Gina was sitting on the chaise longue, sipping a tea made from lemon balm and peppermint leaf and sweetened with honey, as her eyes surreptitiously watched the movement at the opened door of the bathroom like a hawk would a chick.

After two days of unfruitful search, the ghost behind the door that night had managed to elude her. The crash had been too loud, prompting her into quickly checking the door. There was a sharp hiss as she pulled the knob, but there was no one at the other side. Jagged pieces of glass soaked in cold water filled the doorway, and as Lilah craned her neck to look past through the opened doorway, commenting on Gina being a loud mouth that would land herself in trouble all by herself, she had noticed it then. Her first and only clue.

Picking a Danish butter cookie from the blue round metal container, she daintily placed it on her lips, feeling childish as she mimicked Monica at breakfast while eating toast. Nibbling on the insanely delicious treat quickly became a chore when crumbs and huge chunks of the sugary goodness broke off angrily and trailed the path of her purple silk robe finely. Not one to be deterred easily, she brushed off the evidence quickly but discreetly, before rotating the cookie to attempt the process again.

The butter cream cookie did not survive the rough shove into a circular pit adorned with a wet red rug and barricaded by a set of thirty-two white hedges.

Smacking at the rich taste, she raised the teacup to her lips and sipped, savoring the taste, her eyes back on the object of her suspicion.

It had to be a maid, she insisted, watching as the girl scrubbed the entrance of the already sparkling bathroom on her knees, her soles bare.

There was no dark red mark, she thought with worry, there was no mark on her at all, her fair skin glimmering and Gina hissed jealousy at the girl, and at her bad luck with this investigation.

"It's okay," she muttered in disgust, picking up another cookie. "It's like you don't know how to scrub off nail polish, so carry your stuff and go, and send me somebody who can do it better."

The girl scrambled quickly to her feet and breezed out the room in seconds, obviously happy to be excused from such laborious task.

Gina sighed at the departing frame, wondering how long she could continue with this. She knew the girl must be fuming as she went to do as she was bid. It was clear master Gabriel did not use nail polish in the bathroom. They knew he would not pour acrylic on the mess, and he most definitely, did not rotate maids on a demeaning task. What they didn't know was that master Gabriel had a parrot for a baby mama who was trying to clean up her mess by making another mess using acrylic paint. It was ironic.

Soon, she expected the head of maids in this house to come have a word with her if she requested for another maid. Ten maids in two days had yielded no result in her one-man -well, woman, in this case- investigation.

Agreeing she needed to continue with her investigation before her luck finally ran out, she shoved another cookie into her mouth, chewing loudly as she awaited her next suspect to enter.

The door was opened, and as the curvy skinny twig strolled into the room grining, Gina sighed before lifting the lid of the container and clamping it shut.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to share your cookie with you." Sisi burst out laughing before walking to go perch on the bed, consequently falling back onto the soft material. "Where's the paint? What did you do with it?"

Sisi was the only one who knew about the paint, cause she was her only contact to the outside world. The guards tolerated her as much as she hated them and her maids, although trying to be in her good graces, did not seem trustworthy.

She didn't say what it was for, as that would lead to poking into her business, so she had made up a ridiculous tale no one, not even herself, believed.

"I've painted the flower pot. I made those markings I was telling you about and I think it turned out great, although, the YouTube version was definitely better."

As expected, Sisi burst out laughing, clutching her stomach to control her breathing throughout the process. "I can only imagine. Didn't I tell you that was a bad idea? Now, I'm sure you've ruined Gabriel's precious flower pots."

Her neck snapped to stare at the girl so fast, she was surprised it didn't break. "They're his?"

"Of course," she replied with a straight face, all forms of humour gone from her features. "I heard he planted them when his mother died and has been taking care of them ever since. He wouldn't let the maid trim it or anything, preferring to do it himself. He bought that flower pot from Abeokuta when he went to Olumo rock some years ago."

"How do you know all this?"

"I'm a maid, and gossips do not escape my ears, ever."

Gina thought hard about her words, but Sisi chimed in quickly, distracting her. "Come and show me what you did to the flower pots, so we can think of ways to salvage the situation."

Salvage gini? Because of ordinary flower pot? If he cries too much about it, I'll use clay and mold another one for him.

She wanted to let the words fly out of her mouth exactly as she thought it, but a nick in her mind told her to expect anything from Gabriel.

She had already made her way towards the door, container in mind, when she noticed Sisi mutter a curse followed closely by a low hiss. She turned to inquire only to find her still sitting comfortably on the bed, as if she had no plans to ever leave it.

"Shebi you wanted to see my handwork, oya, come and see it. And don't even think about laughing at it, or I will design your face with slaps."

"Alright, I'm coming. My stomach was starting to misbehave just now."

Side by side, they strolled into the balcony to view her artistic endeavour. The black paint traced the background of the traditionally dressed woman with a wooven basket on her head. Beads adorned her wrists and a bust wrap covered her chest area. The only flaw was her hair which was smeared with black paint, making the carved figure appear sinister.

"I tried, didn't I?" Gina quizzed with a proud smile, admiring the work boredom had forced her into engaging in.

"That is horrible!" She declared unblinking. "I've never seen something beautiful being made into a vile-looking caricature. Gabriel will not like this at all."

It wasn't the words she used per se, it was the way her facial features scrunched up in mortification that did the trick. Gina did not understand how her cuticles found their way to her set of thirty-two to nibble in consternation, wondering why her idle mind wandered to this flower pot.

As if the negative criticism was not enough, her eyes found the mess at the edge of the wall. A flower pot had been cracked and chipped off, leaving an angular opening on the body where earthy brown soil was visible.

"Wait, you broke a flower pot, too? This is unbelievable."

With no words to reply, Gina eyed the pot with disdain. The pot was a recipient of her ire Tuesday morning when she was panicky about her situation.

"It was a huge mistake. He wouldn't notice the mess. I could paint it all black, even the broken pot, too. I'll just need clay to patch it up and it'd be as good as new." She felt mighty proud of herself for thinking smartly.

Sisi nodded eagerly. "I think you should. But isn't that like covering your mess with a bigger mess? I've heard that approach never turns out well for anybody, ever." 

Suddenly, her panic state increased, coupled with her uneasiness about Monday night incident, and she was full on rambling.

When she managed to get a breather, she was surprised to find Sisi trembling slightly beside her, her breathing irregular as she bit on her lips tightly to prevent it from exposing her. When Gina's eyes zeroed on her, her lips were freed from their restraints and she doubled over in laughter quickly.

Confused, Gina could only mumble, "What is it? Why are you laughing?"

Sisi's response was a full on chortle with occasional heaves. When she could finally control it, she was faced with an indignant look and she sobered up instantly, diving it an explanation.

"You should have seen you face. I need a YouTube video on this. But, tell me, what do you think he would be doing with a flower pot? Does he seem that interested in art to you?"

"But you said he bought the pot!"

"He didn't buy any stupid pot or plant any foolish flower. Gabriel doesn't do stuff like that, I mean, what are the maids for? Besides, he doesn't particularly like his mother that much to build momentoes in her honor, so this is pointless. Break as many flower pots as you like, my dear, no one in this family cares."

She continued to ramble but Gina was past listening, her mind whirling with the newly discovered piece of the puzzle.

When she saw Gina's gaping mouth, she burst out laughing again. Shaking her slightly from side to side at her naivety, she sauntered into the room. However, a chipped off block from the cracked pot had been left behind by the maid who cleaned up, and it lay conveniently in her path. The dig into her sole had her crying out sharply in pain before hopping over to go crash on the bed, Gina en suite.

Amidst whimpers, hisses and curses, Gina was able to convince her to let her examine her feet first before asking for help.

"Is it inside? Is it hanging halfway? I can feel it moving inside my leg, O. Gina, call the doctor, I need surgery sharp sharp." She wailed dramatically, moving her legs in all possible directions, and then in directions science would have disagreed with wholeheartedly.

Gina rolled her eyes before slapping her knee sharply to get her to relax. "If you don't stop moving your leg so much, you'll find it inside you brain, and not only your leg."

Seeming to believe her words, she straightened her leg and allowed her to inspect the wound and profer solutions to ease the pain.

Gina knelt beside the bed before lifting the pained sole to her eye level. Finding the offending item glued to the centre of her sole, she tugged slightly on it to access the impact, only to be rewarded with a loud screech that was sure to put witches to shame. Bending her big toe to toughen her up, Sisi quietened down quickly after wincing.

In her action of pulling the piece out, her peripheral vision caught sight of something that made her pause. Too interested to overlook it, her hands strayed from the task at hand to trace the V-cut dark red line on the other feet. It looked suspiciously fresh and probably still evoked pain when touched but it didn't deter her in a bit. Her fingers met the maroon red line at the same time Sisi hissed sharply before withdrawing both her feet to sit up on the bed, her legs held together by her hands.

Gina was up and standing in seconds.

"You've cut your leg before?"

"Yes, when I stepped on a broken plate earlier this week. Luckily, it wasn't deep."

"Which broken plate, Sisi?"

From the sound of her voice, the young girl flinched visibly, trying to inch away from the bed.

"From the kitchen. I was washing the dishes and a plate fell and broke. I stepped on it when I went to get broom to sweep it up."

Seeing that although the two incidence seemed similar, it was not enough to make conclusive evidence, she stepped away from the bed in confusion.

Seeing her opportunity to escape, Sisi stood to her feet, perhaps a little too quickly to control the zap that went through her leg in reaction to the recent injury. A howl zoomed out of her trembling lips as she lost her balance and plummeted to the floor in a heap. Shocked by the commotion in front of her, Gina gasped and rushed to her aid.

"I'm sorry. I didn't check if a piece broke inside, and you shouldn't have stood up so fast." She reprimanded, eyeing the crybaby with reprove. "Come to the bathroom so we can wash it and apply some ointment on it before it gets infected."

Helping her up, she pulled her arm across her shoulder to hoist her up and together they waddled to the bathroom. Letting her perch on the toilet seat, Gina rushed to the cabinet to look for makeshift first aid materials. A shrill blast from her phone had her heading back into the room with a cotton wool pack in hand. She had called Rissa earlier but the call kept jumping straight to voicemail.

Reaching the side table, she picked up the sleek object before slamming it in between her ear and her shoulder, the cotton wool pack clutched between the other hand.

Rissa's voice came on with excited tales of living 'the good life' from her surrogacy down payment. While her sister chattered away about her brothers antics and comparing her to them, her rolling eyes made an abrupt stop when a marron red stain on the bed popped out. Concerned about the origin, she wondered if the maids had missed a spot when washing the bed sheet. But that was her side of the bed, and she would have noticed it this morning when she went to take her antenatal vitamins from the side table.

Her mind argued that this was also the side Sisi sat on during the failed foot inspection- and she was overcame with the urge to find out what the suspicious looking stain was.

Dragging out a generous amount of the wool, she bent over and dabbed it on the stain, inching away in surprise when the wool soaked up enough of the red, sticky substance. By the colour, she knew it was fresh, and suddenly she knew what it was.

"Gina? Are you still listening to me?"

Rissa's worried lilt had her snapping back to reality, the same time her mind began whirling with the possibilities. If it was this, that meant something wasn't adding up, which ultimately meant someone's trust was as fickle as their lie.

Determined to get to the bottom of this mystery, she mumbled a 'talk to you later' over the phone before ending the call and marching back into the bathroom, all thoughts of offering first aid obliterated from her thoughts.

Sisi looked up from admiring the lushness of the bathroom to meet a belligerent looking woman. Before she could formulate a witty comment, a cotton wool soaked in a maroon red substance was shoved in her eye view, forcing her to swallow her words quite painfully.

"Answer me truthfully before I slap you to the moon and back," Gina demanded, her eyes unblinking and fiercely focused on her. Swallowing again, because holding her gaze was not an easy feat, she nodded in accordance.

"Are you on your period?"

She attempted a nod, only to scream out a 'yes', when Gina barked at her to use her mouth.

"Why are you...?" She trailed off, deciding the question was irrelevant at this point. "That means, you're not pregnant. So, why did you let me, and Anthony, think you were? Or did you abort it?"

"No, there was no need for that since I was never pregnant," she mumbled, looking away in shame. "But you must understand that you were not supposed to be a part of the lie. I suspected Anthony knew a lot of things about Amelia, so I thought if I got pregnant, he'd treat me as they treated her and I could use it to my advantage. But he's not said anything to either his father or his siblings, so I'm not sure what to do with the lie anymore."

"Where you ever going to tell me about this development?" Gina felt blindsided with this info.

"Not really. I mean, you believed me and was willing to partner with me in getting to the bottom of this mystery."

"That was when I thought I had a hold over you. Now that I don't,  there's no need to continue with this stupid plan of yours."

"Of course there's need."

"The file that was supposed to help us be ahead of thess people was taken by someone else, so we're back to stage one."

"Not if we can use you."

Gina widened eyes mirrored her comprehending capacity perfectly. "What do you mean 'use me'?"

"After I overheard you say Gabriel wanted you pregnant, I realised we can use this to our advantage."

Slammed with a new surprise from another angle, she stumbled backwards before moving to go perch on the tub to get a breather.

Once she recovered, she quizzed amidst ragged breath, "You were the one at the door?"

Sisi's response was an eyeroll. "I thought you already figured out I was the one."

At Gina's stunned expression, she clarified. "Don't worry. I won't use your secret against you. In fact, I want you to know you can still keep it a secret if you wish to."

"How? By getting rid of you?"

A wise man once said: two can keep a secret if one is dead.

"Interesting, but no. What I mean by you still keeping it as a secret is if you can pass off as Amelia, we'd get more headway into our plan."

"I don't see how me passing off as a dead servant girl will help us."

Sisi ignored her and forged on. "Allow me to explain. Amelia was perceived as a cheap girl, who passed her baby off on any of the brothers who was gullible enough to fall into her trap. Unfortunately, she was caught and humiliated before she could achieve her aim. Before all that, she was the envy of all men. Now, this is where you and her are similar. You're both beautiful, curvy, with perfect dentition, and they all seem smitten by your presence. They won't admit it but, they'll sleep with you if given the chance. The difference between you and Amelia, however, is that you're smarter, and that's the leverage we need."

Hiding the smile threatening to escape her that Sisi believed she was smarter than her sister, Gina tried to look affronted.

"This is stupid and risky. For all we know, you're not the only one who knows Gabriel lured me into getting pregnant and not the other way round. Lilah definitely knows, too." She hated to be the voice of reason but someone had to be the bad cop in this situation.

"She may know, but Anthony doesn't, and so we'll bait him by letting him think otherwise. If he perceives, -if any of them thinks you're like Amelia,- we'd expect the same reaction from them."

"But how sure are you that this would work? This could go wrong in a million different ways. And Gabriel would definitely not be pleased if he gets wind of this."

Gina hated being sucked up into another weird scheme that Sisi always has up her sleeve. The last time she had stolen into the study for a document and almost got caught!

"Then we'll make sure he doesn't." She sounded certain of the success of their plan. "I heard Anthony is taking a break from his law apprenticeship at the Chambers of a family friend starting next month which means he'll be around the house more often. You can drop subtle hints when you are with him to gauge his reaction, and once he takes the bait, the others would react the same."

"Why can't you do this? You're the one that is faking a pregnancy?!"

"Simple reason why Anthony ordered I get an abortion. I'm a nobody, and nobodies are treated as such in this house. If you were like me, Gabriel would have no qualms demanding same from you. But for some weird reason, you are a prized jewel. So, it will work."

Weighing the pros and cons, she concurred this plan deserved more than mere words.

"Well, Anthony might be easy target, but Malcolm definitely isn't. He loathes me and I could see it in his eyes the day he called me a gold-digger." She shuddered at the ugly look he had blessed her with more than a month ago. The stare shadowed her movements at each and every meal she shared with him.

"That is what you think, but don't be fooled by appearances," Sisi contradicted with a fierce stbborn look on her face. "All men are the same, and honestly, you're a walking temptation now that your breasts are beginning to fill up. And if you still doubt, think about what you would lose. Definitely not Gabriels' support, considering you're carrying his child already. As far as Gabriel doesn't know what we're doing, it will turn out great."

Allowing her sufficient time to make a decision, Sisi pushed the final button gently,

"Come on, Gina, what do you say? Are you in, or are you out?"

~~~~~~~

I know there's no mystery here to her response, but if you have your doubts regarding the success of this plan, raise your hands. 

Bear in mind that we are about to go digging into this family's secret box, so, grab a shovel as well cause it's about to get messy.

Please, don't forget to vote, comment and share.

Thank you. 😉😅