A Night with The Crazy CEO

11

Chapter Eleven

•BRIANNA•

The cab stopped in front of my house; I paid the driver and alighted from the car. I walked into the house and saw my mom sleeping on the sofa. She opened her eyes a few seconds after I walked in and sat up on the tattered sofa she was lying on. She must have heard my footsteps because she is a very light sleeper.

“You came back early. Didn’t you tell me you were to get off from work around 6 p.m. or so?” My mom uttered.

“I ran away from work,” I said simply before sitting on the sofa.

“What?!” She shouted incredulously.

“Why would you do that?” She asked again.

“Something came up, and I had to leave early,” I stated smoothly.

“Hmm, hmm.” She hummed, clearly not believing me.

“I’m telling the truth. A fire started in the cafeteria, and the employees were told to go to their houses so that nobody would get hurt. Besides, firefighters are there already putting out the fire, so I’ll go back to work tomorrow.” I explained with a serious look, as if I was telling the truth.

“Alright, if you say so. Did you get hurt?” She asked, concern dripping from her voice as her face morphed into a frown.

“No, I’m okay. I’m going to go take a nap before my shift in the club tonight.” I said, standing up and packing my things. My mother’s expression changed slightly when she heard me mention the club. She didn’t like me working in a club because she thought irresponsible girls were the ones working in clubs, but she understood I had to work there to earn more money, and they paid well at the club.

“Ok, honey.” She murmured as I walked towards the staircase and climbed the stairs. I stepped into my room and dropped my things on the floor. I sat on my bed and stared into space as I recalled my conversation with Carlos earlier in his car. Suddenly, I burst into tears. I didn’t know the reason I was crying until I had cried my eyes out. The conversation with Carlos made me remember the things that my dad did before he finally left us. It made me remember the memory I locked deep in the back of my mind.

~FLASHBACK~

It was around ten p.m. in the night, and everyone in the house was sleeping already. Suddenly, the quietness got disrupted when a loud bang sounded throughout the house. The woman of the house woke up from her peaceful sleep and sighed deeply because she already knew the person who was banging on the door. The woman got out of bed and walked out of the room. She walked over to the door and opened it. A man stumbled in, holding a bottle of alcohol and slurring incoherent words. The woman sighed again when she saw the state her husband was in.

“You went out drinking again, Marcus. You told me you were going to visit your friends.” The woman stated, as she eyes her husband, who was reeking of alcohol.

“What I do is none of your business, woman! Get out of my way. I wanna go to bed,” Marcus said, stumbling over his words so much that the woman almost didn’t hear what he said.

“I’m just telling you. You know drinking is not good for the body. It can damage the internal organs.” The woman spoke again, not moving out of the way.

“Shut the hell up, Caroline. Don’t make me raise my hands on you. I never asked for your advice on my body.” The man warned.

“You will not sleep in this house, Marcus! How do you want your children to look at you if they find out their father is a drunkard? I’ve told you multiple times to stop drinking.” The woman raised her voice slightly, not wanting to disturb her children.

“The worthless children you gave birth to are not my children, Caroline. I accepted the first one because I thought you would give birth to a boy later, but you just gave birth to another girl. You can hand them over to their biological father. I know I am not the father of those gremlins!” Marcus ranted.

“They are your children, Marcus. When are you going to start treating them accordingly?” Caroline said, then asked.

“I don’t care, Caro. Get out of my way; this is the last time I will warn you.” Marcus warned again. When Caroline didn’t move out of the way, Marcus dropped the bottle of alcohol he was holding on the centre table and pushed Caroline so hard that she fell on the floor with a loud thud. He bent down to her level, unbuckled his belt, and started whipping Caroline with it.

Meanwhile, in the children’s bedroom upstairs, the oldest daughter awoke when she heard a thud and her mother’s loud cries. She got down from her bed and noticed that her baby sister had also woken up and was sobbing on her bed on the other side of the room.

“Dad is already back with his problem again. When he wasn’t around, the house was peaceful and quiet.” The youngest sister, Mariana, said to her older sister, Brianna.

“I know Marie. Let’s go stop him before he does more damage than he has already done.” Brianna said. They both put on their flip-flops before walking out of the room. They tiptoed to the sitting room and hid behind a wall where they could see everything that was happening clearly. They watched for a few moments, and when they couldn’t watch Marcus beating their mother anymore, they came out of their hiding place and ran towards them.

“Stop!!!” Brianna shouted with a loud, angry voice, and Marcus’s fist about to descend on Caroline froze mid-air. Marie ran over to their mother, who was on the floor with cuts and bruises all over her body. Caroline was barely breathing.

Brianna glared at her dad furiously. She was angry that Marcus beat her mom to the extent that she almost lost consciousness.

“What are you doing, kids? Go back to bed. You guys have school tomorrow.” Caroline said weakly.

“We can’t go to bed and watch this scumbag beat you to death,” Brianna said and turned to face Marcus.

“Are you crazy, Marcus?! Do you want to kill my mother?!” Brianna yelled, not minding the fact that she was yelling at her father and, the fact that it was night and that the volume of her voice could wake the neighbours.

“What the hell Brianna? Don’t you know you’re talking to your father?!” Marcus yelled back.

“You ceased being my father the day you started beating my mother.” Brianna spat furiously.

“You useless child! You have the guts to raise your voice at me. You and your mother are birds of the same feather.” Marcus shouted and slapped Brianna hard across the face. Brianna’s head whipped to the side as she glared at her father from beneath the curtain her long hair created.

“You’re disgusting, Marcus. I wish you were never my father, to begin with.” Brianna said bitterly and went towards her unconscious mother and sobbing sister.

Marcus stormed out of the house and didn’t come back home until the next day.

~END OF FLASHBACK~

Since that incident, I vowed to myself never to let a man close to my heart. I promised myself I wouldn’t fall in love with any man because love made my mom weak, and I didn’t want to end up like her.

After my father left us, my mother starved herself for months. She didn’t eat any food and just drank only water, claiming that my father would come back to us, and that was what made her condition worse. She would have gotten better if she had used her pills and eaten foods that would supply iron, but she didn’t. She kept on waiting for a man that doesn’t even care if his wife and her children were dead or alive.

I sighed tiredly and felt a faint throbbing in my head, indicating that a headache was coming. It must have been from all the crying I did earlier. I stood up from my sitting position on the bed, walked over to the only cabinet in the room, and pulled out the top drawer where we kept our drugs. I took out aspirin and popped two tablets out of it. I threw it in my mouth and flushed it down with a gulp of water, which I saw on the drawer top.

I sat back down on my bed, and a yawn escaped my mouth. I guess all the walking I did today is taking a toll on me. The thought made me angry. My mind flashed back to when I was walking under the scorchingly hot sun, all for nothing. Then I remembered that I would get revenge on him tomorrow if he didn’t fire me. I lay down on the bed and closed my eyes, waiting for sleep to come, and it wasn’t long before I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

FEW HOURS LATER

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. I opened my eyes slightly and used my hands to search for it on the bed because I was feeling too lazy to open my eyes and search for it properly. In the process of searching for my phone, I didn’t realise I was at the edge of the bed till I moved a little and fell to the ground like a bag of sand (sometimes I forget how small my bed actually is). I opened my eyes fully when I heard someone laughing.

My eyes settled on Mariana, who was sitting on her bed laughing to the extent that she was clutching her stomach, and tears gathered in her eyes. I stood up and groaned when I felt my bone snap. The stupid phone rang again, and I realised it was in my bag, which I had dropped on the floor earlier. I took it out of the bag and saw ‘Mr. Cole’ on the screen. I pressed the answer button and put the phone to my ear.

“Hello, my beautiful Brianna.” was the first thing I heard from the other end. Mr. Cole never ceases to try to get into my pants.

“Good evening, Mr. Cole,” I replied.

“How’re you doing this fine evening?” He asked.

“I’m doing great, sir. You?” I responded, then asked for asking’s sake because I don’t really care.

“I’m also good.” He said, and the line was silent for a few moments before I broke it.

“Can you please tell me why you called, sir? I’m in the middle of something.” I said, and Marie snickered. Yeah, I’m in the middle of nursing my broken waist (just kidding).

“Ah! I called to tell you that you should come to the club by 7:30 p.m. Two VIP guests are coming tonight, and I want you to be their server for the night.” He stated. I removed the phone from my ear and looked at the time. The time was 6:45 p.m., and that meant I still had a bit of time to get ready.

“Okay. I would be there by 7:30,” I replied.

“Alright then. I’ll be expecting you.” He said and hung up.

“What were you laughing at?” I asked Marie.

“I was laughing at how funny you looked when searching for your phone without opening your eyes. I would have given it to you, but I had fun watching you embarrass yourself.” She replied, chuckling, and then walked out of the room. My cheeks went red from embarrassing myself in front of my sister. I’ll never hear the end of it.

“Whatever!” I snapped, and my phone rang out again. ‘Cherry’ was the name on the screen. I answered the call and pressed the phone to my ear.

“Hey babe!” She greeted tiredly. She must be because of her work at the restaurant. Cooking different meals for people to eat isn’t an easy job.

“Hey, Cherry. How has work been today?” I greeted back, then asked.

“Work has been as tedious as ever,” she replied and asked, “How was your first day of work?”

“It was bad! Can you believe my new boss was the guy I kicked at the restaurant the other day? He made me get coffee for him multiple times and then he sent me to go to his house to get something he forgot, but when I got there, the security told me my boss wasn’t living there. I had to check other houses under the hot sun, but it wasn’t until I couldn’t find his house that I realized I had been pranked.” I rambled and Cherry burst into laughter when she heard my story.

“Wow! You had a much more fun day at work than me.” She laughed, and I frowned, not finding what I experienced funny.

“It is nothing to laugh about Cherry. I almost died!” I said, exasperated.

“Okay, I’ll stop laughing now,” she said and finally stopped laughing.

“I called to ask if Mr. Cole told you that you should come to the club early tonight.” She stated.

“Yes, he did. He said two VIP guests are coming, and he wants me to be their server.” I replied.

“He told me the same thing, so that means we’re gonna be servers for important guests. I wonder who the VIP guests are. I guess we’ll find out when we get to the club.” She said.

“See ya at the club tonight.” I stated.

“Yeah! See you tonight.” She said and hung up the phone. Whoever the very important guests are, we’re gonna find out tonight. I better go prepare then.