The differences that separate human beings are nothing compared to the similarities that bond us together.

Sophie Gregoire Trudeau

______•°•______

This chapter is dedicated to my baby,  Liyah! iamthat_girl_💞💞💞💞💞💞💞 And Nana AddictiveRose she's a badass writer!!! Haew God!😭😭😭😭 If you haven't, goan read her book IN 365 DAYS!

WARNING ⚠️🚨 This chapter has sensitive and triggering content! Read at your own risk.

____~°~____

NINA.

Walking up the stairs in the apartment complex, I winced as a sharp pain knifed the walls of my stomach. I held the railings for support until I got to the front of our apartment. And as usual, I prepared myself for the worst. The call I’d received earlier, the trembling voice of my aunt behind the speaker, still resonated in my ears. My stomach rumbled, but it was not as loud as the increasing pace of my heartbeat. So, once again, I forgot that I was actually hungry.

I looked around, left and right to see if any of our neighbours were nearby. When I didn’t see anyone, I exhaled deeply and turned the door knob. With calculated steps, a racing heart and sweaty palms, I walked into the house. Closed the door behind me. As quietly as I could. But no matter how quiet I tried to sound, he would still hear. And honestly, I didn’t know what I was being quiet for.

I mean, he’d found us, after all. Since the time I first received my Aunt Nora’s frantic call in Ashley’s party. That night when my ringtone disrupted me and Ayo’s first kiss. The night I got home to see, for the very first time, my aunt beaten up to a pulp. That was when I knew: he had found us— finally. After how much we had tried to run. After how we had tried to hide. He’d still found us.

So, since that night, my aunt calling or sending me a text to come home each time he was around, became a norm. Suffice it to say that I haven’t been fine since that day. But my friends did not need to know that. No one did. It would only put everyone in danger. I’d rather not be fine than have the people I love get dragged into what they didn’t know.

“Welcome, darling,” his deep, raspy voice said to me as I turned away from the door. He was seated in his usual spot— the big, maroon wooden chair that looked like a mini throne; one I remember my dad used to sit in when he was still with us. Back when I was three, when we still had a complete family. Back when everything was all right.

He was seated in my dad’s chair, big, buff and full of sinister pride. His full grown beards covering his would-be-handsome-if-he-wasn’t-so-evil face. Honestly, how my mom crossed paths with this man and married him, I would never understand. Because how had she not seen he was a monster?!

Anyway, I knew I said I prepared myself for the worst, but in actual fact, I was not prepared for what I saw. I gasped and cupped my hands over my mouth. With tears freely spilling from my eyes, I let out a muffled scream, “Let Jeffery go! He’s got nothing to do with this! He is only a little boy!”

Next to my aunt who looked even more horrified than the last time he was here — with a swollen face and busted lower lip — my little bro, Jeff, was bound to a chair, black ropes tightened around his body; from his shoulders down to his legs. He was asleep now, but I’m sure it’s because he was tired out from crying. His head was tilted to one side, his chest, heaved and his breaths came out in hiccups. Jeff was only seven—he wasn’t meant to experience things like this. And besides, he was not meant to be a part of this. It was supposed to be just me and my aunt. That was the deal. But humans being humans and him being him, he broke the deal. But at least, I couldn’t see any marks of beating on his body.

I looked away from Jeff to my aunt. Her eyes were bloodshot, redder than the last time; and they were streaked with tears.

“Nina, thank God,” My aunt breathed out. “He said he would only stop if…if—” Her statement got cut off as he, from where he sat, gave her a resounding slap on her face with his belt. Yes, his belt. I winced, whimpered my, ‘no.’

He smacked her face with his belt again and I couldn’t help it. I rushed forward in an attempt to get to my brother and aunt, but two of his men stepped out of who-knew-where and grabbed me from behind.

I struggled to get free as I was forced to my knees, few inches away from where he sat. Something I’d tried and failed to do a hundred times. “Let me go! Let them go!”

“Now, now, darling,” he chided, “you better don’t waste the little energy you have on this. You’re going to need it for later.”

“Don’t call me darling!” I snapped with gritted teeth, tears still in my eyes. I was still struggling, but it was no use. His men held me in a tighter grip.

Since he found us, he’d developed the stupid habit of giving me pet names and calling me those names while he did his evil. At first it was ‘baby girl’. I told him not to taunt with that because it was what my mom and dad used to call me. He’d sarcastically said, “Oooh, sorry I struck a nerve. Why don’t I call you buttercup, then?” And then he and his men had laughed. It wasn’t until recently that he started calling me darling.

And the more he said it, the more I hated that word.

“What would you have me call you, darling?” A sinister smirk appeared on his face. “Should I call you what I used to call your mother, huh?”

He was doing it again. Using one or both of my late parents to taunt me. I tried to stay poker-faced, but knew I failed because a smug expression was etched his face. “Awww, don’t be sad, darling. But you are like her. In so many ways.” He chuckled, then his eyes turned dark. “Naïve, dim-witted and downright stupid.” He spat the last part out like it was poison.

“Naïve, you say?” I asked, trying to make up a snarky comeback. Moments like this, I wished I had Ninu here with me. “Yeah, maybe she was. But she was sha smart enough to fool you!”

He pulled out his belt and used the hook on it to hit me. It landed on my already scarred ankle. I yelped in pain.

“That’ll show you how stupid you are!” He spat. “Ungrateful brat! You’re lucky I haven’t had you locked up somewhere.”

“That’s because unfortunately, you can’t do without me.” I tried to smirk, but it only made me wince because I was reliving all my pain at the moment. “Joke’s on you!”

“Shut up, stupid girl!” He hit me with his belt again. And this time, it landed in my thigh. I gritted my teeth, swallowed the groan that was about to escape my lips.

“Leave the girl alone, Osahon!” Aunt Nora screamed.

He paid her deaf ears, his dark gaze still fixed on me. “You are going to pay!”

“You won’t get anything from me, so just leave us alone!” I’d said this over and over, I was tired of saying it because I knew he never would. And besides, this was one old string I could use to pull of my hard guy tactics. Yes, I was playing hard guy because my aunt and I had agreed not to give in to him. Because, as she said, it was my mom’s last wish that he would never get away with those documents. He’d taken enough from her already.

“But you know that’s not possible,” he let out a dry chuckle. Stood up from his ‘throne’. “You said it yourself, I can’t do without you.”

A shiver ran down my spine as he took slow steps towards me. I was scared, and I could feel my hard guy exterior melting. My stomach tightened, rumbled even, reminding me that I was hungry. And that I hadn’t eaten a sensible meal for the past three days. When I did eat, though, it was nothing more than three spoons of the meal and a glass of water. Slowly, I was losing my appetite. But again, I forced myself not to think about it. This wasn’t the time to be hungry.

He finally got to me. Smirked. And took a handful of my braided hair in his hand, pulling it to the side. Pain shot through my head to my neck. I held my breath and tried not to scream.

“I will not leave you alone. Not until to give me what I want!” He whispered sharply in my ears.

“Y-you’re h-hurting me,” I said in-between tears, my voice hoarse. Even though I knew it was useless and he would not stop.

My stomach rumbled again. 

Not the freaking time!

“Oh.” He smiled, pretended to be shocked. “You’re hungry, aren’t you? Your aunt cooked something for you, but guess what? I ate everything.” He began laughing. His laughter, which was more of a bark, resonated in the four walls of the house. I knew the neighbours could hear. But also knew they would never intervene. Not anymore, at least. Not after he had made me lie and tell them everything was all right.

Even when Mama Pepe, the middle-aged woman who lived next door, was intent on knowing the real reason, I’d lied to her face again. And this time, I was rude. Something I had never been to anyone before. Since then, she had gone back to fully minding her business and sneering at me each time I made an attempt to greet her.

One by one, he was making us lose contact with people that could help us. This was one of the other reasons I did not want him to know about my friends. The kind of friends I had would want to help me. That’s why I have been lying to them— to Ayo. It hurt me to lie to them, but it was for the best. Out of all my friends, I knew my boyfriend was the most likely to find out about this. Because he was the most observant in our group. Today, he’d called me aside. And when he spoke, I knew he did not just have a hunch—he had seen something, but did not want to put it as he saw it.

He’d cupped his hands around my face and stared straight into my eyes as we stood not too far from the others. “Baby, please. Tell me if there’s anything going on with you.”

I’d swallowed, mustered the biggest smile I’d ever given him and said, “I’m fine. Just reading too much. Maybe I’ll calm down, okay?”

He didn’t stop there. “I’m also reading, babe. We all are. I don’t want to believe this is all about reading. Please, tell me what’s wrong. I want to help.” He was close to yelling, I could feel it. This was something about Ayo that anybody hardly noticed—the line between his calmness and anger was very thin.

But he’d remained calm and for a moment, as we stared at each other, I wanted to crash into his arms and tell him everything. Yes, I was that vulnerable. But Osahon’s face flashed in my head and I swallowed back what I’d wanted to say.

I’d smiled again, about to help tell him I was fine— again — when Ninu interrupted with her announcement of us coming to her house. Which I had to agree to. Because lately, it feels like I’d been ghosting them.

Ayo had pulled my hand in his strong grip and told me to call him once I was home. I’d assured him I would. And, of course, I was still going to call him: when Osahon left.

Back to the present; Osahon had stopped laughing. A darker expression took over his face. “Now, darling,” His voice, a deadly whisper, “tell me where those documents are. If you do that, you’ll have everything you want—all the food you can eat. You’ll have it all. And the sound your stomach is making will stop disturbing me.” He shot a disgusted look at my stomach.

“Never!” I spat. “I will never tell you where the documents are, you, you deranged maniac!”

I’d pushed him to his limits, so in the next second, he raised his hand and slammed it on my face, throwing my head to the side and causing spittles of saliva to fly from my mouth.

Aunt Nora screamed. “No! Osaretin!”

The sound of the slap resonated from my head to my brain. I swear, I could feel it. He grabbed my hair again, forcing me to face him. With my blurry vision, I saw my aunt trying to free herself from the ropes she was bound in. Jeff was still asleep in that horrible position.

“How many times have I told you not to be rude to me, huh darling?” He barked in my face. “How many times?!”

“You deserve my insolence,” I answered him with gritted teeth. “Every. Single. Time.”

He roared in anger and slapped my other cheek. Hard. I coughed out saliva. Tasted the salty tears running down my face.

“Stop it, you bastard! Stop it!” Aunt Nora yelled still struggling with the ropes.

The same thing was happening all over again. History was reliving itself.

“Shut up, Nora!” He turned to her sharply. Then he signalled something with his head to his men who were holding me. They let go of me and went to Aunt Nora. Probably to make her shut up. I cradled my face in my hands.

“You will give me those documents, Nina Ogbeide!”

I looked up at him slowly, my vision still blurry and whispered, “Never!”

He growled and went all out this time around. First, he slapped me with the back of his hand. My face landed on the floor with a loud thud.

“I said, you will give me those documents!” He repeated.

Gasping for air, I lifted my face off the tiled floor, faced him. “Never. Screw you, Osahon!”

I knew he would come after me so I made an attempt to crawl away from him. But as usual, I was too slow, so, with very little effort, he yanked my ankle back. I dropped to the floor with a grunt.

Then what followed next was a series of punches and kicks at my back, in my gut, to my ribs…

I tried to fight back as much as I could. But again, as usual, he overpowered me.

So, after a while, I just lay there on the floor curled up in a ball, drenched in my sweat and tears, only able to hear the sound of his beatings and my aunt’s muffled screams.

At least, Jeff didn’t have to see this, I thought weakly.

When he was done, he wiped the sweat off his nose with the back of his hand and stood up.

“Next time,” he said, “you and your stupid family won’t be the only ones beaten up. I’m coming for your friends, too.”

“No!’ I suddenly found the strength to scream when he mentioned my friends. “No, please! Not my friends!” How on earth had he found out about my friends? Oh God.

His response was to slam the door behind him as he walked out.

Once I was sure he was long gone, I dragged myself up, staggered as I clutched my arm and walked to my where my aunt and little bro were. Slowly, I loosened the ropes they were bound in. My brother first and then, my aunt. Even when Jeff finally woke up, and Aunt Nora began muttering series of apologies to me, cuddling me and promising to do something about our situation— which was hopeless, by the way — I could only think of one thing:

Osahon was coming after my friends.

Hey!!!

Double update here, as promised.😌🔥✨

So, this chapter was pretty hard to pull off.🥲🥲🥲 But my WNI Familia helped me out. Love you guysss!!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️😌

Nina has spoken to us—finally!!! 😭 Omo, I'm in pains for her.🥲💔💔💔

The full story is yet to come, so just stay tuned.

Everyone is just keeping secrets anyhow.😭😭😭We've reached the part of the book where a lotta stuff's about to go down.🥲🥲🥲

But in the mean time, let me in on your conspiracy theories!🌚❤️

Vote. Comment. And Share!!!

Don't let me wipe you laptop charger for neck oh!!!🌚🔪🔪🔪

😹 All right, thank y'all for staying with me!!!

God bless youuu!!

~Ife.❤️🌚