My Wife For Hire

"You fucking third wheel" The blonde-haired girl screamed, glaring hatefully at Carla who was elegantly chewing on the piece of meat pie.

"Me, a third wheel? This is my man and we have been together for 2 months so what about you? Who are you and why are you acting like a crazy person, pouncing on strangers who don't even know you?" Carla asked, slowly standing up from her seat.

The young man who was sitting on the chair stared at the two of them with wide eyes, he was fidgeting in his seat.

"I'm his ex-girlfriend so I have every right to..."

"So, you are just an ex-girlfriend? Is that why you are acting so stupid? Babe, do you know her?" Carla asked, facing the young man who was stunned at being called upon so suddenly.

"Jerry! Open your fucking mouth and tell this bitch who I am to you?" The blonde yelled, hands on her waist.

Carla scoffed loudly "Was, the keyword is 'was', you are nothing to him anymore so can you please leave this place before I call the securities to drag you disgracefully out of here?" Carla said.

By now, almost everyone in the restaurant was looking at them, some had even raised their cameras to take videos of the interesting scene going on.

"You fucking bitch..." the blonde lady raised her hand to slap Carla but Carla who had long been in this business held her hand firmly and gave her a loud slap.

With a speed visible to the naked eye, red fingerprints appeared on the blonde girl's face.

She stared at Carla, her mouth agape in disbelief and shock.

Meanwhile, Jerry who was standing nearby had an uncomfortable look on his face, his fists were clenched together, almost as if he wanted to pounce on Carla for slapping the blonde girl.

Immediately the Security men came in and dragged the screaming blonde lady out while Carla watched with a satisfied smirk on her lips.

...

"How did you like the drama for today?" Carla asked Jerry immediately they were both out of the restaurant and inside Jerry's car.

"I didn't like it," Jerry said, Carla looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"Why? Aren't you satisfied that I slapped the shit out of your bitchy ex-girlfriend, isn't that what you hired me for?" She asked him in surprise but Jerry shook his head.

"Why did you slap her, even when we were together, I found it hard to lay my hands on her so why did you..." Jerry trailed off, putting on the ignition of the car as they drove out of the parking lot of the restaurant.

The car was a limited edition one and belonged to him, jerry was from a rich family who pampered him and gave him a lot of allowances, but the young boy didn't know where to spend it. He had, on a whim, hired Carla to act as his girlfriend to deal with his ex-girlfriend. He wanted to make her jealous.

"I don't understand what you mean Jerry, I did what you asked me to do," Carla asked, the confusion on her face was apparent.

"But I didn't ask you to slap her!" He yelled.

Carla's eyes widened in disbelief, then she burst into loud laughter.

"Oh my God! Then tell me that you still feel something for your ex. then why did you hire me to deal with her?" She asked.

Jerry glared at her angrily before fumbling around in his pocket, bringing out a 100-dollar bill "Take this, it is your payment" he said.

Carla took the money from him and frowned when she saw it was just 100 dollars.

"It's not complete, we agreed on one thousand dollars," she said but all she received was a scoff from Jerry.

"I told you according to our terms and conditions, I wasn't satisfied with the services you gave me so of course I'm going to pay you less than what we agreed on"

"You fucking bastard!" Carla yelled angrily.

The car which had been moving steadily earlier screeched to a stop in the middle of the road, Carla who didn't have time to put on her seat belt found herself almost hitting her head on the airbag.

"Are you crazy?" She asked, holding her beating heart.

"Get out of my car," Jerry said with gritted teeth.

Carla raised her hands in surrender when she saw that he was serious about it.

She got down from the car with her bag, once the door was shut, the red Lamborghini shot out like an arrow, blowing smoke on Carla's face.

Carla glared at the speeding car, an angry look on her face.

"Stupid jerk!" She cursed angrily, kicking a stone on the road frustratingly.

Carla sighed and looked around, thinking of how she would get home, her house was two junctions away and it would cost her a sum of money to get there.

Thinking of money, she looked at her hands and realized that she had forgotten the 100 dollars in Jerry's car, more like it had fallen from her hand while she was arguing with him.

The look on her face changed to a crying one instantly. She was so disappointed that she couldn't take another step.

"Oh my God! So, I wasted all my efforts" She sighed and fell on the floor, her head buried in her thighs.

"That bastard! He couldn't even give me up to half of what he promised, and now the little change he gave me is also gone." She was weak to her bones.

"I'm already running out of money and Gianna is in the hospital, what am I going to do now", she lamented, thinking of her sick and dying friend in the hospital. A tear rolled down her cheeks.

Carla sniffed and wiped her face as she raised her head. Just as she was about to stand up from the floor, a car passed by speedily, and what followed next was a large amount of dirty water splashing on her.

Damn!

Carla wasn't only wet, she stunk.

She had been baptized by the water from the roadside and it was dripping from her hair and clothes, some of it even slid down her collarbone and into her clothes.

"Shit! Hey! Mr.!" she yelled, running after the car while still dripping wet. She was determined not to let this person go today.

But the people in the car didn't hear her, so they didn't stop. Instead, the car picked up speed.

Carla who was feeling vengeful ran after it with all her strength.

Luckily for her, the car slowed down at a fancy-looking restaurant and then drove into the parking lot.

Carla bent in a corner, watching the luxurious-looking car drive into the parking lot while seriously jotting down the colour, model, and plate number in her head.

She bent down there, waiting patiently, unaware of the red blinking light of the CCTV camera behind her which was capturing her.

A few minutes later, Carla stood up from her hiding place and walked into the parking lot. As soon as she spotted the car, she hurried toward it and knelt beside it, but not before looking around to make sure no one was watching.

She brought out her house keys, popping out the small key holder knife.

With precise ease, Carla slid down the blades through the tyres, watching with a satisfied smirk as the tyres deflated slowly.

Carla did this to the other remaining three tyres before she went to the side of the car and scratched out in bold letters, "Payback".

After doing all this, she ran out of the parking lot, unaware that the CCTV camera had captured everything she had done.

....

"Nice doing business with you Mr Lee"

Elijah firmly shook the palm of the Chinese businessman opposite him.

The Asian man was so full of smiles on his face as he reciprocated the handshake.

"Can we have dinner together?" Mr. Lee asked in Chinese.

Elijah was about to say yes but one glare from his assistant who tapped heavily on his wristwatch watch reminded him that he was running out of time.

"I don't think it would be today Mr. Lee, but my secretary would take my place" Elijah offered with a polite smile, pushing forward the beautiful and smart-looking lady who also smiled sweetly.

Though the man was unhappy because of the way Elijah had declined his offer, he had no other choice but to agree still wearing a smile.

After bidding each other goodbye.

Elijah and his assistant hurried out.

"How many hours do I have left?" Elijah asked, putting on his suit jacket.

"Hours? You barely have 30 minutes left" James whispered.

Elijah was amused at his assistant's reaction "And so? Is that why you have been such a drama queen?"

James glared hatefully at Elijah "Of course yes I have to be a drama queen, this is the most important group of suppliers, coming all the way to India, without mica, your plans with the Chinese won't be able to be pushed forward" James reminded.

Elijah frowned "Hope they are trustworthy. Did you investigate them?" He asked.

"Of course, yes I did" James replied, pulling out a bound bundle of papers and giving them to Elijah.

Elijah didn't go through them, he just got into the car and relaxed, planning to do so in the car.

"Uhm, we have a problem boss" James' doubtful voice came from outside of the car.

"What's going on James, still being a drama queen?" Elijah asked with an eye roll.

"I think you need to come out and see this"

Elijah sighed and got down from the car "What is it this time, I don't know why you keep on acting like this..."

He trailed off, his eyes widened in shock.

"Damn, who the fuck did this!" He screeched.

James who was standing nearby shrugged "I don't know, but it seems that you really will be late for your meeting"

...

"How have you been feeling all this while, hope you are getting better?" Carla asked, carelessly dropping the bag of groceries she was carrying on the table.

Gianna sat up weakly from the hospital bed and frowned at the sight of Carla "Why are you here, shouldn't you be in school by now?"

Carla frowned slowly before shaking her head "I have no classes today"

She opened the bag and brought out the plate of delicious-looking fruit salad.

Because of her sickness, the doctor had placed Gianna on light food so all she usually had was either fruits or infusions.

"I told you to stop bringing this" Gianna admonished but Carla rolled her eyes.

"If I don't bring it then who would do so for you?" She asked

She opened the plate and fed Gianna the fruits slowly.

Gianna chewed the fruit thoughtfully, after a few bites, she pushed the plate away.

"I'm full"

"Full! But you have only eaten at most 5 spoons" Carla replied with a frown. She looked at the plate of fruit again and frowned heavily when she saw that it looked untouched. Gianna hadn't eaten even a quarter of it.

"I know but I can't eat anymore, my stomach hurts so badly," Gianna said. Carla looked up in a panic and indeed, Gianna's face was squeezed in pain and tiny beads of sweat were already gathering on her pale forehead signifying that she was in pain.

"Damn!" Carla cussed loudly, she pressed the red button by the bedside and a few moments later, the doctor rushed in with his troop of nurses.

Carla was asked to leave the ward by the nurses while Gianna was being tended to.

Carla sat on the chair outside, her face tucked in her palms as she sobbed.

"Are you the relative of the patient?" A voice asked.

Carla raised her head with blurry eyes and stared at the nurse, nodding her head.

"The doctor wants to see you now," she said

Carla stood up, following the nurse to the doctor's office.

...

"The patient's condition has gotten critical"

This was the first thing the doctor said immediately Carla was comfortably seated on the chair.

Carla tensed up, her fists clenched as she stared at the doctor "What do you mean sir?" She asked.

"The cancer has spread rapidly throughout her stomach. The speed is much faster than any I have ever seen"

"Oh my God!" A sob escaped from Carla's lips, she covered her mouth with her palms and tears rolled down my cheeks.

"Doctor, can you please do something about it? Please save her life" Carla cried. She was almost kneeling for him at the end of her sentence.

The doctor shook his head pitifully, "There's nothing else we can do right now apart from what I mentioned earlier. To sustain her life, she needs to undergo chemotherapy every week to reduce the number of cancerous cells" he explained.

Carla whimpered painfully, she was sad about the situation and glad at the same time that there was a way to help her friend. All hope was not lost.

"So, how much does the weekly chemotherapy cost?" she asked expectantly.

"3000 dollars per week"

"What?"

"This is all I found on the thing you asked me to do"

Elijah took the file from James, trying so hard to ignore the pouting look on his assistant's face.

He opened the file, about to flip to the first page but the side vision of James standing beside his working desk itched his eyes.

"Why are you still standing here?" Elijah asked.

"Why don't you stop giving me all these things to do, it's not in my work scope," he said.

Elijah paused and raised his brows. "Really? Do you have a work scope? I thought my mother just brought you here to do things for me?" He asked.

James puffed up and glared at Elijah angrily.

"Not exactly Mr. Elijah Devon, have you forgotten what I applied for... to be your assistant! And not to be a private stalker for you" he screamed.

Elijah scoffed "But before you didn't care about it, why are you bothered now?" Elijah asked with an amused smile.

"That's because the previous ones were all our business partners and potentials, who is this that you asked me to investigate? A young lady who acts as a girlfriend for people in exchange for money! Damn! This is the Lowest of it all, do you know how bad I felt snooping around her private life? I know that she was the one who punctured your tires but you shouldn't be so petty!" James said all this in one breath and at the end of this statement, he was breathing heavily and his fists were clenched.

Elijah burst into loud laughter, his hands cupped on his mouth as he tried so hard to stifle his laughter "Is that why you have been squeezing your face all this while? Damn, you are fucking funny man" he hiccuped.

"I'm really serious Elijah, don't do anything stupid to her, I know exactly what you're capable of," James breathed.

"I'm not that evil, I just want to teach her a little lesson," Elijah said, he slowly stood up from the chair he was seated on.

He placed his hand on James' shoulder, patting him slowly.

"You don't have to be so dramatic about this, why don't you go back to work."

James exhaled loudly before he nodded and walked out of the office.

Elijah watched as his assistant left his office. Once the door of the office was closed, he smirked and picked up his phone that was on the table, he dialled a number and it rang for some time before someone picked it up.

"Hello, Desmond law firm on the line"

"Cut the act, Desy, I need you to draw up an important contract for me"

...

Through the glass window, Carla watched the comatose Gianna, a sad smile on her face.

She stretched out her hand placing it on the glass while she longingly stared at Gianna as if she would magically open her eyes.

She was scared that the cancer had eaten too deep, but still prayed and hoped that her friend survived it.

After going through repeated resuscitation, the doctor deemed her situation very critical therefore she was taken to the ICU where she would be under intensive care and treatment.

Gianna and Carla had been friends since they were kids.

Carla was an orphan but Gianna lived with her alcoholic mother.

The two of them attended the same school and immediately clicked when they found out they had a lot of things in common.

When Gianna was just 16 years old, her alcoholic mother died of liver cancer. Everyone thought it was because of the alcohol, not knowing that it was hereditary stuff. If only she had insisted on Gianna going to the hospital for a check-up then, the story would probably be different now. The poor girl had been through a lot after losing her mother and now this.

"She's going to be fine. Once you deposit 1000 dollars, the chemotherapy will commence instantly" the nurse who had just finished checking Gianna's vital signs said.

Carla, who had been jolted out of her thoughts thanked her politely with a small smile. Once the nurse went away, the look on her face changed to a bitter one.

It was not a matter of making the deposit rather, it was having the money. She didn't have that kind of money at the moment.

If she had the money, she would have made the deposit right away or even made an upfront payment.

With one last look, Carla turned and left the Hospital worried.

...

"Where are you Carla, the landlady is seriously angry!" This was the first thing Carla heard when she answered the call.

"Good day to you too, Daisy, what is going on and why are you screaming?" She asked, the lady Daisy was her neighbour in the same building and they were a bit friendly to each other.

"Why are you asking me this when your house is literally on fire!" Daisy's loud voice rang, and Carla winced, moving the phone a little bit further from her ears.

"On fire? How? Daisy? Are you there? Tell me what's going on, you're scaring the hell out of me." She asked.

"Just hurry home right now, you need to see for yourself," Daisy said and hung up.

Carla picked up her pace, rushing towards the bus stop, luckily for her, there was a bus heading in the direction of her house, so she hurriedly paid and got in.

A few minutes later, the bus stopped and Carla got down. She rushed towards the building where she lived.

On arriving, she noticed that her other neighbours were outside and staring at something as if they were staring at a joke.

"Thank God you are here, that old Hag is already going crazy" Daisy panted, rushing towards Carla immediately after she saw Carla.

"What's actually going on?" Carla asked with confusion.

"I think you need to see it for yourself," Daisy said, dragging Carla to the inner part of the compound.

The sight Carla saw broke her heart and at the same time embarrassed her.