So there they were, in the lounge; Chief and his lawyer, Bright Chukwuemeka and his, Biola and herself.
“Shall we begin?” Biola announced “we are here to negotiate the sale of 30% of Hillside Hotel and Resort chain to Mr Bright Chukwuemeka” Chief’s Lawyer declared “we are ready to sell at one hundred billion naira” Chief’s Lawyer continued “we are ready to offer you …”
“Ten naira” Biola interrupted Bright’s Lawyer. The room became abruptly quiet “ten naira, that is what this company is worth and that is what you will accept” the words from her mouth were like the deadliest venom; Chief had never been more angry, pained and dramatic while Bright sat down smiling at the events taking place before him
“Whether you climb the highest mountain and jump down, you will sell for ten naira only” Biola countered. Chief knew that if he didn’t sell, it meant them continuing their war and with Major General Gayesu and his best friend the president of the Nigerian Republic behind her, it was a war he had already lost.
But selling his company for ten naira was not something he could bring himself to do. He was between Biola and the deep blue sea, after three more rounds of altercations with Biola, he gave in. The deal was finalized faster than the speed of light; Bright Chukwuemeka took out a ten naira note from his wallet and dropped it in front of Chief on his way out.
They left the room leaving Chief and his Lawyer alone, Chief was unable to stand up from his sit; the agony he felt was too heavy for his body to carry in a vertical position.
If he was not sorry before, this time he was sorrier than ever; he cursed the day he laid his eyes on Biola and lusted after her.
Biola sat on her desk glad that she had no customer bugging her thoughts, Chief was still upstairs in the lounge but she didn’t care what he was doing there because it was over. It was somewhat hard for her to come to terms with; just like that the battle she thought will go on for years was over within months.
As she sat there lost in thoughts unaware of her environment, she gradually grasped the fact that revenge did not please her. It did not make anything better; she was still as devastated as she was the day Chief raped her. She thought the agony Chief felt was going to make her happy or feel better about herself instead she felt repulsion for the blackness in her heart; all the actions she took in the name of revenge dawned on her and she saw the gravity of everything she had done, the jobs that were lost for her sake and the loss of her son’s life.
It was too late to take it all back so she accepted it and made herself believe that this was who she was meant to be because a girl like this could never be hurt by any man neither could she be made helpless by any man’s actions
“Have you seen Umar?” she asked Diana, it was time to tell him to shut down everything but she didn’t see him anywhere “Umar… Umar has resigned, I thought you knew” the news was a shocker; she wondered why Umar never said anything to her since they lived together, it was strange.
She knew that Umar did not give a damn about his job, a job he got through his father and became manager because his father’s connections added tremendously to the bank’s bottom-line.
They lived in a penthouse in Victoria Island, it was one of Umar’s father’s houses, a very beautiful apartment with four bedrooms and a study with a rooftop pool meant for only their use. Biola opened the door expecting to see him in the sitting room but he wasn’t there, she finally saw him in the study
“Where have you been?” her voice startled him and he immediately turned hiding something behind him; she moved closer to him, looked at him carefully and noticed traces of a powdery white substance on his nose and chin
“What are you hiding?” she asked as she wiped the table with her index finger “what is this?” she put the finger in his face showing him the white substance her finger swiped from the table “what! What! Do your worse, its coke… do your worse” he slammed a small bag of cocaine on the table.
Biola noticed his agitation so the fear of getting beat up made her change the topic “why did you resign?” she asked “because relatives cannot work together in the bank… one has to resign” he replied as he rolled up a ten naira note “I don’t understand” “you and I are getting married… a married couple cannot work together, it is bank policy” he said and sniffed a line of cocaine.
Umar could have as well pushed Biola off a cliff instead of giving her this upsetting news. The day Umar met Biola was the day he told his father that he had found a bride, he also told him how Biola loved him more than anything in the world and his father took his words as fact; in fact he was happy that there was somebody in this world who wanted to marry his son.
Major General Gayesu was happy. He knew that his son was a trouble maker so when Biola was arrested he strongly believed that she was taking the fall for something Umar was responsible for so he decided to back her up. Biola’s enemies instantly became his enemies. This was a girl he had not met officially, as long as she agreed to marry his son, she was family.
“So when is our wedding?” Biola asked “I am thinking New Year’s Day would be a perfect day… that is what I told my father” he responded seriously and Biola began to laugh hard, she laughed until her lungs ached then she collected the rolled ten naira note from Umar and sniffed lines of cocaine with him.
