Maya is wondering whether the caller is a man or a woman because it uses a voice changer."What do you want me to do?" she felt so nervous.
"Destroy Clifford and Ingrid"s relationship. Your job is to think of whatever you can do to tear down their relationship. Except that you cannot kill them. And most importantly you can never let anyone know about this. If ever you are caught, you should shut your mouth or I"ll kill your precious daughter."
Maya"s hands are shaking. "W-why me? and why do you want to destroy their relationship? Who the h.e.l.l are you?!" she inquired nervously.
"Well, I happened to know that you hated Ingrid because she insulted you and she is the very first woman who captured Clifford"s attention, and I know that you are of those women vying for Clifford"s attention before. At your demise, you did not succeed instead he"s disgusted with you and he would not even lay his eyes on you. Consider this as consolation to your unrequited love." The caller laughed sarcastically.
Maya Holmes was shocked.
Indeed it was true that she was in love with Clifford. It happened six years ago, when she was still starting up as a reporter, she saw him in one of the events that she was covering for a local television news. She was so attracted to Clifford that she did not notice that she was already on air. Fortunately, she covered mistake and from then on she would often stalk him around just to get a glimpse of him. Would often borrowed money to anybody just to show off before Clifford but to no avail, he never took notice of her nor laid his eyes on her, not even once.
On one occasion, she was so drunk because of her misery. Her drunken state gave her the reason to approach Clifford. She looked for him everywhere and saw him drinking alone in an exclusive bar. She gathered her courage to draw near him.
"Just one touch, Cliff. Just give this chance to touch your face." she mumbled out of desperation.
Clifford did not notice her because she was approaching from behind him. As she was drawing near, she attempted to touch Clifford, but before she could even reach it, someone blocked her and tosses her to the side.
"Don"t you come near my master, miss. You are so disgusting."
She did not see who tossed her but all she felt so pitiful at that moment, she could sobbed quietly covering her face.
All of the people present that night witnessed what happened and murmured among themselves. Because of shame, she could no longer stand up, but somewhere, someone grabbed her right arm and steady her feet. Maya could smell some breath of alcohol emitted from the man"s breath. Regrettably, she has no clear remembrance of the man who helped since her eyes were blurry because of tears.
The man did not utter any single word but just supporting her as they walk. Her mind was still focused on the stinging pain her heart felt at the moment. She was so drunk that she did have no strength to protest what the man was doing to her.
The next morning, her body was sore all over because of the rigorous "exercise" they did last night. Her head was throbbing in pain, too, because of the hangover.
"UGH!" she shrieked in pain and felt so dizzy. When the pain subsided, she opened her eyes and looked around only to find out that she was just alone and a bundle of cash was left.
She screamed when she saw it and threw the pillows on the floor and punched the bed many times while she cries. She even did not know who that man was.
"Someday, you"ll gonna pay for this Clifford Briggs!" she swore.
...
The Howards was in the den, watching some local news. Rose was anxious over her daughter"s situation.
"John, what are you planning to do?" worry could be seen in her eyes for her daughter and her grandson.
"I don"t know yet, Rose. I need to speak to Ingrid first. I still need to listen to her first because coming up for a solution."
Rose wanted to say something when she was interrupted by the butler.