Forty Four

💜Unugwa 💛

We arrived home in the company of one of the policemen Mr Lewis brought. Andy would be to taken home and a trusted doctor would be appointed to take care of him.

Anibe: I feel hungry

Me: you always feel hungry

We climbed the facade and entered the front door. The policeman had followed us in and mom was surprised to see us with him. Maybe she thought we caused some sort of trouble

Mom: any problem?

Anibe : no, they just accompanied us back

Mom: what about the guards?

Me: long story

Mom: what?

Anibe : mom calm down

Policeman : since you both are safe here, I will be going now

Anibe : thanks for your help

They shook hands

Policeman: well, take care

He left and I sat on the cushion chair

Mom: what happened there?

Me: that my friend, gunmen came to attack him too

Mom: what?

Anibe : and they are from the same Daniel's dad, I recognized one of them

Mom: what is the problem with this man? Is he insane? And why would he attack your friend?

Me: when dad removed him, I think he replaced him with Andy's father. He's just trying to take revenge

Mom: he's a psychopath. A real psychopath. Wasn't he the one who stole from us in the first place?

Anibe: mom you said dad is on his way?

She rubbed her forehead then sat down

Mom: yes. He's already in the plane. He'll be here in a few hours

Anibe : I'm hungry

Mom glared at him

Mom: don't go and fast. You're surrounded by enemies who want your hand and you're thinking about food

Anibe: if I wasn't the son of a rich man I would be safe

Me: I can't imagine you being the son of a poor man. You'll eat him up

Mom : the both of you should just go upstairs and wait for dinnertime before you come down

Anibe: so now we're under arrest in our own house. It's not fair

He stood up from the chair and pulled me up

Anibe : let's go. We have something to talk about

He then pulled me up the stairs like I couldn't walk on my own

💜💛Daniel💜💛

I paced around my room.

In my whole life I've never been threatened. Instead I do the threatening

Dad threatened me to either bring Unugwa to him or I lose my mom. I know it's weird but I can't lose that woman. She means a lot to me now. She's innocent and doesn't even deserve to be behind bars

What I'm I going to do?

Certainly I can't bring Unugwa to him. First, how will I even do that? She's still very angry with me. Secondly, even if I succeed in convincing her to come see me, will I have the heart to see her taken away by my father's men. Thirdly, do I even trust this father of mine? What if he hurts her? What if he kills her after receiving the ransom?

No no. I can't comply with him. I can't

I fell on my bed, regretting why I came back to the Philippines in the first place.

💛💜Eden💜💛

Me: have you made up your mind?

Daniel: I'm sorry dad, I'm not going to allow you hurt Unugwa

Me: okay. So you're choosing to not bring her to me

Daniel: yes

I nodded and picked my phone. I dialed a number

📱 hello, detective. I want you to eliminate Rebeca Manois. Don't let her see the light of tomorrow. When it's done, I'll pay you

Then I hung up. Daniel's face spelt terror

Daniel: dad please don't! Please! Don't hurt mom again. I'm begging you

Me: so you beg? I'm sorry, it's too late.

I began to walk away from his room

Daniel: fine! I'll bring you the black girl. But just tell your police friend not to kill my mom

I smirked

Me: that's my boy

I dialed his number again

📱 don't do it again. I changed my mind

I hung up and he breathed in

Me: you have two days

He nodded and I left the room

I got word that my men didn't succeed in killing Mr Lewis son. One got shot dead and the other was arrested. They're going to try and get words from his mouth. But I'm always one step ahead of them

One of my policemen has already taken care of him.

💛💜Unugwa💜💛

I was filing my nails when my door just opened

Anibe : dad's back

I jumped down from the bed and ran out of the room. Anibe and I raced down the stairs and quickly stood in the living room.

Anibe : I'll go welcome him in

Me: I'm scared

Anibe : don't be. He's not Eden Alberto

I chuckled and he kissed my forehead and went outside. I calmed down. Whenever Anibe kisses my forehead, I feel calm because it means he cares.

Mom and Chubi came down the stairs

Mom: your dad is back?

Me: yes

I sat down and Chubi sat beside me. Mom began to walk towards the door

Chubi: I know you're feeling bad. Because you feel this is all your fault. But it's not, you just wanted to help and he just had bad plans from the beginning. I know in the end, good always defeats bad

Me: sometimes I thank God for you. You're a darling

Chubi: sometimes

I laughed and hugged him then kissed his forehead

Chubi: dad!

He jumped down and ran into dad's arms. Dad carried him up in the air

Dad: ahhh you've gained weight. You're getting bigger

Chubi chuckled and dad dropped him. I stood up

Me: welcome dad

I was fondling my fingers

Dad: when did you start welcoming me at a distance of three metres?

I smiled shyly and walked to him then hugged him

Me: welcome back dad

His strong arms encircled me

Dad: I'm glad you're safe dear

I disengaged from the hug and smiled.

Dad: I'll go and shower first then we'll talk.

I nodded. Mom took his luggage from Anibe and handed it to a maid who carried it upstairs while mom and dad trailed behind her with arms around each other.

Anibe chuckled and walked past me whispering ''wife sweet wife'

I hit him and he laughed out and went to sit on the cushion chair facing the huge television. He turned it on and changed the channel to a Nigerian station

I sat on the cushion chair I was sitting before dad arrived

Me: why do you like watching Nigerian shows?

Anibe : cause I wanna know how life is there

Me: isn't it boring?

Chubi: not all. Some are quite interesting. And funny

Anibe : do you know that place is filled with drama and memers?

Me: I don't know

Anibe : I wish we could travel there sometime

Chubi: me too

Me: I don't

They looked at me

Anibe : prodigal daughter

I chuckled

***

Anibe had played the recording for dad and he began to think. Everyone was silent and to me it was awkward

Finally dad spoke up

Dad: so he's trying to deal with me using my family? Impressive

Anibe looked at me then back at dad

Dad: I'll have to take you guys back to the USA then?

Me: what?

They all looked at me

Dad: do you have a problem with that?

I didn't answer

Mom: you didn't even want to come here in the first place. You should be glad to leave

Dad: that's right. I wish I had even listened to her. We shouldn't have come here

I bit my lip and looked at Anibe to help me. He cleared his throat

Anibe : but dad, do you think it's right for us to run away? At least give him a Fight. Report him to the police and thank God you have enough proof

Dad: you're right. But this place is his land. We have no right here. He can manipulate anything to his favor. We can't risk our lives. I'll remain here but you all will have to go

It's fruitless. I can't persuade him to let us stay. He has already made up his mind.

Mom: I'm coming. I have to go and check on Chubi

She stood up and left

Anibe : I thought she just put him to bed. Why is she going back to check on him?

Me: he's her heartthrob you know

We were silent for a few minutes before mom rushed back with tears in her eyes.

Mom : they've killed him. They've killed him

We immediately stood up

Dad: killed who?

Mom: Chubiyo. They've killed him

Then she screamed and slumped

Me: mom!

We rushed to her

Dad: Gracious! Oh my God

He took out his phone and called the ambulance. I hurried upstairs with Anibe to Chubi's room.

He was lying down with a knife in his heart and was covered with blood all over his face. I screamed loudly and refused to move forward.

Anibe ran to him and gave a huge sigh of relief

Me: what? What?

Anibe : it's not him. It's not... him

I walked to him and saw the face. It was a type of big doll. Then where is Chubi?

Anibe : there's a note

He picked it and I took it from him and read it

📄this would be him if you don't do as we say

I looked at Anibe

Me: we're in big trouble

💜💛Eden💛💜

I groaned as the two ladies beside me touched me and caressed my body. I was going to have a swell night with these whores.

My door opened suddenly and the ladies screamed. I thought I closed that door

Me: why barge in on me?

Daniel: dad! Why the little boy? I thought I told you I was going to bring his sister? Why did you bring him here?

Me: what's your problem?

Daniel: you're my problem!

Me: then get rid of your problems

Daniel : dad! Let's do this the way we planned it! Take that boy back!

Me: how did you even know that I took him?

Daniel: is that your business? Just take the boy back! If you keep acting this way I'm going to back out of your hideous plan

Me: okay, I'll take the boy back. Not because you asked me to though

He looked me over and huffed as he walked out not even closing the door

One of the ladies asked me

Lady: which boy is he talking about?

Me: it's about our family. Now forget about that and one of you, go close that door

💛💜Unugwa💛💜

I got a text early in the morning from Daniel begging me to forgive him.

I was feeling less angry with him but now that my younger brother is nowhere to be found and my mother is somewhere in a hospital, I feel terribly angry. But a part of me is saying its not his fault. Maybe he has no idea what's going. If he had known, he wouldn't be bugging me and he would have known that I can't come out freely anymore

And I don't think anyone knows that we have a recording that is strong evidence. I'm sure Mr Alberto doesn't know that we know he's the one after us.

I heard a knock on my door and I sat up hugging my blanket. Anibe opened the door and looked in with his head

Anibe : good morning

Me: morning.

Anibe : we're going to see mom together in the next one hour. Get ready

Then he closed the door. I got out of bed and took a shower .

Soon we were driving to the hospital to see me. It wasn't the same hospital Andy was admitted. This one was a government hospital and it was heavily guarded. If you don't have a pass you can't enter

Mom was still unconscious and the doctor said she would be fine. That she just suffered a panic attack

Not long after we settled down, the Del Solo's arrived. I was surprised to see them. And Andy looked better and stronger. He was wearing a loose baseball cap to cover his bandage

Me: how are you doing?

Andy: well I'm fine. Except that I keep having nightmares

Me: don't worry you'll be fine

My dad came into the room with a nurse and he saw them.

Dad: oh Lewis

They shook hands

Lewis : we had to come when we heard what happened

Dad: thanks for coming over

Lewis : and this is my wife and son

He pointed to them

Lewis : your daughter and my son are good friends from school

Andy: good morning sir