MANNY©

Chapter 48

Somewhere in France- Two months later-5am

"Where in the hell is she!" Gertrude yelled on her smartphone.  The woman became angry while walking around the living room of an expensive hotel suite that Maddy was supposed to be at. "She's with me!" The man told her and laughed. "In Thailand. I have another customer who wants her as well. And he's offered triple of what you offered. I never knew a little black girl could be worth so much. No, I never knew that one could be priceless." He laughed some more.

 Gertrude wiped her mouth with her free hand out of nervousness."Okay, how much now?" She asked the man. "Well, let's see. You initially charged a total of one million. This guy has agreed to the one million you offered plus his own three million. Since that's a total of four, you have to give double that." He told her in a snarky tone.  "What?" She spoke loudly, pausing mid-step. Double the four million dollars he gave you?" She screamed into the phone. "Yeah, eight million. "And he'll be here in nine hours, Thailand time." The man stated, ignoring her tone. "So, I suggest you get on the ball lady. You better come here, soon. Because the highest bidder wins." He said before hanging up on her.

Gertrude began to sweat, becoming scared. She dialed a number on her cell phone as she turned to rush to the door. She hurried to the elevator and down to the lobby while she talked to the International Bank of Thailand then her private jet.  Gertrude hurried into the limo and gave directions to step on it.

Somewhere In Thailand- 10am

Maddy sat in the room as she changed Sunny's diaper while she talked to her in English. She couldn't afford to talk to her in Thai for fear she would be caught. Instead, Maddy would sneak and tell talk to Sunny in her language when she could. She made sure the little girl understood that they were taken by bad people and they hurt her parents. Sunny understood somewhat and softly cried remembering something happening to mom. "Di- chan sabai chue pee sao , Sunny( I am your [older]sister now, Sunny). I Pom ruk koon ( I love you)." Maddy said to the little girl one day after telling her that she has to listen to her so they can make it out of here. 

Sunny gave Maddy a hug and a kiss on the cheek in understanding. For the first time since this all happened she felt hope through Sunny. She also made Sunny promise not to reveal she can understand her or the men. Sunny shook her head in understanding out of fear of telling.  The toddler was afraid she could lose Maddy or that she would be taken away. And even though Maddy is Sunny's new big sister, in her little mind, Maddy is her new mama. After witnessing what happened to her former mother, she wasn't about to lose this one.

Maddy got up to throw the diaper away in the bathroom before washing her hands. She came back out to feed Sunny the cold rice they were given to share. Maddy hadn't wanted to eat but knew she needed to keep her strength for herself and Sunny. The young girl ate some before letting Sunny eat the rest. They also shared the nasty tasty warm water from the bathroom sink. The water was semi-clean but could be worse. There could be no water. Maddy sighed at the thought before hearing her stomach growl and feeling drained of energy.

The man who could speak English came into the room leading in what Maddy thought was an older white man. Maddy froze in mid-feeding Sunny to stare at the man. Getting a good look at him, she could see he wasn't that old. He was older than her daddy, but not older than her mama. He was ordinary, yet was fat. He looked like he could be anybody but a nobody. "There she is." The blond man said to the fat one.

He stepped up towards Maddy and Sunny. She held on to the toddler tight. "I'm feeding her," Maddy said in a tired, weak tone. "Please, let her eat," Maddy begged them both. "I'm not here for her, Maddison. I'm here for you." The fat man told her and smiled in a creepy way. "How do you know my name?" Maddy asked, looking at him with a suspicious expression. She watched the man yearn to touch her. "I'm your biggest fan." He said before licking his lips. "Ever since I saw first the picture of you posing with that white guy. You were smiling and snuggled on his lap. Ever since then, I knew you would like me." He said as his brown eyes looked her at with desire.

"I mean if you could like him and could sit on his lap, then you could love me and sit  on mine." He told her then grinned at her. The fat man took the key and was about to unlock her shackles.  Maddy cringed, looking down still holding onto to Sunny tightly. He reached out to touch her when they heard the blond man's phone. "WHAT? She's almost here? With the eight million, okay. Hold up, fat man. I have a better offer."The blond man yelled to the fat man. 

"What! From who?" The fat man asked in an angry tone. The blond guy smirked before deciding to speak Thai to him. "The ya (Grandmother)." The fat man moved to him. "What ya?" The fat man asked. "I don't remember reading anything about a damn  ya. The mom's single with no family." "Well, this is from her phor side (father). " The blond told him with a smirk. 

Maddy kept her head down, pretending to focus on a sleepy Sunny. She couldn't believe her ears. "I want to meet this bitch. Come on, let's go." The fat man said with the key in his hand. He slipped it in his pocket before they walked out and locked the door. Maddy glanced up as she felt her body begin to shake.  She placed Sunny down next to her. Maddy put her baby bottle next to her before moving away. 

"No, it can't be," Maddy said in a whispered tone, becoming confused. "Grandma Alyssa? No. But he said my father's side. I never call Tyler, father. I call him daddy. That means, Gertrude!" She softly spoke to herself before she covered her mouth with her hands. She looked around for anything to pry open the lock on the chain and remembered her book bag. She had been in so much shock when she first woke up here, she never thought to look in it.

Back in the states-11pm

Tyler tried to look for his smartphone once more.  He needed to call in a favor but the number he needed wasn't on the landline's cordless but in his cellphone's contacts. He searched everywhere and wondered who was playing with his cell phone this time. "Maddy-."He started to call out and remembered she wasn't here. He glanced up to see Micah stand in front of him, staring at him with a curious look. 

"Hey, Micah. You should be in bed." He said with forcing a smile on his face. "Have you seen daddy's phone?" Micah walked up to him and sat on his lap. "Daddy, Kal was playing with it again." He told Tyler before giving him a kiss on the cheek then climbing off his lap. "Thank you, son." He said giving Micah a kiss back before watching the little boy run off to the playroom. Tyler walked to the therapy room where Candy was reading to a restless Kaleb. "Hey, Candy. Hi, Kal. Do you know where daddy's phone is?"Tyler spoke in a gentle tone. 

Kaleb took a few minutes to look around the room while talking. "Mad-dy. Mad-dy, dad-dy." Kaleb said before looking up at the ceiling. Tyler's heart began to break as he watched his oldest son call for his sister. "I'm sorry pal, she's isn't back yet. I wish she was here too." He said sadly. "Call, Mad-dy. Call, Mad-dy." Kaleb said while moving footie pajama-covered-feet over to the cordless phone in the room. He picked it up and push the one button on the speed dial. Tyler looked at Candy whose brown eyes went wide. Tyler watched Kaleb give him the phone, hearing the line ring a familiar answer tone. "My phone?" Tyler said as his eyes connected with Candy's.

Sunny was still resting while Maddy pulled her book bag from underneath the bed. She looked all through it for anything to unlock their chains when she felt a faint vibration. She opened her secret pocket inside the book bag and pulled out her salvation. Maddy began to silently cry tears of joy as she held her daddy's cell phone. "Thank you, Kaleb." She said before wiping the tears from her eyes to see it was on silent but the caller ID showed HOME' She quickly answered it before inhaling and exhaling a deep breath. "Hello?" She whispered into the phone. Tyler 's hand shook before he spoke into the phone. "Maddy?" He called to her with Candy starting to sob right next to him.