On hearing that her fiancé Marcus, the man she was to marry in less than two months-time was working with Ashley, Angie's strength left her and her legs finally gave way.
Were it not for the waiter that was coming down the stairs behind her, Angie would have fallen down. In the process she would not have just hurt herself. In addition, she would have also given herself away to Ashley.
Luckily, Ashley was still on phone with her fiancé, wait ex fiancé as at now, Marcus.
Angie's saviour carried her back to her room. Fetched her a bottle of drinking water from the mini fridge. And asked her to rest as he called for a doctor. Angie was shocked beyond measure. She could not believe that in the midst of the chaos going on around her life, a stranger would help her out.
This act of kindness surprisingly brought tears to Angie's eyes. And it has been long since Angie had cried. This is more so since her father had drilled and made sure she understood shedding tears made someone look weak.
On remembering this, Angie angrily wiped the tears away. Informed her good samaritan, Tyson (the waiter) she would be okay with a shaky voice. To further dispel any doubts, Angie explained to Tyson that all she needed was a little rest and she would be okay.
Seeing that Tyson was not convinced she was okay, Angie quickly added that she was overworked. Precisely, she covered her fainting by telling Tyson that she had been working non-stop for over 18 hours. Believing fatigue can cause one's body to give way, Tyson nodded and left.
This is with a promise to check on her later on in the course of his shift and when it came to an end. Angie breathed a sigh of relief and thanked her make artist. In fact, she was super proud of herself.
If her make up artist had not insisted on Angie learning how to do basic make-up, she would not have pulled it off. To be exact, it seems the make-up she had applied to cover up her bruises worked wonders since Tyson did not ask any questions.
Before he left, Tyson left Angie his cell phone number. "Just in case anything came up." Tyson shouted from the door.
"Or you need my help. Just call" he added. "alternatively, call the reception and ask for Tyson."
Hearing this and thinking it's ridiculous, Angie raised her eyebrows. 'how can there be one Tyson in this motel' she thought.
Seeing her puzzled expression, Tyson proudly said to Angie, "the only employee named Tyson." He then winked at Angie. This had Angie smiling and nodding in agreement as she waved Tyson away.
Once again Angie felt tears shamelessly welling up in her eyes. Since she did not want Tyson to see her crying, she turned away and told him it was okay by raising her left thumb up.
Before he could shut the door, Angie called out, "Tyson, thanks. "' When saying those two words, her voice did not break. This made her heart swell in pride despite her head being filled with more questions than answers and a headache or rather migraine knocking from a far.
In order for her to be able to focus on finding solutions for her predicament, Angie knew she had to cry it out. She had read somewhere that crying helps clear the mind and she intended to do that. After all, Angie felt she had little to lose by trying.
After confirming the door was locked, she turned on the TV in high volume and decided to let go. Not the silent sobs with tears freely flowing down her cheeks. The loud child like cry.
That was the only way she felt she was going to feel better. After about one and a half hours of just crying, Angie felt her tears had dried up. She then started to analyse afresh the events that had taken place and her life all together.
FLASHBACK...
Angie was just from a board meeting discussing expansion and growth strategies for the company. Though mentally exhausted from trying to grow the company she had inherited, one look at her secretary told her something was wrong.
Knowing she could not delay the information, Bree hurriedly told Angie it was an emergency. Since emergencies were part and parcel of the job, Angie intended to switch Bree off till like 10 minutes later. She did need a breather.
She had just opened her mouth to ask Bree to hold on when she heard her mention her mother. Not wanting to just stand there, she simply left Bree speaking to herself as she hurriedly left the company.
Precisely, she headed home as her mother rarely went out. Since Angie and her mother were close, she did not even wait to hear any explanation from the neighbour once she reached their area of residence. She just asked about her mother's whereabouts and left.
It was while in the car to the hospital that Bree called for briefing and all Angie could say was "cancel everything and move my meetings". In less than 30 minutes she was at the hospital making enquiries.
When the doctor finally came to see her like a century later, she was told her mum was no more. Her vision blurred and she passed out. When she came to, she found herself alone and tied up.
AT PRESENT...
Angie was still in deep thought.
Ashley could not have done this. No. Not the girl who cried with her when she missed her dad. Held her hand when she faltered.
Advised her. Shopped with her. Shared in her success and failures. And even often check on her mother when she was away on business trips.
Their friends and classmates fondly called them DOUBLE A, the INSEPARABLE TWINS and even sometimes THE SET. No Ashley could not be that evil.
Maybe Ashley was being forced to do this to her. By who? After all Ashley was aware based on their shared bond, experiences and trust they had in each other, she could ask Angie for anything and she (Angie) would not hesitate to help her regardless of the cost or time of day.
Besides, Ashley was also a successful business lady. To be exact, she owned a chain of salons and boutiques not only within the US but also in most countries in the European Union and all were doing well.
So why would Ashley want to hurt her and have her money? Angie felt she might not have heard her well. Maybe, her trauma had affected her hearing capability.
And Marcus? The guy Angie had met while taking her undergraduate degree in commerce. She knew Marcus was ambitious and competitive. But harming her and stealing from her just to get ahead was not his style at all.
He always played fair. That is one of the qualities that drew Angie to Marcus. In addition, he was also generous with his wealth if the number and amount of charities Marcus supported were anything to go with.
Furthermore, he had managed to turn around his family's hotel businesses and they were doing better than okay. As a matter of fact, the hotel had grown into a multinational corporation coveted all over. So, no way that could be him, maybe another Marcus.