Chapter 33 Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty

'Knock, Knock, who's there? Regret. Regret is knocking on the front door. You know you can't escape this one'

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Mayfair Estate,

Lagos.

Amanda.

All eyes in the room were focused on Amanda now, waiting for her to say or do something, anything. Anything before Denola went completely insane.

She didn't disappoint them. Letting out a shaky breath, she focused on her parents. "What the hell are you two doing here?" she asked refraining from walking over to them to squeeze out the answers from them.

Atalia bit back a smile "Now Hassana, that's not the right way to speak to your parents" Atalia said tutting.

The Dame sent her a nasty look, Atalia needed to shut up. She was making everything worse.

Amanda eyed Atalia. "You know you're right, that's no way to talk to my parents" she gritted out. "However Alhaji and Alhaja here are hardly my parents. They've not been my parents for a long time" Amanda spat.

"That's not the point Amanda, You have parents and they are alive. You lied to me, you said you were an orphan" Denola yelled at her. He felt like his chest was expanding with all the rage he was feeling within him.

"I do wish I was an orphan and yes I lied. I lied to protect myself, everything I've done, everything I did. I did it to protect myself and thank you Atalia and Jadesola for ruining everything" Amanda said covering her face with both palms.

God....she was sick, she felt deathly ill. If her parents were here, it only meant one thing. Kadin, Kadin and his goons were lounging somewhere around this estate, waiting for her.

Atalia scoffed "Me? Don't bring me into this mess, everything that is happening now is all on you!" Atalia spat.

Amanda chuckled bitterly and looked back at Atalia. "You have no idea what you've done, do you? You think you're punishing me?" Amanda asked maniacally before laughing again.

"My name is Hassana, yes I lied about my identity. Before I came here, I was married to another man in Abuja. We had a daughter and she's the one of the reasons why I left. Ask me how I got married, ask me?!" she yelled at Atalia who looked taken aback now.

Amanda smiled bitterly and moved closer to Atalia till she was looking directly into her eyes. "No, don't ask me. Ask the couple of strangers you invited into your home. Those two, they'll give up anything for money. Even their children! Apparently one daughter wasn't enough, so they gave out the other one. For what? For a monthly cheque. I got married to a freaking pimp, an alcoholic, a woman beater and a freaking obsessive psycho. If that isn't enough reason for me to run away from my past and get a new identity then I don't know what the hell is!" she yelled causing Atalia to jump back.

"I didn't know..." She muttered.

"No you don't know anything Atalia, you only ever assume. The very first day you saw me, you assumed I was a gold digging scum who wanted a piece of the Mayfair wealth. Well I am a liar but I'm not a gold digger. Kadin, Kadin had filthy money, loads of it. But that wasn't enough to keep me as his wife, because I am not my parents, I'm not so money hungry. Your son was the first man to ever show me genuine affection, I love him.  Yes, I made some selfish decisions in the past.....but I don't regret it. The only thing I regret is not telling Denola the truth soon enough" Amanda said in a broken voice.

She looked back at Denola for a brief moment, he still looked angry but that wasn't the only emotion he was feeling. He looked hurt and betrayed too.

Amanda turned back to look at Atalia again who was already looking guilty.

"What did you hope to gain?  Did you think that my parents would whisk me back to my previous life in Abuja or Denola would divorce me and I'd return to Kadin? You've made a big mistake Atalia. Once you get involved with Kadin, you're in it forever. You will run, try to escape but he won't stop chasing, just as he's chasing me now" Amanda said icily.

Atalia paled "I'm not involved with him.... I just contacted your parents...I don't even know who you're talking about...." Atalia whispered.

Amanda shook her head "By contacting Alhaji and Alhaja and bringing them into your home, you've involved Kadin with your family. Kadin will not be able to live with the fact that I married another man or the fact that I have a child for someone else other than him.  So he'll do what he does best, hunt them down and kill them. All he has to do is lift a finger and his goons will do the work. Ask Hakeem, I'm sure he knows a lot about how things work with Kadin" Amanda said turning to Jadesola.

Jadesola took in a sharp breath, she'd seen the man....Kadin. She believed Amanda, there had been something dark and sinister about Kadin.

"Kadin has changed since he found Jemila" she muttered.

Amanda looked up surprised "Jemila, my daughter? You met her...." she asked.

Jadesola nodded not meeting her eyes.

"Rasaq, that son of a bitch" Amanda swore.

"She's in good hands, she's loved. I'm sorry...Aliu told me things were good between you and Kadin, that you stole some money from his company and left with the baby and your brother all of a sudden. I didn't know...he was lying" Jadesola sobbed.

Amanda scoffed "Aliu doesn't know shît, he knows only what Kadin wants him to know. Did you say we were good? Yes,  if good means that he was so possessive that I never even got to leave the house, I never had friends. Davina was the only friend I had because we met in college before I got married. Kadin isolated me, he was so obsessed with me that I couldn't even breathe unless he deemed it fit.  His mother on the other hand was an old witch, she saw how miserable I was and she did nothing. In her eyes I was bought goods and her son could do whatever. She was right though, Kadin had paid a hefty sum of money for me and he never failed to remind me everytime I  did something wrong" Amanda said.

Her eyes turned stormy for a while as she remembered the day Rasaq had come over to the house to keep her company. She'd been so depressed that he'd suggested that they go out to see a movie at the Cinema.

Kadin hadn't been around and he'd told her earlier that day that he was going on business and wouldn't be returning till the next day.

It was the best time to leave the house and see a movie and besides she was leaving with her brother.

The minute they'd left the house, Hajiya had phoned her son and fed him all sorts of lies.

When she returned from the Cinema she'd noticed the dirty looks Hajiyya was giving her but she hadn't even suspected a thing until Kadin returned the next day.

Her brother was brought to him thirty minutes upon his arrival and he was whipped till his back peeled and bled.

What for? Why for taking the master's pet out without the master's permission.

As if that wasn't enough, Kadin had gotten drunk later that night and harassed her in the bedroom. It didn't matter what she said in her defense, his mother had told him that she'd gone out skimpily dressed with her brother to find potential sugar daddies to fetch her gold digging parents more money.

On another occasion, he'd burned her certificates and credentials because she'd dared to use his laptop to check for jobs online.

She was his wife and her job was him and nothing else.

Amanda recoiled as she remembered these memories.

"The last straw was when I found out that my sister had never been working in Ghana. No, my parents had sold her off to Kadin, into prostitution because they'd seen her kissing a mere street boy she'd been in love with! The other daughter.......me...I was next in line but I was too good for prostitution, my parents liked to believe that I was their favorite. So they shipped me to school because I was good enough to be sold into marriage. You say he has changed? Why don't you dare him and see how much he has changed" Amanda challenged  her.

Jadesola's eyes fell in shame. The Dame shook her head in disappointment. No, she wasn't disappointed at Amanda, not anymore.

Her grand daughter and her daughter in-law however. She was deeply disappointed that they'd gone through such length to scheme and execute some petty revenge that turned on them simply because they didn't like Denola's wife.

Amanda looked at her parents. "Halima isn't dead anyway, she actually gave me courage to run away. She couldn't go on working for Kadin, so she'd faked her death and run away. When she found out I was married to Kadin, she contacted Rasaq and she was able to get to me. Imagine how I felt when I found out that you'd lied to me and my sister wasn't working in Ghana but she'd been a paid prostitute who was living in hiding because Kadin assumed her dead. Imagine my disgust when I discovered that I was pregnant for the same man who'd been selling my sister off to various men. Rasaq and I came up with a plan, Kadin's guard was down because I had just birthed his daughter . He believed he'd succeeded in taming me and making me the good, docile and submissive wife. So we escaped but we weren't safe together. Halima went to Jos and lived as Konye, I went with Jemila and Rasaq to the East. I knew Jemila wouldn't be safe with me for long so I found her foster parents. Rasaq became a problem so I decided to ditch him.  Thereafter I contacted Davina and found myself in Lagos. Amanda was born....my plan was to start up a business, make money and leave the country with my girls. Jadesola your brother was never part of my plan, I didn't plan to fall in love or get married again. Yes, I used Denola, I'm truly sorry about that. But would I do it again if I went through this again? Yes....because I would want him in my life again, he's one of the few persons I love. I love him very much" Amanda whispered the last part.

The room was quiet for some minutes before Alhaji spoke. "Where is your sister?" He asked coldly.

"Safe....and the rest is none of your business" Amanda spat.

Denola had been repressing his anger while Amanda had been defending herself but he couldn't hold back now not with everything he'd heard.

"I'm going to speak now, whatever I ask....I want to be answered truthfully. As for the Abubarkars....get out of my house this minute before I throw you out"