THE ANGEL IN HER

Chapter 4

Calise stormed into her room and sat on her bed, fuming in anger.

Her mother followed immediately and saw her daughter so angry.

“Please let me explain the whole truth.” Rebecca pleaded, trying to come close.

“Tell me what? Did you see the way dad embarrassed me in front of that bitch? He disrespected me and you said nothing!”

“We did it to protect you.” Rebecca told her in a calm way.

“Protect me? From what?” Calise snapped again, searching her mother's eyes for answers.

“Yes. Something happened some years ago. Do you remember Mr Stark?” Rebecca asked her daughter who nodded in approval.

“Good. Your grandfather borrowed money from his father years ago. They bought a lot of land and they started their company. It flourished and their sons took over. Now, the Starks are people who like to fulfill their promises and they want us to fulfill ours too.”Her mother explained to her while sitting close to her.

“So why does it involve us?” Calise asked deeply.

“Your grandfather never kept to his bargain and the Starks have been hunting us down. The issue right now is that they won't have the money anymore but you.”

“Me? Why?”Calise asked in fear.

“You are the bargain, my daughter. Your father wouldn't allow it. They want you to marry Mr Stark. That old, ruthless man!” Rebecca cried out in dejection.

“Mother— that is absurd! I can't marry an old man in this 21st century. I am a young woman not a slave!” Calise spoke with irritation in her voice.

“I know. That is why we are giving out Noelle to him. After all, he is so old. He won't know it is you. Noelle will be his wife.” Her mother assured with a hopeful smile.

Calise was overjoyed and hugged her mother.

“Now I know why my father was being so nice to her. She is so gullible and stupid. Yes! She deserves what she is getting.” Calise spat out with venom in her tongue .

Her mother supported her and they continued with the plan while conniving with an evil intent.

____

Night came so sudden and she walked out of her room, ready to withstand anything that comes her way.

Noelle knocked once and stepped into the study room.

A place she once loved to spend her free time.

Always engrossed in her books.

Her dreams?

She had wanted to be a journalist.

To speak for the weak and defend the helpless.

To use her voice as a means not as a weapon for destruction.

Her voice is her strength but right now it was merely a shadow of itself.

The same nostalgic smell hit her nostrils. The smell of old books, woods and the smell of cigars reminded her of her childhood.

The beginning of her despair.

The time the real child returned back home.

The time her place was decided in the family.

She remembered that night inside this room.

Noelle was reading a book about fighting for your dreams when her ears caught some sounds outside the door.

She was just fourteen.

The sound wasn't friendly.

It was fast, unsteady and loud.

Footsteps — she could recall.

It prompted her to check.

Noelle walked to the door and opened to peep through.

Then, she saw her mother run past her, weeping heavily.

It made her scared and she followed her, heading downstairs.

What is going on? She wondered and tried to keep up with her mother's pace.

But something made her stop midway, just at the start of the stairs.

Something broke inside her when she witnessed it.

A word, actually.

A word she holds dearly to herself.

“Mom.”

Noelle saw a girl of the same age with her, calling her mother by that name.

She was standing with two police officers who brought her.

“Mom, it is me. Calise.” The girl whimpered with tears in her eyes.

The words came out more clearly.

The girl ran to her mother and hugged her.

Noelle could see the yearnings in her mother's eyes. The way she shut her eyes tightly as the tears came pouring out.

Her arms wrapped around the girl as she wept, apologising in between.

Just then, her father ran past Noelle like she was a shadow and ran to them.

He recognised his daughter and gladly embraced her. They all hugged like one big happy family.

Noelle stood like a mannequin watching the scene.

No one noticed her.

No one saw her standing by the stairs, confused.

____

“Noelle.” David called when he noticed her stillness.

Her eyes flickered twice and she realised that she was down the memory lane again.

“What are you thinking?” He asked, smoking his cigar as the fume filled the entire room.

“Nothing.” She lied and walked closer to him.

David noticed the way she walked. He saw how she was trying her best to hide the swollen ankle. This only made him chuckle hard.

“Won't you get that treated?” He asked, pointing to her leg that is well hidden under the blue gown.

“Oh.” Noelle realised and her confidence broke immediately. Her vulnerability opened forth like a flower that has blossomed.

She used the gown to cover her legs properly. David could only smile when he saw her weakness.

“Have a seat. I want to talk to you alone.” David offered with his hand, stretched out.

Noelle could only nod and walked wobbly to the chair.

She sat and couldn't look directly at the man she once admired as a father.

David saw her weak state and decided to use it as an advantage.

“I know you are very angry with us. I can see through your pretence. The stiff smile, the charade and your body movements.

Let out your anger. I want to see them.” David told her.

Noelle was utterly stunned by his choice of words. She was so angry and felt like exploding but right now wasn't the good time.

She had to suppress her emotions.

Fight back the urging feeling to hit his head on the wall.

Her palms curled into a fist ball till her knuckles went white but it wasn’t enough to fight that rage inside her.

The blood in her veins boils with anger. All she was seeing was her revenge.

To hurt them like the way they did to her.

But not yet— she told herself.

She took a deep breath and exhaled before giving a reply.

“State your reason so that I can leave.”

“You know that you are very smart and can read the room. Don't think I am here to do you a favor. I am the one helping you.” David scowled at her.

“So what help can you offer me?” She asked with pains in her eyes.

“I like that energy. You don't beat around the bush.”

“I learnt that from you.” She said with a scoff on her breath.

“Hmmm…. smart.” He acknowledged and took a deep drag before puffing the smoke fume into the air.

It almost suffocated her but this was nothing compared to the uneasy feeling being inside this house.

“Well, drop it.

“You are getting married in a month's time.” David dropped the bombshell.

Noelle was shocked. Her eyes filled with disbelief.

“What?”

“Yes. You heard me right?”

“Your husband will be here to collect you in a month's time so we need to make sure you are prepped and ready for his arrival.”He replied to her casually. Like a done deal. No question asked.

This cut the thin line to her sanity.

The rage couldn't be contained.

“The audacity! The effrontery! Stupidity!” Noelle growled in anger and flung the things on the desk which shattered to the ground, startling him who was watching her with glee.

She screamed at the top of her lungs, thrashing around, destroying everything in her path.

Her spirit broke;

Not in fear but anger.

She was manic and would do anything to have her revenge at that moment.

Her heavy breathing could be heard as she panted.

Her hair was scattered and her eyes were bloodshot.

She placed her hand on the table with force and leaned to him.

Her voice came bitter, raw and heavy.

“Over my dead body!”

Then silence ensues around them. They both locked eyes and none of them looked away.

No one said anything.

Only her breath let out in fury.

His smile made her crazy.

Then he spoke with a sly smirk on his cheek.

“I love this! You are thrilling!”

“What?” She asked in disbelief.

“You see dear, you won't have a choice. Because I own you and when I say it is you. Then it is you!” He ordered, yelling at her.

Noelle saw the situation.

Another hell hole for her.

Another bondage.

The harsh reality of life for her.

She didn't care anymore.

There was nothing worth fighting for.

She burst into a hard laugh. Laughing like she had been possessed.

David was puzzled.

He wasn’t expecting her to react that way.

Noelle kept on laughing. It was hysterical and this didn't stop her from pushing the table away, leaving him trapped in the chair.

Fear overwhelmed him.

He saw the malicious intent in her eyes and the deadly smirk on her cheek.

Noelle took the pen on the floor and pointed it to her neck.

Just inch from her carotid artery.

It was better she died than pleased them again.

Her life wasn't a tool anymore.

David begged earnestly.

He didn't see a scared, frustrated woman.

He saw a broken soul accepting her reality.

“You can't die! Not yet!” He screamed at her. David stood up slowly and tried to calm her down.

“If you come closer to me, I will kill myself!” She yelled at him, bringing the pen to her neck, almost grazing it.

Suddenly, they heard a knock at the door. It was Rowan.

“Sir, I am coming in.” He spoke from the door.

“Don't! Don't come in until I say so.” David insisted, trembling in fear.

“Sir, I can help.” Rowan pressured.

“If you come inside, I will kill myself and kill you!” She roared and thrashed around, directing the pen closer to her neck.

“There is something you need to know.” David muttered in fear.

This prickled her attention.

“What? Another lie.” She asked, trembling hard.

Her adrenaline was spiked to the maximum.

“It is about your mother.” He replied immediately when he saw her neck was already bleeding.

“My mother?”

“Your real mother… she's alive.”

Noelle froze.

David held up a brown envelope.

“I have proof.”

Every ounce of rage drained from her.

Every plan, every thought, stopped.

She stared at him.

“Why are you telling me this now?”

He didn't answer. The room went silent and just like that, everything she thought she knew about her life—crumbled.