Chapter fourteen

Olivia

“I see, Layla, well, Layla, I’m Bayley and I can’t tell you it’s a pleasure to meet you cos it is not, not in the least possible way” Bayley said with the slightest hint of spite despite trying to sound neutral “Actually, I’m here to warn you explicitly, make sure to know your limits, whatever, whichever and however you serve Vic, always bear it in mind that he is mine and mine alone” she continued passionately, “I know you will most probably be having ideas by now, one thing I’ll tell you is, whatever ideas might be festering in your mind, just don’t, don’t think and don’t act on it, don’t make advances and don’t even try to seduce him, probably hoping that he could possibly fall for someone like you” Bayley finished while shooting deadly glares at the girl maid, I wondered if the filth even understood what my friend was saying cos she remained motionless and unreactive.

I trusted Bayley though, she would instill fear and the real definition of fear itself into Layla, I really don’t like this girl called Layla, I still find it a travesty that she is the one that got chosen by Victor, how could he be so casual and unserious about choosing a personal maid, it is called a personal maid after all, one is supposed to pick the best, the one who qualifies the most to serve in the highest capacity, none of this is what Layla is, she is hardly capable of wiping her nose properly not to talk of knowing about the intricacies of being a personal maid, yet, somehow, she is the one that my dear darling brother picked.

“Bitch, say something” I heard Bayley say which brought me out of my thoughts, apparently she had been talking to Layla and expected the maid to give a response but the girl remained silent.

“What? Cat got your tongue?” I asked her sternly. “No Ms. But, I don’t have anything to say” Layla said, I noticed that she readily replied me albeit indifferently like she really couldn’t be bothered with what we were saying to her, and it was my friend she was being indifferent towards, I rolled my eyes at that realization.

“You won’t have anything to say, you shouldn’t even have anything to say, I know why you are using your charms and tricks to burrow your way into my brother’s life, you are nothing but a gold digger after all” I said to spite her.

“You shouldn’t be surprised Liv, that’s just what low lives like these are good at. They only want to steal and suck away riches from wealthy people instead of them to work very hard and become rich as well” Bayley said totally disregarding her initial neutral demeanor, now she was showing hostility towards the maid, I smirked with satisfaction.

“I’m not a gold digger. I’m only here to work and take care of my family” Layla finally responded, though a bit shakily but she was very convinced and determines in her response, and I also detected a bit of anger, really? who does she think she is? Does she think she has the right to get angry?

“Tell yourself all the lies you would, allow yourself to believe whatever you will, but the fact is there, you’re the same as any other low life out there, a fucking gold digger” I said getting so angry, this particular girl needs little effort to get me so pissed, I don’t even know if it’s natural anymore, the spite I feel to her was just there.

“I said I am not a gold digger! Stop tagging me wrongfully with such a title, It’s not fair! I came here with only the intention of working hard and earning what is due for the work I do” Layla retorted back at me almost raising her voice, I got so shocked and furious at the same time, and I was moving before I could think to do anything else.

“How dare you raise your voice at a Lockwood?” I said as I got close to her and then I slapped her cheek so hard that I heard slash felt her jaw rattle as her face was bashed to the side thanks to my palm, but then she snapped back her head and faced me whilst staring angrily at me, I could swear that her eyes gave off a reddish glow, just the irises, and I unwittingly took a step back from her, out of fear more than anything else.

I glanced back to look at Bayley but she just had a satisfactory smirk on her face, she was satisfied that I had given Layla that hot slap, but what she didn’t notice was the look Layla gave me and particularly the red glow I saw, or could it be my imagination? Or is Layla some kind of witch?

“I’m not a gold digger and I’ll never be one, I wasn’t brought up that way, I shouldn’t even be here, working as maid for some rich and entitled people if my dad hadn’t been murdered. Don’t think your slap got to me Olivia, your hate filled words did” she said in a low tone that made me wary of her, I actually started to see her anew, I mean, heck, the guts on this girl, but she wasn’t done yet.

“Might I remind you that you are not the one who employed me to work here? I think that should be enough to set clear bounds between us and if you think it’s because of your money that I’m here, I’ll also like to remind you that the money that is giving you bragging rights isn’t even yours, you didn’t work for it now did you? so why bragging about it, if anyone should brag rightfully, it’s Mr. Victor because his hard work is evident all over” she continued getting bolder and bolder with her words, I was angry, really infuriated, but as at this moment, I couldn’t do a single thing because I had been frozen in place by fear and being wary of Layla, despite being bigger than her by body mass, she still managed to look incredibly menacing that I felt I could get beaten up by her if not careful.

She still wasn’t done though, “As for you Bayley, it’s a shame, you’ve reduced yourself to a lapdog and because of what? Money? Fame by attachment? Popularity? Let me ask who is the gold digger between you and I, after all you did make your intensions clear about wanting Mr. Victor all to yourself and I’m sure it’s not just because you love him, but because you know what he has to offer you is enough to make your generations to come wealthy, too bad, Just! Too! Bad!” she finished and walked away fast paced, my mouth just hung open, never in my entire lifetime had I been handled like Layla just did.

“Hey Olivia, didn’t you just hear what she said? To you and to me? And you’d allow her to go just like that?” Bayley asked with astonishment, it was actually obvious that she herself was shocked to the bone at Layla’s outburst, I turned to her with my mouth opened. I was really speechless at the moment.

“Bayley, didn’t you see her face, her eyes in particular?” I asked and there was a bit of vibration in my voice, I don’t want to admit that my voice was shaking, heck, was I really so shaken up by that?

“Of course I saw her angry face but then, oh, wait, is this what I think it is, fear? Do you mean to tell me that you are afraid of that?” She asked in mock surprise.

“Of course, I should be, shouldn’t I” I said getting quite unsure of myself, I really didn’t know how to act at that point, what do you do when you’re faced with something entirely new to you, cos being challenged like that was entirely new to me.

“C’mon Liv, let’s go deal with her, She’s just trying to get us scared by all this acting front she is displaying, don’t cave in to her, it’s all tactics, besides, you are the boss of her and not the other way around” she said and I reasoned it with her. There might be some truth in what she’s actually saying.

“You might actually be right Bay” I said gaining my confidence back while my next step formed in my head “Yeah, you know I’m right” Bayley replied solidly.

“Alright let’s go, I know what to do” I said and moved towards where Layla was headed, Bayley stood up too and we went in search for Layla. That bitch, how could she?

**

Layla

I sat down on the floor and placed my head on the bed weeping, my thoughts were only of my fate, if only my dad was still alive, all these wouldn’t be happening. I wouldn’t even be here receiving this kind of monumental insult from a lady of about my age of even less.

Come to think of it, my father was also wealthy, not filthy rich but still well to do, but then the people he worked with were greedy people, Mom strongly believes they are responsible for his murder as well; they manipulated records and documents after his death to put a claim to his assets and wealth, they left only the house for us and not because they wished to but because it was the only thing in my mother’s name, if it had been in dad’s name they would have come for it as well and kick us out.

Well, my dad and two other men came together to form a bottling company named Crystal Amigos Breweries, CAB for short, and they produce most kind of drinkables from water to beer to whiskey and brandy.

The co-owners were really close to each other such that they all acted like brothers anywhere they are and other companies envied them and their sudden growth. At first they all had equal shares of twenty seven percent each while their sponsors and collaborators had the rest. But there came a time when both of the remaining co-owners ran into money trouble, dad had said it was due to their own greed at the time, and they had come to him for help, he gave them the option of buying a few shares away from them and they readily agreed, anything to keep them out of prison, so my

dad became the major shareholder with thirty nine percent of the company’s shares belonging to him.

Mom always encouraged him to look for a way to get the shares back to equal so that there wouldn’t be any malice amongst the three friends, but my dad said it was a lesson to them and it would teach them not to give in to their greed ever so often. According to my mum, on the day dad would be murdered, she said he had left home hurriedly on that day saying that he had an emergency at the office, never did he know that he was going to be killed.

“Oh you’re here, Ms. Olivia requests for your presence now” a maid said taking me out of my thoughts, I didn’t realize I was weeping with my door opened. What does she want this time? Although come to think of it, I did kinda pass my boundaries. I really don’t know what came over me after Olivia slapped me, something inside of me just snapped, I had felt the exact same was as the first two times with the blue wisp incident, only that this time, there was anger and bloodlust mixed in my emotions so it felt more raw, I’m starting to believe I have some kind of power that I didn’t initially know of, I had really held back a lot back there, I felt like I could have unleashed all sorts of horror on Liv and her friend because that stuff feels like power, raw power, I guess that was why I could stand up to Olivia, just that right now I realize that was actually a mistake.

I walked out of the room to meet an angry Olivia just outside of the house with her friend the lapdog.

“You dare to talk back at me, you yelled at me. Me, your master in this house, really?” Olivia said, somehow I felt like I really got to her with what I did, it was as if she was just trying to reassure herself that she was still the master, she also seemed unsure of herself a bit.

“Well, we can’t have a rabid dog in this mansion, because that is what you are and when a dog goes rabid and it doesn’t know its masters anymore, such a dog gets put down. Now, today marks the end of your days here in this mansion, see it as I’m putting you down as mercifully as I possibly could, because initially, I would love nothing more than to see you locked up for ages” she said and then turned to the guards nearby.

“Take a maid along to go get her things from the room” she said and turned back to me with the same angry and malicious look and now, it seemed she had gotten a hold of herself fully, she now seems totally sure of herself again.

The guard and maid returned with my things and I took it from them as tears welled up in my eyes, I took a look at Olivia defiantly, I did not want to give them the satisfaction of seeing me cry so I held the tears in my eyes and kept them from falling.

I haven’t walked far away from Olivia and her friend when the gates opened and Victor rode his bike in. he stopped at the parking lot and came towards us as soon as he got down from his bike, he took his helmet off and actually looked worried. I wonder who he was worried for cos I doubt it was me.

“What’s going on here? Why is Layla holding her luggage?” Victor asked immediately he got to where we are, I detected annoyance as well in his voice. Why he was getting annoyed I don’t know.

“V, can you just imagine this low life talking back at me? She fucking yelled at me, so I told her to leave since she is becoming rabid and she does not know who her masters are, she has been fired” Olivia said confidently but she was panting hard for no apparent reason, I guess that was why she couldn’t even explain herself properly, cos if she was calmer then she should have found more stuff to say to implicate me further.

“Yeah I was there Victor, you wouldn’t believe the guts on that girl” Bayley added in support of her friend, she was less confident and didn’t seem to want to say more, I was surprised, I thought they’d download lies even, just to ensure they drive me off, yet here they were, saying very little.

“Is that true Layla?” He said to me but his voice was soft and alluring, he wasn’t angry or annoyed with me and it seems that the worry was for me after all, oh Victor. I couldn’t answer him, and I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore, they kept falling as I looked into his eyes, dreamy and not so clear because of my blurred vision thanks to the tears. Then he walked up to get closer to me and held my wrist, he used his other hand to check my cheek after dropping his helmet, he must’ve seen the mark that Olivia’s hand would have made there from the slap, his eyes got softer, kinder even, then, he turned to the duo.

“Olivia, she isn’t going anywhere, she is my personal maid, I hired her and only I have the right to fire her. Come with me Layla” he said as he took my luggage from me, although the maids were quick to collect them from him too, then we headed inside.

Everybody’s mouth were left hanging, well when I say everybody I actually meant Olivia and her friend, their mouths actually hung open, literally. But then, did Victor really just defend me? OhMaGawd! I can’t believe it. Victor had actually just defended me in front of his sister and against his sister at that, one thing was now sure, I was headed for a whole world of trouble.