Scream For me

WESTON

“It’s official.” Gregg shakes my hand vigorously.

“It’s official,” I repeat. I’ve just closed what will soon be one of the most lucrative deals of my career, helping me pave the way as a major market share owner in the transportation industry. I should be ecstatic and celebrating, but it doesn’t hold the joy things like this used to. It’s just a business transaction, nothing more. I leave the conference room, letting the lawyers finish up as I head back to my office.

“Weston?” I turn to see Natalie following me down the hallway. “Can I talk to you for a moment?” She doesn’t have her normal overly friendly demeanor today.

“Sure.” I usher her into my office, closing the door behind us.

“First, congrats on the deal.” She smiles.

“Thank you, not just for the congratulations but also for your work on the deal. I appreciate it.” After our last conversation, she did everything to negotiate with Nile’s lawyers and my own to make sure the deal went through as smoothly as possible.

“Listen,” she says, taking a seat. “I owe you an apology.”

“Actually,” I say, interrupting her, “I think I’m the one who owes you an apology. The way I spoke to you last time was rude.”

“No, it was… understandable. I’ve thought a lot about what you said and you were right. I did take advantage of your grief, but I also want you to know that it came from a place of loss and hurt on my part. After Mike left me for someone else, I was struggling with my self-esteem. I missed having Mira around to talk to; she was always there to talk sense into me when he and I were going through something. She was an amazing person and if she knew how I behaved, how I made you feel, she would be hurt by my actions. So I’m sorry. I’m also incredibly sorry for talking to Daphne. I had no reason to do that. I went to apologize to her at school the other day, but I must have just missed her because she wasn’t there.”

I let out a sigh. I’m thoroughly shocked to hear her talk like this. “I appreciate that. I know we both acted on our feelings of loss and loneliness.

I should have handled things better with you… and with Mira.” “I- I knew,” she says nervously.

“You knew?” I ask, confused.

“About Ken.” She says the name as if I should know who she’s talking about.

“Ken who?” Then it hits me. “Ken? That’s his name? The man she loved?”

“Shit.” She hangs her head. “Sorry. I thought you knew.”

“I knew there was someone else. I knew she was in love with him but that’s about it. I asked her once but she didn’t tell me so I left it at that. I didn’t want to know.” I spin in my chair, staring out the window of my office. “Whatever happened to him?”

“I don’t know for sure. She told me that she called it off with him after getting sick. She didn’t tell him why, just that she couldn’t do it any longer. I guess he took it hard, started spiraling and begging her to come back.”

“Did you ever meet him?”

“No. Never saw a picture of him or anything. I just knew his name.

Ken.”

“Ken what?” I spin back around in my chair to look at her. I’m not sure what I’m going to do if I have his last name. What would be the point in finding out who he is now?

“I don’t know. She never told me his last name. I just saw him saved in her phone as KF. Anyway”-she stands up-“I should get going but I’m sorry this conversation went in this direction. It wasn’t my intention. I-I’m just sorry for everything.” She walks out of my office, leaving my head spinning with that name.

“I DON’T WANT to go to school, Daddy!” Daisy’s face grows red as tears stream down her cheeks.

“What has gotten into you?” I try to hide my frustration, but Daisy’s tantrums have grown increasingly out of control this last week. “You love school, sweetie.”

“Not anymore!” she shouts, throwing her socks across her bedroom. “I want Miss Flowers back,” she says through tearful hiccups.

Fuck. I had hoped she wouldn’t have caught on that there was something between us that is now not between us.

“Sweetie.” I take a seat on the bed next to her, trying to figure out what to say to her. I don’t even know what to say to comfort myself about losing her. I haven’t even accepted the fact that I have lost her. “Sometimes men and women, even if they love each other very much, can’t make things work.” She looks up at me like she has no idea what I’m saying. “Shit, okay,” I mutter to myself as I try to think how to reword it.

“I don’t like my new teacher.”

“What? What do you mean new teacher? What happened to Miss Flowers?”

“She’s gone,” she says, her lip starting to quiver again.

“Sweetie. Daisy, look at me.” I stand up. “Miss Flowers isn’t your teacher anymore or is she just gone for a few days and is coming back?”

“I dunno. Mr. Fein said Miss Flowers is gone and we have a new teacher, Miss Pickler.”

“A new teacher?”

“That’s what I’m saying!” she says, completely exasperated. Now I get why she’s crying and throwing a tantrum.

“How long has she been gone?”

She shrugs. “A long time.”

“Okay, Daisy, listen to me.” I realize I’m not going to get the answers I need from her. “I need you to put your socks and shoes on so I can take you to school. I promise you, I’m going to find out where Miss Flowers is, okay? I’m going to get this figured out.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.” I stand up and walk out of her room, calling Daphne as soon as I’m out of earshot of Daisy.

“Fuck!” It goes straight to voicemail so I try again. Same thing. I send her a text.

Me: I don’t know what’s going on, but Daisy said you’re not her teacher anymore. Please tell me you didn’t quit because of things between us. I’m sorry I reacted the way I did. Call me, please.

I try to call her one more time, but it still goes straight to voicemail.

“Daisy, let’s go!”

By the time we make it to school, we’re late. I walk Daisy to her class, looking through the window of the door to confirm that it is, in fact, not Daphne.

I knock softly and open the door. “Apologies that she’s late; it was my fault.”

“Hurry to your seat, Daisy,” the woman says rather harshly before pulling the door from my hand and closing it.

I walk downstairs to Rick’s office, sticking my head in to see him sitting at his desk.

“Mr. Vaughn.” He pops up with a nervous smile. “How are you doing?” I’m a little taken aback by his overzealous demeanor.

“I’m okay, Rick, but I’m a little confused about something. Do you have a few moments?”

“Sure, sure, come on in.” He closes the door behind me and sits down behind his desk. “I have to say, I’ve been expecting you to come in.”

I cock my head to the side, confused. “You have?”

“Well, yes. After the incident with Miss Flowers, I kn-”

“Incident?” I scoot to the edge of my seat. “What incident?”

“The incident that led to Miss Flowers being fired,” he says matter-of-factly.

“Wait. I had to find out from my six-year-old daughter that her favorite teacher was fired. Did I miss something? An email or note that went out informing the parents of this?”Text © owned by NôvelDrama.Org.

He lets out a dramatic sigh. “Mr. Vaughn, I’m not sure what your angle is with this. We wanted to try and mitigate this situation as quietly and professionally as possible so as not to draw any sort of unwanted media attention. I’m sure you wouldn’t want it getting out any more than we would.”

“Rick, I’m going to be as clear as possible. Tell me what the fuck is going on.”

“Is this some sort of power move? I will not be intimidated by you, Mr. Vaughn. The school is fully prepared to back my decision with our legal team. Having a sexual relationship with your daughter’s teacher isn’t illegal, but paying her for it is and we have proof-video and audio evidence that will be presented in court if this were to get that far.”

I’m trying to make sense of what Rick is saying to me. “Let me get this straight. You fired Daphne for sleeping with me because you think I was paying her to? And now you’re threatening me?”

“It’s not a threat. I’m merely telling you that should you think you can somehow pay your way out of this, we not only have evidence, but a credible source that is willing to testify.”

“Who?” I say, leaning forward as I plant my hands on his desk. He sits back in his chair.

“That’s none of your business.”

I push off his desk, laughing. “Do you have any fucking clue who I am, Rick? You think I won’t find out who did this and destroy them and you? We both know that I never fucking paid Daphne for sex and the fact that you are not only accusing the woman I love of being a whore, but you fired her for it, you sealed your fucking fate.” I point my finger at his fat face. “Mark my words, Rick, I’m going to destroy you.”

I march out of his office and back upstairs, opening Daisy’s classroom door.

“Mr. Vaughn, what ar-”

“Daisy, let’s go,” I say, walking over to grab her stuff. She jumps out of her seat, following behind me as we exit the building.

“Where are we going?” I help her into the back seat with me.

“Grandma’s house.”

I explain things as briefly as possible to my mother once we get to her place.

“I’m heading over to her place to see if she’s home. She’s not picking up.”

“What did I tell you, Weston?” my mother barks at me in a hushed tone so Daisy doesn’t hear us.

“I’m not in the mood for a lecture, Mom. I’m going to fix this. Just please don’t say anything about Daphne in front of Daisy.”

I head straight to her apartment, pounding on the door, but there’s no answer. I let myself in, bracing for an empty apartment, but all her stuff still seems to be there.

“Daphne?” I walk in further, calling out for her but there’s no answer. I check her bedroom and bathroom; everything seems normal.

I TWIRL my tumbler on my desk as I stare at my phone. Still no response from Daphne. I stand up, pacing my office floor again as I try to figure out who would do this. My immediate thought was Natalie. She’s the only person I know of who knew about me and Daphne. She walked into her classroom one day while we were in there, but how would she have gotten any video or audio recordings of us? Unless Rick is bluffing, but I can’t imagine he would threaten me without any sort of actual evidence or what he thought was evidence. He knows I’m way too powerful to just sit back on an idle threat.

Is this blackmail? Is it money he wants?