At the hotel

Chapter 3

Adola

With his hands comfortably placed at both my sides, my tough facade faltered slightly. I bit my lip nervously with a heavy weight of anxiety settling on my shoulders. I just had to slip up, and he’d know the truth.

If there was anything I hated about him, it was his persistence.

Pushing him away from me, I masked my face with a full blown scowl. “You must think too highly of yourself to imagine that I’d keep anything that belongs to you with me,”

He flinched at the harshness and coldness of my tone, but caught himself quickly. “Then who is Keeya?” His voice was low and serious.

For a moment, I feared what his reaction would be if he found out about the twins. He'd be elated to know he had them, but very furious because I hid them. And since he was also very wealthy and powerful he'd have a good case against me in court.

“Why do you want to know about her? Did you become this wealthy by wanting to know everybody’s secrets?”

“You know the answer already. I’m a businessman, and you know how profitable it is for people like us in the business world to know their competitor’s secrets, do you not?” he asked with all the cockiness in the world.

“I don’t care. Just leave me alone, I need to be somewhere right now,” I warded him off with a note of urgency.

Keeya’s situation didn’t sit well with me. I’d nurtured and raised her and her twin for six years and never had she experienced a fever this severe. I needed to be home with my babies, but this backstabbing cheating devil wouldn’t let me be.

“I didn’t hold you ransome. You can leave,” the smirk wiped off his face. “Besides, it's surprising to see you in places like this. Or have you busied yourself with finding more wealthy men you can latch onto?”

His words stung more painfully than a bee's sting, but I ignored him. After what his mother had done, I didn't expect him to think any better of me. Honestly, I didn't care either.

Without sparing him any glance, I hopped into the car and started it. The engine roared to life, tires screeching against the ground, but just when I was about to make a reverse, the car died on me.

Frustration whirled violently inside me as I tried to ignite the car again, but the car remained docile against every attempt I made to bring it back to life. Exasperation drove me to the point of tears while I banged my fists against the steering wheel.

My phone rang again and it was Jeanette calling.

“How is she?” I asked worriedly, trying to hold back my emotions.

A sigh crossed her lips. “She’s been resuscitated, but the doctor said that she has to be placed under surveillance tonight,” her explanation brought instant relief to me.

I let out a deep breath, allowing a tear stream down my cheek. “Thank goodness. I’ll be home soon. The rental car just developed a fault right now and I don’t know what to do. I'll try to figure it out so I can hop on a flight tonight,”

“Alright, sis. Please, be careful. We're waiting for you.” she said and hung up.

Stricken with exhaustion, I stepped out of the car, slamming the door loudly. It was already too late to call the rental company for repairs so I scrolled through my phone to book an uber.

Engrossed on my phone, I didn’t know that Zyair was still lurking around until his strong woody scent wafted into my nose.

“I thought you'd left,”

I rolled my eyes, putting more distance between us. “And I thought you did the same. Don't tell me you still care about me,” I retorted, walking past him.

He chuckled drily. “I don’t care about you, Adola. I’m just making sure that my balloon ride partner doesn’t try anything funny. Remember the bid?”

“I do. Now, get out of my face!” I barked, wondering why I allowed him to get under my skin so easily. It seemed like he knew which buttons to press to offend me, and I was giving him the chance to do as he pleased.

“You wouldn’t speak to me that way, Adola. I’m not the same man you dumped for ten grand six years ago,” he warned, clenching his jaw.

I met his gaze squarely. “Read my lips, Zyair. I don’t care whatever you think of me, but I won’t have you speak to me disrespectfully. To me, you’re just another man I met in a fundraiser. Nothing more, nothing less,”

He grabbed my waist this time, dark orbs shimmering with pure disdain. No softness in them. “Was that what you thought of me when you happily accepted money from my mother and left me?”

A knot unfurled in my stomach, my gaze softening, but it wasn’t my place to tell him the truth.

The honk of a car caught my attention. It was definitely the uber I booked.

“Whatever makes you sleep at night, Zyair. Good night.” I said, turning away.

Are we still headed to the airport?” The Uber driver asked after we exchanged curt greetings.

“Yes… Why?” my brows were furrowed at his question. I didn't even know why I was still pissed.

He cleared his throat. “A storm has been predicted to happen in the next ten minutes. No airline is taking that risk with their passengers”

“Shit!” I brushed my hair roughly with my fingers. “I have an emergency to attend to right now. How am I going to achieve that?”

His eyes softened with pity as he shook his head. “You have to be safe in order to attend to your emergency, ma'am,”

He was right. Jeanette had assured me that she was better so I'd just take the flight first thing tomorrow morning.

“Take me to my hotel then,” I demanded, throwing my head back to reflect on everything that had happened this evening.

Another unfortunate incident hit me at the hotel. It was booked and busy. Worst still, my name wasn't on the receptionist' list as a guest who'd booked a room there. Could today get any worse?

Immediately, I called my P. A. She'd assured me that everything was put in place including my hotel room so there was no reason why I shouldn't have a room here. Unfortunately, her phone was unreachable.

Bottling my emotions proved difficult. I just want to scream my lungs out and maybe disappear to a place where I wouldn't have to see anyone.

I returned to the receptionist desk. "Are you sure that nothing can be done?"

She fixed me with a sad, apologetic look. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but all the suites and rooms are booked. If you can check in tomorrow, I'm sure we'll be able to arrange something for you,"

"But I don't need it tomorrow, I need it now. I have nowhere to stay tonight and my assistant isn't reachable. What am I going to do?" I was just a second away from crashing out.

"What's going on here?" I heard behind me from no one else but the annoying Zyair.

I turned around, ready to transfer my aggression on him. I couldn't deny that I was stunned to see a very beautiful woman beside him. She wasn't the same woman I'd seen in that picture, but they looked good together.

Why was I surprised? Infidelity was seared into his DNA.

"Are you stalking me now?" I questioned him rudely.

He regarded me like I was nothing and then glanced at the attendant who answered immediately.

"There's an issue with her booking and we can't help her at the moment," She explained.

I scoffed, angry at the shift in attention. "And why are you explaining to him?"

"He's owns the hotel, ma'am,"