I sipped my wine slowly while trying to think of one good reason why I still had to be with Ola. But I couldn't come up with any. Thinking about what my mother had told me, I realized there may come a time when I would be told to leave the house.
I shrugged.
No way! My parents can't do that to me. They can't, I told myself. But it was a possibility.
Could this one reason alone be enough to hold onto him? I asked myself. I gulped as the thought of it, got me a little worried. But to add to my worries was what the man told me next.
"You've done the biggest part of the job." He said, "now it's time to claim back what belongs to you." I was bewildered. What belonged to me? I shook my head in disagreement. Ola was never mine even though I loved him. And it's probably something I will regret for the rest of my life.
"I need to start a new life." I told the stranger, "with a new man." The stranger shook his head.
"Get back what belongs to you."
"But he was never mine in the first place. He was already someone else's when I met him."
"That's what you think."
"What?" I asked almost spilling my drink.
"You're referring to Miss K, right?"
"Well at the hospital he mentioned the name Karen. That must be the same person."
"Karen Otaji. That's her name. But it was only a one-time affair."
I laughed as it reminded me of Chuks the hotel manager's one-time affair with his hotel receptionist.
"So everyone is having a one-time affair. I guess I have a lot of catching up to do."
"You can laugh all you want." He said.
"Maybe I should also start having one-time affairs too."
"But you know you're not that kind of person."
"I should, seeing it wasn't hard for him to have an affair which probably...," I paused. It hadn't crossed my mind that perhaps, Karen or Miss K, could possibly be the mother of his son. I closed my eyes and bent my head.
"Don't tell me she's the mother of his son?"
"He denies it."
"It's his son. He can't deny it." I said with absolute certainty. "The resemblance is too striking." I concluded.
"But he's doing his best to provide for the young boy." said the stranger.
"Then the family should get the boy to sign those papers and not me." The man shook his head.
"True but you are the one legally married to him. So that's their problem."
"Why is it a problem for them?" I asked.
"Because if anything happens to your husband, you will have full control over the business being the heir's wife."
"It doesn't make sense. His father is there."
"The business was started by his father, who in the family was the least considered to rise to success. He wasn't that brilliant in school, and so his brothers started questioning him on how he made it. And he had started making a lot of money."
"So are you saying because he wasn't brilliant in school everyone thought he would become a failure?"
"What would you have thought? But he became successful, while his half brother and three sisters were not like that. So they put so much pressure on him to part with his money. After so much resistance, he decided the best thing to do was to help each of them start a company."
"Five companies under the name Segun Industries." I added. The man nodded.
"Segun Industries was the controlling company while the other five companies were divisions."
"But if that's the case, then all these years Ola wasn't working there like he told me?" I asked.
"He was, that's why you have Tolan Consultancy. It administers Segun industries." The man smiled at me when he said that.
"And Ola was working there?" I asked. The man nodded.
"You pointed a gun at him." The man looked me in the eyes, " You threatened the man you loved, an employee of your own company." I slowly turned and looked at the man, I was sure something was out of place.
"What are you talking about?" I asked surprised.
"Simple. He was his father's successor and heir to a multi-million Naira business. Take out the heir and it would have been easy to subdue your father-in-law into handing over control of everything. Except shortly after the marriage everything was put in your name."
"Is that why my parents are so desperate?"
"Desperate for what?"
"That I sign those papers?" He nodded.
"They are not desperate. They only want to save you." My eyes widened and cold shivers slowly gathered around me as I began seeing the kind of plots and threats seen only in the movies. It was scary. And while I could now understand my parent's concern, I didn't understand why Ola had to fake his death.
"Is that why Ola had to fake his death?" I asked.
"Actually Miss K being an ex-security officer got the information about a possible attempt on the life of your hus...,"
"Ex-husband for your information." I quickly told him. In his usual manner, he smiled at me.
"Look, even in his absence he still puts food on the table for you. And it's not alimony he's paying you." I could only laugh when he said.
"And how is he doing do that? I've always been with my parents after he disappeared."
"You never check your account so you don't know how much is in it. Try visit your bank to find out."
I frowned my disappointment at hearing this. As far as I could remember, I never gave him my account number. This worried me a lot. Who knows how much has disappeared from it.
"What, are you worried you won't find anything in the account?"
"I never gave him my account number. Tell me, is this the man you want me to go back to?"
The man looked at me like I was throwing away a big opportunity. Was I?
"You still have a house you can run to, should things get bad. Make it a home."
"Yes, make it a home and then welcome him in with wide-open arms as if nothing happened? Thinking about it, I might as well go and sign the papers and accept the proposal being offered me."
"Sign your company away and one day you could be walking bare foot across the streets of Lagos."
"Great, and yet you wanted me to sign those paper." He sighed.
"Yes I did, but I also told you to go there as it could open other doors."
"So by other doors you meant, I would know the truth about Ola?"
"You fainted and saw him. You knew then that he was alive." I nodded.
"Anyway, I thank God for his life. But I'm done battling for a man who has such a warring family."
"He's yours to save so you can save your own family too."
"What? " I asked staring at him.
"Two friends go into business together. If one goes down the other suffers. Both father's are like two sides of the same coin."
"Wait, so why would my father want me to sign those papers?"
"Your father was the architect of the success of their business. Ola's father had the connections as he knew a lot of people in key positions. So when his problem with his family started, your father gave him the ideas he used."
"Yes but why was he insisting I sign those papers?"
"He only wanted you to stay out of trouble." I looked at the man like he wasn't telling me the truth.
"Well he wasn't helpful at all." I shook my head.
"How?"
"The Consultancy is in my name and it administers Segun Industries. Why would my dad want me to sign a document that gives away the consultancy?"
" If his daughter's life is at risk, he has to do whatever it takes to save her." I pondered over what the man had said. It was confusing and nothing it seemed made sense.
"Signing off a multi-million Naira company for 30 million Naira? I mean I can understand his concern for my life. But why give away so many years of hard work like that?"Â I asked him.
"Your father knows a thing or two about money. So he should know what he's doing."
"I hope he does. My mother instead is making a scene out of it." The man smiled as usual.
"Your mother only wants to make sure you have a settled life."
"Tell me she's worried so much about my future?" I asked.
"She is, so she's angry with you most of the time."
My mother's anger was something I was getting fed up with. I didn't know how else to handle it. But notwithstanding everything, I was done with Ola. I wasn't going back.
"I'm not going back." I told the man, " I saved his life. Now he should be able save his company."
"Remember Tolan Consultancy is registered in your name. You have 100% controlling interest, thanks to him."
"I've gone through a lot. I need a new life and a new man." I told him.
"Fine, but settle whatever differences the two of you have and then move on with your life." I sighed.
"I can't because he doesn't trust me enough to listen to me. Ola never listened to me."
"And why would any man put his hope on a woman he doesn't love or trust?" he asked. With that I got up.
"I need a drink." I told him and quickly went to the bar to get one. When I came back the stranger had left.
I looked around but couldn't find him. I sat down for a while before heading out of the pub. Back inside my car I felt reluctant to go back to parent's house after what my mother had told me.
But I had no where to go except my own house. Looking at the busy road, I had to decide which direction to take. I kick-started my car. I have a house, a house I can go to, I told myself. It's time to make it my home, with or without Ola.