Ivan|| "Wha–what are you doing back here? I thought you had left by now." I stuttered as I moved towards her. "I came back for my wallet. I seemed to have forgotten it here." She replied as she eyed Debbie and I, her eyes moving from one to another. "Oh!" I said, and then I went back to Nana's bedside, and laying by her side was Tania's black wallet. "You did leave it here." I said, waving it to her. "Thank you." She took it from me and stared at us again; "Did I interrupt something?" "No!" I quickly said, and at the same time, Debbie shouted. "Yes!" She smiled and continued speaking; "It was nothing serious, though. We were just catching up on the old times." "If you say so..." She whispered, still watching us suspiciously. "See you tomorrow." This time, as she walked out, I made sure to check that she was really gone before I ran my fingers through my hair in irritation. "Are you worried your girl heard us?" Debbie teased, and I felt like squeezing the life out of her. "Sh
Tania||My suspicions about Debbie and Ivan were getting stronger especially with the awkward way Ivan had treated her when he had come in and met the both of us.The shock of seeing both she and I was evident on his face. Also, the way he had ignored her and answered her angrily the few times he gave her audience showed that there was something more to them. She was not just a colleague.The final straw was finding them in the manner I had when I had gone back for my purse.I had heard raised voices through the door even though I had been unable to hear a word that was being said.I had been ecstatic, hoping Nana had woken up after I had gone and had barged through the joy, unable to contain my excitement but all I saw was both of them and grandma still the way I had left her.I could not fathom what they had between them but all I knew was I did not care.Nothing Ivan did with his personal life concerned me.In fact, I wished he and Debbie were having an affair.At least, then he c
Debbie||Hearing the bitch tell the old lady they were going home erupted an anger inside of me.She had no home with Ivan. His home was mine. Not hers.I scowled as I watched her dot on the old woman and I wished there had been an air bubble in an I.V to kill her."Run some tests on her to ensure she is fit to be discharged," The doctor said to me as he handed me the file with her medical history."Okay, doctor," I responded and he walked away.I approached her bedside with the widest, smile that ever existed."I'm so happy you are awake, ma'am. I'm sure your grandson will be happy to hear this news.""Ivan!" The bitch yelled.How dare she call his name. My hands twitched as I longed to slap her mouth shut for saying his name with no respect.Rummaging through her bag hurriedly she said in an even much hurry. "I need to tell him about the good news! Oh he will be so happy and relieved to hear this." "No, no!" I stopped her."I don't think you should say anything to him right now."
Debbie||"I can't wait for Ivan to see you! He will be so happy!" Angel said excitedly as I wheeled Nana out of the hospital and into the parking lot.The doctor had approved their request to have me follow them and look after Nana for a week until we were sure she was better.I on the other hand, did not give two fucks about the old woman's well being. I didn't even care if she died. All that mattered was the fact that I was going to Ivan's house.Since Mohammed had refused to come to the mountain, I was bringing the mountain to Mohammed.My heart was ramming excitedly at the prospect of my plan coming into fruition. I have worked so hard to be with Ivan and now, nothing was going to come in my way. Not his grandmother, not his new Barbie and not even him!We drove in silence back to the house and even though I was sitting at the back with the old woman, never for once did I glance in her direction.She was fine, after all and I had to keep my emotions in check for when Ivan saw me.
Ivan||"What has gotten into you, Debbie?"This whole drama with Debbie was causing me a lot of headaches, and I wish it could just stop. I was never one to handle issues like this. My life was always easy and simple. It's never complicated."Why are you behaving this way all of a sudden?" I added, fatigue clear in my voice.She raised her brows and glared at me. "All of a sudden, you say?" She scoffed. "It may seem sudden to you, but trust me, it's not sudden to me."My mouth hung open as I tried to understand what she was going on about."You see, when you stopped calling on me, I thought it was something I did. I searched my head, looking for what it was, but I did not find anything. Well, that is until I found out that I was not the problem." She let out; her voice far from gentle."The problem was that some bitch was trying to steal you away from me!" She added, her voice full of hurt and hate.My heart sank as her words filled me. I knew exactly who she spoke of and a frown sett
Tania||I was up very early the next morning, and I went downstairs to the kitchen.The maid was already there, preparing breakfast. Today, I didn't get startled by her presence at all."Good morning, ma'am." She greeted me as I walked in, and I even smiled at her, despite the annoying ache in my heart."Good morning." Sniffing the air as I walked, I asked. "What's that you're cooking?""It's just some pudding for breakfast." She answered.Moving closer to the stove, I peeped to see what was in the pot. The thick white substance is cooked, giving off the delicious sweet smell of cake."This looks just as good as it smells." I commented.Her smile grew even larger. "Thank you, ma'am."I was angry but I told myself that I wasn't. I convinced myself that I didn't care. Ivan was just my roommate, and I shouldn't bother about him. I was in the house for his grandmother's sake, and I would be there until she got better.I walked to the pantry. I started to look for the ingredients I needed
Debbie||Trying to control myself as I watched Ivan and his grandmother dot on the bitch was proving unattainable. My heart was tearing with anger and they were all oblivious to it.They both couldn't even notice that all I wanted to do was to pour her bowl of foul tasting soup on her face.And when Nan had apologized for Ivan's behavior, I didn't even care if it was supposed to be to me or that bitch.I just threw all of my resentment to Angel. I got a strong itch to let her know that I knew what and who he was long before she even knew him.I wanted to follow him to work. I did not want to spend my entire day with these two women neither did I want to be at the beck and call of the old woman.I was starting to wonder if my coming to the house was futile and if I had been better off back at work with Ivan there."Honey, why are you not at work? You seem to have missed work yesterday and today. Is everything alright?" The old woman asked the bitch— Angel.The sound of her voice pullin
Tania||My heart stopped.At her first question, I had seen it as harmless curiosity but from the second one, I knew she knew exactly what she was doing.She was trying to expose my secret to the old woman for reasons I couldn't comprehend.No matter how hard I tried to think of something, I did not know why she was doing it. It made no sense.At least based on what Ivan had told me over and over. She had no reason to want to ruin me in front of Nana. Or was she just one of those nosy people?I had no issues with her, in fact I thought of her as a friend so it was weird when she tried to embarrass me like this before Nana.I watched Nana, waiting to see if she would probe further but thankfully, she nodded abd continued eating her meal.My appetite had practically vanished and all I did was watch Debbie from where I sat. It suddenly dawned on me why she refused my food and criticised it so much. She wasn't just nosy. She didn't like me.But why?"Thank you so much for the breakfast my
Ivan|| The hospital room was filled with the soft beeping of machines and the gentle hum of fluorescent lights. It had been three days since the incident that had happened but it felt very fresh in my memory. The television that was mounted to the side, was showing news about what had happened. The caption read, "Family Feud: A tale of love, deceit and betrayal." I had been disgusted at the various titles news reporters had been using just to trend with this story. It would have been funny to me if I had not been involved and my loved ones nearly killed in the process. Tania lay unconscious, giant tubes running in and out of various parts of her body. Her sister was in the adjoining room. She had also suffered a bullet wound, but hers was not as fatal as Tania's, and she was already awake and doing fine. We were lucky the ambulance came in time she would have been lost. I remembered how shocked the medics were when we brought her to her state. How did it even happen? How
Tania|| "Well, well, well. If it isn't the two loves of my life. My sister wives, literally." He mocked us sarcastically as he approached. He clapped loudly as if he had just won the lottery. Eyeing me, he said, "I can't believe you are Tania! You look nothing like before." He scanned me up and down. "I should have known it was you when you gave me that sloppy kiss. You know you were never a good kisser. Unlike my lovely second wife here." He addressed Eloise. The fear in the room from the three of us was so palpable, filling the room. I bet we even stank of fear. "Get away from her!" He commanded, but we did not move. "I said get away from her, or else her brain matter would decorate your bodies in a second!" He shouted. Not needing another graphic threat, Eloise and I jumped away from Nana. "Good girls." He complimented us with a leery smile, and I felt like throwing up. "Let her go! You said you would let her go if we came!" I yelled at him. He chuckled. "What do you t
Tania|| The siren of a police car trailed behind us as we sped to the location Eloise had discovered. Eloise sat at the back of the car. She had insisted on following us even though we had begged her to stay behind. "This would be traumatizing for you. Moreover, your body needs rest to fully recover." I had tried to reason with her. "I can't keep running from Nicholas. I need to face him and face my fear and if he goes down today, I want to be there to witness the moment." She had insisted. "I will not let you!" I stood my ground. "Then I won't tell you where the place is." She said cockily. "Good luck finding where the penthouse is, and even if you are lucky, it would be too late then," She said, folding her hands. Ivan wasn't too pleased with her. With fallen shoulders, he conceded. "She is coming with us!" Ivan had declared and she smiled triumphantly. She had played on Ivan's fear of running out of time and losing his grandma and had won. As we waited for Eloise to g
Ivan||I grunted awake, my hand heading straight to the throbbing pain at the back of my head. "Ouch!" I cried out as a sharp pain shot through my head when my hand touched the wound.My hands felt wet, and I brought my hand to my eyes to inspect it, and I saw blood.Struggling to my feet, I tried to remember what had happened but when my eyes fell on the chair in the middle of the room, it flashed in my mind instantly. Nana had been kidnapped and Tania and Eloise were the ransom to get her back.This realization sent a surge of energy through me and I regained a tremendous amount of strength. There was also a tinge of fear developing deep within me. A paper on the floor caught my attention and I picked it up.YOU HAVE UNTIL 8.00 P.M TODAY OR ELSE SHE DIES, the note read.I squeezed the note in my hand as anger overcame me.From recent events, I knew not to take Nicholas' threats lightly.Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my phone and checked the time.It was 8.00 am.This mean
Ivan|| I could feel the exhaustion in my bones as I drove home from the hospital in the pitch-black darkness. It took a great deal of effort to keep my eyes open as I drove. It had been quite some time since I had a good night's rest ever since this entire situation had escalated. I was driving home alone; Tania had insisted on spending the night with her sister, and I had left them consoling themselves and planning their wrath on Nicholas, whom Tania had just found out had been the cause of her parents' death. That one was a big eye-opener; I never even saw that coming. I knew surprises were coming, but damn. I knew Nicholas was ruthless but I had never thought it was as bad as this was. He had killed and would have continued killing till he had wiped their family off the face of the earth until he was the only one left alive so he could take the company. I had never seen such callousness before in a man except my father. Nicholas reminded me a lot about my father. They could
Tania|| I held Eloise's hands tight in mine as I ran alongside the stretcher that was rolling her into the hospital. After she had collapsed by the roadside, we put her in the car and drove back to the hospital. I sat with her in the back of the car, her head resting on my thighs and my hands clasping hers as Ivan raced to the hospital. It was thanks to Ivan's connection that a team was already waiting for us when we arrived at the hospital. "Ma'am you need to let go now. We are taking her in to run some tests." A male nurse held my arm, holding me back from following the stretcher. "No! I can't leave her!" I cried out. "Madam, you have to allow us to do our jobs properly. Please calm down." His words were strong, but his expression was very soft. He was acting very professional. "Please, I won't disturb you. I will just stand in a corner, she needs me now more than ever!" I begged. My hands stretched out reaching for her hand that was retreating fast from me as she was p
Eloise|| I was shocked to hear my name, more so coming from the lady standing in front of me. My trembling reduced, and I raised my head. She had come out from the car that had almost taken my life alongside the handsome and gentle man who was leading me back to the car with them. I continued to stare at her as I tried to get my wits together after nearly facing death. It was as if I had been predestined to die with the way I was having a lot of experiences that brought me close to death. The situation was starting to get weird as her excitement of seeing me grew, and she started to jump and cry in one place. She acted as if she was very familiar with me. Who was she? How did I know her? And then it clicked in my head. I did know this lady. My eyes furrowed, and a deep rage started to brew inside my belly as my mind brought back the pain of the past. "You!" I spat out, pointing at her, my brown eyes heavy with hate. Nicholas whore! I had once threatened to kill her, and
Tania|| "The result will be put in five days." The doctor who had drawn my blood for the DNA testing said. "Five days is too far! Can't it be done tomorrow?" I could not wait five days to be able to take my inheritance back. "A day is not feasible, especially since your records do not exist to compare it to. We would have to search through the database to track your father's DNA." He explained. "Five days is too much, Sir!" I refused to give up. Figuring there was no way to continue arguing with me with any prospect of winning, he conceded. "Fine. I'll try to get it ready in two days. That's the best I can." He said. "Two days is fine. I can work for two days." I agreed, and the doctor looked visibly relieved. Ivan and I had headed straight to Ivan's hospital for the DNA test the board members had asked for to prove to them I was Tania White–Angel. I had suggested we go today as I could not wait another day. Today had been the best day of my life, and I could not hi
Eloise|| My eyes flickered open, and I was greeted by a bright light. It was hard for my swollen eyes to adjust to the light but I tried my best. I lay on the floor, my body aching all over. I looked at my body but I could not find my night dress on me, instead the shreds of what used to be my night dress were scattered on the floor. Hugging my naked breasts, I slowly sat up, wincing as pain shot through every part of my body. I assessed my surroundings. The room was quiet, and Nicholas was nowhere to be seen. Knowing that was a relief to me but I knew that I needed to act fast. Nicholas would be coming back to inflict more pain on me. I pushed myself up, trying to get on my feet but I ended up just stumbling back to the ground and hurting my injured body. I was weak, my body suffering from Nicholas' attacks, thirst, and lack of food. I could barely move an inch, but I knew if I lay there, I would die, and I did not want to die, especially in the hands of the devil spawn