CHAPTER SIXTEEN -- ALDA IN TROUBLE
1011 Words
I stared at my phone, watching the call screen fade to black.
No explanation.
No reassurance.
Not even the courtesy of a lie.
Just gone.
A shaky breath escaped me before I could stop it. I set the phone down on the table slowly, like the damn thing might shatter. The silence in the tiny hotel room wrapped around me, cold and suffocating, like a wet blanket I couldn’t peel off.
I hadn’t expected warmth from him. I knew better.
But I hadn’t expected… whatever that was either.
The moment replayed in my head on a loop—his tone, the dismissal, the way the call ended before I even had a chance to speak. Somehow the version in my mind sounded colder than reality, sharper, like I was rewriting it just to hurt myself.
I pressed my fingers to my eyes, swallowing hard.
Don’t cry. Not for him. He’s not worth a single tear.
But the humiliation sat in my throat anyway, thick and bitter, refusing to budge.
“Stupid,” I muttered, voice cracking in the middle. “You’re so stupid, Naya.”
Because I’d told myself I would call him only once. Just once.
Just to see if the night we shared—touches, words, the tension, the strange quiet understanding—meant anything at all.
Maybe he’d help me get the room back.
Maybe he’d warn me if things at the hotel were changing.
Maybe he’d show the slightest sign of… responsibility. Or decency.
Instead, he’d brushed me off like I was a stain on his shirt.
Fine.
If he wouldn’t talk to me the normal way, I’d find another way. I wasn’t going to beg. I wasn’t built for begging. But I needed answers. I needed to know if I still had a roof over my head before I ended up sleeping in my car—or worse, under a damn bridge.
My thoughts spun fast, messy but determined.
He avoids conversations.
He avoids emotional things.
He avoids… me.
But he doesn’t avoid problems.
He faces them head-on because he likes control.
So I just had to become a problem he couldn’t ignore.
Not romantically.
Not pathetically.
Just directly.
My stomach twisted at the thought of walking into his world again—glass towers, people with perfect clothes and perfect lives, the world I used to belong to but now clearly didn’t.
But what choice did I have?
I opened my notes app and started typing a draft for what I’d say to his receptionist:
Good afternoon. I’d like to request a meeting with Mr. Harrison regarding my pending residence arrangement at Harrison East. I will wait in the lobby if needed.
I read it twice.
It sounded… stable.
Adult.
Like I wasn’t sitting on the edge of panic.
Good enough.
Tomorrow. I’d go tomorrow.
Even if he ignored me, the building was public. They couldn’t kick me out for sitting in the lobby. And Kai would have to pass through eventually. He’d have to see me.
And once he did, he’d remember that I wasn’t disposable.
I wasn’t one of the women he could erase with a single cold exhale.
I lifted my phone again, ready to refine the message—
But then it lit up.
Buzzing sharply.
My heart lifted, just a little. Alda never called unless she had sold something for me — maybe it was money. Maybe good news.
I answered quickly.
“Alda? Did everything go well?”
But the voice wasn’t hers.
It was small. Thin. Trembling.
“Auntie Naya?”
I froze.
“Koko? Sweetheart, why are you calling from your grandma’s phone? Where is she?”
A shaky breath crackled over the line.
“They… took her.” He started to cry and sniff .
My stomach dropped.
“What? Who took her? Koko calm down telll me what is going on ? Why would anyone take Alda”
“It The police,” he sobbed, voice breaking. “They took Grandma. They said she was selling fake bags. They said they were stolen. bShe tried to tell them they weren't fake but they didn't believe her. They put her in a car and— and—”
His voice collapsed into sobs.
“No. No, sweetheart, listen to me.” I stood up fast, already reaching for my shoes. “Where are you now? Are you safe? Did they leave you alone?”
“I’m at home,” he choked out. “I locked the door like Grandma told me. But… I’m scared.”
My throat tightened.
Alda — the woman who raised me, fed me, protected me, loved me when no one else in that mansion had the time — she’d been the one keeping me afloat now. Selling my bags quietly for cash. Never complaining. Never questioning. Just helping me survive.
And they arrested her.
Because of my things.
My life.
My downfall.
I pressed a hand over my mouth, breathing hard.
“I’m coming right now,” I said, voice fierce. “Don’t open the door. Don’t talk to anyone. Do you hear me?”
“Yes…” Kofi sniffled. “Auntie Naya… is Grandma going to jail forever?”
The child’s voice cracked, and something inside me broke clean through.
“No,” I whispered, wiping the wetness gathering in my eyes. “I won’t let that happen. I swear to you.”
When I hung up, my hands were shaking.
My plan for Kai.
The hotel.
Tomorrow’s confrontation.
All of it slid to the back of my mind like a door slamming shut.
Right now, Alda needed me.
The only person who had never betrayed me.
The only person who had truly been family.
I grabbed my keys, dashed out of the hotel room, and didn’t bother to look back.
Tomorrow, I would deal with Kai Harrison.
Tomorrow, I’d make him listen.
Tomorrow, I’d demand the answer he didn’t give me tonight.
But tonight?
Tonight, I was going to save Alda.
And God help whoever had dared lay a hand on her.
- Writer
