Mr. Blackwood groaned softly as he opened his eyes, the room was still dim as the curtains had not yet been opened. He wonders for how long he had been asleep, he usually wasn’t a heavy sleeper as his years of struggling had given him insomnia.
Turning to the other side of the bed, he felt like something was wrong. He crumpled his face in thoughts, trying to remember what was amiss, and then it crossed his mind- Annabel!
Mr. Blackwood sat up immediately, his eyes dashing across the space of the room. “Anna?” he called out, but there was no response.
He rushed to the bathroom but she was not there, he went to check the dressing room but she wasn’t there either, he also noticed the clothes she had taken off yesterday were not there as well.
Maybe she had gone to do laundry. He left the bedroom immediately and ran down the hallway, still dressed in his pajamas. The first person he ran into was Zack, his Butler.
“Good Morning Sir.” the middle aged man greeted, he was fully dressed for duty in his white shirt and straightened black pants, a towel hanging on one arm.
“Zack, where is she?” he asked anxiously.
Mr. Blackwood was terrified, he might not be sure of what happened to Anna yesterday but he knew she was in a lot of pain. What if she tried to do something stupid like taking her own life?
There was confusion etched on the Butler's face. “Forgive me Sir, but I am not too sure of who you speak about, I will appreciate it if you were a little more specific.” He requested.
“Miss Annabel!” Maxwell replied in between his teeth. “The lady I came home with last night, where is she?”
“Oh, I am sure I saw the young missus leave this morning, she left in her Pajamas, said to tell you that she had left.”
“What? She left? How? I mean, who let her out?” Mr. Blackwood barked.
“Forgive me Sir, but I wasn’t aware of any instructions to keep her in, I didn’t know you would have a problem with her leaving.” He replied, the fear of losing his job was very audible in his voice.
Mr. Blackwood sighed and rubbed his forehead in frustration. “Unbelievable! It is just a few minutes past eight pm, which means she must have left really early. I don’t even remember her having a bag on her, how did she leave? it is at least a few meters before the closest railway.”
“Oh, she had actually called a taxi, he was at the gate waiting before she even stepped out. I am so sorry sir, if I knew you didn’t want her out, I would have informed the guards to hold her back.”
With an exhale, he waved him off. “It is fine, just get back to your work.” He muttered as he turned around and headed back to his room.
Mr. Blackwood couldn’t understand what Anna was playing at. Why did she leave so early in the morning? What if something had happened to her on the way? Was she ever alright?
Getting back to his room, he picked up his phone and dialed her number. She didn’t pick up the first time but he tried again and she accepted the call this time.
“Annabel, where are you?” he queried the very next second.
Anna let out a soft sigh from the other end of the phone. “I am sorry I had to leave while you were asleep, and I appreciate everything you did for me yesterday, I didn’t deserve any of that. But that is the end of it, we should both go back to our separate lives.”
“What are you talking about? You wouldn’t even tell me what happened last night? Why are you acting this way?” Maxwell queried, as much as he was glad that she sounded better now, he was still angry that she had run off like that.
“Look… I was in a vulnerable state last night, I shouldn’t have gone home with you, our ties have been long cut Mr. Blackwood. It is better this way, Max. Believe me, it is better we never see each other again. Thanks again for last night; I hope you have a wonderful life.”
Mr. Blackwood heard the call go off in his ears, he stared at the phone with dropped jaws. He couldn’t believe it, she had hung up on him.
He paced around in the bedroom, the place still smelt like her, or maybe it was in his head. He just knew that he wanted her back into his life, these past weeks without her had been like hell, he had tried hard to act like she didn’t exist but he had always ended up stalking her, that w3as exactly how he came to find her the previous day.
He couldn’t focus on work or anything because Annabel was on his mind the whole time. This was one of the reasons why Mr. Blackwood had despised feeling emotions, they made a mess of a man. Life is so much better when you turn it off, if he had it his way, he wouldn’t feel a damn thing for anyone, but Anna somehow had broken down the walls he put up.
He needed to find a way to get her back into his life before he loses his mind. To think that the girl he despised seven months ago would be the one he would obsess over today was just ironic.
Mr. Blackwood immediately dialed a number and put the phone to his ear, the receiver on the other end picked up and her charming voice came through. “Was starting to think that you have forgotten me, Dave.”
Mr. Blackwood gave a little smile as he rubbed his itching nose. “Hello Mom, I need your advice.”
“Is it about… what is her name again? Annabel.”
Mr. Blackwood nodded. “Yes, can you help me?”
“Okay, but first you have to tell me everything, and I mean everything…”
** **
Annabel sat on the floor of her sitting room, she had returned home very early in the morning. She was processing a lot of thoughts as she reminisced on the whole scene from yesterday.
She could still hear the voices in her head, the sight of Jimmy thrusting into another girl with so much passion and enthusiasm, or the words he had said to her after that. She remembers him questioning her character, judging and abusing her. Maybe she deserved all of this, she had been too gullible to believe him.
A text message popped up on her screen. It was Jennifer informing her that she was fast approaching her house.
Anna sighed, she had told Jennifer everything that happened over the phone. Unlike the first time this happened, Annabel was not ready to depress on it for weeks, she was ready to fight through the pain and self-heal the scars, Jimmy was not worth her pain, at least now she saw it.
Speaking of Jimmy, she had blocked all his numbers after making it clear to him through a text message that she was officially done with him, she had broken up with and threatened to have him arrested if he ever came anywhere close to her.
Anna decided to go and block his socials as well, she couldn’t risk him apologizing his way back into her life. knowing how good he was with words, she wouldn’t be shocked if she fell for his deceit once more.
Going online to her socials, she noticed that she had already received a message from him. Annabel contemplated on opening it or not, as much as she wanted to hit that block button and be done with him, she was curious to know what was in the message. It didn’t matter what he said right now, she was still too aware to fall for it.
After a bit of hesitation, she clicked open the chat. It was a video that he had sent her with the caption “Enjoy.” Anna felt her heart beating, wondering if to play it or not. Her curiosity won and she tapped on the video play.
She recognized the video in its first five seconds, it was the sex tape that Jennifer had sent to her to prove that he was cheating the first time. Anna felt pain creep into her chest as she relived the painful moment, she wondered what he hoped to achieve by sending her this video.
She was about to turn it off when something caught her attention; the video was much longer than the one Jennifer had sent her, and the clip was not cropped like the other. She squinted her eyes as she watched the act and slowly, the lady in the clip changed positions.
Anna’s face went sour and her jaws dropped. “No…” she muttered and she shook her head in complete disbelief.
She was left speechless with what she had seen; the lady in the video was Jennifer Gilbert, her supposed best friend!
!