Chapter 6

"We have to leave here, Melinda, it isn't safe for you," Sylvester said and stretched his hand toward a confused Melinda. Melinda stared down at his hand before looking up to his face. Even though she had trusted this man with her child, she barely knew him and didn't know if to trust him with her life.

"I'm sorry I can't come with you." She said as she backed away, trying to conceal her fear.

"You have to, Melinda, I'm not sure what this beast had in mind, but he's been my friend for way too long and I know what he's capable of doing," Sylvester said, his hand still outstretched to her.

She took his hand reluctantly and he immediately clasped his hand around hers.

"But...but what about my mother?" She asked hesitantly.

"Your mother is safe, but you're not." He said flatly while staring her in the eyes.

"I'm sorry but I can't leave you here without my mother," Melinda said, she was visibly trembling and her voice was shaky.

"You have to, else, this man is going to keep coming after you," Sylvester said, his hand still stretched out to her.

"But... but what if he comes after my mother?" She asked.

"He won't trust me. Now let's get out of this place. Are you going to come with me or not...for your own safety?"

Melinda stared at him for a while, her mind still in a whirlpool of conflicts.

"Let's get out of here. I'll handle him later." He said and finally took her hand in his. She wanted to refuse him but then her eyes darted to Derek's body lying unconscious on the floor, and back at Sylvester, and her hand relaxed in his.

"Are you sure that my mother is going to be okay?" She questioned with a plea in her eyes.

"Trust me, I'm going to send bodyguards to your house immediately we get to mine, I just need to get you as far as possible from the man."

"Oh okay, let's... Go then." Melinda said and without wasting any more time, Sylvester clasped his hand around hers and pulled her gently away. He made his way outside of the compound and straight for his car which was parked a few miles away from them.

"That's my car over there, let's walk faster in case he starts waking up," Sylvester said and increased his pace and so did Melinda.

Sylvester opened the passenger seat for Melinda to get in. The moment she was in, he made his way to the driver's seat and drove away to his home.

"C'mon let's get down, you'll be safe here," Sylvester said when they got to his home. Melinda was finding it difficult to keep her mouth closed when they got to Sylvester's house, she had never seen any house as gigantic as Sylvester's.

"Do you really live here?!" She voiced out her surprise.

"Yes I do," Sylvester replied without looking at her.

"You really live here alone?" She asked again and hung down her jaw.

Sylvester rolled his eyes before he answered. "Yes, I do." He said and got out of the car and expecting her to follow suit, but she stayed in the car, her eyes still bulging at the sight of Sylvester's house.

Sylvester sighed before he went to the side of her car and opened the door for her to get out.

"C'mon, let's go inside," Sylvester said and took her by the hand, helping her down from the car. He led her inside the house.

The sight that met Melinda in the house wasn't a pleasant one and she showed her displeasure on her face.

"What the hell happened here?!" Sylvester bellowed and it was his turn to hang down his jaw.

"Albert!!" Sylvester yelled out the name of his butler and within a minute, a man who looked like he was in his fifties came running into the living room where they stood. He looked distraught and as if he had been attacked by someone.

Sylvester ran his eyes over him with a confused look on his face. "Albert?!" He called out.

"What happened to you, why do you like you've just fought a bear and why is my house a mess, why are my windows broken and my chairs overturned?"

"Sir, it's your best friend, Devon. He has gone wild, he came here looking for you and almost killed me when I told him that you were out." The butler said, he was visibly trembling and his voice was shaking as he spoke.

"That animal did this to my home?!" Sylvester bellowed. His anger was starting to rise, he took another look at his home and couldn't believe that Devon could leave his house in such a way.

"That bstrd thinks he can mess with me hunh?" "After all that I did for him, he thinks that he can come in here to destroy my property and get away with it. I'm so going to show that bstrd." Sylvester shot out angrily and took out his phone.

"I hope he didn't touch any of my rooms upstairs?!" Sylvester asked, pointing to the stairs as he began dialing a number.

"No, he did not, sire. I got the bodyguards to throw him out before he could reach there." Albert replied.

"How long did this happen?" Sylvester asked. "You know what, it doesn't matter when this happened, I'm going to get that bstrd arrested!" Sylvester said and put his phone to his ear and began pacing the room.

"He wasn't alone sire," Albert blurted out and Sylvester turned to face him.

"What do you mean he wasn't alone?" Sylvester asked.

"He came with Stella and two other men," Albert said to him.

"Stella?!" Sylvester let out, his eyes bulging in surprise. "You mean Stella was part of this too?" He asked, taking the phone away from his ear.

"Yes sir. Devon arrived here earlier, looking calm, and said that he just wanted to have a word with you before he started going wild. I asked the guards to throw him out, then Stella came twenty minutes later with two men and then they attacked me at the back gate before the guards came to my rescue." Albert said. Stella hadn't destroyed Sylvester's home but Albert was angry that she had brought in people to attack his boss and when they couldn't get hold of him, they attacked him instead and he wanted to get retribution for that.

"She...she did all these to you?" Sylvester said and touched him on the shoulder for the first time since he came in.

Sylvester was confused as to why she would do such a thing to his butler, he never knew her as a violent person and the only reason he dumped her was because he had caught her cheating.

"Why would she do this to you?" He asked again.

"I don't know!" Albert replied, almost on the verge of tears.

"It's okay, Albert, I'm going to get to the bottom of this. Just clean up this mess and show my guest here to a room, she'll be staying here with us for a while, and make sure you treat her well." Sylvester said, motioning to Melinda.

Albert looked over Sylvester and rested his eyes on Melinda who held a puzzled look on her face, noticing her for the first time.

"Sure boss, I'm going to make her not feel out of place," Albert said sarcastically.

Sylvester didn't wait to respond and began dialing the number again as he walked away from them. ​