One Wild Night

Anita stood by her office window lost in thoughts. At the moment she was torn between turning in her resignation letter as she had planned to do and continuing with her job at I-Global Airline.

Although the name might have been changed from Ocean Airline to I-Global airline, the place still held a special spot in her heart.

The airline had belonged to her maternal family, and her late grandfather had taken her there often when she a child, since she was the only grandchild who had shown any interest in planes.

He had taught her all he could teach a little girl of her age about the airline. She had fallen in love with the place and that had been the sole reason she had wanted to work in the airline.

Quitting her job here and going to work in another airline would feel like a betrayal to her late grandfather. She was emotionally attached to the airline and all the memories in it in the same manner as she was attached to her house.

Remaining here did not make sense either. There was too much bad blood between her, Lucy, and Tom, and she would be uncomfortable every time she had to run into either of them in the company.

Why didn’t Tom fire her anyway? Perhaps if he had done so this whole time it would have been better for her, Anita thought with a sigh as she returned to her desk and looked at her laptop screen on which the resignation letter, she had composed the previous week, was displayed.

Why was she having second thoughts about submitting her resignation letter? She had been okay with betraying her grandfather’s memories last week or whatever it was her conscience chose to call it, so why was it such a big deal now? Was it because of all Lisa had said?

Lisa had asked her to apologize and she knew she needed to apologize to Lucy for everything, but she did not know where to start from.

Was she being reluctant to resign now because she thought there would be no need to leave the company she loved if she apologized and groveled?

She glanced at her phone when it started ringing, and she rejected the call when she saw it was her mother calling once again as she had done the previous night, and this time she blacklisted the number. She didn’t want to hear from her or see her.

Hearing from Lisa about how their mother had cheated on their father, had brought back some memories she had not really read much meaning to in the past, and it made her realize how selfish and wicked their mother was, but she had been too blinded by love and respect to see it.

She had always thought her mother was perfect, but after hearing all she heard at Bernice’s house, every of such illusion had been completely shattered.

To think she had threatened to cut her off, Anita thought with a snort. As far as she was concerned, Rebekah Miller ceased to be her mother the moment she saw past all her pretense.

All she could see now was a shameless, and immoral adulteress. Someone who didn’t even have the decency to be ashamed or be apologetic to her daughter for sleeping with her daughter’s husband. Someone who could blackmail her own daughter to shut her up. Nah. That woman wasn’t her mother.

Anita’s gaze moved to the landline on her desk when it rang, and she picked up the receiver, “Mr. Hilton wants to know if you are available to accompany him to I-Global,” the airline’s president’s secretary informed her, and Anita’s heart skipped a beat and her throat constricted.

“What for?” She asked in a voice that wasn’t her own.

“This is the Anniversary week. The airline has to be represented at the meeting of all I-Global directors and shareholders. The manager wants you to go with him,” the secretary explained patiently, even though she couldn’t understand the panic in Anita’s voice.

“Please let him know I’m not feeling too well….”

She had always jumped on every opportunity to go to I-Global on behalf of the airline so why was she being reluctant to go there now? The secretary mused.

“I’m sorry, but it wasn’t exactly a question. In his words ‘Inform Director Miller that we will be leaving for I-Global by 10 AM’. I was only trying to pass the message politely,” the secretary said, letting Anita know she couldn’t back out of it.

Anita sighed as she replaced the receiver. It was still too soon to face Tom and Lucy. Besides, she was yet to come up with a way apologize to them.

Not wanting to face them, she quickly printed out her resignation letter before walking out of her office to meet with the director who Harry had appointed as the president of the airline.

“Is he in? I want to speak with him,” Anita said once she walked in, and from the determined look on her face, the secretary knew better than to stop her.

The secretary gave her a nod and she knocked on the door briskly before pushing it open and walking inside, “I’m sorry, I can’t go with you,” Anita said as soon as she walked into the office and placed the letter in front of him.

“What is that?” He asked without picking it up.

“My resignation. I will no longer continue to work here, so you can get someone else to accompany you there,” Anita said, and he looked from the letter to her.𝑶𝑣𝒍xt.𝑐𝒪𝓶

“You are quitting your job because you do not want to go to I-Global?” He asked incredulously.

“I don’t owe you any explanation,” Anita said tersely.

“Alright. You don’t have to come with me to I-Global if you don’t want to. I don’t understand why you want to leave but unless it is life threatening, I won’t accept this letter yet. I will give you two weeks to think about it. If you change your mind before then, you can keep your job. If you don’t, you are free to leave,” he said as he shoved the letter towards her.

Although, she was intolerable at times and he wasn’t exactly fond of her, he couldn’t deny that she was very to good at her job, that was the only reason he was doing this for her, also the fact that her uncle had asked him to look out for her after he sold off the airline to I-Global.

“I won’t come to the office until I make up my mind,” she said without reaching for the letter.

Although he couldn’t understand what was wrong, he gave her a nod, “I will come up with an excuse to explain your absence if I’m asked,” he said, gesturing to the resignation letter for her to pick it up.

“You should hold on to the letter. You don’t have to worry, I will work from home until my mind is made up,” Anita said, and once he gave her a nod, she headed for the door.

She hesitated at the door and turned to him, “Thank you, sir,” she said before leaving the office.

She returned to her office and picked up her laptop and every other important file she needed before leaving the office. As she drove home she tried to figure out the best way to go about apologizing to them.

When she remembered her mother’s plan to make sure Lucy was absent from the anniversary party, she made a U-turn and headed for the foundation to meet with Priscilla instead.

As she drove, she reached for her phone when it started ringing and received the call when she saw that it was from Lisa, “Hey! I’m driving….”

“You’re not at the office?” Lisa cut in.

“No. Is there a problem?” She asked when she noted the slight concern in Lisa’s voice.

“I’ve been trying to reach Bernice but her line isn’t connecting. I’m worried about her. I was hoping you would go check on her,” Lisa said, and Anita scowled.

“And then what? I really don’t think you should worry about her. She has her husband and Jackson to comfort her,” Anita said dryly.

“Anita! You shouldn’t say such a thing. She wasn’t okay yesterday. We need to check on her,” Lisa said calmly.

“Well, I have other important things to attend to. You can check on her if you are that worried,” Anita said, and Lisa shook her head.

“I can’t. I wasn’t feeling so well when I woke up this morning so the doctor asked me to stay in bed, and you know how protective Ron can be,” Lisa complained.

Anita sighed, “Alright. I have to go now, but I promise to stop by her house and take a selfie with her if possible just to put your mind at ease,” Anita promised before hanging up.

Few minutes later she arrived at the She Can Heal Foundation building, and headed directly for Priscilla’s office.

Immediately Priscilla was informed of Anita’s presence she set her phone on sound recording and placed the phone on the table before Anita walked into the office.

“Did Rebekah send you? She didn’t mentioned that you were coming,” Priscilla said after she had exchanged pleasantries with Anita.

“She is not aware that I’m here, and I’d rather it remains so,” Anita said, and Priscilla raised a brow.

“Is everything alright?” She asked curiously.

“It depends. I’m here to discuss my mother’s plan with you concerning Lucinda Perry. I believe you know who she is?” Anita asked, and Priscilla gave her a nod.

“Yeah. Sure.”

“She claims she is doing all that because of me, but I don’t want you to go through with her instructions,” Anita said, and Priscilla’s brows pulled together.

“I beg your pardon?” Priscilla said, and Anita explained the situation to her.

“… so I want to know if there is something I can do to make sure her plan won’t pull through, so that Lucy can be at the anniversary party. I won’t be there myself, so there is no reason for her not to be with her man,”

“If you mo longer want Thomas Hank why don’t you tell that to your mother instead of dragging me into this? I work for your mother. What do you think she is going to do to me if she finds out I joined hands with you to ruin her plans?” Priscilla asked with a frown.

“She won’t listen to me if I tell her I’m not interested in him. She is only going to try to convince me not to give up by coming up with more ridiculous plans. I will prefer we work together to make sure none of her plans work. She doesn’t have to know I’m involved. And I will pay you for it,” Anita said, knowing how much Priscilla loved money.

“Why don’t you tell Lucy about it and have her cancel the contract?” Priscilla asked, and Anita shook her head.

“No! I can’t be the one to tell. Besides, if she does, mother will just find another way to do what she wants, and either of us might not know it.”

“This doesn’t make sense. Did your mother ask you to test my loyalty?” Priscilla asked suspiciously since that was the only way this could make sense to her.

“Like I don’t have better things to do with my time?” Anita asked irritated by the question.

Priscilla sighed, “I need to think about it. I will let you know after I think about it,” she said, and Anita rose.

“Call me when you come up with an idea. And do not forget to keep this to yourself,” Anita said before walking away.

Once she left there she drove to Bernice’s house to fulfil her promise to Lisa, not necessarily because she cared about Bernice. She deserved whatever she got for sleeping with Tiffany’s husband. If only she had not done that, she would have been able to confront their mother squarely instead of being forced to shut up.

As she drove into the compound, she met Tiffany who had also just driven in and they eyed each other for a moment, “Did you get a text from Bernice too?” Tiffany asked, wondering if that was the reason Anita was there.

“What text?” Anita asked in confusion.

“Never mind,” Tiffany said before walking ahead of Anita into the house since she was still mad at Anita for being rude to her the previous day.

“Where is Bernice?” Tiffany asked the housekeeper who came out to greet them.

“She is in her bedroom. She has refused to step out of her bedroom or let anyone in since she went in there yesterday afternoon,” the housekeeper said, and Tiffany’a brows pulled together as she turned to look at Anita who was also frowning.

“What about Adam and the boys?” Tiffany asked, since she knew how much Bernice cared for her kids.

“He left for the office and the kids have gone to school. She refused to see them as well,” The housekeeper said, and almost immediately Tiffany flung her handbag on the couch and hurried up the stairs while Anita followed her in confusion.

“Benny? Benny, it’s Tiffany. Open the door!” Tiffany called as she knocked on the bedroom door, but there was no response.

“Benny? Open the door, I’m not mad I promise,” Tiffany called, but there was still no response.

“Mad at what? What text did she send to you?” Anita asked when she remembered that Tiffany had mentioned receiving a text. Could it be that Bernice had told Tiffany the truth?

“It’s personal,” Tiffany said, not wanting to give such an information to Anita.

Although Anita wanted to ask if the details of the text was about Bernice’s affair with Jack, she held back from doing. She couldn’t say it. What if that wasn’t it? She mused as she watched Tiffany continue to knock on the door frantically.

“Benny, open the door damnit! If you don’t open the door I’m going to call mother!” Tiffany threatened as she beat the door.

Anita who was beginning to have a bad feeling about this turned to the housekeeper, “Do you know where the spare keys are kept?” She asked, and the lady gave her a nod.

“Yes, but she said….”

“GET IT!” Anita snapped at the housekeeper without letting her finish, and immediately she scurried away.

“Where are you going?” Anita asked when Tiffany turned to go downstairs.

“To get my phone. I should inform mother….”

“Don’t! For all you know, mother is the reason she has locked herself in there, so stand still and wait for the housekeeper to get the keys!”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Why would she lock herself up because of mother? I don’t care what your problem with mother is but….”

“Can you make use of your brain for a second or is your brain just for fancy?” Anita snapped at her and before Tiffany could respond, the housekeeper hurried back in quick steps, bring a bunch of keys with her.

Anita and Tiffany stepped aside to give her room to try out the keys and unlock the door.

The moment she opened the door, Tiffany roughly pushed her out of the way and hurried inside.

They all gasped in unison when they saw her lying motionless on the floor with pills scattered on the floor and two empty bottles of medication. They were all smart enough to know what had happened.

“Benny!” Tiffany cried as she and Anita rushed to her side.