Chapter 49: A DARK PATH 2

Just looking at the lady sitting in front of me, I felt irritated. Why is she so fucking happy? She just talked and behaved like Alda wasn't a bit of a concern.

“I feel so bad for your friend, you know, Alda. I feel like the people around her wronged her, and she died a rather painful death.” I said this as I observed her expression. The smile on her face was gone; it was replaced with a mix of emotions I couldn't define.

“Yeah, I feel bad for her too. I just wish that in her next life she wouldn't meet or keep bad people close,” she said, staring out blankly.

“Bad people, what do you mean by that? Do you think what happened to her was done by the people she was close to?” I asked her.

“No, that's not what I meant. I'm just saying she wasn't happy in her marriage before everything happened. Can we not talk about her? It's making me feel uncomfortable,” she said. She knows something; first, she averted my glance, and second, she is changing the topic, like she wanted me to stop talking about her.

“So you said Alda wanted you to help manage her company while she was gone?” I asked as I smirked to myself.

"Yeah,” she replied, her voice coming out small and unsteady.

“She must have loved you a lot. You know I admire your friendship with her,” I said. She grabbed the glass of water sitting in front of her and drank it in one go.

“Yeah, we are family.” I couldn't believe it. She is totally in on this. It was obvious that Mr. Sebastian sent her to come convince me to re-sign the contract I had with Alda.

I got so distracted that I didn't see the pair of green eyes staring at me from the door on time. The door was closed, but I didn't bother closing it all the way up. She stood there for a while before she left.

I thought I was seeing things, so I kind of waved it aside until she came back. This time around, she didn't stand by the door; she pushed it open, which had me rushing towards her.

What is she doing by showing up here when she knows who is here? We cannot afford for anyone to find out about her. I blocked Miss Anna from seeing her as I pushed her outside the sitting room, locking the door up.

It was only then that I noticed the knife in her hand. And her eyes were green. This time around, it wasn't my mind or me imagining things; it was real. 

“Alda, what are you doing with that?” I asked her, but she ignored me as she tried to walk past me, but I didn't let her.

“Move out of the way,” she said, glaring at me. I could feel something different about her; it was like the other day at the hospital.

“I'm not going anywhere, Alda; you need to think this through,” I said, trying to calm down the range I saw in her eyes.

“Move out of the way, now!” It was more of a warning than a request. I refused to move out of her way. I stood as the obstacle between her and the door that led to the sitting room.

"Please, Alda, calm down and think this through; I need you to drop that knife.”

“No, I'm going to kill her, and I'm going to make it painful like mine!” 

“Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Armstrong!!” I heard Miss Anna call out my name from the sitting room before she gave it a little knock. That got me distracted, and Alda rushed towards the door.

I was able to stop her before she could grab the door handle, but I felt the metal of the knife in Alda’s hand cutting deep into my shoulder.

I hissed in pain as I rushed towards her, grabbing her hands and knocking the knife off her hand. She looked at me, showing me how pissed she was.

“Let me go,” she said as she struggled to free her hands from mine, but there was no easy way I'd let her go until she snapped out of it.

“Mr Armstrong I just wanted to tell you I would be going. I will set another date for us to see and let you know.” Miss Anna said.

“Sure thing, Miss Anna, I will contact you,” I called after her as I tried to keep my voice steady.

“Mr. Armstrong, are you okay?”

“Let me go, or I will scream,” Alda, who has been struggling to free herself, said.

“Not a chance,” I replied to her. She frowned at me and twisted her hands into a fist.

“I said let me…” I knew she was going to scream, so I did the first thing I thought was the best way to shut her up. I raised her hands above her head and pushed her against the wall before covering her lips with mine.

She struggled to free herself, but I held her tightly as I sucked her lips, seeking entrance. But she bit me hard on the lips, which made me push away from her.

I listened quietly, as I couldn't hear any more noise from the sitting room. I set her free, and she slapped me hard across the face.

“How dare you? You let her get away; I thought you said you were going to help me!!” She screamed in my face.

“Who are you? You are not Alda. I know something has been so different about you since you woke up from a coma. If you would excuse me, I need to call a doctor for myself.” I just couldn't believe she would attack me.

Alda's POV

It felt like the spell that was cast on me broke, and I saw a bleeding Xender standing in front of me. His lips were bleeding massively, and so was his shoulder. There was a knife on the floor just next to the door. I shook my head unbelievably as I stared from the knife to Xender.

I rushed towards him immediately as I pressed down on the wound on his shoulder and averted his glance.

I felt tears running down my cheeks. I couldn't say a word to him. He just sat down on the floor, resting his back against the wall, before pressing his hand on top of mine. I looked up at him and saw the pain I caused him, and I hated myself immediately.

I didn't mean to do it; I had no idea what came over me. I was just angry at first, but then a range of anger consumed me.

“If you want to help me, get my phone and call Dr. Mike. I think the cut is deep.” 

“Where should I find your phone?”

“In my room, the last room to your left on the first floor.” I rushed up immediately and grabbed his phone as I went through his contact information. I dialled Dr. Mike's number once I found it.”

“Hello, hello, Dr. Mike.”

“Alda?”

"Yes, it's me; please come to the house immediately; Xender is bleeding massively.” I said, and a sob escaped my mouth.

“Wait, what? What do you mean by Xender is bleeding?” Xender walked into the room and took the phone from me before I could answer him.

“Can you just get here and get your stitching tools? It's a very deep cut,” Xender said as they both concluded the call.

I just tried stopping the bleeding until Dr. Mike arrived. I excused myself to use the restroom as he started tending to Xender, who was already feeling dizzy from losing quite a lot of blood.

When I got to the restroom, I stared at my bloody hands and felt a shiver all over my body. I tried washing it out, but it wasn't coming off. I felt devastated as I sat down on the floor of the room and cried my eyes out.

“Alda, Alda, it wasn't your fault. I shouldn't have pushed the anger inside of you. I'm sorry. I was just trying to give you a reason to continue living.” I heard Siofra say, but I wasn't ready to talk to anyone.

“Just go away; I want to be alone.”

“I'm sorry, Alda.” With that being said, I didn't hear her voice again. I just buried my face in my hands and cried my eyes out.

I hurt Xender; doesn't that make me a monster just like Anna and Seth? I'm just so messed up.

Xender's POV

“Are you saying she really did this to you?” Mike asked for the fourth time since he started stitching my wound.

“I told you it was a mistake.”

"Look, Xender, I'm really happy that she has your support at a time like this, but if injuring yourself or putting yourself in more danger is part of this, then I will suggest you drop out of it.”

“She didn't do it on purpose; she just blacked out for a while.”

“And what about next time? What if she aims for your heart or neck? What will happen?”

“I will just have to be careful then; I'm not going to give up on her that easily.”

“And how do you intend to do that?” Mike asked. I looked towards the door and saw her; she was listening to our conversation.

“By letting her be Mrs. Armstrong, then together we can overcome anything.”