Threat

Nortia's POV

My nails dug into my palm when he beamed at me.

“You always have the habit of running off whenever I want to talk to you, are you going to do so again?”

I gulped in my spittle at his words, why exactly was he making it look like we had done anything serious?

“ Who is he? Were you cheating on me?!” Maxwell demanded as he glanced at me.

“ You can't do this to me, you can't cheat on me, you have to stay by my side, no matter what”

I let out a sigh, does he know how stupid he sounded?

“How does it feel to be beaten at your game?”

He took a step forward, attempting to stroll over when he was held back.

“You wouldn't do such”

“ Oh, you don't know me as you thought you do, I bet you are not the only one who knows how to, I wish you a happy life with Samantha, one that has you both in tears always”

The stranger cackled, his eyes held admiration as he stared at me when I rushed off.

“ You can't cheat on me,” Maxwell rushed after me.

“ You can't leave me either, no one else would find you pleasing, you will come back to me when you know how right I was, you will” he swore.

I slipped into the cab that had stopped in front of me, eyes staring at the stranger who had helped me.

I should have asked for his name at least, thank him for helping me out, but that wasn't going to be possible now, we had nothing together.

My finger clenched my phone as I glossed at it, why exactly had I been doing that? I had no one who would call.

“ Are you done?” A man leaned against my cubicle, startling me out of my thoughts.

“ The project manager wants it done in five minutes”

I bobbed my head. “ I will send it over soon, how about that? You can go back”

He leaned even closer, stared at me for a while before he moved away.

Was there something on my face that I didn't know of? I knew there was a lot happening, but I had been conscious enough to pay attention to my looks this morning.

I guess the walls of self-esteem I had built tightly around me had blown off, funny how words could do such a thing.

“ Yes” I exclaimed out, a hand up after sending it over, I stood up stretching.

One day, I was going to be out of here, my uncle had taken me to the first floor, making me an intern for years now, and hopefully, I will get that juicy promotion offer that had been dangled on my face, at least I had gone along with the concept of us being one happy family.

My phone rang out, and my eyes drilled a hole on the phone at who was calling. The doctor wouldn't call if it wasn't urgent or were they finally up?

I slipped the phone against my ear, hoping that would be it.

“ Hello, Miss Nortia, this is the doctor from…”

“ Yes, yes, I know, is something wrong?”

“ Your parents have been transferred out of the VIP ward, their medication stopped and…”

I shot up, picked up my bag before racing out.

There was just one person that came to my mind, but why would she do something like that? To me?

My feet raced out in a hurry as I made my way out of the company. Whatever it was had to wait, I couldn't risk it, my parents couldn't be out of medications, they would die.

Crystals cascaded down my cheek while I tried to stay sane, I halted a cab before getting in.

“ Where to miss?”

“ The hospital down the street, it isn't that far, please…” I let out, almost begging.

I had to do whatever it was to ensure that they stayed back, wasn't it too much for me already?

First it was Maxwell, and I was still hurt, all I knew that I had to do was pick up the shattered part of my life, and move on.

I had woken up to his text asking that I reconsider his offer, but what exactly was wrong with him? If he really wanted me, he would have fought for me to stay by him.

He wouldn't have hurt me like he did.

“ Thank you” I ran my card across before sprinting up the stairs, my heart sank when I pushed the door to the VIP ward, and they were nowhere to be found.

“ Miss Nortia” the doctor called me, he was an advanced man with salt and pepper hair, slouched shoulders and bright eyes and for years now, he had looked after my parents.

“ Where are my parents? Why aren't they here?” I questioned.

“ We are sorry, but we had to. There is barely any money in your parents account and…”

“ That is a lie, my parents account isn't exhausted unless…”

I pulled my phone out of my bag, as I placed a call to my aunt who picked it up on the first ring.

“ Aunty, what do you think you are doing? My parents”

“ Oh that…” she uttered lazily. “ There isn't any money in your parent's account,”

“That isn't true, fine, what about the company incentive? There has to be something, they own it and…”

“ The company isn't doing so well now, so we can't fork out any money right now, but I know someone who might assist, but you have to go on that date”

I chewed on my lips, I should have known that this was what she wanted, from the onset, this was what she had wanted.

“ I will do it, this blind date, I will take you up on it”

“ Good, I knew you will come around, a little push is all I needed, and I got it right, such a good girl”

Yes, she did, and she used the one thing that she knew I would never be able to dispute, she used my parents against me.