Haunted Secrets

(Sterling’s POV)

All through the period when Phoenix was unconscious and when she finally woke up with the promise to tell me what happened, I didn’t mean to intrude into her private life but I needed to know just in case she needed to start going about her duties with extra security details or just stop working until everything was resolved. I waited patiently for her to tell me what was going on which she was going to; today, which was a Sunday so here I was, sitting on one edge of the bed while she sat down on her side of the bed, not entirely facing me like she should.

Still staring at her, she finally spoke up.

“Well, I said I was going to tell you everything, so here it is; hopefully you don’t hate me after I tell you everything,” she heaved a sigh and took a quick glance at me before looking away. In that split moment, I saw pain and sadness swirl in her eyes.

“Just go on, I promise I won’t hate you. I can’t even bring myself to do that even if I wanted too,” that was the truth; I couldn’t bring myself to hate her even if I wanted to. Me, hate her? I must have been possessed by something if that ever happened.

“When I was 8 years old, my parents got separated. They went to court over who could get custody of me and unfortunately, my father won. After my mother left the house, I never saw her after that; I barely remember what she looks like now and I don’t know if she is alive or not. Not long after my mother left, my father changed, he changed totally towards me and started treating me badly. I was a kid and couldn’t seem to understand what I did wrong to my father to deserve such awful treatment from him. Days went by and the beatings continued; the beatings graduated to being abused verbally and sexually. Every day for almost 10 years, my father violated me. I became a shadow of myself although my elementary, high school and even college. When I was a teenager, probably around 17 or 18 years, I left home and somehow started staying with my foster dad who you’ve already; the Don. I was staying with the mafia, everything was supposed to scare me but it didn’t. Everyone treated me well and they sponsored my college education. After a while of staying with Don Luca Ross, I told him everything and he promised to help me get my revenge on him when I was ready to. While in high school, my grades almost flunked but I had to pick up if I wanted to get the revenge that I wanted. I hated boys because I saw them as my dad; I hated their skin on mine because it irritated me. I only had one best friend and she is a Nigerian. Her name is Deborah Obasi and she made me so happy. She knew about everything and still kept my secret. She never despised me or hated me but she tried to make me smile in any way possible. Unfortunately, she left the country after high school and hasn’t been back since and neither have I heard from her either. She’s one of the reasons why I said I’d like to have a vacation in Nigeria. While in college, I met Allen. Somehow, he promised me heaven and earth and I had never experienced such before. I tried, I opened a tiny bit of my heart to him and he helped me. Don Luca gave me some money for my start up and I did all I could do make sure that I succeeded. I worked hard, studied late into the night, painstakingly attended business seminars just to create connections that later became a huge help to me. Well, you know what happened to Allen and me. He left me because he thought that I couldn’t give him the power he needed to excel in his field. Tsk, I was such a joke to him. Then, you came along, trying so hard to sweep me off my feet but I was being cautious. I didn’t want to let my heart be the driver of the emotions, so I used my brain instead but somehow, you made me feel important, like I was worth something. I have been having nightmares for years but when I moved here, I don’t think I have had any of those. I started taking defense classes just so I could protect myself. Well, here I am, twistedly, I am almost a mother through the meanest way possible but I am glad that you are here or I wouldn’t know how to face this alone,” She stopped talking and placed her hand on her chest and patted it lightly trying to stop it from beating that hard. I watch her blink her eyes several times to stop the tears from flowing but it didn’t work. “Well, that is almost all of it, I can’t say more or else I’d be a wreck and I don’t want that. He has made me suffered enough even when he is not here,” she sniffed.

I stood up from where I sat down, walked up to her and took her hands in mine and took her to the full length mirror while I stood behind her.

“What do you see?”

“I see me, plain old me,”

“No, I see you; beautiful, courageous, smart, brave, kindhearted, I could keep on going but what I mean is, you deserve everything good that comes your way. You earned it and right about now, you’ve earned my respect. I am so sorry that you went through that when you were a child but I am here now, here to protect you and I promise you this, I will love you for all of my days on earth,” I looked at her as I stood behind her and hugged her from behind.

“Oh Sterling, you have done enough already,”

“Not nearly enough. Make a wish and I will grant it to the best of my ability,”

“There is one thing though,”

“Name it,”

“I never had a fun childhood while growing and I’d like to have that now,

“Well, what do you want?”

“Can you grant my wish every day for the next one month? Just random childhood activities; I miss that,” she shrugged with a sigh.

“I am sure that I can pull that off easily, anything else?”

“Okay then, we will start next month since this month is almost done. I’m going to go to the nursery right now. I feel I should be there right now,”

“Okay,”

“Thank you for not thinking less of me and for not hating me when you should,” she placed a peck on my cheeks and left.

Watching her leave, I realized that I couldn’t do without this woman and I was going to make her happy by all means necessary but first I needed to sort something out with Denzel before going back to Phoenix and asking for permission.

I dialed Denzel’s number and hoped that he wasn’t that preoccupied with something else and that something else was Olivia, obviously. It rang and on the third ring, he picked up.

“Hey Denzel, I need an advice urgently but first, I need you to find out if Mr. Hugh Hancover is still in town,”

“Yeah, he still is. I think he still thinks that Phoenix hasn’t recognized him yet,”

“Yeah, well, I hope he doesn’t leave just yet because I am about to give him the shock of his life as soon as I get permission from Phoenix,”

“Yeah, that will be a wise thing to do. By the way, asking her first and seeking her consent is still the best way to go about; after all, he is still her father. So, yeah, you’re doing the right thing by talking to her about it first,”

“Yeah, I get that,”

“Well, I am kind of busy at the moment; my date is still at home,”

“Way to go, champ! You have got to take me out for dinner for pushing your sorry ass to meet her,”

“Get out,”

I hung up, heaved a sigh and went to the nursery. I knocked but no one answered. Luckily enough, the door wasn’t lock so I opened the door and got in to see Phoenix sleeping on the rug in a curled up positioned. My heart broke at the sight. I moved towards her and saw tears on her face. She may have fallen asleep while crying.

Mr. Hugh Hancover or whatever his name was, was going to pay for everything down to the latter.

(Phoenix’s POV)

When I left the room and Sterling behind, I came to the nursery to cool off. Talking about my past somehow relieved me. It was as though a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders and I was grateful. I stood there in the middle of the room and stared at all the baby accessories. On an instinct, I placed my hands on my now visible baby bump; five months down, 4 more months to go. I still couldn’t believe I was going to be a mother.

I laid on the rug, folded myself like a tiny ball and cried my eyes out. I was pained; I couldn’t believe I let him haunt me constantly and get away with it. My biggest fear was Sterling hating me after telling him everything but he didn’t; maybe it was too soon to tell. I couldn’t let him hurt me this time around. I was going to do all the hurting.

I picked up my phone and sent a text message to Don Luca

‘It’s time for my revenge’

After I sent the text to him, I called ‘Mr. Hugh Hancover’ to invite him for a business dinner with other clients for the upcoming business gala. For every ring, I was anxious until he picked up.

“Hello, good day Mr. Hugh,”

“Miss Mills, what a pleasant surprise,”

“Yes indeed, how is the weekend?”

“Best weekend of my life!”

“I can see that. Well, it is California; there is never a dull moment here,”

“You aren’t wrong. To what do I owe this call?”

“I personally called to thank you for patronizing us and for personally inviting me to the party. I am sorry that I couldn’t stay longer. I defied my doctor’s orders by being there so I had to leave earlier than expected,”

“That is unfortunate but I hope you get better. It was a pleasure doing business with you,”

“How about I invite you for a meeting? It is mainly for my clients in respect to the upcoming business gala and award night,”

“That is interesting, where is this supposed meeting taking place?”

“In my apartment; It is a private meeting and I don’t know where else would be less busy and private than my apartment,”

“What time is it?”

“On Monday by 5pm; the earlier we get started, the faster we can each be on our way seeing that we all have our businesses to run,”

“Interesting, I am sure I can create time to be there,”

“Lovely; I will send the address to you tomorrow afternoon,”

“I will be expecting it,”

“See you soon, bye,”

I hung, wore my flip flops back on and went looking for Sterling, calling his name all over the place.

“Sterling! Where are you? Come out, I have a plan” I called out to him, not knowing which direction to look for him.

“What plan, what did I miss?”

There is was, coming out of the kitchen with an apple in his mouth. The apple indeed looked yummy. I walked towards him and took the apple from, taking a bite and helping my hungry self out.

“I have a plan on how to bring down my father. Hopefully, after being away for a long time, he will regain his senses,”

“Let’s hear it,”

“But first, we have to bring the band together,”

“Which band?”

“You, Don Luca, some of my foster siblings, Olivia, Debby, Liyah, Denzel and me,”

“Okay, I’ll make some calls but where is the meet up going to take place?”

“Here; where else?”

“Ohhhh”