CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT.
“Adele, are you alright?” Kelly asked, snapping Adele out of her thoughts and she shook and turned to look at her. She has been so lost in thought that she didn’t even hear when Kelly had wheeled her chair over to her.
“Kelly.” She called as she sya upright on her seat . “What are you doing here?”
“I’ve been asking you to pass me the form for over two minutes now, but you seemed to be too lost in thought to hear me. Are you alright?” Kelly asked concerned and she quickly nodded her head.
“Yes I am. It’s just work stress that’s making me overthink.”
“Are you sure?” Kelly asked, giving her a doubtful look.
“Yeah, I promise.” Said Adele as she unplugged the flash from the computer. “Here you go.” She said, handing it over to Kelly.
“Thank you.” Said Kelly and wheeled away.
Adele sighed heavily and placed her head on her desk. She badly wanted to talk to someone about how she was feeling, but she couldn’t because the moment she let out the fact that she was entangled with Jamal, the entire place would blow up. The only person she could ever share her Jamal-related problems with was her grandmother.
“Adele!” Another familiar voice called and she looked up, only to see Grace standing in an akimbo posture before her desk, giving her a stern look.
“Yes, Grace.” She answered and Grace’s gaze darken.
“Why are you sleeping when you have so much work to do?” She fumed and Adele sighed.
“And just who said I was sleeping?”
“If you weren’t, why was your head on your desk?”
“My God Grace! What’s your business with my head being on my desk? Do you want work done or my head being up always?”
“I want both. If your head is up always, you will get work done.” She retorted and Adele chuckled.
“Grace, I don’t have time for blabbering this afternoon, state your mission and leave… oh, if you are here to nag about the weekly report, my colleagues and I have already submitted it to the head office, so now you can leave.”
“I am your superior…”
“And so frigging what?” Adeke cut her off, rising from her seat and looking at Grace straight in the face. “You are my superior, then what? I am not an imbecile Grace, when you give me work, I know I have to get it done perfectly and I do just that. You don’t have to come in here every minute to see if I’m working or not, I’m not a child. You have to stop that bad attitude of yours, else I’ll report you the big boss.” She warned and Grace, who saw the danger coming her way quickly sauntered out of the office.
The place was quiet. No one dared to say a word to her and they were all focused on their work.
Adele sat back on her seat and huffed in annoyance. Grace was really getting on her nerves and it was just a matter of time before she asked Jamal to have her punished. She was treating everyone beneath her like trash and she hated it.
“Miss Mackenzie.” Someone called from the door and when she looked up, she saw a man dressed in a black suit. She recognized him to be one of Jamal’s men.
“Yes.” She answered as she rose to her feet.
“You have a guest. She’s waiting for you in the parking lot.”
“A guest?” Asked Adele in a confused state. She wasn’t expecting anyone.
“Yes, please come with me.” Said the man as he turned and started walking away.
Adele reluctantly followed the man to the hallway and they took the elevator which led to the underground parking lot. The only person she had on her mind who would pay her a visit was Grandma Devon and she grandma would give her a call before paying her a visit, so the person waiting, wasn’t her grandmother.
She quietly followed the guard who took her to a black Audi which was parked in the farthest end of the lot and opened the door for her.
“Get in.!” He calmly instructed.
“Hmmm?” Adele hummed as she poked her head forward to peep into the car. Her soul legit walked out of her body when she saw her mother-in-law, Aliya, sitting on the backseat, with a pair of black sun shades on.
She rolled her eyes hard and sighed, before getting into the car.
Once she did, the guard closed the door and stepped aside.
“Mrs. Dominick.” She called, looking straight ahead. She dreaded being beside the woman and she wanted her to say what she was there to say and get lost.
“Adele.” The woman called as she turned to look at Adele. Adele did not respond, neither did she spare her a glance. “Why are you doing this to my son? Why are you trying to ruin his life?” She asked when she noticed that Adele wasn’t going to look at her and that accusation of hers piqued Adele’s interest. She turned to look at the woman with a bewildered expression on her face.
“Excuse me?” She asked just to be sure that she heard well.
“I asked why you are trying to ruin my son’s life.”
“If there’s anyone trying to ruin another person’s life here, that will be your son ruining mine, not the other way round.” She blasted and Aliya swallowed hard.
That was one of the many reasons why she hated Adele. Adele had a very sharp tongue and it was impossible to pin a fault on her.
Aliya cleared her throat and intensified her gaze on Adele.
“I was told that my son is planning to bring you back to the mansion and that he also plans to kick us out if we do not agree with that plan.” She deciphered and Adele chuckled.
“Whoever told you didn’t leave out a single detail.” She said smiling and that only further enraged Aliya.
“Adele, I don’t know the kind of hold you have on my son, but I’m begging you to let him go. You left the first time, why the hell did you come back?”
“Point of correction, I did not come back! You son contacted me out of nowhere and did all he could to bring me close to him. You know how influential he is and how possible it is for him to get whatever it is he wants.”
“Liar! You are nothing but a blatant liar! My son will never go after a lowlife like you. You chased him! You came back to his life after seeing all that he has accomplished.”
“My God, Mrs. Dominick. It’s such a shame that you hardly know how to act your age. Why are you so dumb? Why?”
“What? Did you just call me dumb?”
“Yes, I did. What are you going to do? Hit me? Go ahead and hit me and let’s see how Jamal is going to take the news.” She threatened and Aliya calmed her raging nerves.
She knew if she did anything stupid to Adele in that car, Jamal was going to reprimand her very seriously.
After a long moment of silence, she opened her purse and took out a piece of paper from it. It was a check.
“Here…” She said, holding out the paper in Adele’s direction.
“And what is that?”
“Why don’t you take a look at it yourself.”
“If you don’t want to tell me what it is, then have a good day!” Said Adele as she stretched her hand to open the door.
“This is a check of Two million dollars. Take it and leave this country for good. Go back to the UK or wherever it is you want to go. That’s enough money for you to live a luxurious life. All I want is for you to leave my son alone!”
Adele withdrew her hand from the door and turned to face Aliya and scoffed.
“Two million dollars?” She asked and Aliya quickly nodded with the hope that she was going to take it. “For me to leave this country and forget about Jamal.”
“Yes!” Aliya agreed with a smile.
Adele burst into loud hysterical laughter which got Aliya confused.
She laughed so hard that tears spilled down from her eyes.
“Oh my God!” She cried as she tried to calm herself. “I thought this only happened in the movies. It’s actually happening to me right now. I wish someone was here to video tape all of this. My God, Mrs. Dominick, aren’t you the devil himself? Attempting to pay me off with such a ridiculous amount of money? Money that isn’t even yours?” Adele asked, amused.
“Does it matter? It’s yours if you just accept to do as I’ve said.”
“Never!” She calmly stated as she gave the woman a disgusted look. “You can never buy me with money, Mrs. Dominick.” She seized the check from Aliya’s hand and tore it into pieces. “You know, I had second thoughts about accepting Jamal back into my life, but after witnessing all of this, after listening to all that he has told me about you all, I have come to the conclusion that I will accept him because he truly needs me in his life. He is surrounded by evil people and grandma alone is not enough good to make his life better. He needs more good in his life. I’m coming back home soon, my mother-in-law. And when I do, I will wear my crown. I will make sure to kick you out of that house because you do not have a place there. So, enjoy while it lasts.”
“Adele…”
“Shush!” Adele urged. “You have nothing to say, Aliya. I have work to go back to, have a nice day.” She said as she opened the car door and stepped out. The moment she closed the door, Aliya let out a loud scream.
Her plans had been completely ruined.