She nodded. “Yes. He said she lives in London with the rest of the family.”
“And?” Lauren’s eyes urged her on. “Anything else?”
“Uh … well, that was just it. Nothing more.”
Lauren chuckled. “Ah, as always … he never mentions it. That’s Dominic, always so modest.” She looked at Mira. “His mother is Helen Heinz.”
Mira’s eyes narrowed. She was certain she had heard that name before. She felt that surreal feeling of déjà vu, and she searched her mind to put a face to the name. Then she remembered and gasped. “Helen Heinz, the famous Nigerian jeweller in London?” she asked in a sceptical tone, her eyes widening with each word. “That Helen Heinz?”
“Yes, that Helen Heinz. She’ll be coming into the country soon; she plans to establish a branch of her franchise here and put Dominic in charge of it. He didn’t tell you?”
Mira shook her head. “No,” she said slowly. Her heart was palpitating and thoughts began swarming around her head like locust flies. Helen Heinz is Dominic’s mother. Helen Heinz, the famous jewellery mogul, is the mother of the man I love. The revelation was startling, and she was annoyed that he hadn’t ever told her. She felt betrayed. Did he not trust her? When had he planned to share that little detail? Today? Tomorrow? Never? She understood that he preferred not to let people know that his mother was a famous, wealthy jeweller, but weren’t they in a relationship now? What had happened to opening your heart to the person you love? She had opened hers. Oh, I love you, Mira and oh … by the way, my mother is that jeweller who was listed in Forbes’s Africa’s 50 Richest in 2009. That barely took two freaking seconds.
Just how many other secrets was he keeping from her?
The roar of applause as the M.C.’s voice announced Lauren’s name startled Mira away from her thoughts. “We’ll talk later,” Lauren said and disappeared through the curtains.
Thirteen
Ajoke watched silently as the loaders hauled the cartons of the new edition of Black Sparkle magazine into the storeroom beside the hall. Anyone watching her would have thought that she was admiring the men’s dexterity, but she was lost in thought, her mind buzzing with an idea. Dressed in a clingy, eye-catching turquoise dress. Her eyes were cat-like, roving around the dimly lit hotel surroundings, and twice she peeked over her shoulder at the open door leading to the backstage area. Her gaze came to rest on the two women chatting beside the red curtains and she sneered involuntarily. She let out a short breath and turned her attention back to the loaders. They seemed to be done with their task – she saw one of them shut the lid of the truck. Perfect.
Taking a deep breath, she strode purposefully towards the backstage door and caught up with one of the men before he got to it. “Excuse me,” she called out, “sorry, but you can’t go in there. It’s for staff only.”
The man nodded. “No problem … I just wanted to return the storeroom key to that Madam.” He pointed towards Mira, who was now standing alone, her back towards them.
She turned back to the man. “Ah, don’t worry. Give me the key. I’ll give it to her.”
He handed her the key. Ajoke waited for the truck to leave and when it finally roared out of sight she hurried to her car, retrieved a jerrycan and rushed towards the storeroom. She opened it, placed the jerrycan carefully beside it, and then left the door ajar. Her heart thudding a loud tattoo against her chest, she let out a shaky breath and started for the backstage door.
It was showtime.
***
Still reeling from Lauren’s revelation, Mira stood beside the curtains. The drone of Lauren’s voice as she began her speech echoed like the sound of an aeroplane’s propellers. She suddenly had a strong urge to leave, to find Dominic. Damn the magazine launch – she needed an explanation. She was hurt and confused and she wanted to see him; she had to get to the bottom of his mistrust of her. She dialled his number, the phone clasped to her ear in a fierce grip. But she got no answer, just the network provider’s computer-simulated voice telling her the number was unreachable and she should try again later. Great. She hung up and decided to go inside for the event. They would talk about this later. Besides, backstage was virtually empty: everyone had gone in.
Letting out a breath, she turned – and ran straight into Ajoke. Her heart skipped a beat. “Ajoke,” she gasped, her hand splayed on her chest. “You scared me. What are you doing here?”
Ajoke’s brow creased with an apologetic look. “Sorry. I was just on my way to the hall when I saw someone lurking around the storeroom where the magazines are kept. I know I shouldn’t be paranoid but …” She sighed. “It didn’t feel right. I had to tell someone.”
Mira smiled. “Do you want us to check it out … just to be sure?”
“We worked hard on the shoot; I wouldn’t want anything to mess it up.”
“Alright,” Mira said as she steered her towards the door. “Let’s go.”
They went out into the chilly night, the hotel surroundings deserted and quiet. No-one was in sight, and they walked to the corner where the storeroom was located, their heels clinking softly on the pavement. They found the door open and Mira frowned. “I was certain the loaders locked this door. Why is it open?”
“See?” Ajoke said. “Someone was here! Oh my God … what if they’ve stolen the magazines? We have to go in and make sure!”
Although heart constricted at the thought, Mira hesitated. “But…” then she sighed. Whatever … it wasn’t like anything terrible would have happened anyway. Probably an obsessed fan had broken in to get a copy. She pushed the door further and walked in.
A heavy blow hit her on the back of the head. Stunned, she keeled over and fell to the ground with a dull thud.
***
Ajoke’s eyes darted both ways as Mira crumpled to the floor, the large stick she had used to hit her still in her hands. Satisfied that no one had seen her, she dropped her weapon and quickly bent over the girl, checking for a pulse. She felt a faint throb in Mira’s neck. Good. She had been terrified she might kill Mira with the vehemence of the animosity she felt for her, but thankfully she had only knocked her unconscious. Holding up Mira’s arms, she dragged her into the storeroom and shut the door.
***
Mira woke up to the pain ringing through her head like a fire alarm. The room was dimly lit by a bright moonbeam, and the air was stuffy with mould and dust. What happened? Dizzy, Mira waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, her brain cloudy with confusion and panic. She tried getting to her feet, but she was blinded by terrible pain that sent pink flashes through her eyes. Moaning, she fell back. Her left leg did not feel as though it belonged to her body. She looked down at it and saw that her ankle was starting to swell. She must have twisted it badly when she fell. Panicky, she looked around and saw Ajoke; the girl was leaning against a table, smoking a cigarette. “Get up,” she commanded.
Mira couldn’t mask her confusion. “Ajoke, w-what’s going on?” she winced. “Please could you help me up … my leg hurts.”
Ajoke’s face contorted with fury. “I don’t take orders from you, you bitch!” And she slapped Mira in the face. The sound was deafening, and Mira could taste the tang of blood in her mouth as she fell back. But then she remembered. They were in the storeroom. Ajoke had mentioned something about someone in the storeroom and … and that was all she could recall.
“Ajoke! What’s your problem?”
“You,” Ajoke said with a shrug. “You are my problem; with your pretty face, your curves, your big doe eyes.” She wiped her wrist across her nose. “Miss Goody Two Shoes … you think you can take him away?” She exhaled a puff of smoke and snarled. “Forget it.”
Mira eyed her. “Take who away?”
“Please!” Ajoke screamed, her face twisted with rage. “Don’t play innocent with me … you know who I’m talking about, you moron! Dominic!”
“I don’t know what—”
“Just who do you think you are? You think you can waltz in and take h
im, abi?” Ajoke said, watching the cigarette smoke twirl in the air. “Dominic may be weak and you may be a pleasant distraction, but nobody takes him from me. He belongs to me!”
Mira drew back. “But you are not in a relationship with him.”
“We almost were before you showed up! When his girlfriend left, I was there for him. I helped him out of his depression. I saved him.” She paused to take a deep drag on the cigarette. “I was his guardian angel, getting him out of the pits of hell. And then you came along. I noticed how excited he was about you, that light that came into his eyes whenever he saw you. I did all I could to get him back, but I failed.”
“So the phone call about your leaking roof … that was all a sham.”
She smiled slyly. “Don’t judge me. When you’re in love you tend to do stupid things.” Her hands tightened into fists. “I longed to harm you; to smother your face with a pillow or just bash your skull in. But I didn’t because I knew that would kill my Dominic. He’d lose his mind … that’s the effect you have on him.”
Mira tutted. “I suspected you had feelings for him. There was so much tension between you two …”
“That’s because we had sex, you daft heifer!” Ajoke spat at her. “We shared something, and you stole it from us! But not any more … I’m taking back what is mine! Besides, did you know his mother is the famous jeweller Helen Heinz and she’s coming back to Nigeria soon? And that’s not the best part. She’ll make Dominic the head of the franchise she’ll create here! My Dominic will be one of the richest men in the country!” Anger clouded Ajoke’s face. “I care about his finances and his future and I don’t want you in it! You’re just like those girls he dated; those pretentious gold-diggers, so the faster we get you out of the picture the better.” She pulled out the jerrycan of petrol from underneath the table, walked over to the cartons and began dousing them with the liquid. The stench of petrol filled the air and Mira’s eyes widened.
This was getting uglier than she had imagined possible.
Ajoke raised her upper lip with a sinister sneer, and terror seized Mira’s heart. “Ajoke, please don’t do this! We are friends, remember?” She crawled towards the other woman but Ajoke shrank away from her.
“We are not friends!” Ajoke screeched. “I only talked with you because of Dominic and I wished I could cut my tongue out every time!”
“Think about it!” Mira was practically screaming now. “What would you tell everyone happened to me?”
“That you were in the storeroom when the fire started. You’d be at the wrong place at the wrong time, Mira … as always.” She held up a lighter. “Burn in hell, whore.” And she threw the lighter onto the cartons and hurried out of the room, locking the door behind her.
“No!” Mira screamed, then looked over her shoulder with horror as the cartons of magazines were engulfed in flames, yellowish-orange tongues rapidly consuming the cartons and curtains. Bewilderment clouded her thoughts, and she screamed until she doubled over, coughing. The flames were spreading fast, undeterred. That was when her survival instinct kicked in – nobody could hear her; she could either shout herself hoarse and burn to death or try to save herself. Muttering a prayer, she dragged herself towards the door. She was reaching for the handle when the door burst open. Fear gripped her – was Ajoke back to finish what she had started?
But the voice that came through was girlie and slightly nasal, the voice of an adolescent. She looked up and through the smoke she saw that it was a teenager – the girl looked no more than 17. “Hold onto my shoulder!” the girl yelled over the crackling sound of the fire. “Don’t be afraid … I’ll get you out of here, OK?”
Mira stared at the young girl who had appeared out of nowhere. Was she dreaming or was this an angel? “W-who … who are you?” she stammered.
“That’s not important … we have to get out of here!” The storeroom was almost completely swallowed up in flames now, fierce and hot. Thick smoke filled the room and their sinuses. Leaning on the girl’s shoulder, Mira sighed with relief as they stumbled through the doorway and into the cold night.
They were safe.
***
Dominic and Rufus had just pulled into the parking lot when they noticed smoke coming from a window at the corner of the building. Rufus was the first to see the flames. “Fire!” he yelled, pointing. “Fire … oh my God!”
Just then Dominic saw the two figures stumbling away from the burning building. “Go and alert the management!” he shouted at Rufus, who took off running towards the reception. Dominic ran towards the figures, his mind set on catching the perpetrators. That’s what they had to be; with an event like Black Sparkle’s launch going on and a sudden fire at the scene, he knew this was no accident. But as he drew closer he recognised one of the figures. “Mira?” he gasped, coming to a stop.
She looked up at him; her face was dirty with sweat and soot, as was that of the young lady she held onto. An ugly bruise covered a part of her hairline, and her ankle was badly swollen. “Dominic …” she said feebly.
He rushed towards them.
Fourteen
The smoke was wafting out thick and acrid from the side of the hotel building when the emergency units arrived. It wasn’t a huge fire, but it was enough to attract the attention of the neighbourhood – the entrance to the hotel was swarming with people. An ambulance and fire truck were present, and a Rapid Response police truck had pulled up a few metres away. Firemen struggled to put out the flames while the guests gazed at the spectacle with apprehensive faces. Mira was seated next to an ambulance, where a nurse was attending to her sprained ankle. She was surrounded by Dominic, Sade, T.J., Adeleye and Lade. Zaram, the teenager who had saved her, was sitting in the ambulance with her mother. Lauren was busy talking to the police. The small group watched with solemn faces as the smoke filled the air.
Adeleye broke the ice. “This is a disaster. The hall was chaos; people were running helter-skelter after the fire alarms started blaring. Some of them were injured in the stampede.” He sighed. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Me neither,” Lade said. “All the magazines are gone. Good thing we didn’t bring all the copies to the launch … what would we have done?”
“I’m just grateful you’re OK, Mira,” Sade said, placing a hand gently on Mira’s shoulder. “What if Dominic hadn’t saved you?” she shuddered. “I don’t want to imagine what would have happened.”
“She’d have been toast, that’s what would have happened,” T.J. said. “You’re a hero, Dominic.”
“Well, I …”
“Dominic didn’t save me, Zaram did,” Mira said flatly. “I was lucky she came when she did, or else I would have …” Her voice broke and she lowered her head.
Dominic nodded. “Yes, that’s true. Rufus and I drove in to find them stumbling out of the storeroom. We just alerted the management to the fire.”
“What on earth were you doing in the storeroom all alone, Mira?” Rufus said, turning to her.
“And what started that damn fire?” Adeleye wanted to know.
“I can smell petrol,” T.J. said, sniffling the air. “If we were where I work at the airport, I wouldn’t give it much thought, but this is a hotel, for Pete’s sake.”
“Sounds like this fire was intentional,” Dominic said. He turned to Mira, who was sitting quietly with her head lowered. “Can you remember what happened, sweetie?”
She didn’t answer. Her eyes were brimming with tears as she gazed at her soot-stained hands. She let out a raspy sigh. “I’m too tired to talk right now,” she whispered.
Sade hugged her. “It’s OK, Mira Diva … rest easy OK?” She looked warningly at the others. “I don’t think we should do this now—”
She was interrupted by a sudden commotion in front of the van; a woman was loudly ordering a policeman to let her through. They all turned in the direction of the voice.
“It’s Ajoke – she’s finally here,” Rufus said.
Mira’s hear
t skipped a beat and she averted her eyes. Ajoke ran to Dominic, throwing her arms around him. “Dominic!” she cried. “I heard what happened! Oh my God, I am so sorry about Mira – I heard she was in that storeroom and died in the fire! That’s terrible!” She blinked into his confused eyes. “How are you holding up?”
“I-I’m fine but … who told you Mira is dead?”
“People in the crowd are saying someone died. They didn’t see a body but they heard someone was in the storeroom when the fire began,” she tutted. “That poor Mira … she was such a nice girl, you know. What a tragedy—”
“Jesu Olorun maje!” T.J. shouted. “Please, who is this clown?”
“Mira isn’t dead, Ajoke,” Dominic said. “Yes, she was in the storeroom but she was rescued in time.”
All the blood drained from Ajoke’s face. “S-she’s … she’s alive?”
“Yes, she’s sitting right there!” He pointed. “Why would you even think she was dead?”
“Because she wanted to kill me,” Mira said, looking directly at Ajoke. “Didn’t you try to kill me, you evil bitch?”
Everyone gasped. “Is that a joke?” Adeleye asked.
“She tried to kill me!” she cried, tears running down her cheeks. “She lured me into the storeroom, hit me over the head and set the room ablaze. I wanted to tell you all but I knew nobody would believe me. If Zaram hadn’t been outside the storeroom at the time I would have …” She looked around for some support, but all she got were confused faces with doubtful looks. “You have to believe me!”
Ajoke gasped, her forehead shiny with sweat. “How can you say such a thing, Mira?” she cried, feigning a hurt look. “Everyone saw me drive in … I didn’t reach the scene until after the fire had started.” She turned to Dominic, her eyes tearful. “Dominic, how can she say such horrible things about me? You know me … you know what I’m really like. How can you stand here and listen to her say such things about me?”
Black Sparkle Romance Page 9