Chapter 71: Chapter 71

The party was in full swing by the time Carol and Sebastian got there as they arrived sort of late, what with their session of love-making in the shower. Although there weren't many people present, the whole thing still looked to be fun. Carol could not find Melissa anywhere and when she called her, she didn't answer the phone, probably because she did not hear the phone ring because of the noise. Feeling relieved, Carol began to dance with Sebastian at his request. She did not miss the side-eyes that many ladies at the party were giving him and she knew that if she left his side for even a moment, she would be replaced instantly if Sebastian allowed it. There was just something so magnetic about the man that drew girls in their groves to him, as though they were moths that were attracted to flames.

Carol felt powerful and proud that he was all hers and she had him all to herself, at least for now. This was one of the things that she liked about Sebastian. Even though they were not truly married in the sense of the word, or at least had married for all the wrong reasons, he still respected her enough in public and did not pay mind to any other female attention.

***

The dancing couple danced happily for a while, immediately forgetting their decision not to stay long at the party. The DJ was playing some nice songs so it was easy to get carried away dancing and drinking. They were not aware of Melissa sitting in a darkened corner with her goons and Jessica, who even in the darkness, was looking so pale and scared as she sat down with her kidnappers, unable to do anything or alert anybody to her situation. There was nothing that she could do because even if she wanted to, Melissa had taken drastic measures to make sure that she would not have the courage to do so, for her whole body was packed with explosives right underneath her clothes. Also, she was fitted with microphones so that they could listen in on her conversation with Sebastian. All that was needed for the explosives to go off and turn Jessica, together with anyone she was in close proximity with at that moment, into a mashed mess of blood and bones, was for Melissa to press a button, and she knew that Melissa would not hesitate to press it even for one second. The girl was a confirmed psychopath.

"Just look at her. Dancing as though she has no care in the world. What do you think of that, Jessica? She's dancing with your man, and it's all that Mr. James's fault. See how Sebastian looks so happy with her. Don't you want your man back?"

Jessica lowered her gaze without answering. What she really wanted was to be free from this life of bondage that she had been in for more than a year, but of course, she was not going to say that to Jessica, except she wanted to be blown up right here, a few feet from where that traitorous Sebastian was, dancing with his wife as though he did not have a care in the world...as though he did not care that she was missing. According to Charlotte, Mr. James did not tell Sebastian that he had caught her cheating on him, or even worse, that she had propositioned Mr. James one day when she was drunk off her skull. That meant that he had no reason to hate her, but then he still went ahead to get another woman within months of her disappearance. The happiness and love that she could see on the woman's face were too sickening for her to bear, so she averted her gaze from the couple, wishing that Charlotte would just release her and that she did not have to do this.

"Alright, girl. It's showtime. Damn, this is so exciting. I'm going to distract his wife now. You know what to do." Charlotte said, standing up and sashaying towards the dancing couple.

***

"Do you think that we can sit down for a bit?  I'm getting sort of tired." Sebastian said after a while when the song they had been dancing to ended. He liked the fact that Carol was having so much fun, but the fact was that he was getting tired and needed to sit down.

"Common, what are you? An old man? Oh come on, I like this song. Alright, let's dance to this one, and then we can go sit down." Carol replied as one of her favorite songs came up.

Rolling his eyes good-naturedly, Sebastian obliged her, but they had only danced for not even up to thirty seconds when someone tapped Carol on her shoulder and she turned to see Melissa smiling widely at her. Resisting the urge to groan, Carol smiled back at her, silently acknowledging the fact that at least this was one girl who did not seem infatuated with Sebastian. In fact, if anything, she seemed to dislike him and Carol did not for the life of her know why, but then, Melissa seemed to dislike everybody.

"Hello, Melissa." Sebastian greeted, nodding at her. He seemed to know that she did not like him but he was still being polite.

"Hey, sup. Listen, I'm going to borrow your wife for some minutes. There are some people that I want to introduce her to, ok? We'll be back soon." Charlotte said, hardly sparing him a glance.

"Really? Who? I don't think... I mean, no one here knows me." Carol began to protest.

"I know that, but I want to introduce you to some of my friends." Charlotte insisted.

"It's okay. I don't mind. I'll just sit and rest like I was going to do before you decided to dance again. Just don't stay away too long, otherwise, I will come and find you." Sebastian told Carol jokingly.

"Okay. I'll e back soon. Should I grab you a drink when I'm coming back?"

"Yes, please."

"Common, let's go," Charlotte said impatiently, tugging on Carol's arm and practically dragging her away from Sebastian.

"Where are you taking me?" Carol asked as they walked through the crowd and into the hotel where the party was taking place.

"To introduce you to my friends. I told you that before."

"Okay. Let's just make it snappy." Carol told her.

"Sure."