"What's it?" Ite asked.

"Find me anything you can on Grateful heart company's, it's a registered company for housemaids. They recruit and help them find a home they can work in."

"Alright, I will let you know." He replied as I thanked him and ended the call.

"You should get some rest now." Richard said to Tutu as I got back into the living room. I took a quick glance at her, she looked beat and exhausted.

"Yea, I should probably do that and also take my drugs otherwise Lewa will cause a fit if she finds out." She giggled quietly.

"Alright." Richard said as she stood up.

"Do you guys want anything to eat, I'm pretty sure there will be something in the freezer. I just have to warm it up in the microwave."

"No, thank you. I'm fine." Richard replied.

"Me too." I added.

"Okay, feel at home. I'll be in the room next to my bedroom upstairs till you guys are done in my room." She said, grabbing her bag and leaving the room.

"It's back." Richard said to me as I took a sit on the chair Tutu was seating earlier.

"What's back?" I asked, a bit confused.

"The old you. What do you say to working on this case together?" He proposed as I shook my head.

"No, no. I have told you Richard, don't talk about it anymore. I can't afford to make another mistake like I did back then." I said to him.

"But you are good at this. It's what you do, you can't just let that event 5 years ago ruin what you actually love doing." He reasoned.

"I love guarding people." I stated firmly as he burst into laughing.

"Say that to yourself and do you even know how that sounded." He said, still laughing as he somehow influenced me and I started laughing.

"Whatever. I love guarding people." I insisted, still laughing.

"Alright, fine. I am leaving now, I'll find whatever I can on the maid and everything else we talked about." He said as I nodded.

"Alright."

Tutu's Pov

I had just finished taking a shower after taking my drugs when I heard the knock on my door.

"Who is that?" I asked.

"It's I, ire."

"Ooh come in." I said, settling down on the bed.

"Hey, you alright?" He asked, walking into the room with the air of someone who had everything in his life under control and for a fleeting moment, I wished I was like that.

"Yeah, I'm good." I said, wondering briefly why he would be worried if I was fine or not.

"Alright cool. We found a fingerprint." He said, entering the room.

"Ooh really, that's a good thing right?" I asked, unsure of anything and everything at the moment. If only I had someone to tell that I was confused, scared and lost.

I didn't have anyone in the world and I have long gone gotten used to it. However, moments like my present makes me wish there was someone for me. Someone I could call my own, my person.

"Yeah. It would be a good thing if it matches with the registered owner of the car tailing us earlier but if not, it's a bad thing." He said, arms crossed as he rested against the wall.

"Why would it be a bad thing?" I asked. "Doesn't that mean we have a suspect." I added.

"Yea, that would mean we have a suspect but, it wouldn't be a suspect anymore, it has become two suspects and we have to start digging on how they are related to each other." He said.

"Ooh..." I muttered in realisation.

"Yeah, I have to confirm if there's really a GHC because I really feel uneasy about something but I don't know what it is." He said, more to himself.

"You are going to keep me safe, aren't you?" I asked, shocking the both of us as he turned to me, walking towards me.

He took a seat beside me on the bed as he stared straight into my eyes and said, "You will be safe. I promise that, it's not going to happen again. Not on my watch." His voice resounded in my head as I wonder what he meant by something not happening again but, no matter how many times I tried to make sense of it, I knew the reassuring words were not for me. They were for himself and that, itself frightens me.

"Come in." I said as someone knocked on the door. Chike and Samson entered the room.

"I'm done and I would be leaving soon to get the things I have to install." Chike said to Ire, writing something on his tablet.

"Alright then." Ire replied.

"Errhmm..." I started.

"What is it?" Ire asked.

"How much do I have to pay for the instalment?" I asked.

"The total cost of what you need and the fee for installing is 800,000 Naira." Chike said.

"Alright, give me your account number. I will transfer it to you." I said as he called out his account number.

"I'll leave now." Chike said, on receiving the alert.

"Okay. Samson, please escort Miss Tutu to her room to check if any valuable file was lost." Ire said, standing to his full height as he walks towards the door.

"I'll see Chike out, I want to check out something." He said, leaving the room with Chike.

"Shall we?" Samson asked and I nodded, following behind him as we walked to my bedroom. I took a deep breath as I entered the scattered room.

"I can arrange this place now, right?" I asked as he nodded in reply.

I picked up my clothes and scripts as I arranged the room. I thought long and hard about what the intruder could be looking for as I cleared the room. Nothing was missing, not even the notes of thousand Naira's carelessly tossed in my bedside drawer. It seemed like the intruder was more interested in scaring me then stealing my items.

It somehow reminded me of an assassin. I felt goosebumps all over my body as I shiver in fear. Was it an assassin?  I thought as I remember the shadow near the window from the hospital.

I walked into my closet and brought out the hidden box from under the thousands of clothes it was buried under. I rubbed my palms over the coarse wood as I wondered if maybe, whatever the intruder was looking for is in the box.

I flipped open the lid, bringing out the small frame picture of my family. I caught a brief glance of my mom's reassuring smile in my mind as I stared at her smile in the picture.

My mom, she would have hugged me if she was here. She had a thing for hugging, she always said it made her feel like her problem was minimal and that there was someone there for her.

I smiled as salty tears fall gently from my eyes, I moved my finger tips over her face as I dragged it to my brother's. My poor brother, he never did grow and I thought about what he would look like now had he not died. Would he still have that mischievous look he always had on his face or would he be all serious and matured now.

Tears fell down my eyes as I stared at my dad's happy expression, remembering his last word's to me.

Don't live your life with hate, it's not worth it. You must remember, that everything happens as God wills.

I dropped the picture and picked up the key in the box. It's a single key that was no longer a shining silver but now a blackish silver. Somehow, I felt like the key signified my experience and how I have grown because, it was the same change.

I was not the girl I was back then when my whole family was murdered. I was no longer innocent, naive and thought life was all about happy but if the intruder thinks I was still the same as back then. Then, he or she has another thing coming because I'm definitely not who I was back then.

I shut the lid and returned the box to where I had brought it out.

***

A'N: Hey lovelies, so yeah... I know I am a terrible author with bad updating schedules but all I can say is that I'm sorry.

I cannot promise to update soon but I promise to try my best to write the next episode as soon as I can.

See y'all later. Don't forget to vote, comment, share and keep the love flowing.

I love y'all. Bye 🥰😍💗