It was funny how life could throw so many curveballs at a person that they could start to become grateful for the uneventful. It was the way tragedy could hold people by the throat, keeping them holding their breath for the next shoe to drop. That’s how Caroline felt as she found herself in the driver's seat of her pink Tesla, a birthday gift from her loving husband (even if it was gifted to her before she could even drive) with their most trusted security guard in the passenger seat. He’d been so kind to let her drive, joking that driving the bright pink “chick mobile” was embarrassing but she knew it was so that she could feel the tiniest bit independent since her ever growing stalker problem was looming over them. She was never alone, Abel had hired security for all hours of the day, their home was becoming a fortress and her office was right behind it. It was exhausting, and Caroline felt like a bother having so many people working towards one goal: keeping her alive.
“I’m going to cook tonight, wanna eat with us?” Caroline asked the man sitting next to her, his eyes darting out of the window, always on guard. “I’ll take some food, but uh, I don’t trust y’all to keep your clothes on.” he joked, always poking fun at the couples sex life due to having to review security footage and erase some of the steamy parts that were captured on one of the many cameras that had been placed in every inch of the house aside from the bathroom. “That’s rude, Jordan. But I’ll make you a plate that you can disappear and do whatever it is you do during the day.” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand as they arrived at Abel and Caroline’s mansion.
The gate was, of course, upgraded with even more security measures, a fingerprint had to be used to open it. It was acting up, so Jordan jumped out to see what was up. It seemed they were all on the learning curve of the ever changing and upgrading security. The gate started to open, and Jordan motioned for Caroline to go ahead and drive up. He’d meet her there after making sure there wasn’t anything wrong with the gate. She nodded, the rare moment that she was in the car alone, and it was a short drive even up the long driveway to park her pretty pink car. She’d barely put the car in park when she saw cars coming up the driveway, they were moving fast and from her rearview mirror, she could see that Jordan hadn’t been able to get the gate to close.
Her mind couldn’t help but wander when she noticed Jordan constantly looking out of the side mirror on their way home from the office. She quieted her thoughts by assuming that maybe it was just people coming to work on something, deliveries, or some other perfectly reasonable conclusion that two large vans had made their way to the front of their house. The second that she stepped out of the house she was hounded by cameras, the people from the vans had jumped out of the car and the flashing lights were making her dizzy. She didn’t know how many people there were but she could hardly walk. They were all shouting her name, “Caroline! Over here!” “Give us a smile!” “What can you tell us about the stalker?” “Caroline! Is it true you’re going to die soon?” It was relentless as she tried to make her way to the door.
Jordan had rushed towards her, he’d been at a full run, shoving his way through the crowd of people and trying to make a safe way for Caroline to get through. He was shouting for them to get back, but they weren’t listening. They somehow made it to the front door, and another member of the security team had opened the door, “Back the f*** up. Stay outside.” he says, but the mob of paparazzi or hired paparazzi was relentless, pushing back and making their way into the couple’s 70 million dollar home. Every alarm in the house was going off, every member of the security team was present, the chaos had resulted in Caroline pleading for them to leave her alone, to go away, that she was scared and that she didn’t know what to do. “Get her upstairs. Get Caroline safe.” Jordan orders, both his hands ready to fight, pushing back on the hoard of humans that were still screaming Caroline’s name.
The dogs had started to bark, Caesar had made his way between the mob and Caroline, ready to protect his mom while the tank growled on the side, a normally very calm and sweet dog when danger wasn’t looming. She felt like they were going to ruin their house, that they were going to kill her, that every ounce of privacy and safety she should feel in their home was fleeting. They didn’t stop, she was rushed up the steps by two members of their team and they kept coming. “How do you want to die, Caroline?” one of the men asked as they snapped a photo of the very distraught woman.
It wasn’t until they made it to the couple’s bedroom that they were able to shut Caroline in the bathroom and all she could do was listen to the chaos that had ensued in her home. The police were called, she didn’t have her phone or anything but she could hear clearly that sirens were being heard, “This is f***ing nuts. Someone get Abel on the phone and tell him he needs to get here f***ing now.” she could hear over the sound of what sounded like a fight, her shaky breath and sobs for all of this to be over. She wasn’t sure if she was going to live through this, they’d asked her how she wanted to die, and now, she wasn’t sure if she had a choice. This man was going to kill her, he could do whatever he wanted, she knew that this wasn’t tmz or hollywood fix, or any of the tabloids, this was another strike. This was another warning. This was just a game that he was playing and winning, she was a prize and her death was the only way for this to end….
