Victoria's loud laugh echoed around the sitting room and even to the hallway. She was really excited. She was always excited when her younger sister came to visit. They'd spend the entire day talking and gossiping about everyone else they were both friends with. Maybe that was why they were so close, because they had so much in common.

"And then I took out an invitation to the opening of my new mall and threw it in her face." The extremely  bleached light skinned woman sitting in front of her said, demonstrating every single word with so much enthusiasm. "You should have seen the look on her face, I almost gave her a heart attack."

"Good riddance." Victoria chuckled as she reached for her champagne flute on the tiny stool in between them. "I always knew that little rat was all talk and no action."

The laughter in the room slowly faded after a few seconds.

"What about her?"

Victoria followed her sister's gaze to the other corner of the living room, where Grace sat in front of a tiny stool with a lot of papers and crayons, painting.

"You're yet to tell me what your plans are concerning her." She slowly turned back to Victoria. "Are you really not going to send her to her mother?"

Grace raised her eyes just a little bit, but not too much. She knew she wasn't supposed to be eavesdropping.

"Not yet." Victoria exhaled dropping her flute on the stool "Not while I'm alive. I have plans for this one, great plans."

"Plans?" The woman asked, anxiety in her voice.

"Let's just say she's going to be my weapon in this war, my insurance. Just wait and see how I'm going to make sure that son killer has no one left to fight for."

"You're going to erase every chance of a relationship with her and her daughter?" The woman whispered, leaning closer.

Victoria raised her brows.

"Completely."

The woman chuckled

"That's a brilliant idea." She said in excitement as Victoria reached for her champagne flute again.

"You know right," she took a sip from it as she heard quick footsteps rushing towards the room, it became louder.

"Ma Victoria!"

It was Philip. Victoria slowly dropped her flute. She frowned the moment her lawyer came rushing into the sitting room, holding on firm to his briefcase with one hand, and a newspaper in the other.

"Philip," She called his name as she turned fully to face him, wondering why he had barged in looking the way he was.  He was literally breathing fast, so fast like he had been running. The woman beside her sat up too just as Philip came to a halt in front of them.

"We have a problem." He stretched the paper to her. Victoria didn't hesitate a bit. She grabbed it from him and then glared at the front page, her eyes widened in surprise.

"Someday news. You're an exclusive on the front page. They are accusing you of trying to kill Olivia and Rafael."

"What?" The woman beside her exclaimed pulling the paper quickly from Victoria's hold.

"Is it true?" Philip asked her. He was glaring at her, his breathing was hard.

"So what?" Victoria looked away, crossing her legs "I was only trying to scare them from insisting on the autopsy." Philip shut his eyes for a second, trying to calm himself.

"Why?" He asked her "I thought I asked you not to do anything stupid? Not to do anything without telling me first?" He said trying to keep his voice in check "Do you have any idea what you just did? What this means?"

She slowly turned to him

"So?" She asked him "It's Olivia we are talking about, everyone thinks she's a murderer. No one is going to believe her. Make it look like she's doing this just to gain attention and the pity of Nigerians-"

"And what do we do about Rafael?" He asked her. "How do we make his own testimony go way?"

"That's the reason I pay you so much isn't it? That's your job. Figure it out."

"Right now, I'm at the verge of not even having a job. If this bounces back to me I could be in serious trouble."

"Mr Philip," Victoria glared at him. "Throughout the years, I've invested a lot in your education. Out of most of the children that have benefited from my family's foundation, you were one of the few I ensured to have a solid educational background. You can't tell me you're suddenly frightened because of that small boy, that lawyer ."
Philip scoffed

"Don't make me disappointed Philip."

"You have no idea who he is do you?"

"Who?"

"That so called small boy, Rafael."

"Am I supposed to?" Victoria turned to her sister "Since when did I have to keep check of every irrelevant person in this country?" she let out a tiny chuckle. Her sister laughed too.

"Senator Randy Okonkwo."

Victoria drew her last laugh as she paused for a moment just so she could hear what Philip was trying to say.

"Also owner of Rand oil and gas." Philip continued "One of the most influential and successful business Moguls this country has ever known." He scoffed "Did I just say country? This entire continent, the entire world." He glared at her "Does that name seem familiar to you?"

"Even little children know senator Randy," Victoria's sister cut him off. "Everyone sings his name even in the littlest communities, what's your point?"

"That little lawyer you talked about, his name, his full name is Rafael Okonkwo. He's senator Randy's son. His first son."

Victoria's frown worsened just as her sister got up quickly in shock just to glare more at Philip.

"That's not possible. Senator Randy has only three sons and a daughter, Ivory is barely ever in the country and she's obviously not a man, the twins he had with that mistress who died after they were born are barely eleven yet and his oldest son-" she paused. She thought for a while "His oldest son,"

Victoria turned as fast as she could to her sister the moment she filled the dots and realized Philip was actually making a lot of sense.

Her sister gasped as she hurriedly turned to look at her.

"Is Barrister Rafael Okonkwo, also known as Chukwudalu, Rafael Okonkwo." Philip continued on her behalf. "Come on, everyone knows this. Why are you just realizing this now?"

"He was the son that defied senator Randy and chose another profession instead of becoming heir to his company. How do you think he always gets away with everything? How do you think he was able to replace that Judge that was on our side? Silver enterprise is nothing compared to Rand oil and gas. Do you know what could happen to you once this news spread? Once senator Randy finds out you tried to kill his son? His heir to his fortune? He'd try to end you and your company with just one phone call. He'd take his shares with Silver group under Randyson corporative and every other shareholder would follow in his stead. That could crumble all your family has tried to build for the past twenty five years. How on earth can you ever fix that? There's a reason why he's called Godfather. Everyone has tried to measure up but they never did. He erases anyone that gets in his way, no matter who it is. Think of what he'd do to the person that tried to hurt a member of his family. Aren't you scared? Aren't you scared of his retribution?"

Victoria could feel her heart race as she got up quickly. She was so scared. She was really scared. She had heard stories of this man, she worked so hard and waited for ten years just so she and her husband could get him to be a part of Silver enterprise, to buy shares from them and even when he did, meeting him was almost impossible.

He wasn't just a senator, he was a man that owned the world. He did anything he wanted when he wanted and even the law didn't dare question him because he never gave them a reason to. There were no traces of him being involved in any thing wrong or illegal. Where did all his wealth and power come from? Many thought he was a ritualist, satans spawn, Onye ogwu ego as the Igbos would say while others thought he was just a big time drug dealer, hiding under the name of his company, and to the rest, he was just stealing governments funds, but how could he? When the funds of the government were barely enough to feed him. Many people had tried to bring him down but they all ended up falling on their faces. He was that kind of man he was. Even the sound of his name made successful people tremble. He was that kind of man.

But above it all he was a good man. A man that knew how to give back to the community just as much as he earned.
Victoria was frightened. Who wouldn't be?
She quickly turned to Philip.

"You've done it for me before." She rushed to him and grabbed his hands. "I've taken care of you since you were a little boy, this is the least you can do to pay me back." She tightened her grip on him, staring into his eyes desperately. "Make this go away, please." Philip exhaled "Huh?" She squeezed his hand "Make this go away and I promise you, you won't regret it. Just this time, just help me this one time."

"I can't."

"What?" Victoria frowned just as she stopped panicking. Philip shut his eyes

"Not this time. The owner of some day happens to be a good friend of Rafael's."

"I'm sure they planned this together." Victoria's sister continued. "They're trying to pass a message, to warn you." She turned to Her sister. "This is really a big deal and should be handled carefully. What are you going to do now?"

Victoria let out an exasperated sigh.
She was having a slight headache trying to think hard and process all the new information she had just learned.

Grace slowly got up. She could see how frustrated Victoria was and she didn't want to be in the room when Victoria became too upset and began to lash out on everyone. She picked up her pack of crayons and held on tight to her book as she quietly turned to leave the large room, hoping to not bother anyone as she did.
They all turned to her as soon as they heard her tiny footsteps.

"You!"

Grace paused the moment Victoria called her.
Tears filled her eyes immediately as she began to tremble. This wasn't going to be good, she knew that.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you."
Victoria demanded.
Grace drew a deep breath, she didn't want to provoke Victoria more than she already was. She knew she had to be brave, after all, she didn't do anything wrong.

Grace slowly managed to turn around with her trembling legs.

"Where do you think you're going?" Victoria glared at her

"T-to my room, grandma." She said almost in a whisper, holding on tightly to her book.

She cringed the moment Victoria took a step towards her.

"Who asked you to leave?"

Grace kept cringing. If only this woman knew just how much she terrified her. She was shaking all over. Victoria stopped and took a deep breath. She was disgusted, at that point she looked at the little girl, all she could see, all she could think about was her, Olivia. She wasn't going to chase her. She didn't have that time or energy. She stood still and stretched her hand to Grace.

"Come here." She commanded.
The little girl shook her head.

"Come here right now Grace."

"I don't want to." Her tiny voice broke.

"Ma'm Victoria-" Philip tried to call her attention. There was no time for this.

"Don't let me say it twice Grace, come to me right now."

Grace turned quickly and then ran out of the living room. She had had enough. She knew she didn't want Victoria to hurt her anymore.

"Catch her!" She could hear Victoria yell as they chased her all the way to the front door. Grace didn't stop. She didn't let anyone close enough either. She ran through the legs of the butler as he tried to shut the door, pushed it, then ran out.

Grace kept turning back to make sure they weren't close.

"Get her!" She could hear Victoria's voice from inside the house just as she ran through the lawn, heading as fast as she could to the front gate. She had to make a run for it, she wasn't going to let them hurt her again, not this time. She wasn't going to let them take her to Victoria. She watched one of the maids hurry to the gate and open it.

"Go," she quickly turned to Grace, looking at her. Grace stopped running for a second just to look at her. She recognized the maid, she was the one in charge of taking care of her, she was her personal maid. Why was she trying to help her

"Bisi?" She called the woman's name.

"Go!" The woman repeated with gritted teeth, still leaving the gate open. "Hurry!"

"Catch her!" She could hear Victoria yell just as Philip rushed outside, running to the gate while Victoria and her sister tried to keep up. The maid ran towards Grace, pretending to try and catch her. Grace knew what she was doing, she knew it was a sign. Grace ran past her and headed quick for the gate just as Philip pushed the maid who was trying to get in their way, buying Grace some more time. The lady fell to the ground.

Grace ran into the road, looking around to see if they were still behind her.

Philip was running out of the gate now

Honk!

Grace slowly turned as soon as she heard the loud horn blowing in her direction. There was a man on a motorbike racing towards her. He looked more like a dispatch rider.

"Get out of the way!" She turned to the gate as soon as she heard Philip yell from the gate. Victoria and her sister joining him immediately.

Grace tried to move but at that moment she had become numb. It was like all her senses had stopped working instantly. She exhaled and slowly turned just as the bike was getting closer.

She didn't move. It was like she couldn't or did she just not want to? She slowly shut her eyes and held on tight to her book before Philip could take another step to her.

The bike ran her over.

At that moment it was like the world had stopped spinning and everything stood still.

Static.

That was all she could hear, accompanied by her tiny heart beat getting slower as she slowly fell to the ground right beside the fallen bike, her book and crayons falling first.

She could see Philip and the maid running to her as fast as they could, then they became blurry, her vision became blurry.

Grace shut her eyes right after she drew one last breath.