Carly sat on her bed, she was the first to wake up. She didn't know if the barrister was awake, but for the sake of being alone in a room; she remained the first to wake up. Leonard is still yet to call, and that troubled her, she needed to hear from him since he was the only one that seems to be trusted partially.
Carly was not that lively, she knew that once the barrister comes to her room; it will be going to the place of horrible memories. If Charlie had not won the battle, she would've definitely been living in her father's mansion.
She sighed and lay back on her bed with her eyes wide open and waiting patiently for the barrister's knock. After a while without hearing the barrister's voice, she drifted to a slumber.
As she lay sleeping, she felt a light tap on her lower body. She rubbed her eyes as she looked up at the intruder, it was the barrister. Her eyes quickly spread open. She jumped up more like a nervous chicken. She thought that it was a dream. For her to sleep off just like that and to be woken up by another who might as well see her as the type that stay up late in bed, was something she hated. She was even angry with herself; why on earth will she have to sleep off in somebody's apartment. She felt her pride in full.
"Relax." she said calmly. "I'll be waiting downstairs..."
"Okay." Carly interrupted her.
She watched as the barrister made her way out of the room. She glared at the wall, thinking maybe someone was watching her.
Feeling convinced that nobody was in the wall; she quickly got out of the room and entered the bathroom.
Twenty minutes later, she was out in a bathrobe. She walked to the wardrobe, opened it and began a wardrobe chore. She brought out a gift bag and placed it on the bed. The barrister had bought her some casuals in one of the local supermarket the other day. She brought out the package and tore it open; it was a red polo and a blue jean.
She slipped the clothes on her body and took the gift bag into the wardrobe. She finger-combed her hair and went out of the room. She had gotten a little familiar with the place, as regards to which part of the hallway led to the sitting room.
She met the barrister in the living room. She was dressed in black Italian suit, depicting her profession. She was at the parlor exit.
Hearing footsteps, Christophine turned and saw Carly coming.
"We're good to go?"
She nodded.
"Alright, let's move." The barrister said and turned, advancing out of the living room.
With the barrister in front, they walked to where the car parked; a few meters away. She walked to the driver seat and sat in gracefully; Carly also came to the side of the front passenger seat and sat; shutting the door immediately. The barrister drove towards the gate and it opened slowly, she drove out after the gate had opened fully. She had installed an automatic gate just to ease the stress of coming out of her vehicle to open the gate.
∆∆∆
Eddy watched as one black bus drove to almost where he packed his vehicle, he was not in his vehicle. He was at the building opposite to the Antonia mansion. The black bus parked just beside his car. He wondered what the driver wanted by halting beside the Antonia mansion. He waited to see if anybody would come out of the bus, but nobody came out, then his suspicion grew to its brim. It dawned on him that Charlie had sent his killer again and now; Carly was going to be around.
His anger grew as he saw three head popping out from the bus window and with enormous smoke yielding from their mouths; they were smoking cigar, having a good preparation to kill. Eddy being a killer also knew what they were doing. He could do anything to them; he could even take them one after the other with his pistol. But he had to stay out of suspicion by Charlie; otherwise the whole fight will be messed up. He kept all his attention on the gang neglecting his liquor.
A second later, his phone rang in his ear through the Bluetooth he wore, he peered at the gang; they were still smoking.
He knew who was calling him by the ring tone. With that, he pressed the pick-up button in his ear.
"Hello my boy."
"Hello sir."
"Go and finished what we've started. The rascal is on her way to the house. And make sure she's dead, you could do anything you want with her, but make sure she's-"
"-okay…" Eddy interjected and grimaced.
The line was on, but Charlie didn't utter anything; maybe he was now trying to suspect something. Eddy sensing that spoke up; trying to alleviate Charlie's suspicion.
"I'm in a very public place, so I think we should stop the conversation…it's too risky out here." Eddy lied.
"-okay my boy, that good…"
Eddy took his finger off the button and the line went dead for him, he didn't want to know if Charlie was still speaking. He believed he should be done, but if he was still speaking- his own cup of coffee.
He threw another glare at the thugs; they were as silent as a cemetery. They had shut the entire vehicle's window; and because it was tinted, nobody could see them, but they could see everything happening around.
∆∆∆
A vehicle came and halted in front of the Antonia mansion, it was the barrister's car. Eddy saw them and he believed that the thugs saw her too. Carly unaware that she was a prey of two opponents came out of the car, waved at the barrister as she drove off.
She walked into the apartment, she breathed in, taking in the comfort the home had once brought. Memories rushed in. From the chair Mrs. Pauline always sat, to the chair her father termed his favorite.
The happy moments they've had, the sorrowful moments they shared, all was now afresh in her memory. The memories that the house bore could not be erased by any means, never. It is written and can't be erased.
She walked up the stairs, now dusty; looking back at the sitting room every second until it was out of sight.
In her room, she looked around, the most comforting place ever. She walked to her bed and sat on it. For the last time, perhaps; she wanted to feel its comfort. She ran her hands on the surface, and then stood up. She picked a side stool and placed it in front of the wardrobe. She got on it, brought down her empty boxes, jumped down and moved the stool aside, she was in the verge of packing. She flung the door of the wardrobe open and ran her hands through the cloths that it nurtured.
Slowly, she started picking them one after the other and folding them into the empty box. After a little while, her boxes were filled with clothes. She closed the wardrobe and sat back down on the bed.
She remembered the encounter she had with her father in her dream. Since her father died, he had not appeared in her dream before, so why now?
Now she knew she was no longer his daughter. Or was he trying to tell her something? Maybe something so precious, or was he giving her his final mock?
She remembered the brown box, the precious box that housed everything. If she really wasn't his daughter, it definitely would be in that box.
Anxiously, she ran out of her room, straight to her father's, ready to make some discoveries.
When she had succeeded in entering the room, although she was caught breathless, but was there a need for that? She was not to be sober; after all it was not her father's room at all. She had been convinced by Charlie that Ben Antonio was his foster father and not her damned biological father.
Feeling a bit tensed, she picked his bed side stool, dropped it in front of his wardrobe, and brought the box down. She dragged it to his bed and placed it there, after taking in a hard breath, she opened it.
She brought out different papers and files; all dusty and old documents. None were of any relevance to her. Just when she was about giving up, she caught a glimpse of a particular file. She peered on at it. It was all dusty and unique too. She held the place that was visible, and dragged it out, making some papers to fly above her.
"I hope this will be of help." she muttered.
She dusted the file and dragged the cover open. It had a photo album in it, she opened that also.
The first page of the photo album held an image of her father. She flipped over as if searching for a fortune out of the album, the next page held a picture of herself and her deceased father. Her eyes became heavy as tears welled up in it.
She flipped again and beheld herself as she was being carried by Mrs. Pauline who sat gorgeously on a couch. She laughed out mildly and her tears dropped on the page.
She was beginning to suspect something, but her emotion could not allow her to come to conclusion.
She turned over. She saw an image of which she hadn't seen in person before; it was a lady and a young boy. She'd never seen such picture before. Her dad had hidden the woman and the boy away from her? Or who were they; surely they were not related to her. But the young boy had a feature of which she knows, maybe he was a relative that died young and perhaps the lady was her mother. She beamed at the image.
"Mother…" she called gently at the strange lady.
Her eyes glistened with joy as she ran her thumbs on the picture. She sniffed in and flipped over. The other page bore a certificate of her, she saw her birth certificate! Her parent's name was written on it.
She had seen what she wanted. She went through the pictures again, and saw the features she shared with both her parents, although the lady was a bit strange.
She dragged the book closed. Something is wrong somewhere, something she has to find out. She was very certain that the bastard, Charlie, had a hand in all that had happened to her precious family.
She was red to the face, her anger mixed up with anxiety. Now she had chosen to get to the root of the matter. If it happens that Charlie had a hand in everything that had happened, including her father's death, she'd make sure he pays for it dearly.
Somewhat happy, she packs everything back into the box, and returned it to its position. The barrister should be on her way now, she thought as she walked out of the room. Getting to where her luggage was, she took hold of the largest of the entire box and dragged it along. When she had succeeded in bringing the luggage downstairs, she dropped her car keys as promised.
"I'll settle everything and come back for you." She glared at the key and walked off.
Outside the door, she felt a hand go round over her nose from behind. She struggled to free herself as the handkerchief the man held pressed down on her nose; causing her breath to be congested. She kicked at the man and moaned a muffled sound, but the fellow was quite stronger than her. In no time, she became unconscious to the happening around her as her lashes slowly closed.
It was apparently one of the thug members. He didn't want to kill her straightaway. Perhaps, he wanted to take her in her comatose state into their van and God knows what he would do to her. He was a thug and a vicious one.
As he dragged her along, the gate opened and he saw a huge man coming in. He was red in the face.
"Drop the young lady now!" Eddy hollered.
The latter disgusted at his courage, replied with his left arm wrapped around her neck.
"-Or what...?" He brought out a pistol from the back of his belt. He placed the tip on Carly's nape. "Remain still or I'll take her down."
The latter still holding the pistol against Carly's nape came forward, trying to escape. Eddy kept on glaring at the fellow as he found his way towards the exit. Eddy from his assumption would take the latter down with just one blow. He was a killer also, he held some tons of strength inside of him and he was a vicious fighter. His eyes were still on the latter; he was moving slowly with his eyes fixed at Eddy. The latter kept on moving.
Hands in the air, he watched the thug guy get closer towards the exit. His eyes scrutinized the whole place, looking for what could possibly be a distraction. His eyes met nothing, and then his gun came to his mind. Although he did not want to shed blood, he wanted to get Carly to himself safely.
Eddy got some other sort of option, it was that any time the latter moves, he too will follow suit; in that manner, he will reach him without him noticing it.
True to Eddy's assumption, the guy didn't notice that he was moving towards him, he kept on moving, but before he could reach the exit, Eddy had closed up on him. Eddy now behind him, sized him more like a lad and Carly fell. The latter tried to shoot, but Eddy was fast enough to knock off the gun from his hand.
The latter seeing that his pistol was far apart, and his other gun was in the van. He concluded that there was no other way but to fight the vagabond that had wrecked his plan useless.
He glared at Eddy and charged towards him; despite his stature. They both met with their hand on each other's arm. Maybe Eddy was test running his strength; who knows.
Eddy lashed him a grievous thwack and he reeled in pain falling instantly against the wall.
Without letting him recover, Eddy landed a blow on his cheek sending blood flying out of his mouth. Now, the latter was on the floor, he was in pain. Eddy let go of him, but he did not move away.
The latter with blood all over his mouth, glared at Eddy and let out a laugh of mockery.
At that, Eddy still with his vicious anger held the latter on the collar and began to drop a hardened blow on his both cheeks.
The latter was not at all alright, despite the blow he'd received, he was still laughing.
Eddy rolled him over and sat on him, dealing him a heartfelt blow. The latter peered at Eddy, he needed to get out or someone does something he'd regret. He sighted his pistol. It was just a stretch apart. He stretched his hand towards the pistol despite all the blows he received. On reaching the pistol, he raised it and shot Eddy on the hand.
As he groaned, the latter pushed him aside and limped out of the compound with a battered face.
Eddy seeing blood gushing out of his upper arm was quite terrified. The pain had slowly worked its way down his arm, and made it a bit stiffened. He reached for his pocket and slipped out a kerchief. He tied it round the injury in attempt to stop the flow of blood. The shot didn't penetrate deep into his flesh, but it was so painful. Eddy feeling a bit alleviated of the pain approached where Carly lay, she had a scratch on her forehead. Maybe she collided in the wall when he sized the thug.
He managed to lift her up with his good arm and transported her to the car. He placed her gently at the back seat. He opened the boot, walked back into the house and moved her stuffs one after the other, placing them according to their size. After he had moved everything, he closed the gate and entered the car and drove away.