Natasha rushed in to the house and met with Mrs. Gilbert. "Is the boss back?" She asked, trying not to sound anxious. It was already seven in the evening.
"Not yet. He is always late." Mrs. Gilbert said. "Supper will be ready by eight." She added sweetly and went back to supervise the work in the kitchen. Natasha, feeling disappointed, went up the stairs directly to her room. She paced up and down her room constantly looking at her watch. Time was not moving fast enough. She decided to take a shower and calm down. Then she changed in to a pair of black shorts which exposed her soft light brown legs and put on an oversize black t-shirt which almost completely covered her mid-thigh length shorts. She then went down for supper. But since she had already had a heavy meal, she just took a glass of warm water and asked Mrs. Gilbert to excuse her for the night as she had already eaten with her friend. She then went back upstairs and waited.
It was already past eleven when she awoke to the sound of someone opening one of the doors. She must have dozed off. 'That must be him!' She thought to herself as she headed to her door. 'I can't just ambush him. I need to give him time to settle down. Okay, one hour.' She said to herself and sat on the bed. She suddenly felt hungry. She decided to go down and eat. There was no one in the kitchen but she figured out that Mrs. Gilbert had already placed the food in the microwave, so she warmed it up and set the table. She hoped he would come down and eat with her. After setting the table, she sat down patiently and waited. Hoping. Praying. And surely, she was not disappointed. She smelt the familiar perfume in the room. She opened her eyes.
"What are you praying for?" He asked smiling at her. He was dressed in black just like the previous day. He sat down next to her.
"I have been waiting for you." She managed to say after observing him. "But first eat." She added as she bit her lip. He watched her and smiled. She put some food in his plate and hers.
"You have had a fruitful day?" He asked taking a spoonful of the rice in his plate.
"Yes. I think I am fit to go back to work now." She said happily. He ignored her and continued to it. "Sir."
"Brandon…" He immediately corrected not looking at her.
"Brandon."
"Natasha." He sweetly called back and smiled at her. He looked at her face which was beginning to show frustration. She angrily ate her food and finished without saying a word. He leisurely ate his and was soon done. Natasha cleared the table and put the dished in the sink. Avoiding the eyes of the man still looking at her smiling, she left the room and headed upstairs. 'Interesting!' He thought to himself as he followed the mad woman upstairs. She stopped close to her bedroom door and looked back at the man following her, who was still smiling.
"What is it you wanted to talk about?" He finally asked as he walked past her, heading to one of the rooms. Natasha finally remembered her agenda and composed herself. She walked past her room following him slowly.
"It's about… William. Anything about him? Where is he?" She asked, sounding unsure of whether she should. The man stopped at one of the doors then opened it. But it was not his bedroom so she followed him, mostly out of curiosity. As soon as she got in to the door, he switched on the lights and pulled her in shutting the door behind her. The room was his study. It had a large working table at the center and large file cabinets behind the seat. It looked just like his office but smaller, but still bigger than hers. He pressed her on the door and looked in to her eyes. He had a dangerously mischievous look. She had never seen such a look and therefore she could not read it. He put his hands on the door behind her as she was trapped in between. She froze.
"So, you waited for me since seven in the evening just to ask me about your sweet precious boyfriend?" He asked plainly hiding the disappointment in his voice. She avoided looking into his eyes and looked down. But her eyes were distracted the numerous veins on his arms and his scent.
"He…he is not my boyfriend. I just promised him that if he ever laid his hands on me I would kill him myself!" She snapped. She was angry and a flash of deadly anger flew across her eyes. She looked at him and him at her. There was silence. He remembered overhearing her promise to him. He looked at her beautiful round black eyes which were reddening with tears. He felt a pink in his heart. But a different one from the one he felt before. A drop of tear fell from to left chick then to the one on the right. Suddenly, she was sobbing. He stood there looking at the woman before him. He did not know what to do. He suddenly turned round and walked away from the door. He could feel the urge to embrace the woman but his feet could not move towards her. He stopped in the middle of the room and puts his hands into his sweat pants' pockets. Natasha misunderstood his action as disgust and stopped crying.
"I am sorry." She said trying to catch her breath. "I don't normally do this. Excuse me." She wiped her tears and opened the door and left before he could stop her. He felt helpless for he did not know how to comfort the woman and she probably misunderstood him. He looked around the room and left. He went past her room and had her sobbing, though quietly. He raised his hand to knock but he could not bring himself to. He sighed and went in to his room. He was feeling angry and his left hand trembled to confirm it. He took out his phone and called Watson. "Tomorrow. Time for punishment." He said and hang up. He then sent a message to the girl crying next door. "Tomorrow morning, eight. Be ready." The girl in the next room read the text and continued crying until she fell asleep.
It was already past seven when Natasha woke up. Looking at her phone, she was already late and she hurriedly rushed to the bathroom. Within ten minutes, she was already done and dressed. She rarely put on demanding make up so by quarter to eight she was already down having breakfast. She put on a dark blue jumpsuit, with matching heels and tied her long African hair into a bun. Mrs. Gilbert immediately began to serve her breakfast immediately she saw her. A minute later, Brandon came down and found the two women at the dining table, one seated, the other serving. He nodded at them and they nodded back. Natasha looked so grand seated sipping her cup of tea. When he got closer, he noticed the swell in her eyes. 'She must have been crying the whole night.' He thought to himself and sat down. Natasha avoided looking at him the whole time and Brandon did the exact opposite. By eight, they got into the BMW and left the house.
Natasha was curious on where they were going but she did not ask. She looked outside the window the whole time. Within twenty minutes, the car stopped at the Heal Care Hospital. Natasha was surprised but still followed Brandon all the way to Simon's office, quietly. After the check-up, Simon got rid of the large bandage going round Natasha's head and said that the wound was healing nicely. Simon noticed the tension between the two people but did not comment. As soon as he cleared them, they were on their way elsewhere. Still, she did not ask any question. Watson constantly looked at the two people seated at the back and smiled. 'I wonder what happened.' He wondered. The car stopped at the Extravagant Club and the three of them walked inside. Natasha looked at Brandon for the first time since the morning and immediately looked away. But he had already notice it. They were greeted by middle-aged averagely round man who had the silver-like front teeth. He had a lot of jewelry on his hands and necks and ears and his clothes were all white and shiny.
"Mr. Joseph, Watson and I am guessing this is her." He greeted the two men then looked at Watson who nodded at him in agreement. "Ms. Claire, I am Mr. Patrick Marvin, but please call me Pat. I am the owner of the club and I am sincerely sorry for what happened to you." He apologized looking down embarrassed. Natasha was confused.
"Where is he?" Brandon asked, his hands in his pockets. "Right this way." Patrick said as he led the way. They went past the front part of the club, through a back door and in to the basement. As soon as they stepped in to the basement, the smell of blood greeted them. Natasha had to cover her nose to prevent the odor from killing her nostrils. But the men with her did not seem to notice, so she put her hand down and sucked it in. When the lights were switched on, she almost fainted from shock. It was William. His hands were chained together above his head and he was standing on his toes. His chest was bare and the black jeans trouser he had on had some traces of dirt. His face and upper body was covered in blood. As soon as he had heard the door open, he had opened his eyes. When he saw Natasha, he happily smiled at her.
"Natasha! My love. Please…please tell them that it is a mistake." William hurriedly begged. Natasha looked at Brandon again, for a longer time. She was in shock. And he looked back at her. She could feel the concern emanating from him. She looked back at William and took a step closer. "Please my love. Tell them. Tell them that… that… that we were playing and that you are mine…"
"Don't provoke me or I swear to the heavens!" She furiously spit out. Everyone in the room was shocked at the sudden outburst. Apart from one. 'Interesting.' He thought to himself.