The picture (wherever it is) is of Marc aka Matt Cohen. Omg his eyes.
I apologise in advance for any spelling/grammatical errors, I shall edit this chapter (the whole story in fact) sometime in the future but as of now, this is all I can manage with the workload that I recieve from college everyday :(
Now that that's been said, you may start reading the chapter, enjoy x
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The man wasn't kidding when he said be careful I thought as I let my feet lead me to safety, well I hope they do.
I keep running, constantly looking over my shoulder to see if the scary, wrestler-looking men are still behind me. Raindrops fall from the skies, wind blows and I keep running as fast as I can.
I come to a halt when I nearly meet with an accident as I try running across the road. Placing a hand on my knee and another on my chest, I try catching my breath. When I look up I see a familiar man walking towards me.
"Isra...I don't think this is the right weather or time for you to be going for a jog."
Straightening myself up, I head for the car, "Jamal, we have to go now."
"Is everything okay?"
"I'll explain it to you on the way, please let's just go."
A few moments later when we're buckled up in the car Jamal glances at me worriedly, "So what happened? You look like you've just seen a ghost."
"No, they were more like satan's brothers," I growl.
He chuckles slightly but turns it into a cough when I give him a pointed look, "They? Why do I have a feeling this is much more serious than I'm hoping it is?"
Gulping, I grimace as I know I'm going to have to tell him what happened. It wasn't a pleasant situation that I had been in and it's an even worse memory and I'd prefer if I could act like it never happened, even if it was just a mere few minutes ago.
I explain everything to him. I tell him how Marc had sent me to straight to the office the minute I arrived at the hotel. Technically speaking, he told me I had to recieve a package for him outside the office but same thing. I tell him how when I'd got there I didn't see anyone with said package and started getting impatient that I nearly left. But then a car pulled up in front of me and there was two men inside, asking for directions. One of them had taken out a photograph and held it up, comparing what he saw on it with me. That's when I had sensed something was up. I told them I didn't know the directions and started walking off.
"They got out the car and started following me, chasing me, and then you nearly run me over."
"Wow," he exhales, as if he can't believe what he's just heard, "Why would Marc tell you to recieve a package at a time like this, you may be his secretary or whatever it is that you are but first and foremost... you're a woman."
**
When I get home I all but jump in the shower with the hope that any traces of what had happened will wash away and go down the drain along with the hot water. After feeling slightly satisfied, I turn the tap off and pull on my pyjamas that sit on the door hanger.
Letting my wet hair fall on my shoulders, I exit the bathroom and head for my bedroom. I guess Kashif and I won't be having that talk today because all I desire is my bed and a deep slumber that'll give me a rest from reality.
So of course, when my phone goes off the next morning informing me that it's time to get to work, I want nothing but to chop someone's head off. It wasn't the waking up early in the morning that ticks me off, no it's the fact that whatever had occurred yesterday was because I'm working for him, the devil himself - Marc Edson Franklin.
The scowl on my face doesn't go unnoticed as I carry his coffee. Jamal was right, Marc shouldn't have asked me to go there. The man puts my life in danger one day and then has the cheek to ask for coffee the next.
Someone please tell me why I'm still working for him?
"Your coffee," placing the coffee on the desk, I stand in front of it shooting him a flat look, "would you like my life as well?"
"Excuse me?"
"Did you not hear me or what?"
"Isra I always knew you lacked brain cells and whatnot but care to explain where this new-found attitude has come from?"
"Oh I just picked it up when I was running away from a bunch of goons that were planning to do God-knows-what to me," okay so "a bunch" may be an exaggeration but those men looked like they were capable of swallowing whole a human body. Another exaggeration but the point is, they were terrifying and coming after me. I think using exaggeration is a must right now.
"What are you blabbering about?" had I not known how evil the man sitting in front of me is, I would've believed his 'I'm-so-confused' act but I know better than to fall for it.
"Oh don't you act like you don't know what I'm talking about...You sent me there and got those men, not even men, thugs, hoodlums, yeah you sent them there knowing I'd be there and you probably paid them a good amount of money because you're oh-so-rich and told them to do whatever it is you told them to do to me."
By the time I'm done ranting and waving my arms about to get my point across, I'm out of breath.
He gets up and is standing in front of me within seconds, "woman, I suggest you stop with these false accusations and get to work."
"False accusations?" I shriek, "I don't think so! You know what, I didn't sign up for this...I quit."
He smiles darkly and an ominous feeling sets in my stomach, "'Slow down with the resignition Kamil 'cause see, you can't quit."
"Excuse you?"
"You didn't read the contract did you?"
"Yeah I would have if I knew you're dead set on making me miserable, but no, no I didn't."
"Well you probably should've...You can't stop working for me unless I decide to fire you, get to work Kami..."
Before anything else is said, the coffee is thrown onto Marc by the one and only me, "Screw you, Marc."
It's safe to say that Marc and I can't be in the same room without wanting to strangle one another. Marc is still fuming over what I had done but unlike what I had thought, he didn't fire me. And I am still just as furious because my boss is an ass and I don't like him.
The anger is still there as Anaya and I head to the same hotel as yesterday. I need to know who the man that told me to be careful is. And, how he was involved in everything because damn- he was spot on about 'sometimes people aren't who they seem.' Not that I used to think Marc was a sweetheart or anything, I just didn't expect him to be like this.
"So did you like the college?" Anaya had gone to check out her college as she'll be going there come September, apparently that doesn't sit well with her.
"It was nice most of my friends aren't going there though so," she scrunches up her nose in disgust, "I'm going to have to make new ones."
"Really?"
"Oh don't be fooled, I only have two friends and neither of them are going there, so yeah, kinda sucks."
If I wasn't so angry, I would've laughed but right now I can only manage a barely there smile, "Okay this is the hotel. You want to come in or don't you mind waiting here...I won't be long."
"No, I'll wait here and try and tan as much as I can...It's not everyday that the sun is out and to be honest, I'm too pale."
**
"You're joking, right?"
"I promise you I'm being one hundred percent real with you."
I open my mouth and close it and I repeat this about three more times as I try and process all that I've just discovered. "Okay, so you're Hassan...the Hassan who, I can't even look at you right now, how could you do that, especially to someone like Hafsa?"
He looks guilt-ridden and ashamed, that's got to be a good sign right? That means that he feels guilty of what he'd done to Hafsa, and is regretting it. But that doesn't change the fact that Hafsa unwillingly got pregnant out of wedlock. And that angers me.
"Look you're going to have to trust me here or people are going to get hurt," he says it like he's so sure and I can't help but believe that what he's saying is true. I mean, he was right the other time, he's probably right now.
"Okay please tell me how do I trust a man who took advantage of my sister and had planned to do so with some chick that pretended to be her best friend?"
"I know it's a lot to take in but if we don't move fast people are going to get hurt, people close to you."
"How do you know all this?"
And that is the question that led to a forty-five or more minute talk in which I am bombarded with information that makes my head spin.
"First and foremost, I did not take advantage of your sister," he raises his hands up defensively and continues, "yeah sure I was part of the whole kidnapping ordeal and that itself makes me an ass but that was all I did. I just, I couldn't bring myself to torture a woman like that knowing damn well that I wouldn't want that for my sister or mother or...any female close to me. The guy who is the father of that child is closer than you think. I can't tell you who he is because I value my balls but if you keep an open eye you'll probably figure it out. He's greedy for money and wealth and Marc, your boss, has what he wants. He has a plan. And I may not know all of it but believe me when I say he sure as hell spent a lot of time and thinking into it. You have to be careful..."
"I'm sorry what has all this got to do with me...all this stuff about Marc and his money...I-I don't care about that."
"I'm only telling you because you're part of his plan. After all, you are working for him..."
"There's a dozen other people working for Marc, why me?"
"You're the one that works closest to him considering you're his personal assistant," I wanted to ask why Dayyaan wasn't 'part of the plan' considering he's Marc's partner but the question didn't leave my mouth.
"Should I be concerned that you know a lot of stuff about me?"
"No you should not but he knows ten times more stuff than I do...about you but mostly Marc, his family, friends."
"So why are you telling me all this? Surely there must be some kind of code of conduct that prevents you from talking about this stuff with an outsider...I've watched plenty of movies."
"Yeah, I shouldn't be telling you anything."
"Then why are you?"
"That bastard hasn't been paying me enough money."
"So...you're trying to help me?"
"Ah well you could say that but I'd say," he pauses and rests his elbows on the edge of the table leaning forward, "I'm trying to make things the way they were back in the day."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
His face then changes as if he had forgotten the reality and his words all but frighten me, "you should probably go, you left Anaya alone."
How he knows that I came with Anaya, who Anaya is and that I left her outside alone...I don't know. But I don't waste any time in rushing outside and when I don't see Anaya anywhere on the busy street, I am overcome with trepidation and dread.
I dig through my bag and fish out my phone but before I can phone Anaya I recieve a call myself.
Unknown
With a sense of foreboding, I answer the phone, "Hello?"
"Don't bother searching for her, she's with me-"
"Who are you?" I demand, though I feel nothing but fear.
Completely ignoring me, the man speaks, "Don't make any stupid moves, Isra. As in, don't bother calling up the police or anything. Not only because it'll be of no use but, it'll just anger my boss and when that happens, I am forced to take some very brutal actions."
"Whatever it is that you want, I'm sure you're not going to get it from a sixteen year old girl."
"I beg to differ," he chuckles, causing goosebumps everywhere. "She's been very helpful so far I'll tell you that much."
There was shuffling and what seemed to be an exchange of greetings down the line a moment before the phone was disconnected and the first thing I do is dial Marc's number.
Either I am very brave ... or very stupid; the latter sounds more logical.