Sounds familiar

Brittany paced her sizable sitting room. She felt an indescribable nervousness. Derrick hadn't returned.

"Ma'am calm down. You know how Derrick can be sometimes. Perhaps he stopped somewhere for some work,"Nanny Mitchell suggested in a bid to comfort Brittany.

"Didn't you hear those gunshots?" Brittany asked still pacing.

"The sounds came from afar, ma'am. In fact, we cannot conclude that the were gunshots."

"He said he would be home in two minutes. It's almost five minutes and he isn't home. He's not even taking his calls!" Brittany explained nervously.

"He's just three minutes late, ma'am. Derrick is not a child. He'll be back soon."

"He's supposed to be here to choose the wedding colors. Derrick is a principled and punctual man."

"Maybe you should try calling his father?"Mitchell suggested.

"Yes ! I didn't think of that. I should call him." Brittany reached for her phone, which laid on the table in the middle of the room.

"Hello?, Donald?"Brittany said to be sure he could hear her."

'Brittany, I'm in a meeting now. Can you call back later?" Donald replied as quickly as he could.

"Is Derrick with you?" She tried to comport herself to not sound nervous.

"Derrick? No. Why?"he had begun to worry. "What happened? Where is Derrick?"

"Donald" Brittany broke into tears, "Derrick isn't home yet, and I heard some gunshots a while ago. Donald, please, I don't want anything bad to happen to my son."

"I'll send some of my men to survey the area," Donald assured in a firm tone. "Don't leave the house. I'm on my way." He added and ended the call.

"Please , let nothing happen to Derrick. I'll die if anything happens to him," she cried into her disconnected phone call.

"Nothing will happen to him." Mitchell consoled.

"I should call Stephanie. Maybe they're together." Brittany searched for Stephanie's number and dialed it. "She's not taking her calls!"

As she sat frustratedly on the sofa, she decided to send a voicemail. "Hi Stephanie, this is Brittany. Please let me know if Derrick is with you. It's urgent."

After a few seconds of pacing the room again, Brittany dialed another number which got connected.

"Hello?" A thin, feminine voice said from the other end of the phone.

"North?"Brittany inquired, but the lady was mute.

"What do you want?" The lady snapped.

"North , I just want to find out if you know Derrick's whereabouts." There was an obvious uneasiness in Brittany's voice.

'Am I his bodyguard?"

"North , I haven't heard from him." Brittany explained. "And I'm worried that something bad might have happened to him," she continued.

"How's that my business? Huh? I wish he were dead!" North added irritatedly.

"North !"

"Yes! I wish he would be taken away from you, so you would feel the pains of losing someone," she added.

"Don't you wish evil on my son!" Brittany fired back.

"You've caused people pain, Brittany. Now it's time to have a taste of your own medicine." Brittany went mute.

"I wish you would never see him again, that he would die!" North declared. "He's

only caused my son and i pain."

"Did you hurt Derrick?" Brittany asked, already crying. "Tell me, North! Did you hurt my son?!"

"Though I wish Derrick would vanish, I do not have the guts to hurt him or anyone" North defended. "That's your role Brittany, not mine."

Brittany ended the call and broke down in tears again.

***************************************************

"Should we return to the office, sir?" Patrick questioned when he could no longer sight the car following them.

"Patrick, you do have a lot to learn. They'll be waiting at my office or any other building connected to me, because this is a personal attack." Derrick explained, grunting. His phone rang for the umpteenth time. Brittany had been calling nonstop. But he still didn't pick up the phone because he didn't want her to panick.

Derrick closed his eyes, trying not to think about what she was going through. "Derrick son, I'm worried about you. Please call me when you get this," her voicemail played.

"Should I answer your mum's call, sir?" Patrick inquired when he heard his phone ring for the fifth time in a row.

"She's been calling me too, but don't answer till we are safe."

"Should I take you to the hospital, sir?" He inquired anxiously, seeing that Derrick's clothes were soaked in blood.

"No. That's a long way, I'm losing too much blood. Take me to Stephanie instead; she's a nurse." replied Derrick, sweating profusely as he began to lose consciousness.

"I'm on it, sir. Hold on."

"Just drive, Patrick."

***************************************************

Patrick parked in front of a mansion and rushed to help Derrick.

As he knocked on the gate, he assisted Derrick in getting out of the car.

The security guard opened the gate slowly to see who was knocking.

"Let us in. We need to see..." Patrick was still speaking when the security guard rushed to help Derrick.He opened the gate wide for them.

"Close the gate and don't let anyone in. They might be following us." Derrick instructed the baffled security guard.

"Where's Stephanie?" Derrick asked, groaning.

"She's in, sir" the guard replied.

The security guard pushed a button on the wall, which opened the front door. Derrick walked into the house dizzily, having lost a lot of blood.

As they got in Derrick heard familiar sounds from the dining room. Suddenly, he rushed to the dining room to know what was going on, neglecting his wounded arm and Patrick's aid.