“What about Talatu?” Jasper asked.“What about her?” I asked. “Do you intend to get her back? I thought their marriage was supposed to take place this month?”“Yeah; luck seems to be on my side.”“You intend to get her back? What for? You have all the money in the world; you can get any girl you want.”“I will get her back, then I will break her heart. Just the way she broke mine.”The silent came over us again, leaving the G-Wagon V8 engine roaring and taking us to Kingtone Street.“Wouldn’t it be better if you just walk away from them? There is nothing you would gain by doing what you want to do to them.”“Jasper,” I said. “If I need your advice, I will ask for it. But I am not going back. They have to pay for what they did to me. She broke my heart, and he killed Sarah. They cannot go free; they have to pay for what they have done.”“Why don’t you let God pay them in their own coins? Besides, you are already richer than both of them in spite of the fact that he stays abroad. Is th
I bought the building the next week at a whooping one hundred and twenty million naira. Mr. Kinsley initial price was one hundred and fifty million, thinking that it would keep me off. He sold it eventually at my price after a couple of haggling, and he delivered the keys of the house the next day.I was to bear the liabilities as well as the assets, he said. He told me that two tenants have paid their rent while the other two had not. I asked for the names of the defaulters.Mr. Kingsley had looked at me.“If I wasn’t a man that has seen a lot, I would say maybe you bought the building to victimize the tenants," he said. "The way you insisted on buying the building at this ridiculous price, and the way you keep asking about the tenants, I am convinced that you have another motive from just the interest in buying the house.”I shrugged. “Who knows?” I said and smile. “It’s good doing business with you.” I shook his hands.“You paid for a property that you did not even see the inside,”
“I don’t like what you did today,” Talatu said in the phone.“What did I do?” I asked with a little smile on my face. I must say I was beginning to enjoy what was going.“He said you asked him to pack out of the your building.”“Yes,” I said. “I want to renovate the building; is that a bad thing to do? It’s my building.”“He said you gave him only one week to do so. And that you did not ask the other neighbors to pack out.”I smiled. I really wished she was here so she could see my expression and so I can also see hers.“Yes," I said. "I want to start with his part of the building. See, it’s nothing personal. I just happened to start the renovation with his apartment. There are no hard feelings attached, please.”“Are you sure?” Talatu asked. “Are you sure you are not victimizing him?”“Why would I do that?” I asked.“Because he killed…because he knocked your wife accidentally? Is that why you are doing this?”“Killed or knocked; which one did you think he did?” I asked.There was a
“I need a security guard,” I said.Jasper looked at me. “Because of the G-Wagon, right? You are afraid someone might kidnap you?”I shook my head. “Not only that but I want someone I could send to do special work for me. Do you know someone who is not afraid to do special jobs and can keep secrets?”“That sounds clandestine,” Jasper said. “You are not thinking of doing something illegal are you? That could land us in trouble.”“You are fearful,” I said. “I have money. We can get the best lawyers and they can defend us no matter what we do. Don’t be afraid; we have money.”Jasper stared at me. I could see it in his eyes that he didn’t like what I said. I made up my mind then to be gentle on issues with him before he goes back and tell mom and she would wake up and come preaching to me.I haven’t told her about the money yet, and I was sure Jasper hadn’t told her about the cars too. Otherwise, she would probably have packed and come to stay with me. Just to get me to use the money well
I had taken the fruits and was preparing to pack my things out of the house to the hotel when I saw Talatu’s call.“Hello,” I said.I heard a sniffle, and then I knew she was crying.“Tala?” I asked. “What happened?”She cried so more.“Where are you?” I asked.“At home,” she said, and sobbed again.“Okay, wait for me. I am coming there right away.”I turned to Jasper. “Please pack only my documents. Don’t pick anything else. I am leaving it all here.”“Mom would not allow you to leave these things here.”“I know,” I said. “Just pack my documents for now. Leave my clothes and all other things. We don’t need them. And give the key to the compound master to give to the head teacher tomorrow.”“What happened to Talatu? I can smell trouble!”“I don’t know what happened, but I am going there to find out, I said and picked the key to the Wagon. “Get to Crispan Hotel and take their penthouse. I will send a million to you. Book for a month.”“Okay,” Jasper said. “See you later.”I drove to Ta
I thought about Talatu all the way to Crispan Hotel. I remembered what she did to me, how she humiliated me, and the more I thought about it the more I wanted to punish her for it. I also thought about how Dr. Agaba had called me. I thought about what he had said and how he had said it, as if I was a dog he was speaking to me. The more I thought about that day, the more my heart bled. But now the tables have turned, and she wants me to open my arms and take her. “That’s never going to happen,” I said out loud. “She would have to find another person, not me.”But I knew what I said wasn’t coming from the bottom of my heart. I knew how I felt. I knew she still had a hold on my heart. But, just at that moment, the thought of Sarah came into my mind and my heart hardened.“They killed her,” I said. “They must pay for that. They must pay.”I droved the car into the luxurious compound of the Crispan Hotel and parked. I walked into the reception and asked for my room. I got the key and wa
I got another room for Isaac to sleep in. By six in the morning he was at my door, knocking.I woke up with bleary eyes and came to the door.“Who is it?” I asked.“Your bodyguard, boss,” Isaac said in his drawled voice. “I am reporting for duty.”“What?”“I am reporting for duty, boss.”I opened the door knowing that I had to sit him down and establish how this was going to work.“How was your night, boss?” he asked, as soon as he came into the hall.“Common, Isaac,” I said, rubbing my eyes. “You are not going to be calling me ‘boss’ all the time, are you? We know each other since we were what, in secondary school?”“You are right, boss,” he said. “Shal was the person who introduced us, boss. It was just that I was stupid not finish school.”“I want you to call me…call me—”“I will call you, 'boss', sir,” he said. “This is work; when I am not working, I can call you by your name, boss. But I want to be working all day and all night. Two hundred and fifty thousand naira is not a child
Mom came to see me at the hotel.I opened the door, and she walked in with a quarrel.“How did you get money to stay here, Paul? And how did you get money to give me one million naira? See, I haven’t touch it; if it is illegal money, I don’t want it. You can keep it, because I don’t want it.”“It’s not illegal money,” I said and glared at Jasper.Why did you bring her here? I asked him with my eyes.He shrugged.“Paul, tell me the truth,” she said. “I want nothing but the truth. Are you sure you did not steal this money from someone? I don’t want my child to be a chief or a scammer."I shook my head.“Mom, I did not steal it. A man from England gave me the money. I met him here in Nigeria and when he got back to his country, he sent money to me. It wasn’t any scam.”Mom looked at me with eyes that told me she didn’t believe me. “Does it have anything to do with your finger getting cut off? Were you involved with some rival gang or something?” she asked.“Mom! I am telling you there w