Chapter 4

Six years later, Natalie was walking along the welcoming lobby of the airport, carrying a box, with two lovely kids walking beside her. 

Norah couldn't hold back her joy and kept jumping around, while Nathan’s bright eyes were fixed on the crowd, scanning the faces in the crowd. 

Natalie didn’t think she’ll come back to Bell city, especially since it held painful memories for her. 

That day five years ago when Camilla sent the package to Natalie’s parents, she also sent a video of Natalie having sex with a man whose face was covered. Natalie's mother fainted as soon as she watched the video and her father disowned her immediately, saying he would rather be childless than have a daughter like her. 

Natalie left Bell City and went to Sun City with Lily's help, hoping to start life afresh, but she received the greatest shock of her life when she found out she was pregnant with twins. She couldn’t believe one night of recklessness could cost her so much.

She had to juggle different jobs to survive and feed her babies and do online courses to enhance her career as cybersecurity specialist. Three months after she gave birth to the twins, she started applying for jobs, and luckily, she got a job at I-tech, a cybersecurity company in Sun City.

Nathan’s spoke, pulling Natalie out of her reverie. 

“Mommy, see Aunty Lily!” he said, pointing to the crowd in front of them.

Natalie smiled, her eyes scanning the crowd of people holding placards, waving at their loved ones, but she didn’t see Lily. she sighed, turning to face him, but Norah beat her to it..

“Stop lying, Nathan.” Norah, his twin sister said, rolling her eyes. “Aunty Lily is not there.”

“Oh, you don’t believe me,” Nathan grinned playfully, then raised his fingers dramatically, “One, two, three, four…” Before he could say five, they heard a familiar voice call their names.  

“Nathan, Norah!” 

They looked up and saw Lily running towards them, laughing and her arms wide open.

“Wow, Nathan. You are truly a magician.” Norah gasped, her mouth opened.

Nathan smiled, before they both ran to Lily’s arms.

Natalie forced a smile, watching as the twins giggled as Lily twirled them around, but her chest tightened with concern when she remembered that Nathan appeared to be the funny one between the twins and looked fine, but she couldn’t stop thinking that something was wrong with him. 

Three years ago, she discovered that Nathan stopped playing with other kids in school except Norah, and he prefers doing things that will stress his brain like playing puzzle games, solving math problems or spending hours watching robotics or coding videos on his ipad than watching cartoons like children his age. And whenever she asks, Nathan would say other kids are slow.

How will a three-year-old think his mates are slow when he's just the same age as them and doesn't complain about Norah, his sister? 

Out of concern, Natalie took Nathan to see a specialist, who confirmed that he was fine, that he was a special child and would adjust with time. But he seems to be getting worse every day.

Natalie pulled out of her thoughts when Lily wrapped her arms around her.

“Hey sis, are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Lily asked, the smile on her face faded to concern..

Natalie forced a smile. “I’m fine, Lily.” 

“Don’t tell me you’re already worried about what dad and mom would say, Nat. We haven't even left the airport and you look like you regret coming back to Bell’s city.”

Natalie hasn’t spoken to her parents since she left because her father forbids anyone from speaking to her, except for Lily who secretly speaks to her from time to time.  

“It’s not that, Lily,” Natalie said, looking away. “Besides, who told you I’m going home? I’m here on assignment and will return after a week, so I’m staying at the hotel.” 

“Ah, sis. That’s not good enough. Mom cries every day because of you but can’t call because of Dad. Can't you just look past everything?” 

“I’m also a mother, Lily and I know how it feels to miss someone. Mom would have called if she really missed me and cared about me.”

“You know dad is strict and won’t listen to other people.” 

“I don’t mean bad, Lily. I just don’t want Dad or anyone to say something that can give my children trauma. I’m in Bell City for an assignment, and I’ll leave when I’m done.”  

Lily only shook her head since she knows Natalie won’t listen to her and just decided to find a way to let everyone meet. 

“Mom, we will get to see Dad too, right?” Norah asked, her gaze fixed on Natalie.

Natalie had once told them their dad is in Bell’s city and they would see him anytime they visited, not knowing it will be soon, but even her, don’t recognize the man plus it’s been six years and Bell’s city is big, she doubts if she can ever meet their father again.

And she had to bring the kids because the assignment she was told to do will take up to a week. 

“Yes,” she said because she didn’t want the children to be hopeless about meeting their father.

Norah jumped for joy, while Nathan’s eyes remained indifferent as if he didn’t hear what Natalie said.

Lily drove Natalie and the twins down to B&L hotels while Natalie booked a suite and checked them in while Lily sat with the twins, gisting and catching up with them to avoid the kids from walking around since Natalie had seriously warned her not to let the kids walk around.

Natalie arrived at BOLD Innovations the following day to fix the company’s server issues as earlier discussed with her team. 

“You are welcome to BOLD Innovations, how can I help you today,” the receptionist asked with a smile.

“I’m here to see, Mr. Kingsley. Tell him Natalie Ashford from I-tech office is here to see him.”

The receptionist pointed to the way and shortly after, she was taken to the central server room, where she'll work on the company's server. 

Natalie wore a navy blue blazer on a white blouse tucked into the high waist beige slacks that showed her figure, with sneakers. She pulled her long chestnut hair into bum and wore her light glasses before she began to examine what was wrong with the server, why some of their  accounts were logged out and why sensitive data transfer logs were flagged as external breach attempts. 

She was given full access to the company's server and a level seven clearance, and she made sure she worked with the company’s team. 

Kingsley, who was in charge of the team, kept staring at her, wondering what a fragile and weak woman like her could probably do when they've been working for forty-eight hours without success.

Kingsley was shocked to see that Natalie had finished what they couldn't do in 48 hours in less than four hours. He instructed the team to check if everything was back to normal, and the team said yes.  

“That….was fast,” Kingsley said, looking at Natalie with shock. Maybe that's why they think she's the best in her company. He thought to himself.

Natalie smiled. “It didn’t take much time because you and your team helped me. Thank you, Mr. Kingsley.”  

Natalie arrived back the hotel at 3 pm, tired and just wanted to freshen up and have fun with her kids then prepare to return to Sun City the next day since she was done with what she came to do and didn’t want to meet her parents.

Just as she dropped her bag on the bed, her phone buzzed, and Mr. Carter, her boss's number, appeared on the screen. 

She blinked, wondering why Mr. Carter was calling her again. 

“Good evening, Mr. Carter…..” she said, but he cut her off.

“What did you do, Natalie?” Mr. Carter's voice rang out, laced with fury. “What did you do to make the CEO of BOLD Innovations angry? Do you even know who he is and how one word from him can destroy your career?”

For a moment, Natalie didn't respond; her brain went dead, struggling to process what her boss was saying and what she had done. 

“Report back to BOLD Innovations immediately or count yourself jobless.” 

“What?” she said, a cold shiver running down her spine.