CHAPTER TEN: The missing two days.

I showed Jidenna the picture immediately.

He woke up, saw the picture of us kissing in our own bedroom, and his face changed to anger, not fear.

"Someone entered my compound. Someone put camera in my house."

He called his security head instantly. "Check every corner of this mansion. Check every window. Someone took a picture of my bedroom last night from outside. Find the camera now!"

Then I showed him the message: "Ask him where he was for 2 days after accident. Body found Wednesday, accident happened Monday."

He sat down on the bed, his head in his hands. He was shaking.

"Amara, that... that part is true. The police file says accident happened Monday night. But Sophia's body was found Wednesday morning by farmers. For 2 days, I was... I was not there."

"Where were you?" I asked, my voice shaking.

He looked at me with tears.

"I ran. After the accident, after I saw Sophia dead, I was in shock. Blood everywhere. I pulled her out of the car but she was already dead. I was covered in blood. I was scared that people would say I killed her. I was scared of her family. So I left her body there and I ran into the bush. I ran and ran. I stayed in the bush for 2 days, just sitting, covered in her blood, not eating, not drinking, just crying. I wanted to die there too. On Wednesday, a farmer saw me and called police. That's when they found her body. I have never told anyone this. Not even my lawyer. Everyone thinks I went to hospital that night."

He was crying seriously now.

"I was a coward, Amara. I left my wife's body on the road for 2 days. I am not a killer, but I am a coward. That is my shame. That is why her family hates me so much. Because they said if I really loved her, I would have carried her body and run to hospital, not run into bush."

I hugged him tight. My husband was not a killer. He was just a man who lost his wife and was too shocked to think.

"Jidenna, it's okay. You were in shock. Anyone would be in shock. You didn't kill her."

He held me. "Thank you for believing me, Amara. No one believed me."

Just then, his security head came in with a small black camera. "Oga, we found it. It was hidden in the tree opposite your bedroom window. It has been there for weeks."

Jidenna collected it and broke it with his hand.

"Who planted it? Check CCTV."

"We checked, Oga. It was Kene. He came to visit 3 weeks ago when you were in Abuja. He stayed for 2 hours in the garden."

Kene again. His own brother.

Jidenna's phone rang. It was his mother.

"Jidenna! Turn on TV now! News! Channel 5! Kene is on TV! He is telling the whole world you killed Sophia and you are now using a small tailor girl for rituals!"

We turned on TV.

There, Kene was on live news, crying fake tears, with Blessing and Tari beside him.

"My brother Jidenna Cole killed his wife Sophia Adeyemi and left her body in the bush for 2 days! He is a ritualist! And now he has married a poor tailor from Peter Odili road to use her for ritual to clean his sins! This tailor, Amara Johnson, is in danger! Her family should come and carry her before he kills her too!"

Tari added, "Yes! Amara was my fiancee! Jidenna snatched her from me and wants to kill her!"

The TV presenter said, "We have contacted the police and they said they are reopening the case based on new evidence from the family."

Jidenna switched off the TV. His hands were shaking with anger.

"My own brother wants to destroy me on live TV. With my ex-employee and my wife's cousin."

I held his hand, but I was also scared. The whole Nigeria was now watching.

"Jidenna, what will we do? Police will come again. Your company shares will fall. Everyone will think you are killer."

He looked at me, then suddenly knelt down in front of me. He brought out a small box again. Not diamond ring for show. A simple gold ring.

"Amara, I know our marriage started as contract. 30 days, 20 million. But I don't want contract anymore. I want real. I want you to be my real wife. Not because my mother wants. Not because Kene is plotting. But because I love you. I think I fell in love with you that night in the rain when you were crying and still strong."

He opened the box. "Will you marry me again? For real this time? Not 30 days. For life? Will you be Mrs. Cole for real, and stand with me against my brother and the whole world?"

My eyes filled with tears. My 30-day contract husband was proposing to me for real. On his knees.

Outside, police siren was coming. They were coming to arrest him because of Kene's TV interview.

If I say yes, I will be wife of a man accused of murder, and my own life may be in danger.

If I say no, I will take my 20 million and go, and he will face this alone.

What should I do?