Four

ERICA’S POV

I blinked furiously like one under the sun at the paper. The letters squirmed like a snake as I stared at them.

100 fucking million dollars.

L couldn’t believe what my eyes were seeing. How could my grandpa be owing them this huge amount of money?

I looked at them. They were all in black. I didn’t need anyone to tell me that they were the Mafias. This must be a mistake. It wasn’t possible. I wasn’t going to believe anything they had said.

“100 million dollars? Do you know what you are saying?” l asked the leader of the men as I raised my head in defiance.

“You can ask your grandfather,” he smugly replied.

I turned to grandpa and saw that he had a similar expression on his face. Before my grandfather could speak, the gang leader beat him to it.

“Hey you” the leader called the other person and they moved towards me.

“What do you think you are doing?” I asked as they came closer and I moved back.

Before I knew it, they grabbed me and began heading to the car. I screamed and kicked. I could feel the fear growing inside of me, but all hell let loose on the inside when I saw my grandpa fall to the ground. He had just collapsed.

“Grandpa! Grandpa!” I screamed.

“Let go of me! I have to see my grandpa!”, I pushed with all my might. By that time, they had already reached the car and began shoving my head into the Rolls Royce.

“Hey you be calm or we will be forced to treat you in a rough way” one of the men said.

I didn’t heed to their warning. I had lost my parents and I wasn’t ready to lose my grandpa. My only remaining relative.

“Grandpa! Let me out of here!” I banged on the door as I tried to unlock the car, but it was locked from the driver’s side.

Hot tears ran down my cheeks as I realized that I was 90% kidnapped. Suddenly two of them got in. One had a rope in his hand while the other had a tape. They were here to shut me up. I decided that I was going to fight them but as you know, I was no match for the two men.

They successfully got me tied and I sat there like a chicken that was about to be slaughtered for Christmas. I kept turning back to know if my grandpa would come out, but I didn’t see him. Then the anguish and pain turned to one and began falling from my eyes. L couldn’t hold back my tears. At some point, I thought that I would die from the pain of not crying out.

I went round and round crying until I slept off, but before I did I saw the fountain. It was a landmark one would always see when entering the capital. So, yes. I guess we were heading to the capital.

“Hey lady, wake up” my eyes flung open when I felt someone touch my skin.

They carried me out of the car and I was standing in front of a gigantic edifice. My body was shaking like a leaf.

What was next for me? Was this my end? I wondered.

Ripping the tape off my mouth and losing the rope, they made it possible for me to be able to breathe.

“Where am I?” I asked no one in particular.

“We are at the boss’s mansion,” one of them replied.

I was surprised that they even cared to answer. They escorted me into the house and my eyes went wide in shock. It felt like I had just stepped into a palace. The place I was in had white and gold cushions. The ceilings were high rise and the Chandelier was Gold in color. It illuminated the whole place as the floor was like a mirror that I could literally see myself in.

As I sat waiting, the air conditioning made me dry and light, but my heart wasn’t the same. I worried for my grandpa. I wondered how he was doing. My worries didn’t let me notice that I too was in a more dangerous position. I had been tied and gagged and taken to a place I know nothing about. Maybe it was my situation that needed worrying.

Few minutes later, these men held me up and took me into a room. This time it was darker than the one l had been in.

Why was the room dark? What was I doing here? That was how a series of questions ran through my mind, but it was a pity that I didn’t have the answer to any of them.

Then when I looked ahead, I saw a man. He was backing me as he stood facing the window. He didn’t utter a single word all through. And if I tell you that it didn’t make my blood pressure spike up, you can call me an incorrigible liar.

“Don’t just stand there, take a seat” he said without even turning to take a look at me.

I did as he instructed, reluctantly and with so much terror in me. By now I was no longer afraid but now terrified. I could hear my heart beat like the drum beats of war. At this rate, it was attempting to leave my body.

Then after waiting for what felt like ages, the old man turned and began walking slowly towards me. With every step he took, my poor heart felt it. He stood in front of me and I flinched. He had an intimidating look on his face, but out of nowhere he opened his mouth and chin up.

He looks handsome I thought.

No scratch that he looked familiar. I tried to dig up the where and when I had seen him, but my brain was failing me. Just as I was about giving up, it finally clicked.

“It’s you from the market!”