CHAPTER EIGHT: Vanessa.

Vanessa was not just any woman.

In the car back to the airport, Jidenna was quiet. He was driving fast, his hands tight on the steering wheel, his jaw tight. His face was dark like someone who saw a ghost. I had never seen him like that since I married him. Even when Kene brought police, he was not this shaken.

"Who is Vanessa?" I asked again, my heart beating somehow jealous and somehow scared. The way she looked at him, and the way he froze, made my stomach turn.

He didn't answer for a long time. He just kept driving through Lagos traffic, honking, overtaking danfos. Then he parked the car at a quiet place near Lekki bridge where the water was shining behind us. He turned off the engine and held his head with his two hands. For almost a minute, he said nothing.

"Vanessa was Sophia's best friend," he finally said, his voice low and tired. "And... and she was my first love. Before Sophia. Before everything went bad."

My mouth opened. I didn't expect that.

"Yes. In university in UK, Vanessa and I dated for 4 years. We were going to marry. We had even done small introduction, my mother knew her. Then Sophia came into the picture. Sophia was Vanessa's best friend from secondary school, but she liked me. She pursued me seriously. She was rich, she was beautiful, she was daughter of Chief Adeyemi, she had connections. Vanessa, on the other hand, was just middle class, her parents were teachers. Vanessa came to me one night in my apartment in London and said she was okay with it, she even encouraged me to marry Sophia because Sophia's family was richer and would help my business grow. She said she had found someone else and she was moving on. So I married Sophia. I thought it was the right decision for my future. But Vanessa never really left my life. She was always around Sophia, always coming to our house in Port Harcourt, always calling Sophia every day."

"So why did she look at you like that today? Like she hates you?"

He sighed deeply. "Because Vanessa was the one who destroyed my marriage. That night Sophia died, 2 years ago, Vanessa had called Sophia and told Sophia that she and I were still sleeping together secretly in a hotel in Lagos. Which was a big lie. A very big lie. I never touched Vanessa after I married Sophia. Not once. I swear on my mother's life and on my late father's grave, I never touched her. But Sophia believed her best friend more than she believed her husband. That night, Sophia and I had a big fight. She was shouting, she was crying, she was drinking red wine and driving at the same time. She said she was going to Lagos to confront Vanessa and her boyfriend, thinking her boyfriend was me. She said she wanted to catch us red-handed. I tried to stop her. I entered the passenger seat to stop her from driving drunk. She was already very drunk, Amara. She was driving at 140 on that dark road. I was begging her to stop, to park, to let me drive. She refused. She lost control trying to overtake a big trailer. That was how we crashed. That was how she died in my arms."

My head was spinning. So many lies. One lie from a jealous best friend caused a death and destroyed a family.

"So Sophia died because of jealousy? Because her best friend lied to her?"

"Yes. And Vanessa disappeared after Sophia's funeral. She did not even come for burial. Her number was switched off, her I*******m deleted. I searched for her everywhere because I wanted her to come and tell Chief Adeyemi that she lied and clear my name. But she disappeared like air. Now she appears in Lagos the same day we came, at the same time, in front of Adeyemi's gate. Amara, this is not coincidence. Someone planned this."

I held his hand. His hand was cold and shaking. This was the first time I was seeing this strong billionaire shaking.

"Jidenna, maybe it's coincidence. Lagos is small for big people. Maybe she just lives there."

"No. Nothing in my life is coincidence since you came. Kene appeared from nowhere. Adeyemi family called us. Now Vanessa appears. Someone is planning something. Someone is bringing all my past together to scatter my future with you. Someone doesn't want me to be happy with you. And I think that someone is Kene."

He looked at me deeply, his eyes red and tired.

"Amara, I need to ask you something important. Our 30 days contract... can we extend it? Can we make it 60 days? I will double your money to 40 million. I... I don't want you to leave yet. Since you came, my house feels like home again. My mother now talks to me. My staff now smile. Before you, my house was just a fine empty house. Now it smells of soup, it sounds of your sewing machine, it feels like home. I don't want to lose that after 30 days."

My heart jumped. 40 million. 60 days. But it wasn't the money that made my heart jump. It was the way he said "I don't want you to leave yet." His eyes were begging me, not as a billionaire, but as a lonely man.

Before I could answer, my phone rang. It was my mother from Port Harcourt, shouting on top of her voice, crying and shouting at the same time.

"Amara! Where are you? Come back now! Come back now! Tari has carried people to your shop! He said you must give him back his wedding money! He has scattered all your sewing machines outside on the road! He has torn all your customer clothes! He said you married his boss with his money! He is drunk! He is shouting that he will kill you if you come back!"

My phone fell from my hand. My only shop.

Jidenna heard it on speaker. His face, which was sad before, became deadly cold. Like ice block.

"Driver, turn around, go to airport. We are going back to Port Harcourt tonight. Now. Call pilot to get jet ready."

He looked at me, held my shoulder tight.

"Nobody scatters my wife's shop and goes free. Nobody touches what belongs to me. Tari has touched the wrong lion's tail this time."

We entered the plane back to Port Harcourt that night. I was scared. Tari is a street boy, he can be very violent when angry and drunk.

What will happen when Jidenna meets Tari again at my shop tonight?