One Night With Mr Braxton

Jason followed the trail of the car that took Emma into the outskirts of the city. He slowed to a stop where he found the vehicle used to perpetuate the act seated on the highway- clean of everything that pointed at the situation at hand.

It took a moment before he realized that he led a wild goose chase- one that seemed intentional on the part of the people who left a brand new vehicle opened and waiting for his arrival.

” Shit!” He kicked the tire, hard enough the car skipped a beat from its impact.

Jason headed back to his car feeling played. Before starting up the car, he texted Asher, reported the situation and angrily informed of his immediate return. On the other hand, Asher sat in his home office, a place he hadn’t left for the longest time, corroded with thoughts that kept his eyes opened and in search of answers.

Unknown to Jason, while he made his way back, his movements were monitored. The moment he went back to the city, Kaden received feedback of his unfruitful search. ” Good, ensure to keep an eye on him, I don’t want surprises.” He ordered and dropped the phone.

On the table, a file spread before him and for the billionth time, he re-read its contents and grazed the fine straight line at the left side of the document. A line he believed would in time receive the signature it deserved. If only he played his cards right.

Meanwhile, in the hinder parts of the house, Emma refused to touch her food.

” I have no time for this nonsense. If you want to carry out a hunger strike, so be it.” One of the men guarding her hissed, and dropped her breakfast beside her uneaten dinner, ” If you ever feel hungry, they’ll be right here.”

Emma felt his distasteful look before she saw it. Her lips were sealed shut and pale from the lack of feeding since she got into the situation, no doubt, her refusal to eat meant nothing to her abductors but she couldn’t bring herself to eat in such pathetic circumstance. Her body spoke differently but that was okay.

At least for now.

The case worsened after another set of twenty-four hours, The room reeked of spoilt food, vomit and faeces. None of which produced a befitting air for the sustenance of life and energy. That morning, Emma sat on the floor, dirty, unkept and sickly when they brought in yet another freshly cooked meal.

” Ugh. Get your lazy ass up will you?! This place is revolting.” One of the men barked, Emma looked up, and for the first time ever, she made to get up.

Her singular act of getting on her feet took the men by surprise, she felt hazy and before she could make sense of what went wrong, her body collapsed like a pack of cards. One of the bodyguards heard the loud fall and rushed in;

” What going on?” He caught sight of her unconscious state on the floor and his eyes doubled, ” How did this happen?! Pick her up, send for the doctor immediately, If we lose her, it’s over!”

******

The mystery behind Rebecca’s murder diminished with the announcement of a new suspect. Asher and Emma’s name were washed after the announcement of a certain Kaden as the prime suspect of the murder, having been with her during her last moments. The public followed the epic story and conversations concerning the model’s murder rose to an all time high.

In a moment, Kaden became the most talked about individual in the country, with people wondering where and who he was. The recent development wasn’t goodnews to him who found out that Asher had been discharged from the case and his dignity restored.

” What do you mean they got a video? Last I checked, you were in charge of cleaning up after me.” Kaden raised his head, his eyes raged, ” What happened?”

” I-I don’t know how-” The man stuttered to his last breath. He didn’t live long enough to finish his sentence before being silenced by Kaden’s gun.

” Clean this up.” He ordered, when they remained unmoving, his countenance grew cold, ” Anything else?”

” S-sir! The lady collapsed!” One of them managed to say, scared to the bone and beholding the wide eyes of their dead colleague.

****

A few hours later, Emma woke up in a white room. She let out a satisfied moan at the bed’s softness and just when she wanted to catch a feel of it, she felt something hold her hand. The painful realization of being cuffed to the bed, strung to an IV drip and sharing the room with Kaden engulfed her within minutes.

” What are you doing here?” She made to yell but her voice felt tired. Her heartbeat skyrocketed at the sight of him standing very close to the wall with a gaze so intense.

” How are you doing?” His soft tone took her by surprise. ” How do you feel?”

” F-fine. Just please, please let me go.” She begged, tired of life. Her body felt jackered, beat up and foreign. ” Please..”

Kaden approached her bed, sending volts of fear into her system, on sighting her petrified state, he burst into laughter. ” Come-on! I wouldn’t bite.” He looked her over, then added, ” At least not in this state.”

The double meaning wasn’t lost on Emma, her breathing accelerated when he took a sit by the bed.

” I’ll try to make this quick and painless.” He started, laughing at her frightened reaction, ” I can’t let you go even if I wished. You know, I never planned for this to happen. Never did I outline or imagined that you would somehow get roped into this story as a game changer. All my life, I patiently waited, plotted and finally found the best way to get everything I lost- to finally get my happy ending, but you came along and ruined it all.”

” What-”

” New rule! Don’t speak until you are asked to.” His spoke lightly but his eyes conveyed the seriousness of his words. ” You came and saved him from losing MY inheritance and paraded yourself as a legitimate wife, whereas you were nothing but a way to a means. Maybe if you had spoken to me earlier, told the truth when I asked, you wouldn’t be in this situation.” He shrugged, ” It’s too late for that now though, you lost that right the moment your happy ending directly conflicted mine. Go on, ask me what I mean by that,”

Emma felt confused, did she hear wrongly or did he actually permit her to speak?

” Come-on! We don’t have all day!”All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

” W-what do you mean by that?” she stuttered,

” I already killed off a character, Rebecca. I already put too much on the line, already lost so much to this cause. It’s only right that I get the happy ending.” He rambled, ” This is my time and nothing is permitted to stand in my way. Not you, not my stupid half-brother, neither will that child you carry stand in my way!” He ended coldly.

Emma couldn’t help herself, ” Child? I’m p-pregnant?”

” Out of everything said, all you picked on was that dead child in your womb? My half-brother sure know how to pick them dumb.”

” No… no way… I can’t be pregnant.”

” Good thing you can’t believe it. It shall be taken care of.” He announced and stood on his feet. ” Eat your meals. Unfortunately, at this moment, you are of more value to me alive than dead. Don’t let this happen again.”

Emma’s cries stopped him from moving. ” Please, please! You can keep me locked up but spare my child! Please, I’ll do anything, just please don’t hurt it.”

” Tempting. But some things are just not meant to be.” He said, and walked out the door.

*****

Asher paced his office, his fingers combed his rough hair, while Jason watched by the side.

” Three days! It’s been three days and no word!” He gritted, ” I can’t seem to get hold of their location and time is running out! If they don’t call us soon, we have no lead whatsoever.”

” Its about time we employ the help of the authorities, we need as much help we can get.” Jason implored, ” We can’t continue in this fruitless wait.”

” You saw it, briefing you on the situation was a risk I took, whereas, informing the authorities is one risk too big when my wife’s life is involved!”

” That’s their best chip, scratch that, it’s the only thing they have on us. They aren’t that stupid to kill her. It’s all a game. She’s more valuable to them alive than dead.”

” What are you getting at?”

” We need to strike first. Its time we used the resources available to us.”

After a brief silence, he let out a breath of resignation, ” Do what you will.”

Jason left the office and did just that. The search for Emma officially launched, a clear devout from the instructions given. That night, Asher laid on his wife’s side of the bed and for the first time, allowed himself some moments of weakness in the place of tears.