Threat. Fear

RAYMOND 

This was no ordinary message. 

It was one from Victoria Blackwell, my other sworn enemy. 

What the fuck do these people want? 

I was on my feet, the urge to rest running away from me as I wondered what I was going to do. At this point, I hadn't even read the message and I was so tense. 

Why not read it? 

I looked at the phone in my hand, then the room in its entirety before looking at the phone once again. 

Just then, I read. 

“It is nice to speak with you again, Raymond Jefferson. I am sorry to be in your inbox all of a sudden but there's an important issue to address and it has to do with your wedding—” 

I stopped reading. 

No, that was enough. Or was it not? 

I hadn't read it all and my body was in pain, all of a sudden. 

“No. No. No—” the word ran out of my mouth, while I crouched on the couch not so far from my reach. 

What the fuck was happening? 

A drop of tear fought me, threatening to fall off my face but I held it back, moping at the screen of the phone that still rested in my hand. 

Then, I started again. 

“I'll have to reach out to the board members, but not yet. You have a few days to turn in yourself and the truth about your marriage to the board of executives or I would have no choice but to do that on your behalf. What do you think?” 

Did she really ask me that? 

What did I think? 

I think that she's after my life. 

Not just my life but the few properties I have for myself and soon-to-be generations. Why does she want what I have? And why did I think she was going to stop coming? Why can't she give up like my brother did?

A sigh ran out of my mouth. 

The right way to react wasn't known to me. 

The phone was still in my hand and my legs on my feet while I paced the room, wondering if I should give in to Victoria just as she wanted, or fight till the end just as I've always done. I had come too far to give up. 

My thoughts raced once again. 

Of all the many thoughts running around in my head, I wondered if I should call the woman. Not just call her but strike a deal with her so that she could be mute about it. Or wasn't it the right thing to do? “No—” Once again, I shook my head and continued to pace the room. 

There's no way I would do a thing like that. 

She didn't have any proof, did she? 

From the look of the message, it was obvious that the woman didn't know what she was talking about. 

So why was I scared? 

Smiling, I walked to the front of the mirror in the space, heaving a sigh while I thought about the fact that I could be wrong and the woman was indeed coming for me. 

No woman—nobody would send such a message. 

Obviously, she knew something. Something I didn't know she knew and at this point, worry pulled on my countenance. What was I going to do? 

Just while at it, my phone beeped again. 

With thoughts that it was something else, I faced the screen only to see more messages from Victoria. Now I knew how serious she was, and made up my mind to ignore the message—but something in me kept dragging me back to the screen of the phone and I had no choice but to read. 

“Did I forget to add that I would come for you with the many proofs I have? Don't dare me, Mr. Jefferson or you regret your actions. Meet the board executives and speak before I come for you—” it read, forcing me to drop the phone on the table and turn around so that I could rush to the closet. 

Pushing the small door open, I searched the closet. Maybe the document of the contract myself and Eleanor signed was out of sight. Who must have taken it? 

Throwing out items from the closet, I was digging and in search of the safe I had hidden in the farthest area. 

It didn't take long for me to catch sight and I stretched my hand, taking it out with a sigh that ran out of my mouth. On my feet, I got and ran to the dressing table where the safe was kept, and without any hesitation, I used its code and then—took out the documents I tucked in safely there. 

“Oh, God.” 

The documents were safe. Everything I kept in here the last time I opened the safe, were safe. So what proof did Victoria have and would use against myself and my wife? 

Wait—

The copies of the document Eleanor has. 

Where were they? 

Returning the safe back to its space, I rushed out of the room. We were about to be put in trouble and I wasn't going to have such a thing happen. 

Not when Grandfather was alive and would be disappointed in me for making a fool of him. “Eleanor—” my hand knocked on her door when I caught up with it. “Open the door. I need to speak with you. It's very urgent.” I cried and just about that time, the door opened. 

“What is it?” Eleanor, who moped at me as though she had seen a ghost, asked. She opened the door wider and I stepped in, pacing the room almost immediately. She shut the door and turned to face me. “You're not talking to me.” 

“I'll need to know—” I looked up, stopping in my tracks. “The documents you signed. The one that contains the contract agreement we had. Where is it?” 

Fear came on her countenance. 

The woman looked at her closet, looked at me then her closet once again. 

Her legs now led her to the spot and she pushed it open, searching for something while I looked on, not knowing what to think. What if it wasn't in there? 

What if she lost it? 

No, that had better not be possible. 

“Here—” the voice of a woman snapped me out of my thoughts. “I hate to admit this but you're scaring me so much, Raymond. Tell me what is happening. Am I in trouble?” Catching up with me, the document was placed in my hand while I reached the dressing table with it. 

“I am more scared than you, Eleanor—” Settling on the chair, I opened my phone—showing the message to her while I skimmed through the document to be certain it wasn't a fake one replaced with the original. 

It was complete. 

Nothing went wrong with any document at all. 

“What's this about?” The voice of a woman snapped me out of my thoughts. Now that I was done, I got up and turned around to face her. “Who is Victoria?” 

“She's a member of the board in my company,” I explained, handing the document back to her. “She sent those to me a while ago and I don't know what to think, do, or even say. What proof can she possibly have? And how did she come about it in the first place? I'm so scared and I won't lie.” 

“Hey—” she touched my arm. “Don't be—” a smile was on her face. The kind that showed me how scared she was. “You should know by now that we're in this together, or do you not? Leave Victoria to do what she wants to do. My guts are telling me that she has nothing at all.” 

Nodding, I walked to the door. “But what if she does?” Stopping and turning around, I faced her. “Just what if she has something she'll use against us, Eleanor?”