Chapter Nine - The blackmail
Laura's POV
"You acted really strange today Laura, even Brooks thought the same thing too." Kendrick said as we strolled the garden of his family house. His father was out so we had to wait until he got back from wherever he went.
Kendrick suggested that we strolled for a little bit, honestly I wanted to refuse because I just badly wanted to see what Reginald had texted to me this time but at the same I could not refuse because that would only make Kendrick more suspicious of me. He knew I liked walks, refusing to stroll would be really weird to him.
"What are you talking about this time?" I groaned in frustration. Kendrick halted in his steps and so did I. I drifted my gaze towards his direction "Why did we stop?" I asked.
Kendrick sighed heavily in response. "Laura, we can still rethink this decision. You know I will always support whatever you say. If you still want us to hold the marriage then say the word and I promise you that our marriage will hold regardless of whatever is going on around us. What matters the most is if we are both ready. I am, so what about you?" Kendrick ranted.
I rubbed the back of my neck in frustration. I wished I could tell Kendrick about everything. I badly wanted to tell him about Reginald but that was another chapter of my life that I was not willing to open. Reginald reminded me of pain, horror and sadness.
"See what I am talking about, Laura please let me know if you are hurting." Kendrick said with pleading eyes. I sighed heavily. "Kendrick, we have to put the wedding on hold, I suggested it so you have no reason to feel guilty at all." I said.
Kendrick shook his head in disagreement. "I do not feel guilty. I just feel worried, if the wedding is a stress...." I interrupted him hastily. "This has nothing to do with the wedding, like I said, I am doing fine so can you just let it slide?" I yelled at him, cutting him off halfway, of course my intentions had not been to yell at him but I was so frustrated right now and Kendrick was only worsening the situation by his constant reminders of the wedding. I knew he was only doing all of that because he cared but it still seemed like a disturbance to me.
"Fine, have it your way." He snapped at me. I wanted to apologize but it was too late, Kendrick's father's SUV car pulled into the driveway, the sound of the engine interrupted me even before I could utter a single word.
He got out of the car alongside a few other men dressed in black who most likely happened to be his bodyguards.
Kendrick's father halted in his steps right in front of us, he took off his sunglasses and raised a brow at us. "What can I help you both with?" He snapped at us. He was still mad at us because the other day we had refused to call off the marriage.
"We are here to discuss the marriage, Laura and I are putting it on hold like you suggested." Kendrick said in a haste. From the look of things, I had a feeling that Kendrick was desperate to leave this place and so was I.
"Let us discuss it inside the house." His father suggested, to my uttermost surprise, Kendrick refused. "I am busy trying to catch a criminal, if you have anything to discuss then you might as well discuss it with Laura or pass it as a text message." Kendrick said. He bowed his head respectfully at his father and slowly began to walk away. I had a feeling that I was the real reason behind Kendrick's nasty attitude towards his father. He had suddenly switched up after I had accidentally yelled at him.
Kendrick's father turned to me. "You both can come back when you are in a good mood." He said and slowly walked away from me.
I hastily made my way towards Kendrick's car. I got into the front seat and averted my gaze to Kendrick. "What are you doing Kendrick? We are supposed to explain things to your father. We agreed on that, right?" I raised a brow at him. Kendrick ignored me, he started the car engine and drove roughly into the busy streets.
"Kendrick!" I called out his name.
"We already talked to him, Laura , so I do not understand what you are talking about. We made it clear to him that the wedding will be on a hold. It will be easy for you to reach your family and break the news to them. What else should I do that I haven't already done?" Kendrick exclaimed, his eyes never leaving the road for once.
I had not given him a response. I kept quiet until we arrived at our destination. Kendrick offered to drop me at home but the last thing I wanted to do was sleep in the house by myself. Instead, I told him I'd spend the night at his place and thankfully he had not refused.
We stepped into the house and Kendrick made his way to his room pretending like I was not even in the house with him.
I sighed heavily as I threw myself on the couch, I was suddenly reminded of Reginald again and I knew this was the perfect time to check what other text he had sent.
With a racing heart and a hitched breath, I fetched my phone out of my purse and glared at the broken screen. It got broken when it fell from my hand back at the cafe.
I stared at my phone screen with my eyes wide open as I slowly read the text in a low tone "It's been a long while Laura, have you been well...." I paused to shut my eyes close for a brief moment before proceeding to read the rest of the text.
"I heard you are engaged to a wealthy billionaire guy named Kendrick, it means you are doing well. You see that video of us, if you do not want it getting to your billionaire fiance then you had better send an amount of four million dollars now or else...you know what will happen."
Four what!?
Four million dollars?
Where was I supposed to get such a huge amount of money?