bestie Doesn’t Call Back She Might Be Kidnapped

Octavia unlocked her front door and walked into her apartment, completely exhausted. She went straight to the kitchen where she found Gracie sitting at the island eating cereal.

“There you are,” Gracie said. “You’ve been gone a while.”

Octavia sighed as she opened the fridge. She pulled out a carton of orange juice.

“I’ve been unavoidably detained,” Octavia said.

“Yeah? By what?”

“I got kidnapped.”

Gracie looked up from her cereal bowl.

“Excuse me?”

“I said, ‘I got kidnapped.’”

“I heard that. Are you serious?”

“Dead serious.”

“Damn. By who?”

“Lucas.”

“Why?”

“He wanted to make me his sex slave.”

“Seriously?”

“Could I make this stuff up?”

Gracie frowned. “How did you get out of it?”

“I beat up his cronies. But then Raemon showed up and beat him to a pulp. But then he escaped.” Octavia took a swig from the carton.

“I’m on my way to the police station to give an official statement right now. Apparently, the bastard fled the country.”

“So…,” Gracie began slowly, “He kidnapped you…to run away with you as his sex slave?”

“All to make Raemon miserable or something,” Octavia replied, nodding. “I dunno. It didn’t sound like a very logical plan when he told it to me.”

“How was that supposed to work?” Gracie asked.

Octavia shrugged.

“Maybe he figured he’d send lewd pictures of us to Raemon every now and then? And that would make him feel terrible, I guess? I think the idea was I’d fall for him and end up actually wanting to be his plaything.”

“You? A plaything?”

“The guy clearly wasn’t good at critical thinking, Gracie.”

Gracie smirked. But then she became serious. “Damn it. You were kidnapped, and nobody here had any idea. It doesn’t say a lot for our friendship.”

“How could anyone have known? It was Lila who tricked me into meeting her at three a.m. anyway.”

“Wait, Lila’s a part of this too?”

“She was his accomplice. Unwilling accomplice, so I won’t press charges on that, even though I’d like to see her pay. She kind of got blackmailed into drugging me.”

“Lila drugged you?”

“Yes.”

“And then Lucas kidnapped you?”

“Yup.”

“And then Raemon found you?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Just another typical weekend for you then?”

“Pretty much.”

***

Octavia lay back in her seat and closed her eyes. The golden burst of the sunset washed over her, infecting her body with a little warmth on a chilly evening.

She wrapped her sweater closer around her and snuggled into her seat. The balcony overlooking the city had become a favorite spot for the girls in the apartment.

They would sit out in the cozy space, sometimes turning on the outdoor fireplace or toasting marshmallows on the stone firepit.

Just the other day, Octavia, Gracie, Sierra, Elle, Muffy, and Lauren had all ended up at the house.

They had been out there on the balcony till one a.m. trading stories about their best and worst dates.

Then they’d just moved the party indoors and ended up falling asleep in the gaming room amid empty pizza boxes, stray popcorn kernels, and tangled blankets.

But Octavia was out by herself just then. Ever since her little incident with Lucas, she’d been lying low.

She’d gone to a few therapy sessions, and she’d taken time off work. Gracie and Lauren had both insisted. So she was left with a lot of time to just lie around and enjoy the day.

“All right,” Lauren’s voice said. She appeared through the balcony door.

“I’ve put the casserole in the oven; it should be done in about thirty minutes. Make sure you let it cool before you eat it.”

“Okay, Mom,” Octavia said, chuckling. “You didn’t have to do that. I could have done it myself.”

“You should get all the rest you can,” Lauren said.

“I’m not sick, Lauren.”

“Octavia! What you went through was a very traumatic experience. You need to take time to recover.” She gave Octavia a disapproving frown.

“I still don’t think you should come on the office tours tomorrow.”

“Oh, that—the actual reason you stopped by. Are we all set?”

Lauren nodded. “I have a bunch of potential office spaces lined up for a walk-through tomorrow. We’ll meet the realtor at nine a.m., sharp.”

Lauren looked over Octavia anxiously. “Are you sure you’re up for this?”

“Lauren, it’s only walking around empty buildings,” Octavia said, “I think I’ll be fine.”

Lauren still looked unsure.

“How did Adelaide take your resignation?” Octavia asked, changing the subject.

“Oh…not too badly, actually,” Lauren said. “She’s been really preoccupied as of late. I think she might be dealing with something.”

“It’s hard to imagine Adelaide having a personal life, honestly,” Octavia said.

“I don’t think she does,” Lauren admitted. “Her work is her life. She seems to love it, though.”

“Good old Adelaide,” Octavia commented, “I’ll miss her.”

“I doubt she feels the same way,”

“Even you could tell she hates me?” Octavia said with a laugh.

“She doesn’t…hate you,” Lauren said. “I think she just…resents the fact that you’re…you know, closer to him than she is.”

Octavia frowned. “Why should that matter? He’s her boss not her boyfriend.”

Lauren said nothing at Octavia’s ignorance.

“Well…she’s seemed a bit moodier lately. But last week she really seemed to lose it. I couldn’t believe it. Once, she actually made a calculation error on a spreadsheet!”

Lauren shook her head. “Something’s bothering her.”

“Did anything happen before all this?”

Lauren thought back to the previous week. Adelaide had been moody, all right, but she’d still been as efficient as ever.

But then there was that one day that she was called into Raemon’s office one morning, and she walked out wearing a blank, pale face.

She had left the office shortly afterward and returned an hour later, going straight to Raemon’s office once more. Lauren noted the box she was carrying when she went in. She came out with nothing.

Later on, Lauren had been going through some receipts Adelaide had told her to file away, and she stumbled across one for an absurd amount of money.

She recognized the store name as an upscale jewelry store. The receipt indicated the purchase of a $270,000 diamond ring.

All of this came back to Lauren as she stood before Octavia. But she decided against saying anything.

“Who knows?” Lauren said. “Well…I better get out of here. Do you need anything else?”

“Go, Lauren,” Octavia said, laughing. “I’m okay, I promise.”

“If you need anything, you can call me, you know.”

“I think I can handle getting a casserole out of the oven.”

Lauren gave Octavia one last doubtful look, but then left.

When she got to the door, she was so deep in her troubled thoughts she almost ran into the person standing outside the door, preparing to ring the bell.

“Oh! It’s you. I mean…excuse me, sir.” Lauren ducked her head and quickly stepped aside.

“Where’s Octavia?” Raemon asked.

“She’s out on the balcony,” Lauren said.

She stood by the door and watched him leave for the balcony. There had been a telling look in his eyes. Something momentous was going to happen that night.

If it was what Lauren expected, she would be congratulating Octavia when she next saw her.

“You’re looking better today.”

Octavia opened her eyes.

“Raemon.” She sat up as he walked toward her and took a seat next to her.

“How are you doing?”

“For the millionth time, I’m fine,” Octavia said. “You people are impossible. I practically had to kick Lauren out of here. Stop fussing already!” Her tone expressed irritation, but Octavia was smiling.

“They’re just worried about you,” Raemon said. “So am I.”

“Well, you can stop worrying. As you can see, I’m recovered and in my right mind. As right as my mind can be anyway.”

Raemon lifted a hand to her face and grazed his knuckles over her cheek.

“I’ll never stop worrying.”

Octavia frowned. “You better or you’ll be gray before your time, Raemon, mark my words on that.”

Raemon smirked at that but said nothing. A moment of silence lapsed before he suddenly took Octavia’s hand in his.

“Octavia…we need to talk about us.”

Octavia lowered her eyes. “I know.”

“We can’t keep going on the way we have till now.”

“I get it. You don’t have to explain anything to me, Raemon.”

“No,” Raemon said firmly, “I do.”

During his pause, Octavia studied his face. She did not like the look that was in his eyes.

“When I thought Lucas had taken you,” Raemon began, “it almost destroyed me. I can’t let something like that happen.”

“We should just end this, then,” Octavia said bluntly. “Stop ourselves before it gets worse.”

Raemon fixed his dark eyes and lowered brow on her. It felt like the heat from his gaze was radiated to her skin.

“I love you, Octavia.”

The sun sank farther below the horizon, its golden rays morphing into the subdued hues of the evening. A light breeze tickled her skin. She heard the distant sounds of traffic below them.

And she heard Raemon Kentworth saying he loved her.

“Raemon…you’re not serious…”

“I love you,” Raemon repeated, his grasp tightening around Octavia’s hand. “I don’t want to just be casual anymore. I don’t want to lie to myself. I want you to be mine.

“I want to take care of you for the rest of your life. I’ll give you everything you need, everything you want. You’re the only woman in the world for me.”

“What…what does this mean?”

Raemon reached a hand into his pocket. Octavia knew what he would pull out of it before the velvety black jewelry box came into view.

She didn’t know much about jewelry, but when he opened the box and held it out to her, she knew the silver circle with diamonds embedded in the band and one large diamond set in the head added up to a sizable amount of money.

“Marry me, Octavia.”