Scarlet Rendezvous

"I know dad. But still, mom was getting me worked up. That's when she told me about the kidnapping idea, and how we could get some of your money so we could move. I told her I didn't want to do it. She said to trust her, that she knew best. She brought up Tiffany, and how you had sex with her right in our apartment. I was so mad I agreed to go along with her plan. We rehearsed it, right there on the phone.

"My god, Karina. Really?"

"Sorry dad. But yeah, we rehearsed it. And then she did it. She called your phone and left the threat about how I was being watched, or something like that. She used a voice distortion app. I think you called both of us then, seeing if I was okay. Mom called you back, saying I was kidnapped. Then I called you, saying -- "

"Karina," I said. "Please. I know what happened. I don't want to go through this all over again. I'm assuming mom flew down here yesterday?"

"Yeah. I picked her up at Tampa International."

"Jesus Christ."

"I'm so sorry dad."

"So what did you guys think was going to happen? That I was going to give you $3 million?"

"I guess," Karina said. "I didn't really think it all the way through. I just trusted what mom was telling me."

We sat there on the bed for a while, not saying anything. Incredibly, I wasn't angry. I was overcome with the deepest sense of relief.

"Can I ask you something sweetie?"

"Sure. What?"

"Can I have a hug? It's been a really crazy six weeks."

She smiled. "Of course. You're still my dad. I still love you."

We hugged.

Some of the pain subsided.

***

I knocked on Natalia's door, the door of the house I paid for, the door of the house where I lived for 13 years. I knew she was home. I followed her in my Escalade from the Four Aces when she got off work. If she didn't answer, I'd wait it out. I had all the time in the world to kill.

To my surprise she opened the door and let me in. She kept a poker face, like the whole kidnapping episode never happened. She had balls of steel, I had to give her credit.

"You shouldn't be here," she said. "I can have you arrested. I have a restraining order."

"I need to talk to you. In private."

She was standing in the doorway. "Talk to me here. You're not coming inside."

"Natalia," I said. "Really?"

"Yes."

"Fine. I'll move you then."

I heaved her over my shoulder, carrying her inside and pushing shut the door behind me. She started kicking and screaming, punching me in the back.

"Get off me you crazy fuck! Help! My ex-husband in going to kill me!"

"Shut up," I said, putting her down in the living room.

She grabbed a scented candle off the coffee table and threw it at me. It sailed over my head and smashed against the dining room wall.

"Get out! I'm calling 911!"

"You never gave me the number to the account," I said to her.

"Help! Somebody! He's going to kill me!"

"Stop the theatrics for a fucking second, and listen to me. What account should I put the money in?"

I had her attention. She looked at me, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"The ransom money you demanded. You never gave me an account number. You said you wanted $3 million dollars wired to an account, but never gave me the information."

She just stood there, trying to figure out what my angle was. She heard the words, but couldn't grasp their meaning.

"Ransom money?" she said, playing dumb.

I stepped closer to her. She backed up, bumping into the living room wall. I could smell the coffee on her breath.

"Natalia, please. Save it. I'm here to make amends. I can't give you $3 million, that's out of the question. How does a million dollars sound? That's about half of what I saved when we were still married. You should have gotten that in the divorce, but obviously, I had it hidden. I admit, that was a dick move. You earned that money, putting up with my shit all those years. You were my wife, after all."

"What's the catch?" she asked. "You're just going to give me a million dollars? I don't believe it."

"You don't have to believe it. You just need to give me a place to wire it. It was declared and taxed four years ago. It's all legal. I have a separate account for Karina. She'll get her money, too. The only thing I ask of you is to stop turning her against me. Let my daughter come back into my life, please. I want to be better. I want to make things right."

"You said that before. I'm sick of hearing you talk."

"Fair enough. You don't have to hear me talk anymore."

"I don't trust you. You're up to something."

"I'm not. But I'm not going to sit here and beg you to take this money. If you don't want it, I'll just give your share to Karina. Make up your mind."

"A million dollars?"

"Yes. Like I said, it's rightfully yours. Take it or leave it. Do you want to make amends or not?"

***

"Did the money clear?" I asked.

"It cleared!" Mandy shouted, checking Scarlet Rendezvous' digital banking statement.

Since the adult entertainment website was such a promising business, I decided to invest a little more than I had originally planned. Initially I had told Mandy I could commit $50,000, but because she was such a talented visionary and entrepreneur, I decided to double that figure for good measure -- a cool $100,000.

"Now you have three six-figure investors," I told her. "Me, Karina, and that mysterious Sasha person. I hear Sasha's a real cutthroat businessman."

"Businesswoman," Mandy corrected.

"Right. Businesswoman."

We were at Mandy's apartment, having an informal "shareholders" meeting. Karina's investment had cleared right before mine -- also a cool $100,000. Natalia's refusal to trust me freed up quite a bit of money, money that was better served being invested in a company that as of right now could promise a 10 percent return. That was a far better yield than the 3.5 percent I was getting on my money in the bank account in Switzerland.

Natalia's loss was Mandy's gain. And mine and Karina's, too. Karina was now officially in charge of Scarlet Rendezvous' web design and social media promotion. She was using her college education, after all. She made it clear she was she was no longer doing any acting, that she'd gotten it out of her system. The overwhelming majority of young girls quit after making one film. Karina was no different. She even talked to Mandy and they agreed to pull the film from the webpage. I very much appreciated that. Truth be told, that greatly influenced my decision to invest as much as I did.

I couldn't bring all the money home from overseas, of course. There was that one account I tried not to think about, the one that had that other money in it, the blood money from the Russian gun runners. The stolen money. That was undeclared and untaxed, and a timebomb waiting to happen. I didn't want to touch that money, or even acknowledge its existence. There were too many bad memories associated with it, too much trauma and pain. That money could stay in Switzerland forever, for all I cared.

"What should we do now?" Karina said. "It's a Friday afternoon at 3:00. Happy hour, anyone?"

"I'm down," Mandy said. "Let's celebrate."

We took my car. It wasn't the Escalade, but my own BMW X5. I would be the designated driver. I was officially in recovery from alcohol, and was 93 days sober. I was also getting counseling for my PTSD. I'd moved down to Tampa Bay to be near Karina and Mandy. I was healing. So was Karina.

Mandy and I were a couple, and we even had Karina's blessing. We were taking things slow. I was going to the gym, and working fulltime as a volunteer with military veterans.

We pulled into the same fusion sushi restaurant we'd been to in the summer, when Mandy and I first met.

"Look at this," I said, finding the perfect parking spot. "We're in the front row."

We got out and went inside.

Karina was smiling.

I put my arm around Mandy.

We were healing. We were happy.