Chapter 2: The Audacity

The audacity of this man will never stop amazing her.

“Really? You mean you expect people to laugh and dance when you sneak into their house and their bedroom?” She asked sarcastically.

“Oh no, I did not sneak, at least not to the house. Your butler allowed me into the house after I showed him the message you sent asking me to wait for you at the house, and when he offered me a glass of water, I accepted and after making sure he was gone, I sneaked into your bedroom without any of the servants seeing me. He must probably have assumed I left already.” He explained with a careless shrug.

Luci blinked severally. ‘Message? What message?’ She thought confusedly.

“When did I send you a message, mister?” She asked coldly.

“You might not have sent it but it was in your name. I have my way around these things, you know?” He admitted shamelessly and this time, Lucianda did not even blink.

She is beginning to see how low or how high this man will go in achieving what he wants.

“You mean you forged a message in my name?” Her voice was aghast.

“What a brilliant brain you have, Mrs. Lucianda.” He applauded coolly with a smile.

Deciding it was best to ignore those words and his vicious smiles, Luci wiped her face of expression.

“What are you doing here? This place is off limit to you.” She reminded him.

“Oh Mrs. Castos, don’t be like that. Of course I am here to offer my condolences as your husband’s colleague.” He remonstrated.

“My husband’s rival, you mean?” She asked this of him coldly and when he raised an indifferent brow in answer, she sighed.

“Guests ain’t allowed in the house, if you want to wave Mr. Castos goodbye, then you should have come to the funeral ground.” Not buying any of his words, knowing he could not be trusted, Luci snorted.

“Interesting! He was not even cold in the grave and yet, he has simply become Mr. Castos with no affection? You surprised me, Mrs. Castos.” He mocked.

Hurt by these words, not because he was not right but because he seemed to have judged her mood, Lucianda’s brown eyes glared furiously into eyes that were green.

“You are really a rotten beast.” She snarled at him. She hated it when unwanted people can guess her mood, especially those feelings she wanted to keep hidden.

“As long as you don’t forget it.” He accepted so softly, she gave a deep shiver inside.

“I can see you are not in the best frame of mind right now to receive guests, so I will take myself out.” He straightened abruptly and moved to the door.

And just when Luci was about to release the breath she had been holding, he stopped and turn. “Until later, Mrs. Castos…you haven’t seen the last of me” And just like a thief, he was gone again and Lucianda tried to take a calm breath but it wasn’t working.

Not only did she dislike this man, she hated him with everything in her. He represented everything she wished to forget in her life.

******

Few days later, wearing a flowing, slit at the thighs white gown that was so bold in statement, Lucianda entered the big mall knowing full well she was attracting attention.

That was her aim. Despite the fact that she was naturally not a public person, today was different. She was in town for one purpose and one purpose only.

And that’s to let the world know that she, Lucianda Castos, would not mourn Alex Castos as it was expected of her. She would not be a pretender and the last thing she wished to do was to pretend to mourn a husband she regretted marrying.

Raising her chin in the air, she kept her head high while walking through the mall despite the whisperings and murmurs filtering to her ears.

The point of this whole thing was to make sure all the necessary people saw her in order to know that she was not a grieving widow.

“Wow! Wow! Wow! If it’s not the widow of Alex Castos.” A voice called to her jeeringly.

That voice was so unexpected, Lucianda stopped so abruptly she almost fell flat on her face. That was the last person she wished to see on this Earth. Not after the last time!

Knowing fully well that people were watching and that it would be rude to publicly ignore this man not to talk of adding more fuel to the burning fire, Lucianda slowly turned to face him.

“I will appreciate it, if you would address me by my name, Mr. Hakeem.” She told him through clenched teeth.

Wincing because he knew the slight had been intentional, Prince Hakeem nevertheless smiled. “I will forgive you for that Mr. something nonsense if you will take a walk with me?” His voice was so patronising, Luci almost cut off her tongue in her desperation to stop herself from biting his head off. 

“A walk with you? I will rather sleep with the snake, Mr . . . . Prince Hakeem.” She saw the warning glint in his eyes and smartly corrected herself. She knew the man had no limit.

“Sleep? While I found that to be an interesting proposition, all I ask for at this moment is a walk through the mall my dear Lucianda.” He mocked teasingly.

Blushing a shade of red, Liza knew she had indeed asked for that. The man has no shame.

“Walking anywhere with you, now or in the future is a dream that can never come true Prince Hakeem.” She was glad to put him in his place.

“Are you still angry because I invited myself to your house and bedroom?” He asked softly.

Looking around briefly to make certain no one was close enough to hear them; Lucianda’s eyes flashed a fiery look of warning.

“I will not waste my time on such emotion where you are concerned sir. It simply does not matter.” She downplayed his effect on her emotions.

He made a tsk tsk sound of remonstrations. “You must have a hard heart, Mrs. Castos.” Rocking on the ball off his feet with his hands in his pocket, Prince Hakeem as widely known across the country was a powerful ruthless man who could afford to be kind when it soothed him.

This time around, he was not acting to be kind, he was pretending to be a soft man and for what purpose, Luci did not understand.

Tired of the exchange of words, Luci wanted to be far away from him. “Thank you, Mr — Prince Hakeem for the compliments, but charming as they were, I really have to go now.” And without a word, she walked away.

Unwilling to stop her, he watched as she left the mall and if Lucianda or anyone had taken a second glance into his eyes, they would have run without ever looking back.