Quick advice: If you haven’t read part 1, quickly do before reading this for complete understanding. Enjoy 🔥

Amina blinked, shaken. Chimezie stood before her donning a white T-shirt and a pair of black jeans. Apparently, he was the last person she had expected to see.

“Honey, what….. what are you doing here?” Amina struggled to appear normal.

He found her question extremely amusing, “What does it look like I’m doing here? For the show, of course.”

“But…”

He raised a brow, “But what?”

“You barely do.”

“You know why Amina. Quit diverting the topic. Where are you off to? The show hasn’t even ended yet.”

“I…. I almost had an attack in there.” She lied, avoiding his eyes.

Chimezie moved closer to her, “Your asthma?”

She nodded. Now Chimezie was worried.

“How do you feel now?”

“Much better. I had my inhaler.”

He held her close, but she pulled back from his arms, “Chimezie I’m fine.”

His stare lingered on her for a moment to be sure, then it moved to her black car.

“What’s wrong?”

“Can you imagine someone bloody punctured my tires?”

“What? Who would do that?” He checked each tire to discover they were all deflated. The windscreens weren’t tampered with, not even a scratch. Just the tires.

“It beats me.”

He walked back to where she stood with her arms crossed, infuriated.

“Whoever did this didn’t want you leaving here in a hurry this evening.”

“Who could that be?” She feigned surprise, knowing full well it must have been Alhaji. That dirty old bastard had refused to die. Showing up at her job like it was nothing.

As he contacted his mechanic, she scanned the car park in fear. Her heartbeat picked up. She wondered what would have been left of her if Chimezie hadn’t showed up just in time.

“Can we leave?” She asked immediately he got off the phone.

“Baby we have to wait for my mechanic to get here, else he won’t be able to identify your car.”

“I think…” Placing a hand on her chest, beginning an act, “I think I’m gonna be sick again.”

“Ah! Let’s go.” He took her hand and walked her to the passenger seat of his Range, holding the door open for her.

As they drove home, he occasionally glanced at her and asked if she was okay. She would slightly nod.

“I don’t know why you prefer to stress your fine self instead of just staying home with me.”

Amina rolled her eyes, “Chimezie I can’t rely on you for everything.”

“Am I complaining?”

“You don’t have to….. Besides, I LOVE my job.”

“So, what happened tonight?”

She was quiet. So was he for the rest of the trip. Amina occasionally looked back to be sure they weren’t being followed.

She sighed in relief as he drove into the house, heading straight to the bathroom for a hot shower while he attended to his nephew, Jacob, who had been waiting in the living room for him to arrive. It was that time of the year again to pay school fees. The cook, Janet, prepared them dinner.

The hot water had a relaxing effect as it ran through her sheen hair, down her velvet skin. Her eyes were shut. She was incredibly, painfully hot. And she knew it too well. But now she didn’t give a damn about any of that. Her mind roamed like a wild animal.

Suddenly, flashes of a shiny bloody knife in her hand as she stood over Alhaji’s unconscious body laying on his kingsize bed crossed her mind. Her eyes flew open. She turned the water off and stepped out quickly, tying her white towel around her throbbing chest.

She paced the bedroom, feeling painfully restless. What was next? What was he going to do to her? Will he be able to locate her? She shook her head vigorously.

“No no no… he can’t” She said, grabbing her hair.

Even if he did find Chimezie’s house, there was no way he could possibly get to her. The house was secured every night by trained soldiers. She looked through her window and there they were, with their AK47.

She sighed in relief. Then she wore a victorious smile on her face then went on to apply her night cream. She slowly put on her red lingerie, Chimezie’s favorite, followed by her robe. She combed her hair and applied a small amount of aloe vera treatment.

The room bell rang, indicating dinner was ready. She applied her lip moisturizer. Then she headed towards the door. As soon as she held the knob, a gunshot fired loudly, causing her to fall to the ground with a thud.

Voices and hurried footsteps could be heard in the distance. A car zooming off. There was complete silence in the room for about five minutes before she realized that she was still alive. Her hands searched her chest and stomach for a sign of bleeding. None. She hadn’t been shot!

She was close to tears, full of relief. Instantly, her mind returned to the current situation; What just happened? If she wasn’t shot, who was? She moved slowly to the window to have a peek. She couldn’t believe her eyes. The bloody soldiers weren’t at the gate!

She walked carefully down the stairs, trying not to make a sound, not even the slightest. Her taser held firmly in her right hand. She peeked into the kitchen, empty. Same with the guest room. She moved slowly to the living room. Her heart pumping hard in her chest.

The living room was a complete mess; chairs and tables turned over, furnitures smashed, broken plates and bottles… At the far end of the room, beside the air conditioner, laid a lifeless body. She thought she would throw up.

Quickly she composed herself and approached the body. The face looked too familiar. She looked closely, then it hit her. She opened her mouth in shock. It was Jacob, Chimezie’s nephew.

The same one who had come to get his school fees. He had greeted them with a big smile on his tender face when they had returned. Now, he had blood shooting out from his forehead where he had been shot, dead.

Amina screamed instinctively. It was too late to spare a thought to the consequences of her actions. Suddenly, a feminine palm covered her lips from behind. She pushed her taser against the stranger’s belly.

The stranger yelled, “Madam, na me.”

It took Amina a moment to register Janet’s voice. Their cook. Her face was filled with tears. Amina withdrew her taser.

“What were you thinking, sneaking up on me like that?”

“Madam no vex. You dey shout, na why I cover your mouth. Dem fit come back.”

“Who are they? You see their face?”

“Aah I see them wella. One tall man wey black well well. Those soldiers for gate follow too.”

“What did you say?”

“The soldiers follow too. Dem carry Oga. Ahh madam wetin we go do now.”

Janet held her head. Amina couldn’t believe her ears. She sat on the ground. She pulled her hair and cried. The bastard had gotten to her. What was she to do now? Where was he taking Chimezie? What did he plan to do to him?

She thought, what will she tell Jacob’s parents? That she had tried to kill a dangerous drug dealer but didn’t succeed, and now he was back to finish her off and everyone close to her?

“Madam abeg make we call police. Them fit kill Oga. Them drag am like say he thief their money. But I know say Oga no annoy anybody so I no know where them come from. Abi them be ritualist? Ahh madam abeg…”

Quickly she thought of what to do, “Go and bring my phone for me.”

Pulling herself together, she dialed the police to report a robbery, faking a distorted scared voice. As soon as she was through with the call, she faced Janet.

“Use the broken bottles to cut yourself.”

“But Madam… why?”

“If you don’t want to die, just do as I say! And don’t say a word when they get here. Let me do the talking. Do you hear me?”

She nodded. They picked up the broken pieces of bottles and began to injure themselves with it, moaning in paining as they waited for the police to arrive.