Cut Me Open

Chapter 1

Black and gold. The theme of tonight's Children's Charity Masquerade Ball that was hosted by Soren Cortez, CEO of Cortez Inc. and quite handsome. Tall, broad shoulders, slicked-back brown hair, and bright green eyes. Women eyed him like a piece of delicious meat, and it did not matter whether they were wedded or not. He's had many flings and yet women still chase after the man-whore. He does not plan on settling down anytime soon and maybe he never will. All because of one dirty little secret. Children. He was a pedophile. Only a handful of people knew about this and most of them worked for him with the only exception being me. None of them tried to report it to the police because they feared for their lives. They were already struggling with money and simple everyday necessities that they couldn't help but just keep their mouths shut.

Soren abducted children from the streets and cleaned them up in his house. He pretended to care for them and would start touching them in places he was not allowed to. He sent the children to an orphanage he owned and took them with him on Saturdays to have fun. They were terrified of Soren but afraid of getting hurt, they went with him anyway. The once innocent and bubbly children had become terrified of physical contact and barely spoke. They were scarred for life and would have trouble dealing with other people. Some of the children had tried to tell the caretakers at the orphanage but they paid them no heed. So, the children gave up and let Soren do what he wanted to do. But Lily, a 9-year-old little girl, had gone to the police and told them about her case. None of them listened to her, saying they had better things to do, except Alejandro who gave her his time and treated her to some snacks as they talked. He asked her to tell him everything without leaving anything out and he paid attention to every word and detail that came out of her mouth. When Lily finished, Alejandro told her she was being very brave for speaking up and thanked her for sharing her story. The day after, he began investigating Soren with the utmost secrecy as he could not officiate it. He really wanted to help the little girl and the other victims so that, even if it is just for a moment, they could feel at peace.

A month. It had taken Alejandro a month to get a piece of solid evidence, but it was just a picture. He had also found out that not all the children Soren took were sent to the orphanage. Some of the children were still missing. He met with Lily again asked her about any other children that were with her and she told him that she did not know where they were. She also said that they were kept in a warehouse before being taken to Soren's mansion. Alejandro knew that that warehouse was his next lead. After researching every warehouse Soren had, he had found an abandoned warehouse under Soren's pseudonym, Felix Smith. He went to the warehouse and saw a few armed men coming in and out of it. He monitored the schedule they followed, and he noticed that only four to five guards were scheduled at night.

Alejandro's plan was to strictly collect evidence when he entered the warehouse. He knew he could not act so rashly by trying to rescue the children before he confirmed all the variables. So, in the shadows he hid as he sneaked inside as quietly as possible. What he saw next disgusted him. He saw the children sitting in cages and being fed some type of gray goop. They had chains on their wrists and ankles that were attached to somewhere to the floor. He felt nauseous as he looked at them. Suddenly, a loud gunshot was heard, and Alejandro turned his head to where the sound came from. He saw a little girl on the floor surrounded by a pool of blood that. Dead. The little girl was no longer alive. He wanted to reveal himself so that he could shoot these bastards, but he knew he could not risk it. If he died now, all his efforts would be fruitless. So, he gathered evidence instead and left after he had enough. He was going to report this to the Chief of Police and hopefully save these children and put Soren behind bars. Alejandro had asked to meet the Chief the day after, but things didn't go accordingly to plan.

So, I have finish what Alejandro started. Tonight, the plan was to eliminate Soren Cortez but not before I could extract the truth from him. First, I had to get his attention, so I wore a gold metallic lace ball gown that accentuated my thin waist and had a sweetheart neckline. I also wore a gold metallic feathered mask to go with the gown. I headed to the buffet table to get a glass of wine that I was going to spill over Soren's golden gilded tuxedo. I also took a napkin from an empty table to wipe the wine with. I scanned the room for Soren and found him talking to other businessmen, while their wives ogled at him, with his back turned to me. I made a beeline towards him and he turned around to my direction so, I pretended to trip and spilled my drink all over his chest.