"Is that all of them?"

Rafael asked Tony as he narrowed his gaze back to the bus that was filled with people from the village. Three hours at the police station and he was able to negotiate their release after fighting hard to defend his case that their arrest was uncalled for and an infringement of their rights.

As expected, the police never had a real reason for their arrest and Tony was definitely right about how desperate Randal had gotten to play a card like that right before trial.

The storm was over anyway and Rafael couldn't wait to get back to his day and his family. He turned back to  Tony who just stood there taking a head count. Tony's relief exhale and nod told Rafael just what he needed to hear.

"I think that's all of them that were arrested."

Rafael let out a relief exhale to release the tension on his shoulders as he turned back to the people in the bus. He let his eyes settle on the older man that sat close to the door with a dashing look of hope and relief in his eyes while he let himself smile brightly at Rafael.

"I am truly sorry about what happened to every one of you." Rafael told him, also referring to everyone in the bus as he raised his head to them at intervals. "I would keep working to ensure that this never repeats itself again. You don't have to worry." He took his gaze back to the old man.

"You all are safe now and would be taken back to your homes. We also made sure that provisions were made for breakfast since you barely got to eat anything all night. Sam here," Rafael turned to the driver that sat behind the steering. "He's going to take you all to the nearest restaurant where we've made the reservation. Please make sure to eat to your fill."

The cheering in the bus brought a huge smile on both Rafael and Tony's faces. It felt really good to see how the villagers were happy even after the terrifying ordeal they had been put through the night before. If there was one thing Rafael was grateful for, it was for them giving him the opportunity to fix the problem his family had caused, again.  He held his breath and narrowed his gaze to the older man that slowly reached for his hand, with his smile getting even brighter

"E Dupé," the man thanked Rafael. "fun ohun gbogbo, e Dupé."

Rafael's Yoruba was far from being perfect, as a matter of fact, it was extremely rusty but those words sounded really familiar. He could tell immediately that the old man was thanking him for his efforts to save them. Rafael slowly covered the elder's hands with his and nodded.

"Thank you for holding on." He told the man. "Till this very moment." He raised his head to the rest of the crowd in the bus.
"It might look like a long time from now, but we would get justice for all the things you all and your families have been through. I promise."

The cheering went on again just as one of the litigation officers Rafael had gone to the police station with started to close the door so the bus could take off quickly. The excitement in their voices, their look of hopefulness, it filled his heart with a lot of warmth even as the bus drove away. 

"They love you bro." Tony said just as they both watched the bus drive off. "You've done so much for them that at this point, they don't even believe that you are human. You could pass as a god to them at this rate."

Rafael scoffed at Tony's choice of comment.

"Don't be ridiculous Tony." He said and drew a deep breath, turning quickly to look at Tony. "We both know I'm far from being considered as anything god-like."

Tony scoffed just as Rafael turned to the younger boy beside him.

"Thank you for coming out today Kosiso." He said as a huge smile appeared on the average heightened man. "Your contributions would be recognized in due time."

He nodded.

"Thank you very much sir."

"That reminds me." Tony cut them off. "What ever happened to that lawyer? The one that snitched on you to Randal. Did you ever find out who it was?"

He watched a frown hover on Rafael's face as he let out a weak exhale.

"We did." The younger boy said. "It was one of the lawyers that worked at the firm, Jonathan Ogundayo. Mr Rafael did a clean sweep and we found him out. But he already resigned on the day of the attack and left the country the next."

"Wow." Tony couldn't help but express his shock. "I can't believe that Randal has even planted his minions in your own company. I wonder what else he can't do."

Tony shook his head at the thought of it. It was a good thing that Rafael had demanded a re-examination of all the staff and lawyers in all the branches of Sephora legal. He had initiated and ordered a strict security measure on all the employees just to find out how many more of Randal's rats were at the company.

His thoughts got cut short when they started to hear footsteps running towards them in a haste.

"Sir Rafael!"

Rafael didn't turn until he heard the voice call his name again a second time, and by the time he did, the really tall man in a casual outfit was already close enough to them. From the way it looked, he had run out of the police station and he was breathing so loudly and profusely too.

Rafael and Tony exchanged really confused glances before they turned back to the man that had ran to them. It took a while but Rafael was slowly able to recognize who it was.

"Detective Kazim?" He narrowed his gaze on the man who had slowly began to catch his breath, turning fully to gave him. "Is everything alright?"

The man nodded his head and took one last deep breath to calm himself. The moment he did, he turned to the others, not exactly sure if he could have the conversation he needed to. Rafael turned to have a look around him, he could tell immediately what it was the man was worried about.

"This is Detective Kazim," Rafael told Tony. "He's an old friend of mine."

For some reason, Rafael saw the need for an introduction first. Tony's nod told him that it was safe to go on. He turned to the man who seemed like he had caught enough of the energy he had lost running to them.

"It's okay, I trust them." Rafael encouraged him to go on. The way he looked at Tony nervously and then back to Rafael told them how he was probably getting ready to say whatever it was he needed to say.

"There has been a recent update on inmate 7117."

Rafael took a minute to understand what it was the man was trying to say. It wasn't ringing a bell to him.

"Austin Silver," the man reminded him just in case he had forgotten. "You asked me to keep you updated if anything came up regarding his sentence."

"Oh." Rafael suddenly remembered his old request to the detective. It had been a long couple of months since he heard that name, and it interested him even more now that it had suddenly came up. He was curious to know what it was the detective had to say, Tony too and with the way the man hesitated, it was almost as if he was holding back the information he wanted to share with them.

He exhaled.

"Austin Silver got released on bail three days ago."

"What?!" Tony exclaimed very loudly just as Rafael stopped breathing temporarily, wondering if he had just heard what he said. "A-are you sure?"

"I got a call from one of my police friends working at the prison. It happened so randomly, no one saw it coming."

"On what grounds?" Rafael asked him.

"Pardon," he responded. "From Aso Rock ." The man added.

"A presidential pardon?" Tony's voice had shock in it.

Rafael scoffed.

"What about Victoria Silver?" Tony asked. "Has there been any news about her sentence?"

The man shook his head just as Rafael got out his phone immediately. There were a lot of things that crossed his mind, a lot of things he needed to know, a lot of things that changed for him now that he had gotten the most shocking news ever, and Olivia was on the top of that list.

"Look," he turned to Rafael. "I am only telling you this news first before it gets out to the public because of what I owe you. My debt to you has been paid in full Rafael Okonkwo."

Rafael turned to look at him, he barely had an answer for him yet but the man nodded and started to walk away from them as fast as he could, retreating to the same building he had come out of.

Tony turned to a rather confused Rafael, like he was Tony was also shocked by the news he had heard. There were a lot of ways he thought his day, as a matter of fact, whole year would have ended and hearing about Austin's release was one thing he never dreamt of.

It was impossible.

How on earth was he suddenly free when the judge's sentence was clear? Everyone knew Austin Silver got life imprisonment for murder. How on earth was he suddenly working as a free man under the orders of the president?

He turned to Rafael immediately to take note of the anxiety in his eyes as he waited for whoever it was he was calling to pick up. It was Olivia, Tony knew it had to be and the relief exhale that left Rafael the moment she picked up confirmed his suspicion.

"Hello?"

"Olivia, thank God!" Rafael said, taking his time to take deep breaths, wondering if she noticed how afraid he was from the way he breathed so loudly, and how his voice trembled from the phone.

"Rafael,"

"Where are you? He asked her.

"Uh, We just arrived at the airport. I think Kingsley is here too. He left Ivory a text."

Rafael let out another relief exhale immediately. Taking deep breaths, as much as he could.

"Are you okay? You sound- distorted." Olivia asked him from over the phone, noticing the change in the pitch of his voice, and how they trembled too like the way they did when he was worried about something.

Rafael held his breath, he had almost forgotten how predictable he was to her. He raised his head and turned to Tony too like he needed him to tell him what to do. He had three seconds to decide what to do, if he had to tell Olivia what he had just heard or not.

He just heard it and he was having a hard time getting a hang of what he had heard. Somehow, he predicted that Olivia was going to handle it way worse. The things the Silvers did to her, it took her a really long time but she was finally starting to forget about her ill-fated relationship with them. She was finally starting to live her life again and telling her that she was probably never going to be away from their shadows was a lot of shock to put her through.

He let the breath out.

"Yeah," he said in the most convincing tone ever. "Everything is fine." He added.
"Just needed to make sure you got back okay."
He cleared his throat and rubbed his forehead for a second, taking deep breaths to calm himself before he said anything else.

"Could you- could you do me a favor?" he asked her.
"Do you think you could go straight home from the airport and just wait for me? You don't need to leave the house for anything, I'm sure Lucy or Kingsley could help you run whatever errands it is you need to take care of. I would just tidy up a few things over here and be home before you know it?"

The silence at the other end of the phone lasted more than a second but he was sure she was still there, listening to him and probably not buying the story he had just told her. He knew he had probably worried her with that call and she was far from believing his lie about everything being okay, but he was scared of the alternative.

"Okay,"

Her confirmation gave him all the comfort he needed.

"I'd be waiting for you."

Rafael nodded.
That was all he needed to hear, that was all the comfort he needed at that time, he swallowed hard and took a deep breath, holding on tightly to his phone on his ear.

"I love you Olivia,"

Olivia swallowed hard the moment she had heard those words. She held her breath for about three seconds when she heard his loud exhale before the line disconnected. She could feel her heart race, and how stuffy the entire hallway had become all of a sudden.

She had two things on her mind; one was why she was unable to say the same words back to him when he did, and the other was why she couldn't shake the feeling off that something was wrong. She slowly dropped the phone from her ear, losing her gaze to oblivion.

"Let me guess. My baby brother is doing it again, he's showing worry in the usual Rafael style."

Ivory's words snapped her back to consciousness as she turned to her immediately and faked a smile. The journey to the exit was quite shorter than she had expected, especially after spending half of the time on the most worrisome call with him. Ivory could notice the sudden change in Olivia's mood, she could sense the worry that filled her heart the moment she got off the phone with Rafael.

She let out a weak exhale.

"Alright, enough sulking, more spilling." Ivory said causing Olivia to turn to her quickly.

"What?" She had barely heard a thing Ivory had said.

Ivory rolled her eyes.

"It's obvious something is eating you from within Olivia, you can talk to me, I promise. I would act as your therapist today and do all I can to understand the situation."

Olivia took another deep breath, thinking hard about what it was she had been worried about all morning. She drew a sharp breath.

"Do you think it's going to get worse?" She asked Ivory just as she turned to look at her. "All of this, Randal, Rafael, more people getting hurt, do you think it's ever going to stop? Do you think we stand a chance against Randal?"

Ivory stopped walking the moment they got outside and Olivia was forced to join her too, taking note of the frown that had replaced the smile on Ivory's face.

"Olivia, where is all this coming from?"

"I just-" she exhaled weakly, "I'm worried about him, about Rafael. I'm worried that this path he's taking, this path that I'm responsible for, it could destroy him. I just- a lot of people have gotten hurt in this fight Ivory, he doesn't say it but I'm sure he hates to be against his family just as much as everyone does. He's barely ever himself, he's become very obsessed with destroying Randal and extremely paranoid about everything. I'm scared that if this continues to go on, we might lose him to his mind."

"Olivia,"

Olivia shut her eyes because she knew just what it was Ivory was going to say and she knew just how useless it was going to be especially since she had a lot to say too.

"Olivia, I just think this is something Rafael has to figure out on his own. At this point, I don't think that there's anything any of us can do about it-"

"I'm going to ask him to leave with me."

Silence.
Ivory stopped walking and it caused Olivia to stop walking too. She looked at Olivia for a while, wondering what exactly it was that she had just heard.

"What?"

She sighed.

"Rafael." Olivia saw the need to clarify herself.
"I am going to drop the case against Randal. I'm going to give up on my fight for avenging the death of my parents and ask him to leave the country with me. We could start over, a new life, a life far away from all the drama and hurt. A chance to experience peace again. I just- I've been given it a lot of thought and I don't want it to be like this, I don't want him to be like this. I can't watch him give up his whole life for me and all those people in an endless war that we might never win. As much as I can't believe that I'm about to say this, I can't let him send his own mother to jail, or his father. I can't put that much of a burden on him. He is never going to forgive himself-"

"Olivia stop." Ivory stretched out a hand to stop her from saying anything else. Olivia held her breath, and the rest of her words too. She let her gaze remain on Ivory for a few seconds, watching how Ivory looked at her too, trying to find the right words to say.

Her phone started to ring. Olivia watched how she lowered her gaze slowly to her phone in her hands and exhaled, raising her gaze back to Olivia.

"I've got to take this." She said. "Hold that thought for one second."

She made sure to tell her so she didn't speak about it yet. She walked a few steps away as quickly as she could before Olivia could respond . Olivia let out a weak sigh and turned to the direction of the parking lot. She could see Kingsley right at one side of the field, waving at them so they didn't miss him. She waved back at him and held her breath, slowly lowering her gaze to her phone again just to see what time it was.

For the first time since she had turned her phone on, Olivia saw the missed calls from two hours ago. If she hadn't saved the number as Grace's school teacher, she probably would not have been so anxious to know why she had called her three times. There was also a text message too.

Olivia opened it. She could feel her heart skip several beats the moment she had read the content in it. She couldn't believe it, she couldn't believe how absent she had been to have missed an SOS call from Grace's school about the incident that had happened. She turned the moment Ivory started to walk towards her again, frowning when she noticed the mood change on her face, and how her eyes had suddenly become glossy.

"Is everything okay?" Olivia asked with true concern.

"The hospital just called." Ivory told her as a huge smile started to carve itself on her face. She let out an exhale and then her smile grew wider. "Nanny just woke up."

Olivia gasped, placing a hand over her mouth.

"Oh my goodness really?"

"Yes." Ivory nodded as more tears filled her eyes, you would think they were disturbing her vision too.

"Oh my, Ivory that's good news!"

"I've got to go to the hospital to see her Olivia, we should go see her immediately."

Olivia slowly dropped her hand from her mouth as she suddenly remembered the text she had received.

"I'm sorry Ivory but I don't think I can right now. I have to hurry to Grace's school first."

"Grace?" Ivory frowned, noticing the sudden worry on Olivia's face. "Why? Is everything okay?"

"I don't think so. Grace's class teacher tried to call me a while ago, while we were on the plane but she couldn't reach me so she left me a message. Apparently Grace fell sick in school and they need me to come get her."

"Oh really?" Ivory narrowed her gaze on her. "Is she okay?" Ivory shook her head knowing how Olivia probably didn't have an answer to that.

"Do you know what? I'm sure it's nothing serious or the school would have taken her to the hospital themselves, you don't have to be worried. I'd get going to Nanny, you go get Grace and take care of her okay?"

"Kingsley is right there." Olivia pointed to the car park and Ivory turned too. "You should go with him, I'd just get a cab from here since we are both going in different directions."

"What?" Ivory said. "Of course not. Olivia, you should go with Kingsley, I'd go in a cab."

"Come on Ivory." Olivia scoffed. "You've only been here for a few weeks, you're yet to know your way around like I do. You're probably going to get scammed by these men , or lost. I know the city of Abuja like the back of my palms, trust me, it would be safer if you went with Kingsley. I mean, we are in an airport, filled with people, Randal won't attack me here, or at a school filled with kids."

"A-are you sure?" Ivory narrowed her brows at her, she wasn't exactly convinced about Olivia's decision but Olivia nodded.

"I'm positive."

Ivory thought for a while.

"Okay." She said slowly. Olivia smiled at her and raised a hand to her arm, she squeezed it.

"I'd see you soon okay?"

Ivory nodded slowly, giving Olivia the go ahead to go first. She watched Olivia take in a deep breath as she walked away from her hurriedly, and further into the carpark. Ignoring all the taxi drivers that tried to get her attention as she walked in, dialing Grace's teacher's number again. She was anxious, very worried about Grace. She didn't imagine that Grace would have fallen ill when she was fine before she left. She could still feel Ivory's gaze on her, watching her to make sure she got a taxi easily and safely.

"Are you looking for a taxi madam?"

She turned to the big bodied man in a pair of rumpled jeans and faded red tee shirt that walked towards her, whispered those words to her. It was hard keeping her concentration in one place at that point, not with her getting extremely worried about Grace, and frustrated too as to why her teacher wasn't suddenly taking her calls. His long and seemingly warm smile was enough to win Olivia's attention, still failing to let her phone go from her ear.

"Oakwood Montessori." She told him while she watched how he pretended to think for a while. "Asokoro." She tried to help him out so he didn't waste a lot of time thinking.

"Oh, oh, oh." The man's loud cry when he suddenly remembered what she meant was extremely dramatic. "That big primary school for Asokoro?"

Olivia let out an exhausted exhale.

"I know the place," the man assured her, he was doing all he could to make sure he secured this customer. "Your money na seven thousand Naira."

Olivia was about to say something when-

"Okay, I go carry you go for five thousand Naira, last price."

"Where is your cab please?"

Olivia followed the man as he led her to the red Honda that was parked just a few paces away from where she stood, taking her phone from her ear again and dialing the same number over and over again to reach Grace's teacher. She let the man open the door for her and she got in abruptly, in a hurry, placing the phone over her ear again, too lost in her thoughts to even notice when the child lock came on.

She was tired of it, she was just going to stop calling and make her way to the school first. Olivia gulped and turned to the driver's seat quickly and that was when she froze.

Something was wrong, she could feel it, feel the other presence close to her. She turned to him and held her breath, not sure why he was there when it was supposed to a one-passenger trip. He was dressed in all black and had the scariest scar she had ever seen on his face. She didn't know how but the air suddenly became eerie, she could feel her heart start to race and for some reason, her hands were staring to tremble too especially since she could feel his gaze on her. She took a note of the face cap that was covering a great portion of his eyes and the nose mask that covered the rest of his face. She gulped hard and turned away quickly, fondling with the strap on her leather bag anxiously.

She turned to the glass at the back and could see how Ivory had got into Rafael's car through the door Kingsley had opened up for her.

She needed to leave, she knew she had to. She was far from being comfortable about having two men in the car staring at her that way. She turned to the door immediately and started to reach for the knob before the car started. She kept pulling and pulling but it just wouldn't open. She found the child lock and tried to open it when she felt him forcefully grab her arm to stop her from trying to leave. Now she knew there was a problem. Her fear was not exaggerated.

"Let me go!" Olivia started to scream just as the car started to drive out of the park suddenly. "Let me go." She tried to set herself free from his hold but his grip on her was extremely tight.

She watched him bring out a cloth immediately and placed it over her nose forcing her to inhale the poisonous smell from it. Whenever it was he was forcing her to inhale, Olivia knew it was strong enough to take down a herd of elephants with the way it suddenly started to make her dizzy.

She kept fighting her way. She couldn't let him win.
She was starting to give in to him, she couldn't explain it but she was starting to get really dizzy and she barely had any oxygen left to hold on to. Her hands were far from strong enough to deliver stronger punches to free herself from his bold.

She was giving in, she was weak, too weak to fight.

Olivia could feel a drop of tear fall from her eyes as she suddenly started to feel her eyes close slowly. Was this it? Was this the end of her? Did he run away all her life for this moment? She looked into his eyes. His face, his brown eyes looking at her with a huge frown on it was the last thing she saw, it was the last thing she remembered before she fainted.