AT THE HOSPITAL***
Mrs. Rogers rushed into the hospital with the nurse, her eyes wouldn’t leave her daughter who was placed on a stretcher. Her head was bandaged already.
“My baby! Please don’t leave me, Mommy is sorry please” Mrs. Rogers kept crying.
They got to the OR and the nurse prevented her from going with them.
“You need to stay calm ma’am, a surgery will be done on your child as soon as possible. Let’s just hope for the best” a nurse said before leaving Mrs. Rogers alone.
Mrs. Rogers fell to the floor as her tears kept falling like a river. She didn’t want to lose her daughter, no, not her Layla.
“I’m sorry, please be safe for me” she cries.
****
THE NEXT DAY***
“Ma’am?”
“Mrs. Rogers?”
Mrs. Rogers snapped her eyes open when she heard her name. There were traces of tears in her face as she slept off while she was crying.
“Nurse” she sprang up from the chair.
“How’s my baby? She’s fine, right? Please tell me she’s fine” she rushed, staring at the nurse expectantly.
“Thankfully, the surgery went well and she has been transferred to the recovery room” the nurse said.
Mrs. Rogers breathed out in relief.
“Thank you Lord, thank you” she mumbled.
“Can I see her now please? I need to see my daughter” she said.
“Not now, we’re still administering some treatments on her, so you’ll have to be patient”
“Thank you so much”
The nurse left.
“My baby, I’m sorry” Mrs. Rogers whispered. She couldn’t even imagine what would have happened if she had lost Layla.
*****
MONTERIO’S INVESTMENT***
Hailey entered Charles’ office with a cup of coffee in her hand. She placed it on the table and went behind him, massaging his shoulders softly.
“You should stop overworking yourself,” she muttered.
Charles smiled and held her hand which was on his shoulder.
“Then I’ll gladly do that if I’ll be receiving this treatment from you” he said.
Hailey smiled and continued massaging his shoulder.
There was a sudden knock on the door and Hailey quickly moved away from him.
Charles frowned. He really h@ťěs it when she acts that way, maybe it’s time to announce their relationship to the employees.
“Come in” he said loudly, though the person outside will barely hear him.
The door opened and a lady dressed in corporate wear entered the office.
“Good afternoon sir” she greeted politely.
“I did as you instructed sir, we talked with the Secretary and he agreed to see you tomorrow” the lady said.
“Good” Charles nods his head in satisfaction.
“Keep being in touch with him, make sure you don’t lose contact” he instructed.
“Yes sir”
“You can go,” he dismissed the lady.
“What do you intend to do now?” Hailey asked him.
“I need to get the truth out of him,” Charles said.
“How? What if he’s loyal to his Boss?”
“He won’t be able to refuse me, trust me” he smirked.
“You’re unpredictable sometimes” Hailey muttered and he smiled.
****
WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN HIGH SCHOOL***
Jaime, Mickey and Lilian sat in the cafeteria having their lunch.
Jaime had a sad expression on his face. That morning, he was overly excited to get to school just to see Layla. The kiss they shared the previous day kept popping on his head and he couldn’t wait to see her.
But he was disappointed when she didn’t show up in school.
“Can’t believe she didn’t come to school today” he muttered sadly.
“Are you okay?” Lilian asked beside him.
“Yea” he faked a smile. He should just wait and see her tomorrow.
****
RUSSIA, 8PM***
Cecilia was sitting on the bed, staring into space when she heard a knock on the door.
She stared at the door without saying a word, she knew it was the maid as it’s time for dinner.
The door opened and the maid entered the room.
“It’s time for dinner, ma’am,” she said.
“I’m not hungry,” Cecilia muttered, looking away from her.
The maid sighed and sat beside her on the bed, she held her hand.
“Ma’am, you can’t keep starving yourself this way, you’ll end up getting sick”
Cecilia smiled sadly.
“Maybe that’s what I truly want. To get sick and then end this miserable life” she muttered.
“My children must have forgotten my existence, to my family, I’m dead. What’s the use of being alive then?”
“I’ll help you” the maid suddenly blurted out.
“Tomorrow ma’am, you’ll be free” she smiled warmly at her.
Cecelia stared at her wondering what she meant by that word.
****
WASHINGTON DC***
J&H RESTAURANT***
Leah sat on one of the chairs in the restaurant sadly, there was no sales since the day started. No single soul has visited the restaurant till noon.
“Seb, what’s wrong? This is unusual” she complained.
Sebastian sighed. Truly that was unusual for them, the restaurant wasn’t running well for them but still, no day had ever been like this.
“This is our only means of survival, we can’t start stressing Hailey again” Leah kept talking.
The restaurant door was suddenly opened rashly and about ten hefty entered, their sights terrified Leah a lot.
“Who are you?” Sebastian asked, moving away from the counter. He came to face them and a heavy punch landed on his face.
“Seb!” Leah ran to him.
“Destroy everything you see here, don’t leave anything untouched!” A guy in black ordered.
The men got to business as they started destroying the restaurant.
“What’s going on here? You can’t just barge in here and start spitting out nonsense!” Leah shouted.
Sebastian stood up and faced him
“Stop this nonsense you’re doing or I’m going to call the cops” he warned.
“The cops?” He laughed but it didn’t lasted for a second
“Beat him up”
Leah’s eyes widened as another set of men started hitting her husband.
“No, no please stop! Stop that!” Her screams fell on deaf ears as her husband was beaten mercilessly.
She rushed to them and bit a guy’s hand, the guy glared at her and pushed her to the floor roughly, her head hitting the floor hard.
Leah passed out immediately.
“Leah!!!!” Sebastian shouted. He was helpless at that moment, he couldn’t even do a thing to save his wife and their restaurant.
He continued staring at Leah’s unconscious body till his eyes felt drowsy. The men were still hitting him and he could feel himself getting weak as the minutes passed.
“Leah” he whispered and closed his eyes, losing his consciousness immediately. His whole body was covered in blood.
“Let’s go” one of them shouted and they all left the place, leaving the restaurant in disorder.
****
MONTERIO’S INVESTMENT***
Hailey was writing something in a note when her phone rang. She checked the caller ID and was surprised to find Jaime calling her.
“Is something wrong?” She wondered and picked the call.
“Hey Jaime, what’s wrong?” She asked but all she could heard was Jaime’s cryin voice.
“Jaime?” She quickly stood up.
“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” She rushed.
“Hailey, Mom… Dad..”
“Jaime talk!” Hailey shouted.
“You need to come home Hailey, Mom and Dad are unconscious and…”
Hailey didn’t bother to hear him finish before she hung up, rushing out of the company. The only thing her mind was screaming was,, her family.
****
Hailey rushed into the restaurant and her eyes widened when she saw everywhere upside down. Involuntary tears escaped her eyes, this was their hard work, this was her parents’ sweats.
She rushed past the restaurant and ran to the passage leading to their house. She entered the house and met Jaime pacing around the house in tears.
“Jaime!” She called.
On seeing his sister, Jaime rushed to her and hugged her.
“What happened here? What happened?”
“I returned from school only to see Mom and Dad’s unconscious bodies in the restaurant. Dad’s body was covered in blood” Jaime sobbed.
“What?” Hailey quickly broke the hug and rushed to her parents room.
There her parents were lying on the bed unconscious, Sebastian’s body was covered in bandages.
“I called a Doctor who treated them,” Jaime said behind her.
“Dad…” Hailey whispered in tears as she stared at Sebastian’s body.
“How could this….” She sobbed.
“Who could have done this? Who??!!” She screamed.
Her mind immediately went to Mr. Monterio and she folds her fist.
She cleaned the tears in her eyes and faced Jaime.
“I’ll be back soon, look after them” she said.
“Where…” Jaime was still saying but she was already gone.
He sat beside the bed and held his Mom’s hand.
“Mom, please don’t be like this, wake up” he mumbled.
****
MONTERIO’S FAMILY HOUSE****
Hailey stormed inside Mr. Monterio’s study room, anger clearly visible in her face.
Mr. Monterio smiled when he saw her, he placed the newspaper by the table before giving her his full attention.
“You’re here just like I expected,” he said.
“How could you? How….” Hailey’s tears fell before she could complete her sentence. Her family was her weakness and he knew, that was why he used it against her.
“I told you your family will pay for it, you thought I was joking, right?” He smirked.
Hailey glared at him, she closed her eyes tightly before going on her knees.
“Please…. Save my family” she whispered.
“I’ll do anything you ask of me, but please save my family” she begged in tears.
“Leave my son’s life” Mr. Monterio said
“Leave Charles’ life and your family will be safe”
Hailey cried loudly, her tears wearing the tiles. This was a hard decision for her. Was she ready to give up her love for her family?
TBC