Chapter 3 Behind The Beautiful Curtain Lies A Facade Of Lies

Claire's POV

I stood there watching the empty space where David Don Carlos had been just moments before.

He had vanished without any explanation and left me standing like a fool in the middle of the restaurant.

Something about his sudden departure felt wrong but I couldn't put my finger on it which bothered me the most.

The whole situation made my stomach twist with unease so I decided to find my friends and tell them what had happened.

Maybe they could help me make sense of David's strange behavior.

I spotted Ciara, Matilda, and Eliana sitting at our usual table near the window and walked over to them with quick steps.

"David just disappeared on me," I said as I approached their table. "He got a phone call and then told me he had to leave immediately.

Their faces showed no surprise at all. No shock, no confusion, nothing. They just exchanged glances with each other like they had been expecting this news.

"Wait a minute," I said and crossed my arms.

"You three don't look surprised at all. What's going on here? Did you know this was going to happen?"

Matilda shifted in her seat and avoided looking directly at me. "Calm down Claire. Let us explain what we know."

"I'm listening," I said and sat down across from them.

"Look, that guy has a reputation for doing exactly what he just did to you," Matilda said.

"He disappears on people all the time but this might have been because of some emergency. Eliana saw him after he got that phone call and she said he looked really shaken up."

Eliana nodded quickly. "I felt sick during dinner so I went outside to get some fresh air.

That's when I saw him finishing up his phone call and he was trembling like he'd seen a ghost. I wanted to ask if he was okay but I didn't want to intrude on his privacy."

Their story sounded rehearsed and their body language told me they were holding something back.

I had known these girls since we were kids and I could tell when they were lying to me.

"You three have been my best friends for years," I said and leaned forward. "But right now I don't believe a single word coming out of your mouth. What aren't you telling me?"

All three of them frowned at my accusation but Ciara's expression softened after a moment.

"She's right," Ciara said to the others. "We can't keep lying to her face when she already knows we're not being honest. Claire deserves to know the truth."

"I knew you were hiding something," I said and felt my pulse quicken.

"Before you tell me what's really going on, I need to know something else.

When you girls invited me here tonight and said you had a surprise for me, David was that surprise, wasn't he? And if he was, then I need you to tell me everything you know about him because something about that man doesn't sit right with me. Who exactly is David Don Carlos?"

Matilda's eyes went wide and she started laughing like I had just told the funniest joke she'd ever heard

"Wait a minute," she said between giggles. "Are you falling for him already? Claire, you just met the guy tonight!"

Heat rushed to my cheeks and I felt my temper flare. "What's so funny about what I just said? Stop laughing at me and tell me what I need to know!"

"Sorry," Matilda said and tried to compose herself. "We don't know everything about David but we've heard some things from people who would know."

"What kind of things?" I asked and studied Ciara's face for any signs of deception.

"He's a player who never commits to any woman for more than a few weeks," Ciara said in a low voice.

"But that's not the worst part. We've heard rumors that he's involved in drug trafficking and might even run his own organization."

The words hit me like a punch to the gut. My body temperature seemed to drop several degrees and I felt like I might be sick.

Part of me wanted to argue that the rumors couldn't be true but David's disappearing act tonight made their story seem more believable.

I couldn't handle sitting there anymore listening to more details about David's supposed criminal activities.

Without saying another word to my friends, I stood up and walked out of the restaurant.

The cool night air hit my face as I stepped onto the sidewalk and raised my hand to flag down a taxi.

A yellow cab pulled up to the curb within minutes and I climbed into the back seat.

"Where to?" the driver asked.

"Maple Street," I said and gave him my address.

As we drove through downtown, I stared out the window trying to process everything my friends had told me about David.

The city lights blurred past us but then something caught my attention that made me sit up straight.

A man and woman were walking on the sidewalk just ahead of us.

The man had his arm wrapped around the woman's waist and something about his face looked familiar.

"Could you slow down a bit?" I asked the driver. "I think I recognize someone."

The taxi slowed to a crawl and I pressed my face against the window to get a better look.

My heart nearly stopped when I realized who I was looking at.

David Don Carlos was walking with a brunette woman who looked nothing like me.

As I watched in horror, he pulled her close and kissed her with the same passion he had shown me just hours earlier.

Seeing David with another woman so soon after our date confirmed every suspicion I'd had about him.

My friends had been right about his reputation and now I had proof that he was exactly the kind of man they had warned me about.

"Please drive faster," I told the cab driver. "My parents are expecting me home soon."

The driver pressed down on the accelerator and we picked up speed as we headed toward my neighborhood.

I was trying to forget the image of David kissing that other woman when I felt our car suddenly swerve to the right.

"What's happening?" I asked and grabbed onto the door handle.

"Something's wrong with the brakes," the driver said and his voice was filled with panic. "I can't get them to work!"

I looked up through the windshield and saw a large van heading straight toward us.

The van's headlights were getting brighter and closer with each second that passed.

"Can't you steer away from it?" I shouted.

"I'm trying but the steering wheel isn't responding either," the driver yelled back.

The van slammed into the front of our taxi with tremendous force. The impact sent our car spinning backward and we rolled over several times before finally coming to rest on our side.

Everything went black for what felt like hours but was probably only minutes.

When I opened my eyes again, I could taste blood in my mouth and felt sharp pains shooting through my ribs and left arm.

I tried to look over at the driver to see if he was conscious but my vision was too blurry to make out his condition.

Through the cracked windshield, I could see people gathering around our overturned taxi but their faces were just shadows to me.

My eyelids felt heavy and I struggled to keep them open.

The voices outside the car sounded muffled and far away like I was hearing them from underwater.

Then everything went dark again and I lost consciousness completely.

When I woke up, I was lying on a hard surface in complete darkness.

The air around me felt cold and damp like I was in a basement or warehouse somewhere.

"Where am I?" I whispered to myself. "Am I dead? Please tell me I'm not dead."

I tried to sit up but my body ached everywhere and I could barely move my left arm.

The darkness was so complete that I couldn't see my own hand when I held it up in front of my face.

Fear crept through my chest as I realsized I had no idea where I was or how I had gotten there. The last thing I remembered was the taxi accident and now I was somewhere completely unfamiliar with no memory of how I had arrived.