A Deal With The Devil(Devil’s Bargain)

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Nessa lay unconscious of what was going on around her. Meanwhile, a man in his early forties stepped outside the elevator walking through the hallway of Sterling Hotel. He kept looking back and fought as he held the black leather briefcase tightly in his chest. He was an accountant. He stopped in front of the room and checked the room number to make sure it was the room he was asked to come to.

Mr Bradford was his name. A man who has been living in constant fear for the past four years.

“This is the room.” He said and he dipped his hands in his pockets and brought out the card to the door. He placed the card and the door beeped and then it was unlocked.

He wasn’t here to spend the night. Someone had promised him protection and that is the reason he came here to meet with the person.

“Once I hand over these things, it’ll finally be over.” He assured himself.

Due to the faint light from the bedside lamp, Bradford was able to see a woman sleeping so deeply. He immediately felt uncomfortable because he wasn’t supposed to see a lady.

“Ma’am?” He called but there was no response

He went closer this time

“Ma’am?” There was still no reply from her. It occurred to him that she wasn’t sleeping but she was unconscious. This doesn’t feel right. Something was definitely off. He slowly took a step backwards. His instincts asked for him to leave but it was already too late. The door slammed shut from behind and a shadow emerged walking towards him. He turned around and his eyes widened in terror.

Before he could open his mouth to speak, a sharp knife went right into his chest. He stumbled backwards and fell by the bedside.

“Did…he …sent…” Before he could finish his statement, he received the second stab and then the third stab.

He fell on his knees trying desperately to reach the briefcase that had fallen off.

“Please.” He said with a weak voice. The final stab pierced deep into his chest and everywhere became silent.

The killer secured the briefcase and Bradford's phone. He slowly wiped his face and looked towards the unconscious woman who was sleeping peacefully. With the gloves on his hands, he gently lifted his arm and placed the knife gently on her palm. One by one, he perfectly placed every fingerprint. The killer looked down at Nessa one last time.

“Happy birthday Nessa.” He said and with that he disappeared into darkness.

Someone in an unknown location smiled after watching everything on his laptop. It all played out perfectly like he wanted.

Nessa’s Pov

The sound of my alarm and the rays from the morning sun woke me up. I let out a soft groan. My head hurts a lot. I slowly opened my eyes and the room looked quite different from my room. It wasn’t Tessa’s room either.

Memories of last night flashed through my mind.

Tessa, the restaurant, the dinner, our laughter, I recalled Tessa leading me to the hotel room and that was all. I don’t remember anything after that.

“That’s strange, why can’t I remember anything?”

I lifted my hands to wipe my face when I felt something cold resting in my hands. I looked down and it was a knife

“A knife?” My heartbeat raced faster

It was a knife covered with blood. My hands became shaky and that was when I noticed the blood on my dress too and I was half naked.

“What the heck happened here?”

My dress, my hands, the bedsheets, even my legs were all covered in blood. My body began trembling in fear. I slowly turned towards the other side of the bed there, a man lay lifeless.

His clothes covered in blood, his lifeless eyes stared blankly at the ceiling.

I could no longer breathe. This can’t be what I’m thinking. A scream screamed at the top of my voice.

“No…no…I…I…I didn’t do it…”

“I…I….can’t remember…what happened.” My heart shook with fear.

Tears rolled down my eyes uncontrollably. I couldn’t breathe, I shook my head violently. Maybe this was a nightmare, I really hoped it was a nightmare.

“This isn’t….this isn’t real” I assured myself, and the next thing was a bang on the door, the door burst open and Next it was the police force with their gun.

“Police! Everyone freeze!”

Soon the room was flooded with policemen. My tears couldn’t save me. The blood stains and the knife on my hands were enough evidence.

Just when they were about to take me outside, Damien walked in followed by Tessa. My face lit with desperate hope.

“Damien,” I called as I rushed towards him.

“Damien I don’t know what happened or how it happened! I woke up to see this man lifeless I swear!”

Damien’s expression this time I couldn’t read. He remained silent and then he forcefully removed my hands I looked him in the eyes and all I could see was disgust.

“Nessa!” He called my name with a cold voice.

“I never knew you would stoop this low, to think I was planning on spending the rest of my life with a w***e and a murderer.” I froze. I couldn’t believe that Damien actually believed I killed the man. I looked him in the eyes hoping he’d believe me even if no one else did, but he shattered my hopes with his cold eyes.

“I didn’t kill him.” I cried

“I don’t even know this man, please you have to believe me.” I couldn’t care about anything, all I wanted now was for Damien to tell me he believed me.

He should have seen the text he received of a woman who murdered a man in his hotel and he came to make sure it was false news from a rival family trying to bring him down.

My tears fell faster

“It wasn’t me Damien.”

“I didn’t do it.” I turned to Tessa

“We were together last night please tell them.”

“Tessa tell them you know I was unconscious.”

Tessa looked at me with tears in her eyes.

“I’m sorry Nessa, I can’t cover up for you this time.” I didn’t understand what she meant.

“You left the dinner before me, I tried apologizing to you and you said you wanted to be left alone,” Tessa said and I stared at her as if I had just seen a ghost.

“Tessa you know that’s not true.”

“I called you here for dinner but you left and headed upstairs.” I became instantly speechless

“I never went upstairs with you.” The lie landed like a knife in my heart, I wasn’t expecting much from Tessa I just thought she changed for real after the dinner last night. Was this Tessa’s doing I asked myself but that isn’t the issue right now.

I looked at Damien desperately

“Damien please, you know I’ll never hurt anyone. You promised to trust me more than anyone else just trust me this once. I swear I didn’t do it.”

“I loved you, but I can’t defend a murderer. You cheated on me and murdered him to cover up your wrongdoings.” The little hope I had left completely vanished and all I wished for was the universe to swallow me.

Damien remained silent. An officer stepped forward and clicked the pair of handcuffs around my wrists.

“Nessa Whitlock, you are under arrest for the murder of Bradford Wilson, you have every right to remain silent or your words from henceforth will be used against you in the court of law.”

Those words sounded like the end of my life

The police officers led me towards the door and my shoulders rubbed with Damien’s. I looked back one last time. I looked at Damien and Tessa hoping and praying that Damien would stop them or Tessa would tell the truth but neither of them happened.

I couldn’t help but notice the faint smile that curled Tessa’s lips as she lowered her eyes and Damien held her on her waist.

That was when I realized that the people I loved the most were the ones who destroyed my life completely.