Chapter 4
Words cannot describe the pain I felt at this horrible realization. I gripped the doorknob harder, shaking the door with what seemed like the remaining strength in my filing system, but all was futile.
Cecilia had reeled me in this time. My legs were too weak to carry the weight of my body, my breath coming out short and erratic, and my eyes also falling dim.
I turned around and dashed towards the dresser on the left side of the room, falling to my knees as I pulled it open. With my ceasing breath and dilating eyes, I started rummaging through the contents on the shelf in an attempt to find an unfinished tablet, but there was none. There was no medicine for me to use!
I placed my head on my lap as my throat burst into a tirade of sobs, my heart nearly tearing at the sides as the pain shot through my body. I had been a slave to Cecily all my life, but I never expected her to do something this bad to me.
I remained on the floor in the room crying until my phone suddenly beeped with a message notification. Having forgotten totally about my phone, I hurriedly reached into my pocket and pulled it out, but what I saw next took the breath out of my lungs.
I have been unconscious for 3 days! The date on the screen was not in tally with that of the day I went to the hospital. The weakness I had been feeling and the attack from Cecily had weakened my nervous system.
No, this was not good. If I had been asleep for two days, that meant I had less than twenty-four hours to evacuate the apartment before Mason Blackwood would come looking for me.
I reached into the corner beside the shelf and pulled out a hammer, but I was too weak to stand up and head to the door. Where would I even go if I left the room? Cecily had stolen my money; I was back to square one— with no money, no medicine, and no roof over my head.
Just then another notification entered my phone. I dropped the hammer and picked up my phone again. It was a message from an online blog I was following on Celespace, the biggest social media platform in the land.
I clicked on the headline, and it took me to the main post, where there was a picture of a man dressed in a suit, surrounded by media reporters and members of the paparazzi. I scanned the news with my weak eyes, but when I suddenly caught something unexpected, I wiped the business of my eyes with the back of my hand and adjusted my system position
The headline read thus,
BILLIONAIRE MASON BLACKWOOD IN TROUBLE. HE FACES MISOGYNIST ALLEGATIONS AND STANDS TO LOSE HIS CORPORATION IF HE REFUSES TO APPEAL TO THE PUBLIC.
A gasp escaped from my throat and I clicked on the full news immediately.
THE YOUNGEST BILLIONAIRE IN THE COUNTRY AND THE FOURTH IN THE WORLD STANDS TO LOSE HIS ACCEPTANCE OF HIS MISOGYNIST BEHAVIOR. IT HAS BEEN WIDELY CONFIRMED THAT MASON BLACKWOOD HATES WOMEN AND WOULD STOP AT NOTHING TO UNDERMINE THE IMPORTANCE OF WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD.
THE PUBLIC HAS BEEN NOTICING AWKWARD BEHAVIOR WITH THIS MAN AS IT IS EVIDENCED BY HIS SHORT LIVED RELATIONSHIPS AND MULTIPLE SEXUAL SCANDALS. BUT WE CAME TO A REAL UNDERSTANDING WHEN HE RECENTLY GOT INTO A RIFT WITH MADAM WINIFRED DANIELS, THE FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF HAPPY MOMENTS, ONE OF THE BIGGEST WINE COMPANY IN THE LAND.
MADAM WINIFRED CLAIMED THAT MASON BLACKWOOD USED HIS INFLUENCE TO DEPRIVE HER OF A CONTRACT, USING HER GENDER AS LEVERAGE. MADAM WINIFRED SAID THAT MASON BLACKWOOD TOLD HER STRAIGHT TO HER FACE THAT HE DOESN'T BELIEVE AND WOULD NEVER BELIEVE THAT A FRAIL GENDER COULD HOLD AN EMPIRE.
SHE SAID HE WENT AHEAD TO ACCUSER OF BEING A LEECH WHO WOULD NOT HAVE STOOD ON HER FEET IF SHE HAD NOT HAD SUPPORT FROM MULTIPLE LOVERS.
MADAM WINIFRED IS NOT TAKING IT LIGHTLY WITH MASON BLACKWOOD, AS SHE HAS GONE AHEAD TO SUE HIM FOR DEFAMATION AND HARASSMENT.
THE PUBLIC KINDLY AWAITS THE RECOMPENSE THAT WILL BE GIVEN TO THIS MAN.
THEY HAVE BEGUN TO BOYCOTT HIS PRODUCTS IN THE MARKET ALREADY, LEADING TO A DECLINE IN HIS STOCK AND SALES. THE MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC INTEND TO CONTINUE WITH THIS UNTIL THE BLACKWOOD CORPORATION IS NOTHING TO BE HEARD OF.
After reading the news, I scrolled up, reading the comments and I nearly cringed at the intensity of the hatred radiating from the people. It became obvious that the public had been nursing anger towards Mason for as long as he began his career. He had truly gotten into sexual scandals and it might as well not be denied that he hated women.
I shook my head, feeling sympathy towards Mason as I exited the news and continued scrolling through the other news on the blog. In less than 5 seconds, my eyes landed on another news; this time, the headlines were more striking than the first.
MASON BLACKWOOD DECRIES MISOGYNISTIC ACCUSATIONS AS HE SETS TO MARRY.
I hurriedly clicked on the news and started reading.
MASON BLACKWOOD IS PROVING TO THE WORLD THAT HE IS NOT A WOMAN HATER. HE HAS ANNOUNCED IS WEDDING ON HIS CELESPACE ACCOUNT WITH A PICTURE OF SOPHIE BENNETT, THE LADY HE IS PREPARING TO GET MARRIED TO.
“What!” I screamed, my heart jerking up in my chest. Wait, I said to myself in a placating manner. Maybe there is another Sophie Bennett; my name was quite common, so there is a high chance that there were a lot of people who bear the name.
I discarded the news and went straight to Mason's account, and there, to my utter dismay, was an AI-enhanced picture of me and Mason in matching outfits, in what seemed like a pre-wedding picture.
I didn't know where the strength came from, but I rose to my feet, struggling to keep my phone from falling out of my trembling hands.
What was going on? I asked myself if I was dreaming or perhaps I had died from my illness and was now in heaven or somewhere that impossible things manifested.
As I was struggling to make sense of my discovery, I suddenly heard footsteps rushing towards the door, and before I could process what was happening, the door of the room burst open.
“There she is,” a loud voice cried out. “She is not dead!”
I looked up to see a man pointing at me, and after my brain registered the new turn of events, I saw that it was one of the men who had come with a mason the other day to demolish the house.
A pushed the now destroyed door aside and dashed towards me.
“Miss Sophia Bennett is alive sir," he cried out again. She has only been hiding in one of the bedrooms.”
“I wasn't hiding!” I screamed out, moving backward. “My step-sister locked me inside here, and it has been 2 days now. I am not trying to avoid the court summon. I was just preparing to pack my loads and leave the house for you, to do with as you please.”
“Please, I am not here for that.”
At the sound of the oddly familiar voice, my eyes darted up to find Mason stepping over the debris of the broken door and walking into the room. “I have been looking for you Sophie,” he said gently.
“No!” I retorted defiantly. “You didn't need to look for me. I was just preparing to leave your house.”
“No, no it is not that.” He stopped and drew in a deep breath, running his hand through his messy hair, and grimacing in frustration.
“I am not here to charge you to court or force you to leave this place.” He said. “I have more pressing matters at hand and as it seems, you are the only one who can help me.”
“I don't understand what you are saying,” but he was already moving closer to me.
The mode of the atmosphere was not one I could name, but in all, I could feel the longing and the distant loneliness in Mason's aura. This might not be the appropriate time, but I remembered how he reacted to seeing me the first time he came here and how he intentionally touched my hair and my face.
I used the chance to access Mason Blackwood's appearance then. He was wearing a black T-shirt and black jogger shorts.
It was the first time I would be seeing him in regular clothes, but the dark bags under his eyes indicated something else.
“I have gotten into trouble, Sophie, and I need you to assist me. A hate train has begun on me, and my empire is on the brink of collapsing. Every day, I receive rejection emails from my clients. I am dying, Sophie, and I need you to help me.”
“Is that why you posted my picture online lying that we are engaged to be married?”
“Yes,” he answered, dipping his hand into his pocket and fishing out a ring.
“I need us to get married now and I need you to announce to the world that you are 3 months pregnant with my child. I already have the fake pregnancy results and the most famous doctor in the land to testify to it. Once this hate train dies down, which should be in 5 months. We will divorce quietly. You get to keep your mother's house and the sum of $2 million for your troubles.”
“What!” I exclaimed. “What are you talking about?”
“I am asking you to marry me, Sophie,” he said, gripping my hands. “I am requesting a contract marriage”