"What the…" I muttered as I tried my best to keep my language in check at the point that I was on the verge of losing it. The impatience that boiled in my blood along with the words from her secretary. "What do you mean she's not talking to anyone today?""I'm sorry sir, but you would have to wait for a couple of moments before you can meet Miss Duran." The secretary was bent on frustrating me that very day. "I apologize for whatever inconvenience this would cause you.""Don't apologize. Let me in to see Helen. She's aware of my coming. I booked an appointment with her, under the name Dolph Martin." I felt like I had said that a thousand times in those long minutes I had been waiting. "What other proof do you want me to give you?""You're making this harder than it's meant to be, Mr. Martin." Helen's secretary had some of the audacity that she had and she was putting it all on display at that point. "You would have to wait an hour more until she can decide whether she would have you o
My day went like milk going rancid as the thoughts of the call I had with Phil were still stuck in my head. I had shot myself up in my office without saying a word for the past couple of minutes as I wondered just how I was going to get myself out of that mess.As I cowered in my silent fear, my phone buzzed, causing me to nearly jump out of my skin. I was almost melting right there in my seat as I saw Phil's name written boldly on the screen. It was a text from him and I didn't want to open it at all.But then, I feared that he could be trying to do something drastic without me being aware of it. With my hands shaking with fright, I reached for the phone on the table and opened his text.“You bastard…” I was almost flinging the phone away the moment I saw it had been a video message of the both of us— the one he had threatened to send to Dolph. He was taking things far as that would ruin my entire modeling career. I was fuming in my seat as I wasn't sure just how I was going to surv
“So… how did it go with you and Helen? You look like you both ended up having a fistfight or something.” I noticed Dolph looking slightly demoralized as he walked in through the front door. “What happened?” He said nothing until he walked to the sofa where I had been sitting and contemplating what Tara and her mother had been up to. It was hard to imagine what part of my past they were going to dig up. But I forgot all about it as Dolph looked like he was about to give up on the whole thing and that looked like it was more of an issue to our cause.“Dolph…?” I asked, trying to pry his mouth open to tell me how bad it went. “What happened?”“She was one of my exes and it feels like our past is going to make her hate to be a part of your success,” Dolph said as he took off his Rolex. “For some reason, I saw this coming.”“The show has been booked already…” I felt my heart sink into my stomach as I imagined how cruel the interview was going to be at that point. She would bombard me wit
I had thought it over and I had decided I would agree to meet Phil at the place he had specified. I felt like I was playing right into his hands with every move I was making, but I had no option but to comply with every word of his warnings which was still ringing loud and clear in my ears at that point.“If you refuse to comply with any instruction I give you, then your career will come to a quite abrupt end like you never existed…” Those cold words kept me going against the way my ego wanted me to go and that made it hard for me to get myself together. I was a literal mess as I sat at the table in the café where he had asked me to wait.My phone buzzed and that had me almost falling off my seat. Phil knew just how to play those wicked mind games, that left me paralyzed with fear. But then, I looked at the screen of my phone to see that it had been Randy calling me. I breathed a sigh of relief and then some deep breaths afterward to regain my composure before speaking to him.“Hey…
“Sure about this?” Dolph asked again as I was getting ready for my meeting with Helen. “Remember she doesn't meet with her victims before the day of the show, especially when it's this close. We have like six days to go now.”“I am sure about it and I'm sure it's not something for us to be bothered about.” I was confident as I got ready to step out of the car to meet innumerable uncertainties which I had signed up for. “What’s the worst that could happen?”“Well, she could cancel the interview, and probably destroy your career with a couple of tweets.” Dolph had me scared with that part of Helen as I wished he had told me of it earlier. “And you're just saying it? Jeez, Dolph…” I was suddenly under the weight of an inexplicable pressure that had me melting. “Goodness…” I tried to take the weight of the pressure off me with some deep breaths and heavy exhalation. “Why are you suddenly less confident than before?” Dolph kept a serious face even though he sounded like he was mocking me
I was enjoying the feeling of taking the fight right to where Helen was. The puzzled look on her face was simply priceless, and it had me wanting to relive that moment over and over.“Wow…” Helen finally said something as I was almost becoming scared that age would call off the whole meeting. That moment was becoming even more uncomfortable with each passing second and it had me thinking all sorts of things.Without any forewarning, Helen let out a slight chortle which led to another chortle which was a bit louder, then into a full-blown laughter. She laughed so hard and that had me confused.I waited for her to stop the laughter, but then, she didn't want to stop as she went on in a way that made it clear that it was going to take quite a while. “What's so funny…?” I asked, hoping that would get her to stop, but she erupted in even more vigorous laughter which now had me confused. “You…” she could barely speak through the laughter. “You're so…” she had her finger pointing at me as
The car ride to the office was quite a lonely one as Tamika was not beside me. I had long swallowed my pride and agreed to myself that I was beginning to get used to her company and a moment without it was quite uncomfortable, if not unbearable.“No…” I said to myself as I was trying to get myself to disagree with the part of her absence being unbearable. I was determined to convince myself that I could still live without her. I had been living my life before we got together, and that made me even more convinced that I would surely be able to survive with or without her. There was no room for vulnerability, as letting her know about my feelings would quickly put her in control of everything. That, I wouldn't allow to happen.The car pulled over in front of the casino, bringing the ride to an end. At that point, I was trying to push every thought of Tamika out of my head as I wanted to deal with my chaotic world. “That was quick…” Michael said as he walked into the glass front doors
The day had been quite a rollercoaster ride for me as I had been through the most demanding moments of my life at that point. Helen had proven to be a challenge that I would have to overcome if I would ever make a peaceful reappearance on air. I could only hope that Dolph's prescription would work out perfectly for my current predicament as I walked in through the front door. Dolph was seated on his usual spot on the sofa and that made it easier. The look on his face said a thousand and one words all at once and that made it quite hard for me to approach him. I was almost thinking it was his disappointment in me that made him look like that. That made me feel like tiptoeing into the house or coming in through the back. “You're back later than I expected, Tamika.” He was staring at his phone, which was something that he hardly ever did. It was beginning to give me a lot of concern as I was trying to get a clearer picture of what was happening.“Yeah… I went to see Julia to speak ab