One night, no rules

The warning

Jade’s POV

I get to the gate of the house I was running from, turned back to look at it and it was not a guest house!

It was a big empty mansion with no sign of human presence.

It looked very clean but deserted.

There was just one car in the compound, the one we rode in which was awkward as a train of cars brought us here last night.

I looked back at the gate again and it wasn’t locked, I breathed a sigh of relief.

So it really was a one night stand and not a kidnap.

Was this a sign from God warning me about stranger danger? I was never doing this again.

I took a taxi and rushed home.

…

“You won’t believe what happened last night” I spat out as I got into the apartment I shared with my friend, Elma.

“Girl, you look like you just saw a ghost” Elma laughed standing up from the couch in our tiny living room.

“I wish I’d met a ghost Elma and not spending the night with it” I headed for the kitchen counter to drop my bag while she followed me.

“Did anything happen at work” she asked curiously following me.

“I couldn’t even get to work babes” I gave her a death stare.

“My goodness. Richard will be so mad” she laughed.

“I had the weirdest experience of my life Elma” I started.

“Huh?”

“A one night stand with a rich weirdo!!” I screamed.

Elma burst into laughter after I mentioned the one night stand because she clearly didn’t understand the level of weirdness I was trying to explain.

“A one night stand doesn’t care about the person, that’s why it’s a one night stand” she laughed

“Jade, you’re so dramatic omg” she said, biting into an apple in the kitchen.

“Did I mention the diamond earrings I found on his bedside this morning” I started

“He couldn’t even wait till I got home and then the pile of envelopes and documents I saw in his room”

“Everything was so dark and weird Elma”

“He took me to a deserted mansion” I exclaimed

“It sounds a bit weird but you look weirder right now”

“You need to shower” Elma laughed at my experience

“And for the earrings, you should take it to the pawn shop duhh” she smiled taking another bite into the apple.

“Xavier Delfino!” I screamed taking out his business card from my purse I was emptying on the counter.

“We need to look this guy up, he’s the weirdo omg” I continued with a part of my mind wondering how his business card ended in my purse.

He must have slipped it into my purse this morning.

Was he expecting me to reach out? He was a clown.

Elma started to choke on her apple after I mentioned his name.

She threw the apple and held her chest trying to cough it out.

I patted her back gently over the sink.

“Heyy what’s wrong? Are you good?” I asked her

“Now stay away from that man” she warned with a serious voice.

“Huh?”

I was going to but Elma obviously knew the man and now I was curious about him.

“Who’s he?” I asked her while she walked out of the kitchen.

“Jade please” she turned around staring into my soul.

“Stay away from that man, he’s bad news” she continued

“Talk to me Elma” I stood folding my arms.

“And don’t look him up, just forget about him please”

“He’s not someone you want to get involved with” she replied, leaving the kitchen with a blue face.

I tried to press her to talk but she just left abruptly.

I thought it was going to end with a weird night.

Why was I having a weird morning?

She was not answering my questions that I knew she had answers to.

I took my purse to my room, got on my computer and looked the man up.

Only one account came up but the name had been tagged in multiple tweets, pages and blogs.

Oh, was he a celebrity? I was intrigued but still uneasy.

The mansion, the cars, the documents, the woman?!

Right, he was an unknown public figure.

He was a prominent lawyer and a businessman.

“Verve.co” wow, I know that brand.

It said he was the owner, that was interesting and attractive to me.

I tried to go through the posts about him but they seemed to be bluff, no good source.

The accounts were almost all burner accounts reposting already deleted posts so I just entered his page.

There was nothing there. Just a profile picture of a man on a suit, you could barely see his face too.

There was nothing on his personal life, nothing at all.

No family history, no social history, no background.

No digital footprint. Nothing!

Who is Xavier Delfino?

But Elma knew something, I wonder what it is.

She was a student too so how did she…

It was getting too much from me so I turned off my computer.

Gosh, I had afternoon lectures but I felt tired already.

Before I could stand from my chair, my phone rang.

*unknown number

It was probably from work, I knew I was going to answer a query because of my absence last night too.

I answered the phone.

“Hello”

“Why did you look me up?” Xavier’s deep low pitched voice asked.

My stomach dropped, real fear gripped me.

“H-how did you know I was looking you up?” I ask, scared.

There was a pause from his end.

“You should be asking how I knew your name” he answered softly.

His tone was soft but sinister.

I ended the call and got up immediately.

I was definitely a prey.

I wasn’t even the one who found Xavier, he found me.