Chapter 6

Carly barely survived the day as she knew Landon was in his office with a woman dressed provocatively. This made Carly angry, especially since Landon kept sending her more work to do. Initially, Carly agreed to do the work, but she soon realized that the documents were Landon's responsibility. Carly suspected that Landon was passing down his work to her so he could have time for the lady in his office.

Her suspicions were confirmed when Landon asked her to work overtime to finish the documents. Carly felt used and disrespected. She thought about confronting Landon about the situation, but she very well knew that he would only dismiss her concerns and possibly accuse her of being jealous. She had to do something to protect her job and her self-respect, she thought. But what could she do?

She sighed to herself as she tried to focus and ignore the temptation to go and eavesdrop on whatever was happening behind those obscure glass doors.

Carly didn't even go down for lunch, she was busy all through, and after completing the work, she sat upright and relaxed in her seat, slightly turning her neck as if to massage it. She was tired, so very tired. And the fact that there was nothing she could do made her even more appalled.

Carly had been so engrossed in her work that she hadn't realized how much time had passed. When she finally checked the time, she was surprised to see that it was already past seven in the evening. She had been working for over an hour since the store had closed.

As she reached for her phone, she noticed that she had missed four messages from Jasmine. She felt guilty for not responding, but she had been too busy to even check her phone. Carly knew she had to finish her work before leaving, but she also knew that she needed to make it up to Jasmine for not responding earlier.

After another fifteen minutes, Carly finally moved and her first action was to call Jasmine to apologize for not responding earlier. Jasmine was understanding and told Carly not to worry about it. Carly felt relieved and grateful for Jasmine's understanding. As soon as she dropped the call, the door to Landon's office opened and the same lady walked out.

"Hello." She waved with a small smile.

She glared back at her. "Hello. I thought you had left already."

"Me too." She said with a bigger smile.

"You too... What?"

"I also assumed you had left." She said, "By now at least."

"I work here, you don't," she stated.

"Yeah. Anyway, that's all for today. See you when next I see ya." She blew a kiss at me and made for the elevator. Watching her hair swing, I wanted to just act on impulse and grab the hair, pulling it with so much force. But, no. I couldn't do that. If Landon had the nerve to give me so much work just because of her presence, only God knows what would happen to me if I hurt her.

Carly couldn't help but feel annoyed as she watched the lady leave the floor completely. To make matters worse, the woman had the audacity to wave and smile and even blow a loss at her as she left.

Carly couldn't help but wonder what kind of hold the woman had over her boss. She couldn't understand why he would give her so much work to do just because the woman was in the office. Carly felt like she was being punished for something that wasn't her fault. She tried to focus on what she had at hand, but her anger kept getting the best of her.

"Fine, I'll just leave anyway." She forwarded the documents she had worked on in soft copy just in case Landon had any changes to make to the files before she could print them out.

As Carly finally left the office, she couldn't help but feel frustrated. She couldn't wait to get home and forget about the whole ordeal. She tried to shake off the feeling that the woman had something to do with her boss's sudden change in behavior. Carly knew that she would have to keep an eye on her attitude if she wanted to make it alive. She wouldn't want to pass off as jealous before Landon.

As she walked down the dark streets, she started to think about him. The few moments they shared and a small smile danced around her lips, not until she heard the sound of scraping metal on the road. She stopped instantly because she remembered some things about that noise.

She tried to hasten her footsteps but a strong arm grabbed her wrist and another one covered her mouth. Carly began to struggle with the man holding her. From the strength in her grip, she could tell that he was a very powerful man. There was no winning or she kept struggling.

Carly bites the hand and the person lets go of her, hissing in pain. She hurried away from them and turned to face whoever was behind her. Carly was more than frightened to find two men behind her, staring hungrily at her. At first, she assumed that they wanted to sleep with her or something and she was ready to bargain with them until she could get help. But their next statement, which was their first to her, made her blood go cold.

"You must be Carly James, right?" The first one asked.

Unsure, Carly took some steps back and she nodded slowly.

"Good. Your father owes us a lot of money darling, and we have come to take them from you." The other man said.

"I'm Benjie, he's Ray. Forget about taking us to the cops, we have them wrapped around our pinky fingers." Benjie said with a sly smile.

Carly's breath hitched in her throat. "My father... He never told me anything about any debt."

Ray chuckled. "That's fine, if you won't pay us, we can just take the payment."

"Please..." She begged. "I don't have any money."

"That's fine too," Ray said. "We take payment in kind too."

Carly moved back and before she could turn to start running, her back touched the cold wall that showed she had reached a dead end and she shivered, afraid.