Chapter Three

  Antonio's vision did a slow burn towards the magnificent pool at the backyard of his mansion. He sat in a large balcony, alone with a glass of scotch. It wasn't the pool that attracted the wealthy man in his late fifties, it was the creature that used her voluptuous physique like a paint brush in the water, each stroke was like art under the sun.

Delicate and celestial under the sun, the angelic female was as bewitching as she was divine. Her dark skin masked the sunlight and radiated with it. Wild hair in the water, she came to the edge and with a stride made for only the sirens, she stepped out of the pool and covered her derriere with a towel and took another to dry her hair. Her full, peachy breast from her swimsuit was the only pleasure of sight Antonio got. He took a drink from his glass, his eyes still on her like she would disappear if he blinked. Then he left his exquisite balcony to greet his house guest and most prized position at the moment.

The second his eyes left her, Joanna knew and she could breathe better. Antonio Gold was one of the wealthiest men in America, he owned properties, he owned treasures and he owned lives. She knew he thought he had found her but she was the one that made him look. His use was almost over but she knew he wouldn't let her go. That was his specialty; ownership. Many men believe in several ways to acquire power, Antonio believed in ownership. He would always tell her, "own a land and you get a piece of the earth, own a life and you get a generation." It was vile and impressive but she didn't want to be owned in any way. The one she was looking for has fled, she had no reason to stay but it wasn't the first time she gave her services to a man or woman and they wanted more than what was bargained.

She dragged droplets from the tip of her hair then moved to sit under an umbrella, she sipped a glass of orange juice served by a maid and watched her host, turn warden, give subtle orders to his men then continued his journey towards her. The only way to escape the grim ripper as they secretly called him (for he took and never gave) was by death, a miracle or crawling under the wings of one far from his reach. She had access to both but she chose one. Death.

"Joanna, my darling. You look perfect." She rose to accept his hug and kisses on her cheeks.

"Thank you Anto, I look like this because of your generosity." She sent a slutty grin his way and sat after he did.

He was served a glass of orange juice which he ignored. In a white cotton shirt and navy blue shorts, Antonio resembled the average man but his Rolex, gold bracelet and crystal chain would tell you he wasn't. Siting legs crossed, he was fit and quite attractive. The mild wrinkles on his forehead were the only evidence of age. His light face didn't look a day over forty, his biceps were firm as the rest of him, but his eyes were cold and aged, his years which was lost in his body shone in his blue eyes. She suspected, rather she knew, that most of possessions were from his appealing appearance after his wealth.

"Don't flatter an old man, it isn't good for my heart." He held his left chest and chuckled. 

She smiled, waiting for him to ask her what he wanted. She drank her juice and watched the sky. 

"You know why I'm here Joanna."

"Yes Anto but I'd prefer you ask."

He gave an impressed look and nodded, "your contract with me is almost over, I need this one to be bigger and better than the rest and not one of your parables."

"What do you wish to know?"

"My death. I need to know how, when and my killer."

Joanna cocked a brow, she hadn't expected that and with her rare gifts, she wasn't easily surprised especially by people as predictable as the tycoon. "Are you sure that is the last sight you wish from me?"

"Yes."

"Antonio, the future is not a pretty place. Everything ends with death. Moreover creeping into the future is not my specialty."

"I know you can. I don't need to know my own darkest secrets, they haunt me already."

Joanna took a deep breath, it wouldn't be the first time she took a peek into the future, it wouldn't be the last either but everytime she came back to the present, her fingers and toes were left with an irritating tingle, like they wanted to come off. It wasn't a reaction she couldn't withstand, she had survived more. When one deviated from thier natural gifts, there were consequences but Joanna was far gone in life to care for consequences. She was on a mission, by the coven and another by her soul. Until recently, she was indifferent about being an orphan, now she searched for any sign of a home even a tombstone to show she came from something or someone. 

She wasn't born with her gifts, she was told they were her destiny and on some days they felt that way but on other days they were a curse to her existence.

"I have never tried to see that far into, the most I have gone for you is a year. So what do I get for this?"

"Your life."

She eyed him, "You don't plan on letting me go, do you?" She accused.

"You're the one who can creep into people's mind, what do you think?"

She sucked her teeth, disregarding the fact that she might corrupt her ladylike persona. "I'm not to be owned."

Her firey gaze only made him smirk, there was a magnetic pleasure about a woman with fire in her eyes. Edging his elbow on the table inbetween them, he leaned in and hinted, "Why will I want to own what's already mine."

Joanna felt her temper rumble, she was tempted to give a blinding stage to the side of her gifts she never displayed. "So this isn't your last request then?" Her tone, clipped.

"We'll see." Four months ago, Antonio Gold wasn't one to believe in the honest existence of people with her gifts but after she proved herself several times, he knew he could not let such power go.

"Do you wish to know right now?" 

"There's no rushing the future right, how about after dinner tonight." He stood up and made his way through glass doors into his luxurious castle.

She spent another thirty minutes staring at the sky, then left her favourite spot in the house and went inside. Through the amazing rooms and sculptors, she climbed the spiral goldplated staircase to her room. She tried not to get attached the beauty and comfort, no matter where her feet found the next luxury she never rested her back enough to feel absolute calm. 

She removed the towel and walked into the bathroom. Then she got naked, avoiding the mirror she stepped into the empty bath tub, "Eve, warm water in the bath tub please." Eve, the home monitor, turned on the tap. The warm water flowed like waterfall inbetween her toes and filled up from under her feet. She closed her eyes and felt it rise and coil, like a serpent, it wrapped her ankles and crept up her hips, slowly. Its height claimed her firm breasts and the sizzle teased her nipples. The water crossed her collar bone when she said, "Eve, enough." The water stopped instantly and Joanna drowned.

Underwater, her head was clear and her pulse, slower. She felt numb and alive as her feet floated with her arms and her wild hair danced with the current, each strand in battle with the other. Underwater, she had absolute peace.

Her aqua therapy was interrupted by a sharp knock. She came out of the bathroom in a robe and answered the door. It was one of the staffs.

"Miss, the boss says he would like to see you in this tonight. Dinner in forty - five minutes." He offered the red dress on a hanger to her then left.

She threw the gown on the bed and accessed it, it was sleeveless with a long v - shaped neck line and slit by her right hip. The back had no peculiar design, all the attention was to the front. It was the hue that infuriated her, red wasn't her favourite of colours, despite the fact it was a color she woke up to everyday.

It took her ten minutes to get ready after a thirty minutes nap. She never wore make - up and her hair went only two ways, up or down. She left it south for the dinner, It's tip hung an inch over her waist. On other days, she would spend hours trying to tame her length but today she let her afro extend around her face, shoulders and bossom. 

She sat on the bedside and bent slightly to buckle her black heels when someone knocked. She sighed and sat straight, with a fixed smile she moved to open the door. One foot without a heel, yet she stood in perfect scale as the other, lifting one from the floor and standing on one heel with her hand bracing the door. Her visitor was unexpected. He rushed in without an invite and placed a small bottle with colourless liquid on her dressing table. His back still to her.

"Who are you?" She asked as reached for the knife strapped by her thigh.

He turned and peeled off his hairy disguises. From moustache to eyebrow.

"Jacob." She leaped towards him with an embrace. They hugged for a while both soaked in the comfort of a familiar presence. "I missed you," then she leaned back and slapped his arm, "What took you so long?"

"Highly guarded mansion, sneaking out of rehab and finally highly guarded mansion!" He gripped the short, brown wig on his head and moved to sit on the bed. "Nice bed."

"Everything here is nice." Then she smiled and sat beside him, her hand on his lap, "unlike back home."

Jacob scoffed, "the orphanage was barely home. After you left, the rest of us did, in a way."

Joanna nodded. Back home, in Nigeria, the orphanage had been both bliss and torture for them. Jericho state orphanage had a rule, if the child had no name or known identity he or she was given any name that began with the letter J and that was it. Her first year at the orphan, she couldn't remember as she was dropped as a new born with no letter, necklace or item. She was the naked, screaming baby in a brown box. The sisters at the institution told them their origin story as they called it. Hers was the worst till she met Jacob. 

She was eight when he was brought in, he was given special treatment and the kids including herself hated him. Few months later, when her closest friends which were twins, Taye and Kehinde introduced her to him, she realized he hated himself too. Jacob was a progidy, at the age of seven he could speak fluently and he had mastered six ethnic languages of Nigeria, he knew about topics and subjects beyond his years. Yet he was the saddest kid Joanna had ever seen. The trio welcomed him to their clique, he helped them with their studies and they made him laugh, so the sisters didn't think to separate them.

Jacob had no memory of his life before the orphanage, he had arrived in the rain late at night covered in blood and mud. His loud, persistent knocks woke the home. The police couldn't help him, the sister's didn't know how to but the mischievous twins and the bold girl with unusual red hair did. But their bubble didn't last long, seven years later she was taken from the orphanage by the coven then the prodigy fled after the mischievous duo were adopted.

Joanna knew she could find the twins if she wanted to, Jacob himself could find them but there was a fear of being the reminder of their lonely, hungry nights in the overpopulated home. 

"Do you miss it?" She placed her head on his shoulder and thought of his question.

"No, I just miss us."

Jacob was the first to know of her powers, he was her first victim and the reason he had nightmares. So when the coven came, she remembered what her touch could do and she left with them. Jacob never told her how he made it to the states, she knew his brain power attracted scholarships around the world when at the age of ten he could speak several foreign languages and had a peeking interest in the pharmaceutical department which found a way to drag him into the dark side of drugs. He rejected every educational offer he got, he claimed school was a prison for the mind and soul. At the age of twelve, he began to work with renowned scientists in the making of tested and trusted drugs for sickness and infection which brought in finances he mostly donated to the orphanage. 

She was taken at fifteen, by then Jacob was the richest self - made teenager in the continent yet he stayed in the orphanage untill the people who made it home were gone. He refused to be adopted, he always said he had found his family and silently, Joanna wished they could return to the happy past when their biggest worry was how to sneak Jacob out of advanced chemistry class.

A quick rap on the door pulled them to their feet, for a moment she had forgotten about dinner. That's what comfort does, it pulls you from reality. "Shit." She jerked upwards and turned to Jacob but he was gone. 

She answered the door, leaving no view for the outside, "Yes?" It was a staff.

"The boss is already seated and would like you to join him." 

"Ah yes, I didn't forget. Tell him I'm coming, my shoes are giving me a bit of trouble." She wiggled her half - buckled heel before him and gave a pleading smile.

"No problem, take your time." The young boy blushed and left.

She closed the door and leaned against it, relieved. She rolled her eyes when she saw her old friend by the balcony, when she had contacted him, she knew he would help her, he always did but never in person. He would find a way to deliver her request, by mail or courier. 

"I have not asked you, why did you come here?" She returned to the bed to buckle her second heel, when he didn't answer, she sighed and continued, "it's great to see you Jacob but you never show up with the goods, I'm just surprised."

He remained silent, he wasn't much of a talker but he was getting on her nerves. She had a dinner to get to. She studied his tall, fair and thick stature while she pulled her black gloves from a drawer. He had been a chubby kid but most of it was thick, fleshy muscle of a grown man. He didn't look like a billionaire prodigy, he looked lost and sad. "Your stare is uncomfortable."

"I'm sorry Jay, I wasn't using my---"

"No, It's fine. I know you wouldn't get in my head without permission," then he turned to her and grinned, "again."

"The last time was a virgin move, I didn't know my touch could do that."

"Stop apologizing Jo. I came because I missed you and I found them."

"The twins?" when he nodded, she began to pace, "what did they say?"

"Nothing. I didn't meet with them. I just know where they live. Taye, well he was harder to find, he lives in Kano with his second wife and three kids. Kehinde, she's divorced and has no children. She is a music producer in LA."

"Wow, they are good?"

"I guess. I need you to come with me to see them."

For a second, she wanted more than life to say yes but her oath and promise broke her impulse and she shook her head, "I can't Jay, I need to do something and it's very important. I'm so sorry."

It was his turn to pace, "I see you still avoid mirrors, you know the sisters aren't here to punish you if you look into one."

She chuckled, "I know. Habit I guess," and curses. "I see you still wear a rubber band on your left wrist. The sisters aren't here to pinish you either."

He had a solemn smile on his handsome face as he slacked the elastic, it woke him from his nightmares when they become paralytic. "Habit I guess."

They both shared a laugh. It felt like their hug, warm and comforting.

"One year. I give you one year to do whatever it is you have to do. I know how demanding your coven can be." He said the last part with disgust. Jacob always blamed them for their separation.

She knew he also needed time to get his affairs straight, especially rehab, no one else knew of his demons like she did. She giggled and strolled to take his face in her palms, then wrapped him in a bear hug, "one year is way more than enough  for revenge."