Chapter Thirty-one

"Eddie." A voice called from behind, halting Eddie's movement. 

"Damn it." Eddie cursed under her breath. She almost slipped out of the house. Eddie didn't have an idea that Annie was in the sitting room. She had a long walk outside the residence because she felt frustrated by her friend's attitude. When she returned, she took her bath and went to the sitting room to take a breather. Annie was alerted when the door clicked open and then she saw Eddie.

Annie found Eddie's character strange. She furrowed her eyebrows when she looked at her and saw she wasn't moving. "Eddie." She called for the second time.

" Yes Annie." Eddie responded turning to Annie's direction. She feigned boldness, so as not to be caught by Annie.

"Where are you going by this late hour?" Annie asked her walking towards her.

" I wanted to embrace the fresh air outside." Eddie replied.

" It's not like this place smells. I mean we have air-conditioning system here. So, what other air do you talk about?" Annie questioned, the second time.

Eddie was growing impatient by the minute. She didn't want to upset the 'so called Master.' The ticking sound of the clock hit her ears so hard that she involuntarily glanced at the wall clock. It was just fifteen minutes left i.e 6:45 pm. Eddie's heart skipped. Annie also followed Edie's glance to the wall clock. 

"Is the fresh air timed?" Eddie felt her friend was stupid to ask such a question. Annie squinted her eyebrows looking at Eddie suspiciously.

"I'm sorry Annie, but I need to leave now." Eddie rushed off, slamming the door behind her. She quickly inserted her car key to the keyhole as she came to her car. Then she opened it and entered into the car. She started the ignition and drove towards the gate. The security man opened the gate and she drove off. It was 6:50 pm when she looked at her watch. She quickly stepped on the accelerator and sped off towards Ectactcy hotel.

Annie was left in a daze. It took a while for her to digest what had happened. She locked the entrance door and headed to her room, thinking to herself, about Eddie's recent mysterious characters.

ECTACTCY RESTAURANT.

As soon as Eddie stepped into the restaurant, she glanced around to see if she might see the unknown man. When she noticed that every person seems to have a partner. She then moved to a corner and sat down. Looking at her watch again, it was 7:05 pm. She felt relieved that she came before the unknown person. Her heartbeat raced as she waited for the man. She recalled her previous conversation with the man on phone and fear gripped her.

While she sat waiting, a man walked into the restaurant. He wore a pair of black jeans with a white collared shirt and shoes. He had a fredo hat on and a dark eye glasses. A quick glance at the man, Eddie could tell, he is the one she was waiting for. And to confirm her guess, the man began walking towards her. Eddie felt her spirit leave her body just by looking at the man approaching toward her. He sat down on reaching were she was.

Eddie didn't know if she should greet him or not. She couldn't even look up at the man sitting with her. She only fiddled with her fingers. She was fidgeting from within her and infact, she turned red from fear.

The man didn't care anyways. He stared at Eddie for a while before he began to talk, "Eddie Jackson." The man called her coldly. Eddie felt like her heart was ripped off. She have heard the man mention her name but it felt a lot different to hear it directly from his mouth 'sounds like a descending stone.'

"Look up." The man commanded her. " I'm not hear to make advance of you, look at me. You can do your stuff with Albert usual when you get to work."

Eddie's eyes widened in disbelief. This man seems to know her too well. That means, he had been monitoring her abinitio. Her heart pounded so hard, she could hear it clearly.

Eddie looked up at the man. The close view of the man was outstriking. Eddie was too scared to see that. "You should name me, Master. That's because you'll have to serve me from henceforth. Look at this." he said. He brought out his phone from his pocket and turned on a video. He turned his phone to face Eddie. Eddie looked at the video and her face slowly began to change. Waters formed her eyes and was about to fall.

"Hey, don't create a scene here. I don't want to look like a husband-beater." The unknown man said. Eddie's actions was irritating him by the minute.

Eddie wiped off her tears, she listened to the man as he instructed her. When he finished with her, he left. It took Eddie a lot of time to comphrehend all that happened to her. She had no choice than to stand up and leave the restaurant.

As she drove home, she thought of all that the man told her. "I'm not hear to make advance of you, look at me. You can do your stuff with Albert usual when you get to work." Those words resounded in her ears. That was a strong proof that the man had been tailing her. If he knows her actions with Albert some time ago then what use is she. A thought flashed through her memory lane. "How did he find out about that. Did he witness it?" Eddie held her hand over her chest in fear as if she wanted to hold back her chest from leaving her body. Moreover, she didn't know what she might face at home. How was she going to explain all these to Annie? She mustn't tell her the truth though. Eddie's couldn't think straight. She just drove slowly back to her house, shivering in fear.

Annie refused to sleep that night. She sat in the sitting room wide awake, waiting for Eddie to come back home. 

Then, she heard the clanging of keys at the entrance door. She knew it was her friend, it was only Eddie that had access to the entrance door, altho she gave Annie the spare key to use while she stays with her. 

Eddie walked inside, pretending not to see Annie, she walked up the st

"Please I want to take a rest. I'm already exhausted." Eddie replied and headed for her room without looking back.

Annie stood rooted to the floor, she continued to watch Eddie going back to her room till she heard the door slammed shut.

******************

Aunty Mary thought of the strange happenings she'd been experiencing of recent. She felt scared thinking of the attacker's aim. She picked up her phone and dialed a line. It was a secret guard she called. He was their leader (secret guard).  Aunty Mary narrated her experiences and ordered him to increase more guards around her.

She then decided to leave for The Smiths to see Sofia. She left the house few minutes later and came to a halt in front of the Smiths gate. She blew her car horn to alert the security guard at the gate. Aunty Mary grew impatient after blowing the horn several times. At a point, she came down from the car and began hitting the gate. 

INSIDE THE RESIDENCE OF THE SMITHS.

Valerie stood near the gate. She was speaking to the security guards that were at the gate post when she heard the car's horn. One of the guards almost left to open the gate but Valerie shunned him. So the rest maintained composure. 

"Go and find out, who is at the gate." Valerie commanded one of them, when the knock persisted.

The guard ran off to the gate and opened the smaller side of it. " Are you ok?" Aunty Mary asked, looking at the guard who peeped out to see the person knocking. The security guard locked the gate on seeing the person (Aunty Mary).

He ran to report to Valerie. "It's Aunty Mary, Ma'am."

"Aunty Mary?" Valerie furrowed her eyebrows, that name sounded unfamiliar to her. "Who is she?" She asked.

"It's Ma'am Sofia's Aunt." The security guard answered her.

Valerie flared up. This was not the first time the servants in the Smiths residence referred Sofia as 'Ma'am'. 

"Come here." She ordered the security guard. The security guard came closer to her but before one could say anything, a loud slap landed on the guard's cheeks. That was unexpected. Everyone else stood in shock. " Did you just address Sofia as Ma'am?" Valerie asked him angrily. "Let this be the last time this will repeat itself. Now, go and open the gate. 

The security guard almost cried. He went and opened the gate. Aunty Mary stormed into the compound angrily. "Are you stupid?" That was what slipped out of her lips. She was asking the guard who was slapped.

"And who do you think you are?" A voice asked in anger.

Author's note: I want to appreciate my readers for their time in reading my work. I also plead that you rate my work. Thank you. I love you all.