Rotimi drove furiously towards their home, angry at the situation. He hadn’t wanted to attend the wedding; to think that while he had been at the wedding of an embezzler, his son had been kidnapped was annoying. He would have preferred to stay at home but members of the church would notice his absence. Why would anyone kidnap their son? Was he been maltreated? Where had the nanny been when he was kidnapped? He made a mental note to fire the woman. But on second thought, she was probably a part of the whole thing, he would get the police to arrest her. He brought out his pone to call his friend Goke, who was a lawyer.
“What are you doing?” Kayinsola snapped.
“Calling Goke.”
She snatched the phone from him. “Do you want to get our son killed? How many kidnappers would appreciate you calling the police?”
“So we should just go home and wait for the ransom note? Please give me my phone!”
“No! I’m not going to let you put our son at risk.” She said aggressively.
“Kayinsola do you know something I don’t?”
“Of course not! I’m just trying to do the best thing for Damola. We don’t know who is doing this, what if they have contacts with the police? Look, what we need to do right now is think of how much money we have and who we can borrow money from.
Rotimi laughed dryly. “I’m not going to pay a dime to anybody!”
Kayinsola looked at Rotimi in disbelief. “So what will happen to Damola? How will we get him back?”
“Let’s get home first.”
They pulled up in front of the house, dashed into the compound and found Mrs Thomas bound in the sitting room.
“Mrs Thomas…” Kayinsola began.
“Madam! Dem don carry Damola!”
“What exactly happened?” Rotimi asked.
“Somebody knock the gate, say him be postman. I open the gate say make I collect the box wey he bring come. He come point gun like this.” She demonstrated how he pointed the gun in her face and started to cry. “He say make I enter the house, he tie my leg and carry Damola. Oga na God save me, he for kill…”
“What did this man look like?”
“He yellow… he no too tall… he wear face cap…”
Rotimi couldn’t think of anyone who fit that description but Kayinsola’s fear was confirmed. T.J had taken her son but how could she tell Rotimi this?
“Give me my phone.” Rotimi said to his wife.
Just then, Kayinsola’s phone beeped. It was a text message:
45b Yomi Bernard Street, I think you know where that is. Come now.
“What’s that?”
“Nothing. Take your phone…”
Rotimi snatched her phone from her and read the text. “Kayinsola what is this?”
“I don’t know Rotimi.”
Rotimi moved menacingly towards her. “Kayinsola I swear I will hit you if you don’t tell me what this is about!”
Kayinsola raised her hands in surrender, she had never seen her husband so furious. “Okay, okay, just calm down.”
Rotimi exhaled and paced the room waiting for Kayinsola to explain herself.
“It’s from T,J,” Rotimi turned sharply towards her. “The text is from T.J.”
“What… why is he doing this?”
“I don’t know.” Kayinsola lied, she wasn’t going to let T.J destroy the life she had taken so long to build.
“I told you to stay away from that guy Kayinsola…”
“I didn’t go looking for him, I don’t know how he found me.”
Rotimi waved his hands dismissively. “Whatever you guys are doing is your business. Let’s go to this place he’s talking about.”
“No, Rotimi, you can’t go with me. He’s dangerous.”
“I’m not going there because of you, I’m going there to get my son. You think I’ll leave you to go there alone?”
“Rotimi…”
“Meet me outside.” Rotimi said over his shoulder and walked out of the house.
Reluctantly, Kayinsola followed him.
“Madam! Madam!!” Mrs Thomas called, she’d been sitting on a chair, legs still bound.
After they left, she hissed loudly and got on her knees. She was going to have to sort herself out.
**********
Titi was alarmed. Why would Leke give someone money to start a business and not tell her? Didn’t he trust her? How much had he given the man? Why had he given him money? The man hadn’t looked business savvy to her. She looked forward, the M.C was telling a joke.
“Why did you give him money?” Titi asked Leke suddenly, they hadn’t spoken since Jeffrey’s revelation.
“I just wanted to.”
“How much did you give him?”
“Titi let’s talk about this later please. Can’t we just enjoy our day, hmmn baby?”
Titi looked at him doubtfully. “I’ll tell you everything you want to know. Let’s just focus on today.”
***********
“Enyeama’s wife has put to bed.” Jeffrey said excitedly to his wife.
“Who is that?” Augusta asked putting a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth.
“Enyeama, my former boss. I didn’t know his wife had put to bed.” Jeffrey answered rising out of his chair.
“Jeffrey!”
Jeffrey didn’t respond, he walked on straight to Enyeama who was sitting with the rest of Leke’s colleagues and congratulated him.
“Thank you.” Enyeama replied as cheerfully as he could.
“Jeffrey, you’re not looking bad. What are you doing now?” someone asked.
“I own a boutique, I sell men’s clothes and shoes.”
“Is that so?” the person replied.
Jeffrey could see where the question was leading. “Thank God for Leke, he was the one who helped my situation.”
“Which Leke?”
“That one now!” he pointed at the stage. “Anyway, if you’re in need of good Italian shoes, I can sell them to you at a discount.” He dropped his card on the table and walked away.
**********
“Welcome…” T.J said rising from the chair and then he saw Rotimi. “Oh you brought your church boy?”
“Where is my son?” Rotimi asked without preamble.
T.J laughed. “Kayin baby, didn’t you tell him the truth?”
“T.J,” Kayinsola began nervously, “Damola is not your son.”
Both T.J and Rotimi were surprised at her.
“Why does he think Damola is his?” Rotimi asked.
“How can you say that?” T.J asked.
“Kayinsola!” Rotimi shook her shoulder. “Why does he think Damola is his?”
T.J laughed. “Sit down, I can tell you what she won’t tell you. Would you like some wine?” T.J asked Rotimi sitting down.
“Rotimi.” Kayinsola sighed realizing that the secret she had kept for so long was about to be exposed but she would rather tell Rotimi herself.
“I had… we slept together three months before our wedding.”
“’Wait, what do you mean by you slept together?” Rotimi shook his head disbelievingly.
“She’s trying to tell you we had sex. S-E-X.” T.J said reaching for his beer can. “She came back for a taste of real loving before she married you. I taught her many things she cannot do with you. That’s my Kayin, my queen of seduction!” T.J belched and laughed boisterously.
“Rotimi!” Kayinsola held his arm.
He snatched it. “Keep talking.”
She sighed, this next part was hard. “I sort of got pregnant…” she intertwined her fingers, wriggling them.
“I saw the test strip in my bathroom.” T.J interrupted again.
“I got pregnant but Damola isn’t his. I aborted the pregnancy…” Kayinsola ran out of breath and she began to cry, afraid of the consequences of her confession yet relieved at the same time.
Rotimi put his hands on his head and exhaled, relieved that Damola was his.
“Where is my son?” he asked T.J who was stunned to hear the last part of Kayinsola’s confession. When he saw that T.J wasn’t responding he went inside the house and found Damola asleep on the bed, he looked like he had been crying.
“Where do you think you’re going?” T.J asked bringing out a gun from the back of his jeans. “Sit down.”
“You can have her, I’m leaving with my son.”
T.J walked towards Kayinsola and slapped her across the cheek with the butt of the gun “Sit down or I will smash the little boy’s head next.”
Rotimi meekly sat down. Kayinsola’s mouth was bloody and her nose ran.
**********
“So how much is this one you’re wearing?” Enyeama asked Jeffrey about his shoes.
“Thirty thousand.”
“Not bad.” Enyeama looked at the shoes again.
“So how much did Leke give you?” Enyeama asked conspiratorially.
“Why are you asking?”
“Nothing. I just want to know, because it looks like you really appreciate him.”
“I do!” Jeffrey said smiling, light headed with the wine he had been drinking. Augusta was following the conversation closely. “Well if you must know, he gave me three million naira!”
“Wow!” Enyeama raised his glass. “Let’s make a toast to Leke, the good Samaritan.” He said, laughing hysterically to cover his shock.
**********
As the bride threw her bouquet, Enyeama whispered in his colleague’s ears.
“Three million naira.”
The other man’s eyes widened.
“We must investigate this.”
“Oh we will!”
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