by Kiru Taye
“Thank you,” Ijay replied with relief. At least the documents were in Abuja so there should be no problem. Pamela gave her the flight booking details and hung up.
Ijay called Paul.
“I’ve spoken to Pamela. The documents will be ready when I arrive into Abuja,” she said when he answered the call.
“That’s good. Did she manage to get you a flight?” he asked in a sombre tone.
“Yep, flight and hotel. So I’ll be back in the morning,” she said keeping her tone cheery. She didn’t want him staying upset about what was happening. Plus she felt guilty that his misfortunes could be her fault.
“Good. I have to go now. Have a safe journey and I’ll see you tomorrow in Enugu.”
“Thank you,” she replied and added “I love you,” just before the line disconnected.
The flight to Abuja was uneventful. The mid-afternoon sunshine was baking hot. Paul’s chauffeur was there to pick her up and took her straight to the POD offices. Pamela handed her the plastic file folder with the documents as well as a message to call Sonia in London.
Ijay thanked her and headed to the hotel. After she checked in, she headed to the lifts. She was busy fiddling with her handbag when someone bumped her. The folder she had in her hand slipped out and hit the marble lobby floor.
“Sorry, I’m such a klutz.”
Ijay looked up at the sound of the saccharin voice. Her gaze connected with that of the woman Paul had been speaking to last week right here in this same hotel. The woman smiled at her, her red lips curved. Ijay noted her eyes had none of the amusement.
“It’s not a problem.” Ijay held her gaze not wanting to look away first. A passing bellboy picked up the folder from the floor. The woman took it from him. “That’s mine. Can I have it back?” she replied indignantly.
“Of course,” her nemesis replied. “You wouldn’t want someone else taking something that belongs to you now, would you? I mean if someone took something or someone important from me, I would be forgiven for doing everything within my power to get it back. I mean everything. You understand, don’t you?”
Ijay frowned and snatched the folder back angrily. “What’s that supposed to mean? Who are you by the way?”
“My name is Kate. Let’s just say we have a mutual lover in Paul. Since he was mine first, I’m claiming him. So keep away from him or watch your back. I don’t care if you’re one of those bitches that like to keep two men chasing after them. I mean looking at you, no one would think that butter melts in your mouth, would they. You’ve had two brothers so I have to give it to you. But keep away from Paul. Or watch your back, bitch!” Kate spat out at her before swivelling and walking away.
Confused, Ijay stood on the spot watching Kate walk out of the hotel entrance, unable to quite process all the information she’d been fed in such a short time. How did Kate know about Paul and Vincent? Her face heated up at the insinuation she’d had both brothers. Her grip on her bag and folder tightened as she got angrier. She was going to call Paul and find out what was going on.
She dragged her luggage up to her room. She called Paul’s phone. It was out of reach. She turned on the TV as a distraction and paced the room. Fuming, she was undecided about what to do about Kate and decided to call Sonia. She hadn’t spoken to her friend since last week. They were overdue for a chat and so much had happened.
“Girl, you’re having so much fun out there, you’ve forgotten me,” Sonia said as soon as the line connected.
“I’m sorry. So much has happened in such a short time and it’s not all fun and games.”
“Come on, spill. What’s going on?”
“Gosh, where do I start? The short of it is that I’ve broken off the engagement with Vincent.”
“What?” Ijay could hear Sonia’s shout and moved the phone away from her ear.
“You’re in the office, right?” She asked, worried that everyone at Havers & Child would hear about her exploits in Nigeria.
“Yes, but most people have headed home. Remember it’s Friday.”
“Okay,” Ijay said with relief. Then she told her friend the abbreviated version of what had happened in the past week. In between ‘goshing’ and ‘ahing’ Sonia listened to all she had to say.
“So you think Vincent is responsible for the problems Paul’s having at the factory?”
“I do. It all started after his mother demanded I keep away from Paul and I refused and went to Enugu. Maybe it’s Vincent's mother organising all these things since Vincent is in London.”
“Maybe,” Sonia said thoughtfully.
“On top of all that I bumped into Kate in the hotel lobby. As if I don’t have enough to deal with.”
“Who’s Kate?” Sonia sounded confused and Ijay couldn’t blame her. She was confused too.
“She claims she’s Paul’s girlfriend and has practically threatened me if I don’t stay away from him.”
“What nonsense.” Sonia said angrily. “You don’t believe her do you?”
“Right now, I don’t know what to believe. I saw her with Paul in that very same lobby last week. She was touching him proprietarily and he didn’t stop her. The thing is she knew Paul and Vincent are brothers. How else would she know that if not from Paul?”
The sound of a knock at her hotel door drew her attention.
“Sonia, hold on there’s someone at the door.”
Ijay walked to the door and looked through the peephole. Her body froze. An icy shiver of trepidation and shock slid down her back. Her breath hitched loudly.
“Ijay, what is it?” Sonia’s words filtered into her ears.
“Vincent is here!” Ijay gasped in shock.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“What is he doing there? I thought he wasn’t due in Nigeria for another couple of weeks,” Sonia remarked, her shock apparent in her tone of voice.
“I know! He’s not supposed to be here,” Ijay replied in a low brash tone, her heart pounding in her chest with worry.
After Vincent’s aggressive reaction on the phone when she’d told him about Paul, she didn’t know what to expect from him this time. She’d been a little relieved that she only got his voice-mail yesterday when she’d called him. She hadn’t wanted to deal with another outburst from him then. She still didn’t want to deal with him.
“What am I going to do? I’m not ready to talk to him,” she said biting her lower lip.
“You could just ignore him and not open the door,” Sonia suggested.
Ijay nodded as she paced the room. The knocking sound persisted. “I could. He’s still knocking, though. How does he even know I’m here?”
So many questions bombarded her mind that she couldn’t answer.
While this was the same hotel she’d stayed in when she’d arrived in Abuja the first time, she hadn’t told Vincent her room details.
When did he get to Nigeria?
The last time she’d spoke to Vincent had been the day he’d called her a bitch. She’d purposely chosen not to call him until she’d resolved things with Paul.
Had he received her message yet? If he’d been on a flight to Nigeria yesterday, that might explain why his phone had been switched off.
“Ijay, it’s me Vincent. Open the door.” Ijay recognised his loud voice through the door.
“Did you hear that?” Ijay said in a muffled voice to her friend. “He just called my name. He knows I’m here. I’m going to have to let him in.”
“I’ll stay on the line to keep you company,” Sonia replied reassuringly.
“Thanks,” Ijay said as she walked to the door and opened it.
Vincent stood in the hotel hallway. Dressed in a dark blue blazer, trousers and a white shirt, he looked exactly the way she remembered him—two inches taller than her, stocky and dark-skinned—handsome and harmless.
She’d always thought he reminded her of Femi Branch the Nollywood actor. Vincent’s face didn’t have the harsh angles like Paul’s but when he smiled he could be charming. It w
as partly why she’d been attracted to him at first.
Now though, his smile didn’t reach his eyes. They were dark and menacing, though his lips curved up. It made him appear like a snarling wolf. In that moment, she realised so many things she thought were charming about him were false. He’d been toying with her, playing her like a pawn in a deadly game of chess with Paul.
Vincent had never loved her.
“I was wondering if you were going to open the door. Aren’t you happy to see your fiancé after a week?” his deep voice used to sound soothing to her. Now it only added to her irritation. Her temper rose as she thought about how she’d been played by him. Her first response was to shut the door in his face.
Vincent raised his eyebrows in a mocking query. Then she decided she’d play along with his game to see exactly where it would end. She wasn’t going to let him get the better of her.
“I’m on the phone. That’s why,” she said in a cool voice and raised the phone in her hand for emphasis. “What are you doing here?”
“If I didn’t have a thick skin, I’d be hurt by that.” He placed his hand on his heart and feigned a pained look. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
“I’m just surprised to see you here after your rude behaviour to me on the phone the last time. Anyway, come in.” She shrugged indifferently and moved away from the door.
Vincent came in and shut the door. She heard the sound of the lock going into place. Her heart jumped, pounding into her chest. She turned and walked further away afraid he’d notice her apprehension at being in a room alone with him.
If he’d raped a girl once because the girl had rejected him when he was a boy, what would he do to her now that she’d annulled their engagement?
“Did you get my message?” She gripped the phone tighter and turned back to face him, her back stiffened. She needed to know how much Vincent knew already about her and Paul.
“Which message was that?” he asked. On the outside, he appeared unperturbed, the confident smirk on his face as he curiously looked around the room. “You have a nice room here,” he added casually.
Didn’t he know? He acted like he thought they were still engaged. Perhaps he hadn’t checked his messages yet.
“The last message I left calling off the engagement,” she said, her voice rising with her exasperation. Her heart rate got higher, her hands clammier.
“Oh that. Yes, I got it.” He nodded, his expression didn’t change. “Who are you talking to on the phone?” he asked, changing the conversation nonchalantly.
Stunned by his seemingly calm attitude, Ijay didn’t know what to say at first. Where was the Vincent that had been angry on the phone? Either Vincent had taken the news well or he was about to erupt like he’d done the last time. She shifted her stance warily.
“Sonia,” she replied eventually.
“That slut!” His outburst was so sudden she didn’t have time to respond before he snatched her phone out of her hand with force.
“Give me back my phone,” she shouted.
“Sonia or whatever your name is,” Vincent spoke into the phone, ignoring Ijay. Ijay could only watch in horror as he spoke insolently to her friend. “You haven’t been a good friend to Ijay, have you? You’ve been the one encouraging her to fuck around while she’s engaged. Well, don’t call her anymore. Ijay doesn’t need friends like you.”
He pressed the off button and switched the phone off, putting it in his pocket.
“How dare you talk to my friend like that? You have no right,” Ijay snapped angrily, her hands clenched in a ball on her side. She really wanted to hit him for that tirade. What was wrong with him? She felt appalled and ashamed. No man had even insulted her like Vincent did. Worse, he’d just insulted Sonia too.
“I have every right,” he advanced toward her menacingly, his eyes glinting with fury, his hand raised. Icy terror shot down her spine. She thought he’d hit her and she backed away.
“You’re my fiancé. Once we’re married you won’t be keeping friends like that anymore,” he spat his words in her face.
“I’m not going to marry you Vincent. I told you that already,” she couldn’t hide the faint quiver in her voice.
Still, she straightened her spine, refusing to let him intimidate her. She could never marry Vincent now. Knowing all that she knew about him. If he treated her this way now, how would he behave when they were actually married? Would he be physically abusive?
She remembered Paul’s words.
“...You’ll stay with a man who is verbally abusive? What would he have done if you had that conversation in his presence? Hit you?”
At the time, she’d defended Vincent’s action. Now, she knew Vincent hitting her was a strong possibility. The mad glint in his eyes confirmed it. Her body shivered with dread at what her life would’ve been like if she’d married him.
Vincent ignored her and walked to the sofa. Smiling, he sat down and patted the seat beside him, inviting her to sit beside him. She glared furiously at him wondering how he could switch from being so calm one minute to being violent the next.
“You’ll be my wife, my dear Ijay.” There was no mistaking the menace in his cold voice.
Ijay lost her temper again, leaning forward and jabbing her hand in his direction. “You have to be insane to think that I’ll marry someone like you. You were pretending to be someone different in London. Meanwhile, you are devious and conniving. Look at all the things you did to Paul.”
He shot up off the sofa and walked toward her. His eyes blazed with twisted rage. For a moment he looked crazed. “Don’t you dare mention his name again near me, do you understand,” he shouted.
Panting, he turned his back and said more calmly. “I bet he gave you a whole sob story about how I did this or that to him. Well, I don’t care. He’s lucky to still be alive. If it wasn’t for mother, who doesn’t want another blood on her conscience, I would’ve had him consigned to the grave years ago.”
Ijay gasped in horror. “You wouldn’t!”
He turned around, the cold menace back in his eyes. “Oh, I would. I’ve done it before. I’ll do it again.” He laughed out, hollow and demented.
“You see, you are no longer in London. From the moment you arrived here, I knew everything you did, where you went, whom you saw. And it’s the same thing with Paul. I’ve known his movements for years. So getting rid of him would be pretty easy.”
He snapped his fingers loudly making Ijay jump. Then, he placed his hand under his chin and tapped his lips as if thinking.
Stunned, Ijay watched him, mouth agape, not believing what she was hearing. Who was this man? Surely it wasn’t the same man who had romantically wined and dined her. He’d promised her all sorts of things. She’d let him kiss her and thought about their wedding excitedly.
Yet the man in front of her was a monster if he really meant half of the things he was saying now. He’d been watching her and Paul somehow. Who was spying for him? Whoever it was had access to a lot of information and had to be close to Paul.
She racked her brain thinking about all the people close to Paul—Amaechi, Simon, Simon’s mother, Pamela, Mr. Obi. She couldn’t stomach the thought that one of these people that Paul trusted was betraying him to Vincent. She really had to speak to Paul. Hopefully he’d call her soon.
Then she remembered her phone was switched off in Vincent’s pocket and gritted her teeth in frustration.
“You know I’m undecided between a car accident and an explosion at the factory. Which do you think will be more effective?” He turned to her excitedly as if actually expecting her to offer an opinion.
Ijay felt sick, her stomach churning. Blood drained from her head. She walked to the sofa and sat down heavily clutching her head.
Vincent was insane. A mad man. There was no other explanation.
She raised her head and looked at him again, as she inhaled in panic, her breath coming in short gasps. He stood there, looking at her and waved his hands urgently.
“Come on, which one would you choose? I’m partial to the car accident. Although I think an explosion would be spectacular.”
He paced a little more. She couldn’t only watch him flabbergasted, not knowing how to respond to his crazy words.
“I know, how about a car bomb. Now that’s clever, isn’t it?”
“You can’t be serious. Paul is your brother!” she replied, unable to hold back her anger and fear any longer.
“Well, I don’t want him as my brother. Neither him nor all the other bastards that claim to be my siblings,” he said, looking hurt as if she shouldn’t have mentioned his relationship with Paul.
“He is and it’s not his fault that your father had affairs,” she said, hoping a little reason might penetrate Vincent’s warped mind and make him see sense.
“Perhaps, but it’s his fault for being the one that my father loved. You should have seen the way my father always told me off because of him,” Vincent replied, still looking pained. “‘Why can’t you be as clever as Paul?’ ‘Why can’t you be as hard-working as Paul?’ The old man went on and on about him every day. Well enough!”
“Vincent, I’m sorry you felt neglected by your father but killing Paul won’t change it. Surely, you can see that.”
Ijay could understand sibling rivalry. She had a younger sister and sometimes they competed to see who was better at some things. Although, neither of them had ever felt one of their parents was giving the other any more attention. As a child, she’d learnt to accept that her sister was younger and sometimes needed extra attention from her mother. Yet, she’d always felt special too.
Vincent obviously hadn’t felt that way. Otherwise he wouldn’t still be carrying a grudge against Paul, surely.
“No. What I see is that Paul keeps taking things and people that belong to me. First was my father, and then came Onome and now you. No more,” Vincent replied in a loud voice, his anger unabated.
“Well I won’t let you hurt him. I’m going to report you to the police.” Ijay had to do something. She couldn’t listen to Vincent’s threats and ignore it as the ramblings of a mad man.