“Mrs Maliya please what do you mean by all lies. The broken portrait is right in front of you. How do you explain that. Let me guess you want to say you have nothing to do with it. You want me to believe that the painting magically fell down and broke when it got to your table. This painting was worth two billion dollars. I hope you have that ready right now because you will not be allowed to leave this place until you make the payment”, Zed Jefferson said. “But I had nothing to do with its breaking I literally just got here. What are talking about? This makes no sense” Maliya said, panic in her voice “You will have to come with us so we don't disrupt the auction. This painting will be paid for, broken or not Mrs Maliya”, Zed Jefferson said to Maliya and then facing the men who came in with him he said, “officers escort her”.Maliya put her phone back in her hand bag and followed the men out of the auction room. They went to the basement of the auction house. All the time, the auct
Turning to one of the soldiers, Zed Jefferson said, “Release him”.After Stanley was released, he walked over to where Maliya sat and slapped her twice on her right cheeks which immediately turned red. “But Grandfather it really wasn't me. I had nothing to do with it. The men carrying the portrait walked past my table but I don't know anything about how it fell or why. It truly was not me Grandfather. You have believe me”. Maliya said.Taaaa!Stanley slapped Maliya's cheek again. “Are you trying to say that Major General Zed Jefferson was lying? Why would he be lying against you? You've already done enough damage already so shut your lying mouth up”, Stanley said before leaving the villa.Tears welled up in Maliya's eyes, but she blinked and tried to hold it in and then all of a sudden, she started to feel dizzy. The room had grown dark and the air seemed to be standing still around her. She fainted.*****Stanley left with one of the soldiers escorting him out of the Jefferson famil
Please let go of my hair. I'll come with you. Please Sir, General please tell him to let go of my hair”, Maliya cried. One of Zed’s subordinates was dragging Malia's hair while escorting her to the auction room “Shut up! you stupid woman”, Zed Jefferson said and slapped Maliya. She cried out loudly, tears flowed from her eyes and mixed with the blood dripping the cut on her face.It was a really hard slap and Zed Jefferson slapped her right next to one of the cuts on her face. It made the blood rush even faster. By the time they had climbed the stairway to the fourth floor of the building where the auction room was, Maliya had lost a lot of blood. Her sky-blue dress had blood red designs created by the blood flowing from the cuts on her face. As they entered the auction room, the whole room went dead quiet. All the guests present were horrified. “This was the lady who was taken from here when the auction started for breaking Lisa's Smile portrait…”, one of the celebrities whispered
The auction room had grown cold since Zed Jefferson and his subordinates returned with Maliya looking disheveled. Everyone had suspected that the portrait incident was only an excuse for something else but no one expected Major General Zed Jefferson and his subordinates to dehumanize her in this manner, not talk of bringing her out to the auction room and letting everyone know what had been done to her. Rushing back upstage, to where Maliya lay, Zed pulled Maliya up by her hair. He wanted to hold her hostage. “I can use her to buy my way out of here if this doesn't go the way I want it”, Zed thought.Gbaaaa! Andrew hit the auction room door with one of his legs and the door fell making a loud crashing noise. Everyone turned their attention to the doorway. “I’m right here Zed Jefferson or should I say Major General Zed Jefferson”, Andrew said standing at the entrance of the auction room. His voice was calm and angry at the same time. Then he walked in.The room grew colder with ever
Pete was quick. He had served and trained under Andrew for years and one of the things he had learnt was urgency. He moved as soon as Andrew gave the command. Without wasting any time, he made his way to the back door where angry soldiers from the western troop under major General Zed Jefferson's command charged towards him. He paused halfway into the hallway. In his hand he held two short shiny silver knives with extremely sharp edges. And as the soldiers approached him he zoomed towards the first man slashing his throat with one of his knives. He stabbed the second man that approached him deep in one of his eyes. The third man followed before Pete could remove his knife from his eyes so he drove his second knife through the third man’s ear and pulled both knives out at the same time.As the next man approached, Pete jumped and as he kicked the side of his head, the spikes on his boots scraped the skin of the soldier's face. And from then on it was a bloody frenzy, slashing of thro
The auction finally ended after Marc Jefferson ordered everyone out of the Jefferson villa. But in all honesty, the auction ended when Zed Jefferson and his subordinates escorted Maliya out of the auction room after falsely accusing her of breaking the obviously fake portrait. Everyone cleared out of the auction room and the Jefferson family villa as a whole almost immediately. They looked happy to be out of all Jefferson villa. They would have all left a long time ago if they could but the event had taken a rather forceful turn after Maliya was accused of breaking the portrait.Major General Zed Jefferson and his western military troop hijacked the events and people had to buy fake and substandard artifacts. They even forced people to buy the remnant of the broken Lisa's Smile portrait. Before leaving, Zed gave the order barring people from leaving the auction and with all his soldiers, no one dared disobey him. Even in his death, they remained frightened by what would happen if th
By morning, news of Major General Zed Jefferson's death had traveled round Klinland. The Jefferson family was one the top rich families in Klinland. Not only was the family rich, it was also very popular and influential. Everyone with the Jefferson surname was treated in a godlike manner. They were welcome in every home. Parents wanted to marry their daughters into the Jefferson family.As a result of their family status, literally anything about the Jefferson family would be sure to become the talk of the city. When Vlad Jefferson was killed, the story of his gruesome death spread like wildfire. The stories surrounding his death and his missing head were yet to die down when rumors of the family's bankruptcy began circulating. As if that was not enough tragedy to befall one family, Zed Jefferson, a major General in the western army and the second son of Vlad Jefferson had been murdered. Everyone was talking about the Jefferson family.****“Breaking news: Major General Zed Jeffers
Maliya woke up twenty minutes after Andrew ordered her breakfast. She woke up feeling really weak. Everything looked fuzzy and she couldn't focus on anything. Andrew who had remained close to her all through the night was there to hold her hands when she woke up.The night before had been very long and gloomy for Andrew. He blamed himself for Maliya's condition. When she woke up, Andrew was stroking her hair. And because she could not see clearly, she tried to rub her eyes with the back of her hand. But she felt so much pain just trying to raise her right hand to her face. She also noticed the burn on her face from the cut Zed Jefferson had left on her face. And all of a sudden she felt a cold breeze blow all over her. The events of the night came flooding back to her memory. She remembered being accused of breaking a Lisa's Smile portrait worth over two billion dollars. Major General Zed Jefferson had agreed to let her pay two billion dollars.Her family had been invited and detain
Eric was out of his head on the way home. He couldn't believe what had transpired from the moment he got there up to this very moment. “You both can't be serious. I don't believe any of this is serious. You can't actually be serious”. This was the third time he said this on the drive home and all three times he was ignored. “How am I going to let that stinking silly cousin of mine get what she wants just because one stupid old man said he won't work with them until she signs that she's still a member of the family. A family that as far as I'm concerned no longer even wants her to be a part of. Why is partnering with an old fool so important?” Eric thought maliciously. “Grandfather will never agree to this deal. He obviously knows better than both of you”, he said to his parents. “So you think you know better than both of us?” Raymond replied to him. “Apparently yes at least I know that someone like Maliya is not supposed to have any part in the affairs of this family let alone t
Andrew stood side by side with Maliya as they waited for Raymond Coker, Eric Coker and Aunt Maira to come out of the car and apologise to Maliya. Andrew knew they would do whatever he wanted because of how desperate they were to take Maliya back just so the partnership with the Green Group could go on. Aunt Maira was the first to come out. Raymond Coker was the next and finally Eric Coker who came out looking angry and ready for a fight. But of course he would not dare fight anyone not at this point. “Maliya dear, I'm sorry for kicking you out of the house. Truly truly sorry. We were just angry because of the situation but now we clearly understand. Can you please find it in your heart to forgive us all”, Maira pleaded.“You're only supposed to apologise for what you did. Everyone will get his or her turn to do theirs”, Andrew told Maira.“Alright then”, she said, "Maliya Darling please do find it in your heart to forgive your dear old Aunt Maira. I didn't mean to hurt you in whatev
Andrew smiled and hugged Maliya back. He had not seen her this jolly for sometime now. She looked like a little girl as she jumped happily.“She really loves that family of hers despite all they have done to her”, Andrew thought, looking at her with admiration. “Honey, I need to get my things ready. Uncle Raymond will be here soon”, Maliya said as she opened the wardrobe to bring out her clothes.“Alright love. But before we pack your bag,there is something I would like you to see”, Andrew said with a blank face. Noticing his seriousness, Maliya left her clothes in the wardrobe and went to sit next to him,“What is it honey?” Maliya asked, frowningHe turned and faced her, then he said, holding her hands, “I know you love your family and want to go back home honey. But I don't want you to go back without knowing the real truth”.“What truth honey?” Maliya asked with worried eyes.Andrew switched on the television. Fred Green’s face was the first thing that appeared on the television
Raymond left his father's room and went back home to quickly shower and change into his clothes. His house was only a few blocks from the Coker family mansion so was home in less than two minutes.He dashed into the house and went directly to the bedroom he shared with his wife. His wife was in the kitchen making breakfast for the family. So he entered their bathroom to have a quick shower. “Dad! Dad! Where are you Dad! You need to come see this. Mum!”, Catherine, who was in the sitting room when her father rushed in.“What is it Catherine? Why are you screaming? What is so urgent that you can't wait till you get to the kitchen to tell me?” Maira asked her daughter when Catherine entered the kitchen. “Mum, where is Dad? I just saw him come in. I thought I'd find him here with you. Something is wrong. Fred Green was on the news right now. He was in a press conference. He just annulled our partnership with the Green Group. The news is still on”, Catherine said and ran off to her paren
Seven o'clock the following morning, at the Coker family mansion. Ring! Ring!Raymond Coker raised his head up a little bit with his eyes closed and stretched his hand to the little bedside table next to his bed. When his hand felt his phone he picked it up and brought it to his ear.“Hello, what can I do for you this morning?” he said without opening his eyes. He hoped that whoever was calling him would be done talking quickly so he could go back to sleep. “Good morning sir. Sir we have a problem”, the factory manager said.“What problem is there?” Raymond asked, slightly worried. “All our trucks that were sent out to the Green Group yesterday evening just returned sir”, the factory manager said.“And? What is the problem? Will you go straight to the point or do you want to keep wasting my time this early Monday morning?” Raymond asked, pretending to be angry when he was actually really worried about what could have gone wrong.“Sir the thing is that the trucks returned fully load
The next morning, when Maliya woke up, she was in so much pain. The night before, she could not feel herself. For the past ten years, she had been living in so much ridicule, outright hate and humiliation from her family members. This was all because of the injuries she sustained in the process of trying to save the life of that boy ten years ago which disfigured her face and made her ugly. Everyone in her family blamed her for it. She also blamed herself.“Grandfather, I'm very sorry. Please don't get mad at me. Someone was in there. I only wanted to help him open the door grandfather. I did not know I was going to get caught in the fire too…Please forgive me mom… dad…”, fifteen years old Maliya pleaded with her family. “No one sent you Maliya. Why can't you stay where you are meant to be? Why can't you ever do the right thing… Look what you've done to yourself now… You've ruined your life… Just look at yourself now”, everyone in her family was saying. From that day, her life took
One of the men tried to touch Maliya but before he even got close enough, Andrew who had been following Maliya closely and watching her family humiliate her took out his anger on the first security man who tried to touch Maliya as well as the second security man who tried to defend his colleague.Andrew was so angry that by the time he was done beating up the security men he had broken the first man’s bone while the second man had lost a tooth. Then he turned to Eric and gave him a punch on his face. He made sure to hit him hard enough to leave a broken nose and one black eye.“Let's go honey. None of these people deserve you my love”, Andrew said and carried her with his strong hands. She felt really light in his arms. Before he carried her, and when he did, she had been crying but by the time they got to the car, she stopped crying. Inside the car, although the drive from the Coker family mansion to Andrew's private hospital, Maliya was quiet. By the time they got to the hospital,
Andrew tried to pull Maliya to her feet but she refused to stand. Rather, she stayed on her knees and continued banging the door, crying and begging her mother to forgive her. Although he was strong enough to lift her up if he wanted, he could not bring himself to do that to Maliya. He knew this was a difficult time for her.“This must be really traumatizing for you my love”, he said to himself feeling sad for Maliya. He wished he could take her pain away and carry it like it was his. “Let's go home honey. Your mom is just very upset about the incident, that's all. She will get over it soon my love and everything will be okay again my love”, He continued. He tried to lift her up again. This time she did not struggle. She let him help her to her feet. When she was standing, Andrew pulled her to himself and embraced her. She let him hold her for some minutes while she continued to sob. “I have to talk to Grandfather honey. He is the only one that can make this right. Honey, can we g
Andrew kissed Maliya's forehead before leaving. He wanted to buy her lunch from her favorite restaurant. By the time he got to his personal packing space, Pete was already there waiting. When Pete saw Andrew, he rushed to open the door of the car for Andrew then he went back to the driver's seat and drove off.“Any reports Pete?” Andrew asked. “Yes sir. The Jefferson auction assignment was successful. Not one member of the Western army under Major General Zed Jefferson survived. I ensured that. The other Jeffersons are unharmed. I have kept an eye on these past few days. They are all in town, just laying really low. I also questioned the Jefferson's individually about the whereabouts of the lava heart but sir they did not seem to know. Martha Jefferson thought that only Zed Jefferson would know that he is dead now”, Pete said .“Good job Pete. Keep monitoring the Jeffersons. I want to know where they go, why they go there and when they do. ”. Andrew paused and lit a cigarette.“Abo