Chapter 7

• I could see his jaw ticking as he stared at me with anger in his eyes.
• “What’s going on here?” Nana asked as I backed away and turned to face her after wiping my tears quickly. “Good morning Nana.”
• “Candice…is everything alright?” She asked me with concern in her eyes.
• “Yes, everything is fine.” I heard Seth answer as Nana frowned, “ I wasn’t asking you, Seth.”
• “Everything is fine, Nana.” I quickly respond.
• “I know my grandson can be very…difficult.” She appeased.
• More like a cruel spawn of the devil.
• “But he means well.” She added as my lips quirked in disbelief.
• “I have things to do, I’ll be off now.” Seth said as he arranged his tie.
• “Where are you going?” Nana asked.
• “I have business to attend–“ He began as Nana cut him off, “Without saying a proper goodbye to your wife?…that’s not how I raised you, Seth Rollins.”
• “I forget how nosy you can be sometimes.” He muttered with a sigh. “Candice will stay home today, Nana. Don’t stress her out too much.”
• “You don’t have business to attend to like my grandson?” She asked me. “I actually –“
• “She doesn’t.”Seth interrupted my response. “For god’s sake Seth, stop interrupting her. She can speak for herself.” I frowned at his attempt to shut me up, “ I do have things to do. I am a doctor… an anesthesiologist to be precise.”
• “That’s wonderful.” Nana remarked happily. “Seth, you never mentioned this, why?”
• “Yeah…why Seth?”I sneered.
• “It was meant to be a surprise, do you now see why we can not have a baby immediately?” He asked her after lying through his beautiful dentition.
• “I am sure everything will work out…that is, if you are still interested in taking over the business.”Nana said with a manipulative smile. I rolled my eyes at their interaction, the Rollins family had inherent issues, and I was unhappy to be involved.
• “Anyways, Candice my darling, tell me more about yourself. Seth has a way of hiding important details from me.”
• “I am not surprised.” I commented.
• “ I have always had an interest in the medical field, what made you want to join?” She asked me as Seth approached me. “Candice?”
• “Yes?” I replied weakly as his blue eyes stared into mine. “Don’t forget to rest, Nana is very demanding.”
• “I don’t mind.” I replied while bent to hug me. “I do. She’s smart, don’t fall for her charms.” He whispered in my left ear as I breathed in his scent.
• “Alright sugar, I'll be on my way now.” He said as he stepped away from my arms.
• “Alright.” I mumbled as he kissed my forehead out of the blue.
• “Do not do anything that’ll make me punish you.” I heard him say as my brow rose in disbelief.
• This jerk.
• “I love you.” He told me with a mocking gleam in his eyes. “I love you too, Seth.”
• “Alright, lets continue our discussion.” Nana said as we watched Seth leave the house. “Tell me all about your childhood.”
• I walked with Nana through the mansion as we spoke about everything while she gave me a personal tour of the house. It had five floors and different wings. The East and West wings were for family. The South was for the workers and the North was out of bounds.
• Probably the torture room.. She loved asking questions or she was simply curious about her grand son’s wife. Either ways I got tired at a point and she requested for refreshments.
• Once again I was surprised at how easy everything was at their beck and call.
• “Your turn. Tell me all about Seth’s childhood.” I said to her as she laughed at my request. “He didn’t tell you?”
• “Um… he did, but you know…want to hear the rawest version.” I answered awkwardly, in my attempt not to give myself away. “I know you’ve been present at every phase of his life.”
• “That’s true.” She concurred as I turned to let out a sigh of relief. “Hm… where do I start from?”
• I casually munched on the cookies as she spoke.”From what I can remember, Seth has always been a smart boy. First in school, first in competitions, best in sports, even when his parents were having issues, he still excelled.”
• “What kind of issues?” I asked curiously.
• “They fought…a lot.”
• “I think he mentioned something like that.”
• “None of us understood what Cleo saw in that man. But, she loved him…too much and it drove her to her ruin.” She said with a tone of bitterness. “You didn’t like Seth’s father?”
• “It’s not that we didn’t like him. He didn’t like us.”
• “What?” I asked in confusion.
• “I am not surprised…our family is involved in a lot of…complexities. Cleo knew that and chose to marry him, out of love– she claimed.” I nodded as she continued, “We loved our daughter, we couldn’t watch her wallow in heartbreak. If he made her happy, we were happy.”
• “Seth’s grandfather?”
• “Yes. May his soul rest in perfect peace. I’ll most likely meet him in hell.” She said with amusement as I chucked lightly. “Don’t say that, Nana.”
• “He died a long time ago. I hardly remember him, but Cleo…she completed me in ways I didn’t know about, till she passed.”
• “You see, Stan loved spending time with his father, and before I gave birth to Cleo, I felt alone. I didn’t understand most of their boy interests.” She continued as I smiled sadly. “That I understand, I had a brother.”
• “What happened to him?” She asked me.
• “After we lost our parents , he was taken.”
• “Any luck finding him?”
• “None whatsoever.”
• “Does Seth know?”She asked as worry etched on her oval face.
• “Not in detail.”
• “He is good at this type of stuff. You should tell him.” She advised as I nodded. “I will.”
• “Well, Seth is a good boy. He just needs to let someone in…I am glad that’s you.”
• “Oh…I am glad too.” I lied blatantly.
• Good boy my ass.
• “Can I ask you something, Candice?”
• “Yes, sure,” I said as I forced a smile.
• “What were both of you arguing about?”
• “Oh…nothing serious.”I shrugged, “ Just clothes.”
• “Clothes?”
• “Yes. There are no appropriate clothes for my work.”I revealed as she laughed.
• “Oh…men, they never think far.”
• “I’m sure he didn’t think about it.” I commented as she nodded.
• “Well, you can go shopping right?”
• “I would love that, but–“
• “No buts, here this is the family card. Every member of the family has one. You should too.” She interrupted as I gasped on surprise.
• “Wow. What is it for?”
• “Its like a black card…it has no limit.” She told me as she offered me hers from her cute brown pouch.
• “What…I can’t take this.”
• “I understand, yours will be given to you after your wedding ceremony. With your code and name inscribed. Take this too, I’m a VIP at that store, show the manager this card. “ She persistently said as I looked at her surprised..
• “What is it for?” I asked softly, admiring the black card in my hands.
• Natalia Ema Rollins. That was her full name.
• “VIP treatment.” She replied as I smiled gratefully.
• “Thank you.”
• “You can take one of the cars in the garage or the driver can drop you off.” “I will drive.” I rushed out as I admired the different brands of cars in the garage. I walked over to the car key drawer which she opened with her fingerprint and chose the Mercedes Benz.
• “Good choice…and don’t forget to have fun.” She remarked with a smirk on her face “Thank you so much.” I told her as I waved and carefully drove out of the gate.
• I drove to the address on the card, using the map from the car.
• I was close by when I noticed the car that had been following me for the past thirty minutes. I panicked as I observed the car pulling behind me at the entrance of the store. I didn’t have anyone to call as I remembered Seth took my phone from me when he was threatening me.
• Evil piece of shit. Now I couldn’t call for help.
• I frowned, refusing to believe it was a simple coincidence that the driver wanted to shop from the same store as me, and so I put on a brave face and alighted from the car.
• I walked assertively to the car and knocked on the car window.
• After a few minutes, the window went down and a man in sun shades and a buzz cut turned to look at me before he removed his sun shades.
• My brows scrunched upwards as I scrutinized his appearance. He was an unfamiliar face.
• “Why are you following me?” I asked with fake courage.
• “I am your guard for today ma’am.” He answered.
• “Guarding me from what?… and you following me makes me uncomfortable.” I told him in annoyance.
• “I am sorry about that ma’am.” He said with a stoic expression on his face.
• He wasn’t a bit sorry.
• “I don’t need a guard. Who are you?” I asked him incredulously as he stepped out of the vehicle.
• “My name is Keith and I was ordered to.” He informed me, “By whom?”
• “The Master.” He answered as my anger sparked.
• Seth fucking Rollins.
• Out to torment my life.