He cleared his throat, turning his head to the small statue of a lion made out of white porcelain he had been gifted a few moments ago by the director of the central bank. He had thoughts of what-nots crawling into his mind while he made himself even more comfortable in his chair decorated with the most majestic arm rest anyone could ever imagine. He had his bodyguard bended over in front of him, almost as if his buttocks were touching the ground while he did all he could to even up the shine on Randal's shoes. He was cleaning it with so much vigor until he made sure to see his own reflection through it.

Randal raised his head to the door the moment he noticed his Secretary hurry into the office, taking his eyes off his tablet when he had started to approach Randal. That was Randal's queue to know that it was time for his meeting with the Thailand investors scheduled for three PM. It was a wonder how his bodyguard took the hint and got up quickly, bowing in front of him and helping him stand on his feet.

"Sir," his secretary said. "They are waiting for you at the board room."

Randal nodded, stretching his hand so he could be given his walking stick. He tapped it twice on the ground like he was checking if it was still as strong as it was to hold him up, right before he raised his head back to his Secretary.

"How are things at the fishery going?"

The petite man nodded.

"It's going exactly as planned Godfather. We would begin testing for Randal Pharmaceutical by Wednesday as scheduled."

"Very well," he nodded as he began to find his way towards the small stairs that led him down from the platform where his office table was. His stick and left leg first and his right next. He looked satisfied with the news he had received and walked past his secretary who took the initiative to walk behind him right after.

They headed towards the door and then stopped halfway the moment it flung open and Rafael barged in, fists folded, eyes with a glare that left a message immediately. Randal's bodyguard hurried immediately to stop him the moment they could all guess what he was there for, more like who. With the way he glared at Randal, it was really wise for them to seek his protection first, even Randal was worried. He had never seen Rafael that afraid before, not in a long time at least.

"Leave him." He announced to the big body built man that tried to subdue Rafael and stop him from getting any closer. He let Rafael go and bowed to him to show his respect, Rafael didn't need it, he was there for just one thing and he wasn't going to leave anyway until he got it.

He stomped the remaining distance towards Randal until he was standing right in front of him, causing his Secretary to take even more steps backward. Rafael let his eyes settle on his father just as Randal stared at him too.

"And to what do I owe this wholesome visit?" He asked Rafael.

"Did you do it?" Rafael didn't give him the luxury to assume that he was there for anything else. He thought the look on his face made his message loud and clear. "Did you get Austin Silver out of prison? Are you responsible for his actions towards Olivia and Grace?"

Randal scoffed.
"Just what are you accusing me of this time?"

"It can only be you." Rafael cut him off. "I've thought as hard as I can and nothing makes sense to me anymore. Austin's sentence was clear, I made it possible, there's only a few people with power enough to grant him a pardon-"

"You think I have a hand in releasing that criminal" Randal asked him. "And for what exactly?" He squinted his eyes, still leaving them on Rafael.
"So he could chase after that lady of yours and her daughter? Do you think I have that much time and resources to waste on meaningless people?"

"I think you would do anything you can to buy you more time to forge your evidence for trial, or better still, take away the competition, or should I say in this case, the threat?"

"Tsk." Randal clicked his tongue and shook his head. "All those years sending you to the best schools in the world and this is all you can come up with? Mere meaningless assumptions? To say that I am disappointed would be an understatement." He took a deep breath.
"But then again, what can I say, you took after your mother in that respect, weak, in your thoughts and in your actions."

He straightened his shoulders and looked away from Rafael.

"I wish I had the time for this but I'm afraid, I have pressing matters that are more deserving of my time."

He hit his stick on the ground twice. That was his queue to leave and for his men to follow. He began to walk towards the door and his Secretary and bodyguard followed. Rafael held his breath in disbelief, he couldn't believe it, he couldn't believe how his father was going to keep denying his involvement till the end.

Was he just going to leave? Had he come all the way for nothing?

Before he left the hospital, Rafael had promised himself one thing, he wasn't going to sit back anymore, he wasn't going to put all his trust in the law enforcement agencies anymore. He had sworn to himself that he was going to do all he could to find Olivia and he wasn't going to leave Randal without an address. He didn't buy it, he didn't buy the show that Randal had just put up in front of him and he was running out of time too. He scoffed.

Rafael turned and watched how Randal was getting really close to the door. He swallowed hard and started to storm towards them as fast as he could. He couldn't let them leave like that. Rafael got to the door before they did and closed it before they got to it.

They all stopped.

"What are you doing?!" Randal yelled at him but Rafael wasn't perturbed. He wasn't going to leave. Randal turned to his men. "Get him away."

They hesitated for a moment and then started to walk slowly towards Rafael. There was no point anyway, he wasn't going to let them do what they were going to do, at least not before he got what he wanted. As they got closer, Rafael slowly started to go on his knees.

The men froze and so did Randal. It took a lot from him, so much but he did it. Rafael knelt down in front of the one man he had sworn never to bow down to, never to beg for a thing in his life from. He held his breath, and placed both hands on his knees, clenching his fists too.

No one understood what was happening, it was like they couldn't believe their eyes. They were shocked, even Randal who had held his breath for a long minute. He watched how Rafael dropped his head, this was all he knew he could do at that moment, he was desperate, he didn't know anything else to do and at that moment, if being humble, if going on his knees and begging for mercy from his father was the only way he could get to save Olivia, he was going to take it.

"I am sorry." Rafael said to him. "I am sorry for everything I have done, for thinking I could ever go against you." He raised his head to look at Randal and Randal was shocked at the state he was in. He had his eyes filled with tears and they were unexplainably red with pain in them. "You were right, you have always been right, I was-I was foolish and let my hate for you consume me. I should have known better, I should never have started this, I should never have thought that I could turn my back on you and on my family."

Randal scoffed.

"What is this show you are putting on? You expect me to believe this nonsense?-"

"I would stop!" Rafael blurted out. "I would put an end to everything from now on, I would take my hands off the case against your company, I would never be in your way ever again, I would take Olivia and Grace and we would disappear far away, they would never bother you again, we would never be a hinderance to your plans or businesses ever again, but please, I beg you, have mercy on Olivia."
A drop of tear fell from Rafael's eyes and then another.

"I have never begged for anything from you all my life. I never begged for your love, and I never for once questioned your choices to not be involved in my life, I kept my expectations short too. Let her go and I promise you, you'd never have to worry about the both of us ever again. I'd resign from my company, I'd never practice law ever again. We would go away forever and never come back- just-"
Rafael exhaled loudly.
"Please save her."

Rafael was crying, almost uncontrollably too. Randal had never seen him so helpless since the day he had confronted him about his involvement with Olivia's parents death. He didn't know what to make of the situation. It was all he had ever wanted, bringing Rafael to his knees, humbling him and bringing him back to his senses. Rafael's world was crumbling and he had underestimated how much Olivia meant to him, how far he was willing to go for her. Did he really mean it? Was he going to let go of everything for her? Let it all go for her? Something not even his former wife could get him to do?

Randal scoffed.
He was disappointed. A lot of things had changed now, at that point, he wasn't sure what it was that he really wanted. He didn't know what was worse? The fact that Rafael had chosen to let his life  go because of a woman, or the woman in question.

He was numb and speechless and didn't know what to say. He took a step and then another one until he had walked past Rafael. Rafael turned quickly. Why did he just leave? Was he really just going to walk away? What about him? Why wasn't he saying anything?

He watched how Randal had stopped when he got to the door. He took a minute before he turned back to Rafael. 

"Go home to your mother son."

He told Rafael and before Rafael could even say anything else, he turned again. He reached for the door just as the others rushed to join him. Rafael watched how they all went out of the room. Was that it? Was that all he was going to say? He wasn't going to help him? Rafael fell to the ground, he was tired, exhausted and felt so helpless.

He was terrified, almost out of his mind.
He kept crying over and over again, finding it so hard to stop. He didn't know how to. He didn't know what to do. At this point, Olivia's safety was no longer guaranteed and it scared him. He placed a hand over her face, he wouldn't stop crying, he couldn't. He didn't know how to.

He was scared. He was hurt. He was empty.

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It was a cold night and it felt even colder the moment he walked into the house. It was the emptiest it had ever been with Lucy at the hospital with Grace, and Benita still recovering from the other incident at the hospital as well. Maybe he just needed the quiet, maybe he just needed to be alone to think. He had had the longest day ever and after watching so many events unfold before his eyes, all he needed was space to think clearly, maybe with a few drinks as well.

Rafael rubbed his temple as he found his way to the living room. Rafael froze when he met her on one of the couches. Sommadina shifted uncomfortably the moment she had seen him. She let out a relief exhale as she turned fully to him slowly. The way she let out a relief exhale when their eyes met looked like she had been waiting for him to come home all day.

Rafael wasn't exactly in the mood for a conversation with her. He didn't want to hear her nag about not being able to spend time with him because of Olivia as usual. To be honest, he hadn't really had any sort of conversation with Sommadina since the situation with Grace. He was still so disappointed in her and hurt by the fact that she never thought to apologize after that. He had done all he could to avoid her since then and that night wasn't going to be any different, especially in his mood.

He exhaled weakly and then turned around. He was just going to walk back to his room. Sommadina got up immediately.

"Rafael." She called his name in the calmest tone ever. He froze for a moment. It was the first time she had called him by his English name. It had always been Chukwudalu. He slowly turned back to her. Sommadina gulped hard as she circled her fingers around each other nervously. She looked the palest he had ever seen her and he could immediately tell something was not right. Her eyes looked like it had been deprived of a lot of sleep and sunlight too, she had also dropped a few pounds in just a few days.

"Nnam can we talk?"

Rafael exhaled.

He wanted to be worried about her, he wanted to pity her at least but he was afraid of the mood he was in. He wasn't sure he was mentally available to allow her put him in a position they were both going to regret. He wasn't sure how he was going to react if she went on saying mean things about his family again. It was all she ever did and he was just too exhausted to entertain it that night. He just wanted to be alone.

"Not today mother," he told her. "I've had enough talking for one day."

"It's about our family-"

Rafael shook his head and stretched a hand to stop her. He was already sick to his stomach and didn't want to hear anything else about family, especially his.

"No, mum, please, I don't want to hear it."

He turned to leave just as she held her breath. He just didn't want to be in that position where he had to hear her tell him how he was betraying his family and how he needed to stop obsessing about Olivia. He had just done the most shameless thing in his life that day, kneeling before the man that started all of this, before the man that let Austin get free. He was so angry for being in that position, for having to let go of his pride and he wasn't going to have anyone preach to him about a family where its head was a monster, especially not by the woman that patronized all his wrong doings.

But Sommadina knew better. Ever since her talk with Ivory, she had hit a level of realization that she never dreamed of. It was like a log of wood had been removed from her eyes and she had started to see things clearly. Her guilt was eating through her and she just needed to make things right again, with her children, and Rafael was the starting point.

Rafael had barely taken two steps when he froze.
Why was he walking away anyway? He was just sick of it. He was sick of everyone and everything. He was tired of letting them all push him around and use his family as bait. He was tired of holding on to the false illusion that there was any good left in the man he called his father. He was ashamed of his family, he was ashamed of himself, and above all, he was ashamed of the woman that encouraged it all, his mother.

He slowly turned back to her and stared at her for a second. He didn't pity her one bit. He didn't care what it was she was going through. He didn't want to know. He only had just one question.

"Are you happy now?" He asked her.

Sommadina looked at him for a moment, she shook her head, not quite understanding what it was he meant.

"I mean, with Olivia gone and out of all our lives, you've finally gotten what you've always wanted haven't you? You must be swell right now. Why don't you look like it?"

Sommadina shook her head.

"Rafael," she took a step towards him, "Son-"

"Do you not pity us?" He went on and she stopped walking. "Don't you feel sorry for any of us? Your children? Ivory? Me? And even the twins? You've been so stuck up with your illusions and day dreams about this perfect family that you and father created, too blind to even notice how much you have taken away from your own children. How do you live with yourself mother? How do you manage to sleep with both eyes closed knowing that your children are miserable because of you? Because of this family that you have forced on us?"

Sommadina was speechless.
She didn't know what to say and her hands trembled at the thought of the truth in all Rafael said

"Son, I know that you're angry and frustrated with what happened to Olivia, you have every right to but if you could just listen to me-"

"Do not call her name mother!" Now he had had about enough. He raised his voice at her and it made her shake a bit in fright. He pointed at her. "You do not get to ever mention her name, ever," he told her.

"Not after the despicable way you treated her, not after everything you have done, You lost that right a long time ago. Frustrated?" He scoffed. "I'm way past that mother, I am so angry and afraid to even have the luxury to care about your fake concern about the situation that has happened. I am about to lose the only one person that has ever meant so much to me in years because of you, because of your husband, because of this sick and disgraceful family that you continuously force me to be a part of."

Sommadina exhaled loudly.

"You must really have no shame mother." He went on. "You must really have no sort of idea how far you have gone beneath the barrel to think that that man has ever cared about you or our family. All my life, all I've ever done is watch you be pathetically loyal to that man. You have given him everything, you have done everything and what does he ever give to you in return? Nothing."
Rafael's frown lines were crowding his forehead and he was reddening in frustration too. He had to at least pour his heart out to someone, his frustration out and if Sommadina was going to be the escape goat, he was more than pleased to engage. He needed to.

"You watched him become a monster and you made excuses for him even till this day. You were totally blind to all his shortcomings, and encouraged him to do what he wanted at the detriment of your own children. Dad might have ruined all our lives mother but you killed us first and I hate you for it, you disgust me the most."

Tears welled up in Sommadina's eyes immediately. Hearing Rafael say those words to her hurt her more than a gunshot wound to the heart would have. A drop of tear fell from her eyes and she cleaned it quickly. She nodded.

"I know." She said to him just as she raised her gaze to him again. Rafael paused. "I know I have given you no reason to trust me, I know I have failed you so many times as a parent. I can never make up for all I've done but I can fix things." She nodded her head, forcing a smile on her face as she reached for his hands.
"Chukwudalu, I can fix it-"

He pulled his hands away.

"It's too late mother." He looked her in her eyes just so she saw how serious he was as he spoke every word to her. "There's nothing you can do about it now. The son that you once knew is dead and gone and this one right here would never acknowledge himself as a part of this family. I hate everything about it, it disgusts me, you disgust me and I hope you live the rest of your life knowing that you do not deserve love. You do not deserve a family, and you do not- deserve -to call-yourself- a mo-th-er."
He looked into her eyes as he drawled every word as clearly as he could do she understood him well.

Sommadina could feel whatever it was left of her heart break into bits. Her heart had gone so heavy and she couldn't feel the pain and shame that came with hearing her son say those words to her. She gulped hard and held her breath and she watched how he turned around immediately and stormed out of the living room as fast and angrily as he could.

She could barely stand on her feet. Her legs were so weak. She grabbed on to the couch for support immediately and slowly lowered herself to sit on it so she didn't fall. Another drop of tear fell from her eyes and then another. She placed her hands over her face and let it all out. She cried uncontrollably and couldn't stop.

She didn't stop.