?Unattainable
Perfection?
©Eliza
Episode 21
***** WILLIAM’S POV
I stare at her. Could this be just a coincidence? Or not? I question myself.
I shake my head, willing the thoughts away.
No, I can’t be drawing conclusions like this.
I can’t add more to the list I alre-ady have of the reasons I hate her.
I look at her and realise herl-ips are trembling, her eyes shut and hands clenched in ti-ght fists by her sides.
“Ma’am, you okay?”
I ask sitting up in the be-d.
She doesn’t respond.
She was visibly fighting another attack.
That’s a t©uçhy subject for her and I shouldn’t have asked at all.
It must be horrible to have nightmares and attacks over a night you can’t even remember.
“Alexa? You okay?”
I scoot closer to where she sat on the edge of the be-d ignoring the pain in my side.
She still doesn’t reply.
Her eyes are still shut ti-ghtly.
Again, without thinking, I reach out and hvg her sideways due to the position we were in.
I whisper calming words continuously into her ear trying to calm her down.
After a few seconds, she turns fully in my arms, hvgging me properly, ti-ghtly, applying pressure to my wound in the process.
I swallow a painful gr0@nand hvg her back,ru-bbing the back.
She breathes heavily into my che-st,I don’t say a word, holdimg on to me for dear life.
She’s so fragile I want to protect her not vice versa.
All I do is stro-ke her hair softly until she calms down.
Several minutes later, and her face is still nuzzled in my n£¢k, her breathing slowing down now.
Only this time, her breathing is steady..
“Alexa?”
I call out softly.
Silence..
“Alexa?”
I call out again.
I sigh.
She must have fallen asleep.
Shifting on the be-d, I ease her slowly on the be-d and true enough, she was asleep.
With only a tiny sp©t on the be-d left, I squee-ze myself and l@ydown farther away but then her grip on the go-wn I wore ti-ght£ñs.
“plea-se don’t let go. Hold me”
she mumbles sleepily.
I sigh,wra-pping mybarms around her.
I can’t believe I’m actually going against all my rules for this woman.
Alexa scoots closer, resting her head on my che-st digging contentedly.
As much as I hate to admit, it felt good to cudd-lewith her.
Involuntarily, me eyes never left her slee-ping form until sleep comes knocking on my door too and I drift.
****
9:00AM
She sat in the dark room, her back leaning against the lazy chair while rocking back and forth with both her legs stretched out in front of her on a small table on which stood a bottle of beer and a plate of fries.
Weird combination, but it was all she could afford.
Cheap beer and local fries from a local restaurant.
Leaning forward, she pours herself more beer, chvgs it all down her throat in one go and then gr-abs three f!ngersof fries, di-ps it in the ketchup and pushes all into her mouth, chewing.
She sighs.
gr-abbing a few more fries, she gets up and heads into the small inner room of the tiny ap@rtment she was currently hiding in.
Glancing around a few times, her eyes finally lands on what she was searching for.
. Grinning, she picks up the brown envelope and rips it open.
She pu-lls out the do¢v-ments and re-ads throu-gh, her smile growing an inch wi-der with each word she re-ad.
Perfect.
She looks at the bo-ttomand realises only Mr Dante’s signatures were on the do¢v-ments.
The other p@rts were blank, meaning Alexa hadn’t yet signed her p@rt.
Great! Just great! Now all she had to do was find herself a good lawyer, sign the blank p@rts and Boom! She’ll automatically have the power of attorney and only her signature will be required to cash out money any moment.
fv¢k! It felt so good to be rich again.
Alice sm-irks.
****
He sat on the king sized be-d, still in his pyjamas,re-ading a newspaper.
The door to his be-droom suddenly bur-sts open and someone barges into the room.
He doesn’t bother to look up and find out who it was because if there was anyone else besides him, who knew he was alive and living in one of his secret mansions, it was Mr Dante.
His lawyer and friend.
Sighing, he closes the newspaper, folds it neatly,puts it down and lifts his head to stare into the blazing eyes of Mr Dante
“What now? Is there any problem?”
He asks.
“Of course. There’s not a fv¢king problem!”
The lawyer sneers sarcastically.
He frowns.
“Watch your language when you speak to me to me Dante! I’m your employer and you’re my employee”
“That’s where you’re fv¢king wrong Henry! I’m your lawyer. And I can st©p working anytime I damn well plea-se without having to bother about you firing me. Besides all that, I was and still is your friend and I’ll tell you when you’re being stupid because right now, you’re not only being stupid but selfish too!”
Mr Dante yells.
Henry springs off his be-d glaring equally at him.
“Pray tell me, what happened for you to forget your manners and speak to me in such a disrespectful manner Dante? Pray tell me!”
“Your daughter was almost crushed to death yesterday. That’s what fv¢king happened Henry!”
He shouts, throwing his hands up in the air exasperatedly.
Henry’s eyes go wi-de as shock overcomes him.
Nevertheless, Mr Dante continues
“And here you are, resting peacefully in be-d, eating and drinking all the goodies there is on earth without a nee-d to worry”
“You know I did it for her safety!”
Henry, finding his voice shouts back, defending himself albeit weakly.
“Oh bullsh*t Henry! Bull-fv¢king-sh*t! We both know the real reason you faked your death. It wasn’t to protect your daughter. You did it to protect yourself. Hell! I can’t even believe those twins are actually are your kids and you brou-ght them home as your step kids? Wow Henry! Just when I thought you couldn’t stoop any lower and you go pu-ll this trick!”
Mr Dante shakes his head in disgust.
Henry was quiet, refusing to defend himself.
Mr Dante continues
“Do you know how broken your daughter was when she found out the kids she thought were her step brothers were actually her blood brothers? And you know the most painful thing? It’s the fact that after hiding this secret for seventeen good years, she had to find out after your supposed ‘death’ during the battle for the inheritance. Yes Henry, your own children were fighting, re-ady to kill Alexa because of inheritance. If you knew those twins were so ambitious why didn’t you share the money fairly? Why let them take it out on Alexa?! Huh?”
“I had a good reason. Alexa is much more farsighted and wiser. She’ll be capable of running my companies well”
Henry answers
“For how long? For how long will she run your companies for you thinking you’re dead? Until she’s what? Thirty? Fifty? Sixty? And you’ll finally show up and be like ‘hey, I’m alive!’ Is that it?!”
Mr Dante growls, sarcasm dropping off his voice.
“Don’t say it that way Dante”
he sighs
“Then how the fv¢k do I say it? It’s been a whole year and you’re still in hiding. While all your enemies are out there chasing after Alexa. And now that, the Will has been re-ad, if word goes out that your nineteen year old daughter is now the sole owner of your entire properties and CEO of your companies, she’s going to be the main target. You just handed your daughter to the hungry lions on a silver platter Henry!”
Henry sighs again, looking conflicted
“No. They won’t hurt her. They can’t”
“Oh really? If they had almost succeeded In killing you in that hospital which resulted in you faking your death, do you think they’ll find it difficult to murder her too? She’s just nineteen.
. She’s defenseless and she’s an easy target. With thevsnso of a f!nger she’ll be dead meat, you know how deadly your enemies are right?”
Silence.
Mr Dante laughs dryly.
“You don’t get it do you? You still don’t realise how many enemies you made? You still don’t realise that each and every one of them is after her? Well then let me refresh your memory oh dearest friend. Remember the man who gave you his life savings so you could start a business? Remember your very best friend, umm Scott? You both started the sh!pping company together with joint monies but what happened when you hit the jackpot? You ditched them and forgot to honor your promise. You took all the glory for yourself. And all those people who helped you become the Henry Wallace that you are today, you ditched them all and treated them like garbage when you bec@m£ powerful, forgetting every sacrifice each of them made to get you where you are today. All those people you used just to get to the t©p. You betrayed a lot of people Henry. You destroyed so many lives just to get to the t©p and now that, they’re angry and after you to get back their monies, you faked your death to escape thereby throwing your daughter into the lions den instead. You’re nothing but coward and a pathetic bastard who puts his safety first before his children. In fact as of this moment I quit! I quit being your lawyer because one day, you’ll end up ditching me too when I become of no use just like all those men and I refuse to be one of them. Just remember this Henry, if anything happens to your daughter, her blood will forever be on your head! You Coward!” He spits in fury and storms out, ban-ging the door behind him.
Episode 22
***** Henry sighs agitatedly as he runs his f!ngersthrou-gh his hair.
He watched as Mr Dante, his lawyer and only friend and confidant as of the moment walk away.
Could he really watch him walk away like that? Who else was he going to call to talk to when he felt lonely? Who would keep a close eye on his children in his abs£nce.
“fv¢k this!”
gro-an ing, Henry walks out of the room and follows him.
Descending the stairs, he catches a glimpse of Mr Dante walking towards the door, his footsteps rushed.
“Dante wait!”
He calls out, increasing his own pace. Mr Dante ignores him, he continues walking, pushes the door open and steps onto the corridor and on the vast compound.
“Wait plea-se! We can talk this out! Dante!”
Henry keeps calling out until he catches up with him,gr-abbing his arm, causing him to st©p and spin around to glare at him.
Henry sighs.
“Let’s talk
. You can’t just quit out of the blue. plea-se let’s go inside and talk”
he pleads. Mr Dante glares at him for a few more seconds until his expression softens and he nods.
“After you”
“Thank you. plea-se come”
Henry leads him back into the house where they settled in the couch.
“Talk!”
Dante says sternly wasting no time in unnecessary plea-santries.
Henry sighs again.
“You have every right to be mad at me
. I chose to run from my problems instead of staying to solve them. I should have stayed especially after realising Alice had been killing me slowly”
Mr Dante snorts at that
“Yeah,took you long enough”
he mumbles sarcastically.
“I know everything is messed up now but for now plea-se bear with me. plea-se don’t quit. At least for now. I nee-d you to guide my children especially Alexa. Protect her plea-se. s£nd her to one of the secret houses and have the twins l@ylow. They won’t be a target since no one else besides you and I knows they are my real kids. plea-se Dante. Help me. If not then at least for Alexa”
he pleads. Dante glares at him suspiciously.
“Are you pla-ying the emotional blackmail card on me?”
“N..no. I’m being sincere”
“Fine. But after this,you’d have to fix your $h!t get it?”
“Totally. Thank you Dante”
Mr Dante nods,getting up..
“I’ll be on my way. I’ve got to return to the hospital”
“Take care”
They shake each other and p@rt ways.
****
WILLIAMS POV
I wake up close to the late hours of the morning and realise I’m still cudd-ling with Alexa. I gro-an , trying to sit up.
My back hurts like hell and the position I’m currently in isn’t helping my plight.
I move to pry Alexa away from me but even I’m sleep, her grip on me is incredibly strong.
“plea-se don’t wake her. She’s been awake the entire night”
the de-ep voice startles me and I turn to find the lawyer standing at the doorway,sm-irking.
I frown. Why is he sm-irking?
“I see”
was all I could manage
“Well good morning to you too”
he rolls his eyes and I bite my l!pto prevent me from throwing a h0t comeback.. I’m not on the terms with rolling eyes with him.
“What time is it?”
I ask instead
“Almost eleven am”
“Wow I sle-pt that long”
“Yes. The nurse had to inject you with sedatives. Your wounds nee-ded to be restitched due to the fact that it opened up in the way you sle-pt”
Hmm,that explains my drowsiness.
Before I could say a word,I feel stirring beside me.
I turn just in time to find Alexa yawning, ru-bbing her eyes sleepily.
Cute.
Okay shut up,William! Done,she sits up and automatically bu-mps into me due to the small be-d we were sharing.
She glances up at me and immediately blus-hes.
Wow, I had no idea girls are capable of blu-shing a minute after waking up.
She bites herl-ips,looking away.
I sm-irk, amused.
Glad to know I have an effect on her..
“Well good morning to you miss”
I say and she blus-hes even more.
Cute..
“Ugh. Sorry for slee-ping here. I didn’t realise when I fell asleep. I’m truly sorry I made you uncomfortable”
she apologises.
“It’s alright”
I reply,staring at her. She stares back, equally daring me..we engage in a staring contest until the clearing of a throat interrupts us.. I almost growl at the annoying man. I turn to find him sm-irking.
“Good morning to you too Alexa. Here, you haven’t eaten anything since yesterday. I brou-ght you some clothes too ”
“Thank you. But ugh.. I’m not hun..”
She trails off when her stomach rumbles loudly and she winces.. I knew she was going to deny being hungry, but why?.
Why is she starving herself?
“Thank you. Ma’am.”
I turn to her.
“Will you plea-se rinse your mouth so you can eat something. You’re not going to refuse again are you?” “Again?”
Mr Dante asks the now nervous looking Alexa.
“Yes. She didn’t eat anything yesterday. Her stomach kept rumbling throu-gh out”
“Well I guess you leave me no choice Alexa. Go wash up in the bathroom and change”
he hands her the cloth to which she reluctantly takes before heading into the washroom.
After she’s gone, I unwra-p the food placed before me and immediately scowl at the sight.
I look up to find him sm-irking at me.
Again. God help,me. This man is getting on my nerves.
“What’s this?”
I growl.
“Food”
he shrugs nonchalantly and that annoys me even more.
“Yea I know it’s food but what kind of food is this? This is sick people’s food!”
“Exactly! You’re a sick person!”
I was about to give him a h0t reply when I heard laughter.
A melodious one at that.
We both turn to find Alexa standing outside the washroom, freshly changed and laughing.
Involuntarily, a smile creeps up my face.
“Excuse me but this isn’t funny ma’am. I want proper food. Food meant for a man not this colourless and probably tasteless soup with dried fish!”
I spit and she laughs some more.
“And what kind of food according to you is meant for a man?”
She taunts and I bite back a smile.
Well,it’s not my fault.
The painkillers are probably ma-king me say stupid things.
“Well. Food like fufu with groundnut soup, rice ba-lls, banku and okro soup. Now those are food meant for men not fried rice, indomie, spaghetti, French fries and blah blah blah”
I rant on earning another laughter from her.
Okay I’m gonna shut up now.
“So um Alexandra I was thinking,we nee-d to get you out of town for a while. If those hooligans find out the do¢v-ments are fake they’ll come back for you with twice as much full f0rç£. You’ll nee-d to be far away by then. I’ll take both you and William to one of your fathers secret houses where you’ll stay for a while. By tonight”
Mr Dante interrupts.
“B..but what about about my school?”
Alexa questions
“You’ll take online clas-ses from now till the semester ends. Same goes for you too William”
Well not me.
“Ugh about that. I’m yet to buy a form to apply for admission. That’s why I got this job”
I answer truthfully..
“Well then worry no more. I’ll buy you a form so you can fill and admit to Alexa’s school.” “But the semester alre-ady Began”
“I’ll take care of it. Just fill the form and submit it. Leave the rest to me. No, better still, fill the form,print it out and give it to Me. I’ll take care of the rest. I want you to be close to Alexa always”
he says and I grin. I can’t believe something good c@m£ out of this job.. Finally,due to working for a powerful family, I’ll get to continue schooling even though admission d@t£s are over. Wow, there’s no way I’m going to pas-s up this opportunity..
“It’s a done deal!”.
“perfect. But I’m not going to pay your fees young man!”.
“Not a problem”
“Good. I’ll go make arrangements for your travel”
he says and walks out.. Great, now I’m gonna be alone with Alexa for God knows how long in an unknown land…
****
By evening, I was discharged even though Mr Dante promised me a doctor once we reach the place where we’ll be travelling to tonight.
And that’s why, here I am standing in our small compound, pondering what to say to my mother for moving away.. I take a step forward when the door to our home opens and my mother wheels herself outside..
. Our eyes meet and her eyes lit up with joy instantly.
I wonder how she recognized me so easily with my contact lenses and fake moustache.
“Oh Will! Where have you been since yesterday. Your phone was off all day. Are you fine Will?”
She rants wheeling herself towards me.. I wait for her to get near me because if I take another step my wound will give me away and she’ll get more worried.
I can’t have her worrying too much.
“Mother I’m fine. I just c@m£ to..”
I trail off when I realise she’s staring at something.
Or someone.
I turn and realise she’s staring at Alexandra who’s currently beside me.
“You?!”
Mother screams.
I furrow by eyebrows In confusion.
“Mom?”
“Get out of here! Why did you bring her here! Out!! It’s all your fault!”
Mother screams, Wheeling herself backwards.
“Mother what’s..”.
“Get her away from me! Away!!!”
She yells frantically, tears blinding her. I turn to Alexa only to find her trembling too.. Okay what the fv¢k?.. My mother and Alexa are staring at each in a way I can’t comprehend.
“What’s going on Alexa? Do you know my mother?”
I question. Silence.
“Alexa?”.
More silence.. I turn to find my mom trembling too..
“Make her leave Will! She’s the reason I’m like this! Leave!! Go!”
She screams throwing stones at Alexa who just stood, quiet trembling. Okay what the fv¢k is going on??!!