Chapter 15

It took the three girls for Yvonne to leave the restroom before they could react, albeit with much chagrin and annoyance.

"Dammit, what arrogance!"

"Yeah, 'dumping Erick'? As if she's qualified to, with the likes of her!"

"Yeah, she should be feeling proud and honored if Erick decides to dump her! Just who does she think she is!"

"Screw this! We must come up with a plan to deal with her, Elmina!"

As the trio of girls set about their insidious plans, Yvonne made her way back to the hall.

Having fulfilled her purpose, she thought it was time she left.

She said her farewells to Old Lady Brown and left a message to Erick to inform him of her departure, before she strode straight out of the ballroom.

Night had come in full sheets of darkness outside, and she needed to traverse a small garden to get to the main road from the ballroom of the House Brown residence. She padded on the soft grass, making her way through the lawn. She had just passed right around the corner when she heard someone speaking on the phone.

Yvonne ignored the voice and kept her pace until she heard a name being mentioned and she froze!

"What else did Mitchell Cook say?" A deep male voice rumbled in the darkness.

Yvonne remained motionless, anxiously holding her breath.

"Mitchell Cook!" The name that she would never forget and nor forgive for the rest of her life!

She hoped to hear more, but the male voice hushed down. The man quickly ended his call and began moving in piecemeal steps towards her.

He stepped out of the shadows and into the moonlight, his angular features looking more prominent in the gossamer glow and his eyes exuding a scalding cold that Yvonne had never seen before in anyone else!

Not even her experience of death before could stop her from shaking at the aura of malice and viciousness that poured from the very being of the Devil's very own incarnation.

He came to a halt before her, his eyes a pair of swirling abysses shining in the dark that Yvonne could not pull herself away from.

Even with her high-heels, he lumbered over her, giving off a suffocating sense of pressure.

With the air around her completely sucked dry, she felt even more afraid.

All the sinister rumors about Damon Brown now filling her mind only made Yvonne's heart thump faster. Struggling to keep her voice calm, she said, "I, I did not know you were speaking on the phone here, Mr. Brown... I, I..."

The moon peered out from the midst of the clouds up above, but with the thick and tall canopy of leafy branches shielding them, only mere slivers of moonlight trickled through.

Damon Brown placed a hand on Yvonne's shoulder, pinning her to a wall. In a still and steely voice, he breathed, "But I don't seem to recall you making any indication of excusing yourself, no?"

His warm breath caressed her head as he spoke. Only, Yvonne felt only cold fear instead of heat.

"Mr. Brown," she squeaked, "I was surprised, that was why I failed to react and move elsewhere."

He ignored her, locking her in a gaze that she could not break. "Tell me," he hissed, "what are your motives for fawning upon House Brown?"

Yvonne shook her head, understanding at last that she must have unknowingly stumbled upon an unknown secret of House Brown that they wished to remain hidden.

"And Damon Brown is going to kill me for me!"

Before she could protest, Damon Brown held her chin, squeezing it gently as he lifted her head.

His head lowered, drawing nearer towards her.

Their lips were but no more than a finger apart; so close they were to each other that she could smell the growing aroma of alcohol from the liquor he drank just now.

His piercing stare burrowed through her as he spoke, whispering like a lover; however, his words, as cold as ice, sliced through her like a blade. "Whatever reasons you have for creeping up to House Brown, remember that so long as I remain, I shall tolerate nothing of your schemes."

"But, but I have no..." Yvonne tried to explain herself before she was interrupted by Damon Brown's movements.

His other hand cupped her waist, pulling her to him that they stuck to each other like glue.

She had never been in love before; Mitchell Cook's courtship of her in her former lifetime felt more like the love between siblings.

When Mitchell Cook had proposed to her, much to her father's joy and agreement, she did have her doubts.

But she listened to them, trusting in their advice that a woman should marry a man who understood her and that one needed not to pursue the most majestic love affair but only a peaceful and happy life with loved ones.

Mitchell Cook had always been with her throughout her entire life, and hence, she accepted the proposal.

Despite their engagement, there was little courtship between them; she kept Mitchell at a distance even though he wanted intimacy that they barely held hands, never mind hugging and kissing.

Restiveness and unease crept into Yvonne as Damon closed in on her. She tried to push him away but to no avail. The man was a mountain.

They might be away from the ballroom, but people might come by and see them...

In a cruel stroke of fate, the approaching footfalls that Yvonne dreaded really came, portending the presence of not one, but several people coming their way.