Chapter Five (5)
1325 Words
Joe came into Marlene's room only to find Kade seated on the chair in the room .
His angry voice startles Marlene awake and Kade quickly stands up , calm but alert and not intimidated by Joe's presence.
“What the hell are you doing in my wife's room?” Joe angrily asked Kade
But before Kade could answer , Marlene spoke up. “I literally begged him to stay and protect me because all manner of things have been happening since yesterday.
“Things like what ? Joe asked angrily” Kade interrupted him , Mmmm there was a strange figure outside the house.
“I'm talking to my wife not you” Joe fired back at Kade.
Marlene stood up, caught between fear, surprise and growing curiosity about Jade's composure .
A gentle knock on the door, made the Three of them turn towards the door.
Joe screamed with anger , “who the hell is that?” Agnes stammered, “ it's me sir, I came to call you for breakfast” .
Joe turned to Kade, jaw clenched.
“Meet me now in my study.”
Kade didn’t flinch.
“Of course,” he said calmly.
He gave Marlene one last glance,a silent promise before following Joe down the hallway. The air in the corridor felt tense enough to snap.
Marlene stood frozen beside her bed, her pulse hammering as the voices of both men faded into the distance. The house felt too big without Kade in the room… and too dangerous with Joe awake.
Agnes lingered awkwardly by the door.
“Ma’am… are you alright?” she whispered.
“I’m fine,” Marlene lied.
Agnes’ eyes darted nervously down the hallway — toward Joe’s study — before she lowered her voice again.
“Please… don’t stay alone. Not tonight.”
And before Marlene could question her, Agnes dipped her head and hurried away, like she was afraid someone had seen her speak.
Something is wrong.
Something is very, very wrong.
Marlene edged toward her door and listened.
Joe’s muffled voice echoed down the hall sharp, angry. Kade’s was lower, calm but firm. She couldn’t make out the words, but the tone chilled her.
Then—
A loud crash.
Marlene jerked back.
Moments later, the study door opened. Heavy footsteps approached.
Her breath caught.
Kade appeared in the hallway. His expression was tight, controlled — but his eyes found hers instantly.
“Marlene,” he said quietly, “we need to talk. Just found out now that the figure you saw outside the window last night was one of Joe's men. He claimed he wants to guard the house”
“ But I'm thinking it's a lie just to cover up everything, oh , he also said he wants me to stop being your bodyguard.”
Marlene stood there without saying a word, I only just met this man yesterday, Marlene thought to herself.
“ Please I'd like to be excused for now, I need a minute to think this through” I'd let you know what I decide.
Marlene turned and went straight into Joe's study.
“Joe, I know you don't really care about me but what's with the bodyguard and the figure I saw yesterday, I only just met Kade yesterday by mistake and I heard you want him gone already”?
Joe screamed back at Marlene “ yes ,I want him gone and that's final”.
“Then you'd have to explain what's really going on between you two, how Kade knew so much about me and so on,” Marlene said.
Joe’s face hardened, but Marlene did not look away. She waited for an explanation, for something anything that would make sense of the chaos of the last twenty-four hours. But Joe only rubbed his forehead and muttered, “I don’t owe you answers, Marlene. Stay out of things you don’t understand.”
She swallowed the sting of his words.
“I understand enough,” she whispered. “And I’m done pretending I don’t.”
Before Joe could respond, a loud thud echoed from down the hall — sharp enough to make both of them flinch. Joe frowned, annoyed.
“What now?” he snapped.
Marlene didn’t wait for him. She hurried toward the sound, her slippers sliding on the polished floor. The hallway felt colder than usual, the house unnervingly quiet. Kade appeared from the opposite direction, eyes alert.
“You heard it?” he asked.
She nodded.
Without speaking further, they followed the sound toward a narrow passage near the staff quarters. A faint rustling came from one of the small guest rooms — Agnes’s room. Kade motioned for Marlene to stay back, but she shook her head stubbornly.
He pushed the door open.
Inside, Agnes stood frozen, her back to them, clutching her apron… but something about the way her shoulders trembled was wrong. Kade stepped in calmly.
“Agnes?” Marlene whispered.
The maid flinched violently, as if struck. Slowly, she turned around — and Marlene’s breath caught.
Agnes wasn’t holding her apron.
She was holding a phone.
A small, cheap, easily disposable phone.
Exactly like the one that had sent Marlene messages all night.
The silence was suffocating.
“M-ma’am,” Agnes stuttered, “I… I can explain.”
Kade’s voice was low, firm. “Put the phone on the bed.”
Agnes obeyed with shaking hands. The screen lit up as it landed, and Marlene saw the words still typed in the message box:
He’s not who you think he is.
A cold wave ran down her spine.
“Agnes,” Marlene whispered, stepping forward, “why were you texting me? Who told you to watch me?”
“No one!” Agnes cried. “I was trying to warn you! I heard things — things the staff talk about when they think no one is listening. They said someone wanted to harm you. They said the political men coming to the house weren’t just here to help your husband. I swear I only wanted to protect you!”
Her voice cracked. Tears streamed down her face.
Kade watched her carefully, not fully convinced. “Then why hide? Why send anonymous messages instead of coming to Marlene directly?”
Agnes covered her mouth, sobbing. “Because I was scared… You don’t understand. Some of Joe’s men — they’ve been questioning the staff, making us sign papers, warning us not to talk. They said if anything happens to Mrs. Marlene… we’re to keep quiet.”
Marlene felt her knees weaken.
Kade stepped closer to her instinctively, not touching, but close enough that she felt steadied.
She turned slightly toward him. Their eyes met — her fear, his steady resolve — and something unspoken passed between them. A strange, deep pull. Warm. Safe. Dangerous. She inhaled shakily.
“Kade,” she whispered, “what is really going on?”
He didn’t look away. “I won’t let anything happen to you. That’s the only thing I know for certain.”
Her heart fluttered painfully — not out of romance, but out of relief she hadn’t felt in years.
Agnes wiped her face roughly. “Please… please believe me. I didn’t mean harm. I’m not the only one who knows something. There is someone else in this house—”
A loud crash exploded from downstairs.
All three of them jumped.
Kade immediately moved in front of Marlene, protective, alert. Another sound followed — a door slamming, then hurried footsteps across the marble floor.
Agnes gasped. “They’re here—”
“Who?” Marlene demanded.
Agnes opened her mouth —
but before she could speak, the entire house went dark.
Lights off. Silence.
Then a single, heavy footstep echoed from the stairway.
Kade whispered sharply, “Marlene, stay behind me.”
She clutched his arm, pulse thundering.
Somewhere in the darkness, a man’s voice murmured:
“Found her.”
Marlene froze.
- Writer
