Chapter Thirty-Two

"And who do you think you are?" A voice asked from behind. Aunty Mary turned to face the owner. She could tell from looks that the lady was rich. And the way, the guards standing before her were shivering, surely, she was highly respected in the house of the Smiths. She hasn't seen the lady before but she could tell that the lady was no other person than, Valerie.

Aunty Mary gazed intently at the arrogant lady and slowly parted her lips to form an evil grin. That single action ignited anger in Valerie's mind. Aunty Mary strode towards Valerie with shoulders high. 

"I'm Mary, your Aunt" Aunty Mary said smiling. "I've been standing there for ages." Aunty Mary said pointing towards the gate. "You need to apologize to me then." 

That was funny, oh no, it was an insult. Valerie hadn't met such a person all her life. She felt like she was been smacked on the face. More especially, when she saw the faces of the guards which looked like they were almost laughing.  

"How dare you?" That was what slipped off Valerie's lips at first. " Guards! Throw this woman out of here!" Valerie ordered. Everyone who witnessed that felt that Valerie was indeed crazy. But no one could say that to her.

The guards came closer to Aunty Mary and one of them said to her, "You heard Ma'am Valerie, so choose between leaving by force or by will." 

" Don't you dare touch me. And you Valerie, you'll soon hear from me." Aunty Mary turned and stomped towards the gate. One of the guards opened the gate and she left. Then they heard the sound of a car's ignition and then it became distant.  

The guard locked the gate and everywhere became eerie silent. Valerie glared at the guards that she commanded to throw Aunty Mary out. She wanted to see the woman disgraced. Pushing her out of the gate would be preferable but the guards ruined it.

"And you stupid guards, I gave you an instruction and you disobeyed me. Why give her an option? I could have done that if I wanted to. For that, no lunch for you today." And so she left.

Everyone else took a deep sigh of relief when she evaded their sight. 

When Valerie left them, the first thing she did was to summon Eva and instructed her not to dish out food for some guards. Eva had no choice than to obey her. The reason why every servant of the Smiths seems to obey Valerie was because Smith pampers her and whoever upsets Valerie gets on Smith's nerves. 

Later on, Eva secretly called one of the guards to find out why Valerie instructed her to starve them. The guard narrated all to her and they went their separate ways.

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Aunty Mary headed back home. She was so upset and didn't want to think of anything, so she went back to her room to rest. She needed to cool herself, else she kills someone with the anger that engulfed her.

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"That's rude of her." Sarah said to Eva. Eva narrated same story to her friend, Sarah.

"You know what's giving her the audacity to do that is because of the treatment, Master gives her. I hate her so much and I want to deal with her." Eva bursted out angrily. 

Sarah laughed out hard at what Eva said. "Yes, you can. Maybe, when you've gone six inches deep." She continued laughing as she looked at Eva who now pouted her lips like a child.

"You're mocking me." Eva said feeling hurt. She expected her friend to support her and not to laugh.

"Oh no, baby girl. Just that I think so much about you. It's too early to die now. So the best advice from me, focus on your work and ignore Valerie's character." Sarah adviced. Eva's face dimmed. She only nodded to what Sarah said. Sarah smiled and began to touch Eva's face softly, trying to cheer her up. Then she tickled her and they laughed.

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EDDIE'S RESIDENCE.

Eddie recalled all that the 'so called Master' as she referred him as, told her. She thought of how to execute the first plan. It was a bit difficult because she noticed the slight change in Albert's character. She couldn't share her plan with anybody, not even her close friend, Annie. She was all alone in her mission and she needed to execute it well, else 'the so called Master' destroys her.

Eddie looked through her clothes. Her major barrier was Valerie. She thought of how she'll battle with her. Before appointing Valerie as the Vice President, Eddie stood as a high personnel in the Smiths corporation. She dressed anyhow she liked without been cautioned. Now Valerie came into the space, she'll need to be able to face and endure the challenges on her way.

 Eddie selected her office wears and then went into the bathroom. After taking her bath, she applied cream and makeup and then slipped into her work clothe, a button-up long sleeve shirt with black skirt and shoe to match. She then picked some few things she'll be needing for work, packed them into her bag and left.

As she descended from the stairs, she saw Annie fully dressed as if going out. 

"Annie" She called. 

"Good morning Eddie." Annie greeted as she walked closer to Eddie.

"Happy morning." Eddie responded. "Where are you going to?" She asked.

"Well, I'm going home. I need to get some clothes and other things that I'll use while I stay with you." Annie replied.

Eddie furrowed her eyebrows when she heard Annie say that she was going to stay with her. She needed to stay alone in other to execute her plans. Eddie was lost in thoughts and almost forgot that someone was standing with her. 

Annie looked at Eddie. She couldn't understand why she was silent and seemed carried away. "Eddie." She called, waving her hand over Eddie's face.

"Oh yeah." Eddie was jolted back to reality when she heard her name. She looked at Annie with eyes bulged out. "What did you say?" She asked looking confused.

" What is wrong with you Eddie?" Annie questioned her. " You've been acting strange ever since we came back from the club house. What is that you can't share with me?"

"Annie i'm ok. Just take a good look at me.If it's about my health, then you need not to worry because I'm fine. You can go back home." Eddie said feigning a smile.

"Sorry to burst your bubbles. This is my new home, learn to understand that." Annie told Eddie angrily and left the house. 

Eddie glanced at her wrist watch before heading towards the door. She went straight to the garage entered her car and drove off.

SMITHS CORPORATION.

Eddie came to work a bit earlier, so she wasn't surprised to come first before other employees in the toppest floor.

Minutes later, Albert, Valerie and Sarah arrived work. Eddie allowed them to settle down before going to meet Albert.

Albert sat on his swivel chair. He wasn't doing anything when he arrived work because he cleared most of his duties the other day. He was only watching movies with his phone when he heard a knock on the door. 

"Come in." He said and the door was pushed open. HIs face beamed with excitement when he saw Eddie.

"Good morning Sir." Eddie greeted.

"Morning." Albert responded. " How's your health?" Albert enquired.

"There's been great improvement Sir." Eddie replied. She walked towards Albert and smiled at him." I came to thank you for your assistance, Sir." 

" It's nothing. Sorry I was busy and weren't able to visit you. But I'll make it up to you. Will you like to spend some time out?" Albert asked her.

Eddie blushed, infact she was so excited. " I'll be greatly honoured Sir. I love watching movies and wish to go with you."

Albert chuckled looking at Eddie overexcited. " Then we'll be going to watch movies by 7pm. I'll pick you up. I think that would be good." Albert told her. " You can go now." He gestured at Eddie to leave.

Eddie left the office excited, she was smiling to herself without noticing the lady standing outside her office room. 

"Come here." Valerie called Eddie.

Eddie furrowed her eyebrows and bodly went to meet Valerie. She greeted Valerie and Valerie ignored her. Valerie squeezed her face looking at Eddie. "Why were you smiling like that. What did he tell you?" Valerie asked.

Eddie found the question strange. She wondered whether Valerie knew what she had in mind. Or what went on in Albert's office. " Nothing. I just went to thank him for helping me while I was sick." Eddie said straight faced.

" Really. Why were you chuckling to yourself. Or are you going out of your mind?" Valerie asked rudely.

Anger grew in Eddie's heart. She glared at the arrogant lady with red eyes. " You want to know? Ok, he's taking me out on a dinner date." 

" Eddie ......." Valerie yelled with her face already red from anger.