Chapter 2

DELANY

“What the hell is wrong with you!” Nathaniel growled as he snatched his hands from mine forcing me to an halt as soon as we got to my car.

“Why would you involve me in whatever drama that was like that?!” He crashed out angrily, although he didn’t yell. My heart was beating out of my chest but I was trying so hard to keep myself together.

“Please do this for me,” I begged , my voice shaky accompanied by light quick breath. He had absolutely no reason to help me, especially in a manner like this, he might have looked out for me while we were younger but that was all about it, growing up we just went our separate ways. Especially because he was quite older than we are.

He narrowed his brows and tilted his head slightly.

“Do what?!”

“Marry me. Just one year, one year is all I need,” I pleaded, trying to get him to say yes before family members starts coming out to look for

me. He sighed with a small scoff shaking his head.

“You’re joking!” He mumbled and turned to walk away. I bit on my lower lips and shook my head firmly.

“Okay, okay, six months? I promise you, it’ll be over in six months, my life depends on this please,”

“I’ll pay you! I … can pay you,” I added desperately, he moved his head backwards, his lips raised in confusion as he points himself.

“Pay me?”

“Ohh, this is not happening,” he whispered with a tired sigh and with that he walked away from me. I slowly turned watching him walk away, my shoulders slumped in exhaustion. Even in this second chance, I’m still alone. I sighed.

“Delany! Are you crazy!” I heard my stepmother yell as she stormed towards me. I composed myself immediately, shoulders high, wiped my face dry, this might be a dream, maybe some pre afterlife phase, I don’t know how long this phase is going to last, but I’m definitely not going to give up again without a fight.

For as long as I shall live this life, I’ll do everything to make sure the people behind my miserable life and death face the exact same amount of wrath. And most importantly history never repeats itself.

“Do even have the slightest idea of what you have just done?!” She yelled. I raised my brows slightly with a small scoff, forced my hands to stop shaking as I took one tiny step closer to her, I lifted my head slightly and held her gaze very sternly.

“Ofcourse.”

“I do. I just crashed my own marriage” I muttered and with that I grabbed the door of my car, slipped in, slammed it shut and drove away. I even had to drive myself to my so called wedding ceremony, I must have been a complete fool. Back then I felt like as long as my mother lived I could take anything, but I was wrong. I needed to live too. I wanted to live.

•••

One hour Later …

“I want to move my mother out of here!” I said to the doctor. He looked up at me with furrowed brows as he slowly took off his glasses and placed it on his table. He has been our family doctor for as long as I can remember and now he’s almost family. My father trusted him so much but the fact that he connived with them to ruin my womb and deteriorate my health, just goes as far as to show that my mother isn’t safe here. She wasn’t on life support yet so I still have savings, I’d empty it to take her somewhere else.

“Is Mrs Davenport aware of this?!” He asked. I scoffed loudly and stepped even closer to him.

“And who exactly is Mrs Davenport to decide where or where not my mother stays!!” I barked back at him.

“Look, Delany, I saw the news. I know you’re pissed and probably not in your right state of mind but …”

“Ohhh trust me you have no idea,” I snapped cutting him off sharply.

“So you’d do whatever you have to do and write my that transfer letter immediately! I’m not here to joke!”

“You would do no such thing!” Emily, my stepmother snorted as she barged into the office, I spun at once still in my wedding dress to look at her.

“Don’t make me engage in a legal battle with you Emily. You have no right to make decisions for my mother!” I growled in her face, her brows raised in horror, I had never spoken back at her, much more called her by her government name, this was new and so I gave her a moment to take it in before continuing.

“I’ll be back and when I’m back, my letter better be ready!” I snorted and with that stormed out of his office. Ofcourse I knew better than to be in the same space as her for too long.

*******

NATHANIEL

His residence.

“Are you surprised? You two used to be really close when she was younger, I really thought you were going to make do of your promise and actually marry her,” Nolan, my personal assistant and closest friend said to me as I scrolled through the internet. Everywhere was buzzing with different opinions, now I was the shameless older brother who was sleeping around with his younger brother fiancée. Not like I care about what any of them had to say though. They were all bark and no bite, they’d definitely still shake in my presence.

“Nolan please be for real,” I mumbled. What he was looking to get from me, he obviously wasn’t going to get it.

“So you just left her like that?” He asked again.

“Nolan, please drop this thing, I’m really not in the mood”

“We have a meeting with the board first thing Monday morning, meaning we have just two days to come up with a tangible reason as to why our loan repayment rate dropped by 35 percent in just a single quarter!”

“It’s a huge loss and you know it, we have bigger issues than this,” I added as I dropped the tablet where I was reading trending news.

“It’s mostly the rural loan group, the flood wiped out their entire crops, they not refusing to pay, they just can’t,”

“You know the board doesn’t care! Those old men have almost no human feeling, all they care about is their money!”

“Then show them the recovery plan, you’ve started restructuring the loan right?!” He asked, I slowly looked up at him with raised brows.

“You’ve been reading my files again?” I asked and he shrugged lightly throwing his hands out.

“You pay me for it,” he muttered in reply.

“But seriously though, did you really leave Delany to go back to Adrian’s house and face him alone after what happened at the church today?”

“You know she has no where to go. She’ll either be forced to go back to her stepmother’s house, stay at Adrian’s or just sleep under the bridge,”

“None of the three seem to have a good ending,”

“You were her only savior before you were forced to move away,” he added scooting closer to me.

I sighed deeply and slowly turned to him,

“Is my company’s problem a joke to you?” I asked. He moved away from me immediately with a small shrug.

“I’m just saying,” he mumbled.

“Say the one that’ll help PayNexus , not the one that doesn’t concern you!”

****

Thirty minutes Later

“Ohh he’s here” My mother snorted maliciously as soon as I walked in.

Oh. This was even worse than I thought. The entire family was here, both mine and hers.

Delany stood by the staircase, her suitcase beside her, it was obvious that she wanted to leave but they weren’t going to let her. She didn’t seem scared, she stood her ground staring at them with a fierce determination, I could see raw anger in her eyes as she stared at Adrian, she didn’t even acknowledge my presence. I really was curious about what was fueling her anger and why she crashed her own wedding today, she normally would even beg me not to confront her stepmother on her behalf. Wordlessly I headed towards her,

“Babe, You’re done here” I said quietly and firmly, stepping between her and the family. I brushed the sweat from beneath her eye with my thumb before she could flinch.

Her hard breathing paused immediately, she blinked and turned to me immediately. It was obvious she was engaged in heated argument with them. I stepped even closer and placed a small kiss on her forehead.

“Are you ready to leave?!” I asked her, she swallowed hard and nodded immediately, I saw a look of confusion in her eyes but it disappeared as soon as it came.

“Y-yes” she stuttered. Most probably still taken aback by my change of heart.

“Great,” I responded as I grabbed her hands and her suitcase.

“Are you really going to let him leave with her?!” Adrian seethed. I paused and slowly turned to him.

“Since we’re no longer a secret. Let this be the last time I ever see you around my woman!” I warned sternly, tightened my grip around Delany’s hands and led her out.

“Is nobody really going to say anything?!” Adeian growled again. But none of them still had balls enough to stop me.

I thought as much.

•

“You can take the guest room. Upstairs or downstairs, Anywhere you choose is fine,” I said, walking past her without slowing.

“Why did you change your mind? Why did you come back for me?” Delany asked, her voice pulling me to a halt just a breath away from her.

I turned, eyes narrowing slightly.

“Don’t think too much of it,” I said coolly, slowly dipping my hands into my pocket.

“Six months,” I added.

Her lips parted to say something, but before she could speak,

*Ding.* Her phone lit up. She was prepared to ignore it, then mine beeped too.

*Ding. Ding. Ding.* The sound multiplied, like a persistent alarm clock. The buzzing grew impossible to dismiss.

She shifted, with reluctant movements, we both reached for our phones.

PayNexus Bank was trending; My Fintech platform was trending!

A flood of furious posts filled my screen at once, accusations, screenshots, hashtags burning bright.

My fintech banking app had clearly been hacked.

People’s money was vanishing.

And the internet was tearing me apart in real time.

“What the fuck!” I breathed out.