Olivia munched slowly on her lunch amidst the awkward silence in the dining room. The maids were standing erect like statues right behind the table just in case anyone needed anything. Not like anyone would. There was barely any space left on the huge table for anything else. There was so much food that she was a hundred percent sure they weren't going to eat them all. The silence was really weird, but maybe it was better that way. Maybe all she needed was the silence to play on till she was out of the house. Maybe Sommadina's silence was to her own benefit.

"Olivia,"

Okay, that was exactly not what she wanted. Why did her name have to be used to initiate a conversation? She slowly looked away from her food, raising her head to meet Randy's who was busy wiping his mouth with a napkin. She watched him raise his glasses up his nose bridge.

"So, Rafael told me you finally got a job at everyday news."

Oh did he?

"That's amazing." A tiny smile spread through his chubby cheeks. "I don't strike you as someone who is interested in journalism."

"I uh, I used to do a lot of writing in the past but recently, I picked an interest in journalism after what happened to me."

"You mean after you went to jail." Olivia slowly turned to Sommadina whose eyes were still glued to her plate. She didn't exactly lie. She let out a really silent sigh as Randy's voice brought her attention back to him.

"Journalism is really a tough one I must say, especially in a country like ours. Journalists aren't really heard or given a chance to do their job. It's a big risk."

"Try talking her out of it Dad," Rafael cut in, chewing slowly on his bean cake. "That's if she even listens."

Olivia slowly let out a nervous smile.

"Rafael, you told your mother over the phone that you had something important to tell us, something special." Randy relaxed in his chair, rubbing his palms together with his eyes on Rafael. Rafael smiled a bit and then turned to Olivia. "I guess we can hear it now, right before dessert?"

Olivia returned Rafael's smile when she felt his hand reach for hers on the table, he squeezed them. Of course she knew what the news was. What she also knew was that Rafael couldn't wait to break the news about their engagement to his parents.

"Well Dad," he turned to Sommadina. "Mum," He turned back to his father. "Olivia and I have decided that we would want to spend the rest of our lives together." He had the brightest smile on his face as he looked into Olivia's eyes, causing her to reciprocate. He was so proud of her. "We are getting married."

Everyone turned when they heard Sommadina's loud scoff.

"Over my dead body."
She didn't even wait a second to be against it. A huge scowl covered her face.

Olivia held her breath.

"Mum?" Rafael turned to her, frowning too.

"Is this it?" She glared at Olivia with so much disgust in her eyes. "Is this what you wanted? What you had mapped out from the beginning?" Sommadina dropped her knife and fork with a loud click sound.

"Mum," Rafael rubbed his brows. He knew exactly what was about to happen. Just how much did his mother have to drink this time?

Olivia looked around the room, trying to figure out if it was her she was really talking to. It really was her.

"First, you made him get you out of jail for free, and then into his home and now you want him to get married to you."

"Come on Mum, can you please not do this today?"

"Oh cut it out Rafael." She raised her voice a little bit, glaring at Rafael too. "Don't tell me you're too blind to see what she's trying to do. This girl," she pointed at Olivia. "She doesn't love you. She's just using you, to cover up her hideous past, she always has been. Pastor Aaron saw this coming. How can you love someone like her? She has nothing to offer you, she can barely even get a job without your help."

Olivia was out of words. She widened her eyes trying to get a grasp of what was going on.

"She's a no one, a nobody, an ex-convict. Marrying her is going to only bring shame to this family. And there's that little girl she had for that murderous family, how can you possibly-"

"Could you please leave my daughter out of this."

"Why?" Sommadina asked her, the frown on her face worsening. "It's not a lie is it? She is one of them. She has the blood of murderers and liars running through her veins and she's not-"

"That's enough mother!" Rafael yelled at the top of his lungs, startling the whole table as he hit the table as hard as he could, demanding Sommadina's silence. He got it, she was quiet for a while, watching Olivia push back the tears that lingered in her eyes, biting her lip hard, stopping herself from bursting into tears.

Rafael slowly turned to her. He could see how sad she was. How broken his mother's words had made her. He slowly turned back to his mother. She had tears in her eyes and she was stopping them from falling.

"It's the sex isn't it?" Sommadina continued. "It has to be. You've not been able to satisfy yourself sexually for a long time so this must be overwhelming. But even if it was the case, even if it was the sex, just how good is she that you're willing to throw everything away? The reputation the Okonkwo's have for being powerful and well connected should be lost because of her? How can you even think of doing something so absurd? She has no family, no connections. Think about your father's presidency campaign. Rafael, this is a period where we should seize opportunities like this to create allies against our opponents. There are a lot of other women out there, women from backgrounds that command power,"

"God," Rafael rubbed his temples. He couldn't believe his ears and how lunch was going.

"Women that would do anything, give anything to be with you. Take Gloria Adams for example, the daughter of the minister of the federal capital, or Isabella Nwachukwu, only daughter of Benson Nwachukwu of Benson motors, Aisha Danjuma, Fabiola Reign, Claudia Sunday. These are ladies that would be perfect in holy matrimony with you. Ladies that move this very earth and would be beneficial to our family."

"I'm not a child mother. I do not have to get married for foolish reasons like this. I don't have to give up my happiness for some silly political reasons. I have no interest in any of those women or any other woman at all. The only woman I want to get married to is right here and I ask that you show her some respect if you even consider me your son."

"Respect? Happiness?" Sommadina glared at him. She scoffed. "Are you really happy my son? Because from the way I see it, the only person happy here is that leach sitting beside you, the one you call your fiancée."

"Sommadina," Randy called for her attention, taking a deep breath as he sat straight in his chair.

"All she does is to take and take and you're foolishly playing her silly games, buying her properties and expensive cars, jewelries, stocks, you even went ahead to buy her an entire news company just because no one else would hire her down to the dress she's wearing and the diamond on her neck. Can't you see how much she's taking from you? Can't you see what her plan is?

Olivia held her breath as she slowly turned to Rafael. Did she just hear what she did? She stared at Rafael, hoping he could tell her that Sommadina was wrong, hoping he could tell her that the only reason she got hired at Everyday news was because she actually deserved it and not because he bought the entire company in her name.

Rafael couldn't even manage to look at her. He took a deep breath, folding a fistful of tablecloth into his fists with his eyes glued at Sommadina. He was surprised and irritated. Olivia scoffed.

It was true.

"You had me followed?" He asked Sommadina. "Mum, why are you keeping tabs on what I do? Why and how do you have my account records? Why would you do that?"

"I can do whatever I want. You're my son and it's my job to make sure you're not being taken advantage of, especially since ten percent of this family's company shares belong to you and part of it goes into trying to impress a lady that is less deserving of you. Trust me son, you deserve better than this-"

Everyone paused at the sudden screeching sound of Olivia's chair as she hurriedly pushed it back so she could get up quickly. She had a lot going through her head to just sit down there and listen to any more of Sommadina's insults. She just couldn't.

"I'm sorry." She had her head bowed, not daring to look them all in their eyes for the next thing she was about to do. "Please excuse me." She turned to leave.

Rafael shut his eyes for a second and then took a deep breath.

"Olivia, wait!" Rafael got up quickly and then ran after her.

Olivia walked as fast as she could, not daring to stop even when she saw Rafael was running after her, calling her name over and over again. She could feel her legs walking faster than they usually did. Thank God they were functioning to their full capacity at the right time. Olivia had heard too much to still be in that room. She couldn't breathe there anymore. She was so sad. She knew leaving was a better option.

She stormed out of the house.

"Olivia please,"

She paused the moment she heard Rafael's voice again. Counting a few seconds in her head, trying to convince herself not to turn back but she just couldn't anymore. She was hurting so much to just let it go.

She quickly turned to face him.

"Is it true?" She bit her lip hard as she managed to restrain herself, to restrain the tears in her eyes just as Rafael took a step closer to her, his eyes glued to hers with so much worry in them.

"Did you buy Everyday news?"

Rafael looked at her for a short while, trying to find the right words to say. The look in her eyes were pressing for an answer, not daring to stop until she got one.

"I did."

Olivia scoffed, spreading her arms a little bit and then dropping them back on her side.

"I'm such an idiot,"

"But I swear Olivia, I can explain," Rafael was trying to reach her, to get her to listen to him. "I only did that for you, I was only trying to help you."

"What?" Olivia said almost in a whisper.

"Please, listen to me," he walked to her, trying to get as close to her as possible.

"Listen to you? Rafael, you never listen to me. How could you do this to me even after you knew how important it was for me to do this on my own? You watched me write that application and you saw how happy it made me feel when I was accepted. This is not about everyday news, it's about the fact that I needed some sort of assurance that the world had moved on. That my past didn't define me anymore."

"It doesn't, Olivia, your past doesn't define you-"

"You pulled me back into exactly what I was trying to run from and now look, everyone somehow thinks I made you do it, that I'm feeding off of you. It's back to being at the Silver's all over again."

"Come on Olivia, you know it's not like that at all."

"Isn't it? Because I'd think exactly the same thing if I were in their shoes. Do you know how extremely embarrassed I feel right now? How extremely useless I feel? How extremely stupid I feel?"

"You're none of those things-"

"But that's exactly what I am!" She raised her voice pointing at her chest. "I can't even do anything on my own anymore. I can't get a job because everyone keeps making reference to my past, a past that I am supposed to be free from and then there is you, making the whole situation worse."

Olivia paused the moment they both heard Rafael's phone beep. He rolled his eyes. Just great. It just had to be in the middle of a very important and sensitive conversation.

"Please give me a minute." He whispered the moment he reached for his phone and then opened it. It was a text message with Benita's name on it.

Olivia shook her head and then wiped off the tears in her eyes as fast as she could right before she noticed the look in Rafael's eyes turn to fear. She could almost guess something was wrong.

She narrowed her gaze to him.

"We have to go home now." He raised his head to her, signaling the chauffeur standing in front of the lawn for his keys.

"Why?" Olivia asked as the man hurried to get the car around.

"A burglar just broke into the house and is asking for us to be there in an hour," He turned his head back to Olivia. "Or he's going to kill Grace."