MAYA'S POV

“Can.. cancer?” I said with shaking voice, I wanted to make sure I had heard properly

“Yes ma'am, and the sooner she starts treatment the better” the doctor said without emotions

I fell to my knees, I wish it was a dream, I raised my hand and slapped my face consistently so I can wake up but everything stayed the same

“Maya” my father said as he held my hand with tears all his face

My eyes were blur with tears

“How do I find the money for her treatment? These jobs aren't paying enough! What did mother do to deserve this..she doesn't deserve this daddy” I cried even more, I didn't care about the eyes that were on me

“Maya let's go home” my father said in the weakest tone I had ever heard him say

“ I don't know what to do, I'm helpless” I said

I had remember wailing in the hospital floors but I woke up to myself at home, on my bed

“Maybe it was a dream” I said to myself as I opened my eyes, I placed one leg on the floor when I saw it, it isn't a dream. The medical report was on my table, I felt my heart sinking deeper as tho it was beating thrice than it was supposed to.

I moved to my shabby table and refreshed my gmail with all eagerness until I saw a new notification, it was from one of the companies I had applied to

“Good day …with respect to the job application…we are sorry" I shut the laptop close, I didn't know when another burst of tears started again

“Why me? Why us? What did we do to deserve this?” I sobbed

“Maya?” My father called from across the room with a weak voice.

This is the same man that lit up the room everywhere he goes, that always had everything under control and had solutions for every problem but now he's helpless, he doesn't know what to do. After the collapse of Whitfield & Associates three years ago, everything hasn't been the same, my father had turned from a man who solved other people's problems to one who couldn't solve his own.

“Maya, you should eat something” he said as he walked towards me with a plate of food, it looked really boring, the memories of how we ate together in the dining as a happy family flashed and my chest felt tighter, I didn't know when the tears resurfaced

“Maya please, if you continue at this rate you'll fall sick” my father said as he dropped the plate and held me close

“I'm sorry, I'm really sorry Maya” my father said “it's all my fault” my father said

“no daddy no, it isn't your fault”

“If I hadn't taken that client years ago we wouldn't have been here, it's all my fault for being too stupid and-”

“Daddy stop!” I shouted “it's not for fault for doing what you were supposed to do, they should be the one feeling this guilt you're currently feeling not you”

That's when another devastating news hit me

“We're losing the house” he said

“what? The house?”

“The bank called, we're three months behind” he didn't look at my face

“There has to be something we can do”

Ding!

A notification from my laptop came I rushed over to it and opened it as fast as I could

“Kane global: Executive position opportunity”

I gasped for air and stared at the subject like it might disappear if I blinked.

Kane Global, the name carried weight, headlines, skyscrapers and ran a cold shiver down the body anytime it's spoken of. My hands were shaking as I opened it

Dear Ms. Whitfield, following your application for our Finance division, we would like to invite you for an interview regarding an alternative position within our Executive team…

This wasn't the role I applied for, I had applied for a finance role but I got something higher with a larger salary, it was enough even more than enough to save the house, the hospital bill, to stand back on our feet

I screamed out aloud “this is it! This is it! I got it daddy, I got it”

My father whose face was taken over by darkness somehow lit up for the first time in a long time

“What? I? Got what Maya?” He stuttered

“I got the job at Kane Global” I said excitedly

His face dimmed and got even more darker

“Maya no” he said firmly

I paused and looked at him

“What?”

“Haven't you heard of the tales of the Kanes? The people who disappeared, their shady business?” He paused “I can't send my only child there no matter how desperate I am” he said and sat on my bed

“ Daddy this is what we've always wanted, a high paying job to relieve us from all these stress all these pains”

“Even tho Maya, the Kanes are dangerous and what if something happens to you these? I'm already helpless right now and I'll not sit and watch my family become even more miserable, you have to decline that offer and I know other companies will hire you, you're very smart”

“No!” I cut him “this is the opportunity we've desperately been searching for and now I have it I wouldn't let anything make me lose it! This is our opportunity to pay off our debt, save this house that I grew up in and save mother, mother is suffering at the hospital daddy and these bills keep piling up, I don't care what shady business the Kanes are running, I am there to work my path and make my money and daddy I'm sorry but there's nothing you can do to convince me to decline this offer I'm sorry” I said as I sat down back in front of my laptop

Just then my phone rings, it was my best friend Ava

“Hello, any luck?” She said from the other end almost immediately

“Guess what?” I said excitedly

“You haven't been this excited in a long time!! You got a response back”

“I got even bigger, I got an offer to work closely with the CEO as his personal assistant with an even larger salary, this is it Ava” I said as tears of joy burst out from my eyes

She was silent

“Hello” I said to confirm she was still at the other end

“Maya” she said softly “haven't you heard of the bad news around kane’s global? The disappearance of people around them and their illegal business?”

“Noo no no! Don't do that Ava! Not you too not you too!! You're behaving like my father right now and I don't like it! Are you guys not seeing this is what we need to change everything around for good? Why are you both behaving like this”

“Maya this isn't what you need, we're being like this for your own safety, you're already in a mess and working with Kane Global will lead to even more mess that you didn't sign up for” Ava said

“I don't care about anybody's opinion anymore, I'm not going to sit and watch this one time opportunity slip from my hand, I have better things to do, bye!” I said as I hung up the phone

I became angry that nobody gets me, nobody is getting the point

I typed my reply with trembling fingers

I would be honored to interview for the position, thank you for the opportunity

I hit send before I could talk myself out of it unaware that somewhere across the city in an office more colder and darker than anything I could imagine, my name had already been noticed and once Adrian Kane noticed something, he never let it go.