Chapter Eight - Meeting with Detective Brooks.
Laura's POV
My heart began to race extremely fast and I felt tears prick from the corner of my eyes as I slowly replayed the video over and over again. I felt fear wash over me, my entire body was trembling as I realized I was truly the one in the video, however I had no idea that Reginald had recorded us in the past while we had sex.
I knew the number belonged to Reginald, the last time I heard about him was that he was being sentenced to jail for rape and that was years ago. Has he been released? What did he possibly want from me? Was this some sort of prank or joke?
"Ma'am, we have arrived." An unfamiliar deep voice jolted me out of my thoughts and back to reality. I lifted my head up to glare at the taxi driver. I gazed out of the window and realized that truly we had arrived at the cafe.
"Sorry." I mumbled an apology but I was sure he had not heard me because my voice was barely above a whisper. I tucked my hands into my purse and handed him some dollar notes, not caring if I had handed him too much or not. There are lots of things to worry about right now.
"Thank you ma'am but you still have not left my car yet." He stated. I nodded my head frankly and slowly stepped out of the cab. I stood by the road side, making sure the taxi was out of sight before drifting my attention back to my phone. I began to pace the road with a heavy heart as I wondered whether or not to text Reginald back. Surely, he wanted something from me and I was confident that he was going to use this video to blackmail me for a very long period of time.
I had to act fast but I was so confused right now. I could not think straight as my mind drifted off the worse possibilities that could happen if anyone besides Reginald set their eyes on this video, someone like Kendrick. This video could destroy my relationship with Kendrick forever.
I shook my head in disagreement, I knew I had to do everything in power to stop Reginald from ruining my life. Some minutes had passed by and Reginald still had not texted me. Without wasting any more time, I struggled to type out the right words.
I thought of typing something as simple as. "What do you think you are trying to do by showing me this video Reginald?" I nodded my head in agreement and bit my lower lip, this was definitely the perfect text to send. Just as I was about to press the send button, I felt a touch on my shoulder, startling me and causing me to drop my phone in fear.
I choked out a small scream as I turned around to gaze at the culprit, it was Kendrick standing a few inches away from me with a confused look on his face. "Are you okay?" He asked. A forced smile grew on my face as I mumbled "yes."
"Let me help you with that." He pointed at my phone but it suddenly clicked to me that if he dared to touch my phone then he would most likely see Reginald's text. Without wasting a second, I pushed Kendrick's hand off and hastily picked my phone up myself. "No worries, I can pick it up." I said with a low chuckle.
Kendrick eyed me in suspicion. "Are you sure you are okay? You are acting a bit weird today." Kendrick's eyes scanned me thoroughly. I choked out a forced laughter and waved it off. "Weird? I am perfectly fine, I am just a bit stressed out from all of this." I lied with a straight face.
Kendrick looked like he wanted to push further but the look on my face caused him to just shrug in response and play along. "Follow me, I need to introduce you to a friend." He said. I nodded my head at him, I tossed my phone into my purse and slowly allowed Kendrick to escort me back to the open cafe.
He led me towards the direction where the unfamiliar man was sitting. Our eyes met and he flashed me a warm smile.
"Laura, this is detective Brooks, my best friend." Kendrick stated, pointing at the man. Best friend yet I had never seen him with Kendrick in my life before.
I hastily stretched my hands out for a simple handshake, I had to keep a forced smile on my face when deep down, I had absolutely nothing to smile about.
"I am Laura, Kendrick's Fiancee." I introduced myself.
Detective Brooks took my hand warmly. "Nice to finally meet you Laura, quite shaky hands you have there." His last statement caused me to yank my hand from his and tuck them into my jean pockets. Kendrick snuck a glance at me but I pretended not to notice him gazing at me.
"Soo..." I started trying to reduce the tense atmosphere and also change the topic. "How come you guys are best friends yet I have never seen you two hangout together before?" I asked with a light tone.
My plan worked. Kendrick began to rant about how Detective Brooks' job takes the majority of his time and how he is a family man too. I paid no attention to the rest of their conversation though, I could not stop thinking about Reginald and what he wanted. I badly wanted to know if he had texted me back too.
"It was lovely meeting you Laura." Detective Brooks' voice caused me to avert my gaze at them. Looks like they were done with their brotherly bonding time.
"Same here." I returned the smile.
Kendrick cleared his throat. "I am glad you two are getting along pretty well already but that is by the way, I wanted to let you know that Detective Brooks will be helping us with the mysterious bride's case. He is good at his job and I am sure he will help us catch that psychopath." Kendrick said confidently.
On a normal day, I would have been happy about that but today felt different because of Reginald's text.
I had a new problem and I needed to fix it.
My phone suddenly beeped again, causing my anxiety to rise.
Another text from Reginald. What could he possibly want this time?