Karen woke up from her beauty sleep, stretched lazily and yawned. It has been almost two months since Lucas returned to Lagos but she was nowhere nearer her goal of trapping him to her in marriage than she was five years ago when he was married. Heck, she might even have had more luck then than she did right now, she mused.

Climbing out of bed, she strolled to her bathroom to get refreshed and up for the day. After an hour, she was dressed in silk jumpsuit with white polka dots. This did not qualify as her killer look, being a former beauty queen and all, but she was only having a girl's day out. At least, that's what she called it, seeing that she had a meeting with her partner in crime cum boyfriend later in the evening. They made a great team while working together to reach their individual goals and Calabar trip was nothing but a success. Donald was smart, she had to give him that and since he said he knew how to hurt Lucas and extricate him from his ex-wife, she was all for it as well.

She was smiling as she strolled down the steps, her hair bouncing off her shoulders in waves when she heard her mother, Susanna, talking in loud tones with her uncle, Priye Archibong. He sounded angry.

"That stupid boy! How could he be so ungrateful? I brought him to this business, I gave him this deal. Heck, I personally introduced him to our society and this is how he repays me?!" He fumed.

It was always in his nature to burst out in steams of anger once something doesn't go his way, but something about this discussion made Karen pause at the steps.

"You have every right to be angry, Priye. I understand how upset you are but you simply cannot fold your hands and do nothing. You are a member of the Lekki association council. Use your power and do something," coerced Susanna.

Susanna Thomas was the only sibling he had that always lent a listening ear to all his rants. She also gave good advices too. Perhaps that was why he took Karen as his daughter and pampered her rotten when the biological father couldn't be bothered to do so. Heck, the man had gone passive after the death of his two sons, Karen's older brothers in drunk driving. Actually, they were too drunk to realize they had run into a container truck and went flying off the third mainland bridge when Karen was still in high school. So Jude Thomas, Karen's father had sworn he would not let his only surviving child to get spoilt like his sons. But the fates were against him, terribly.

"You're right, Susanna. I will do something about this. I won't let that boy born yesterday to go over my head concerning this deal."

Karen turned and walked into the living room, deciding to make her presence known. She really wanted in on the conversation.

"Uncle Priye. You're here," she greeted, smiling cheekily at him. He always treated her like a little child and that worked very much in her favor especially when she needed his help to get things done without stress.

"My beautiful baby girl! How are you?" She accepted the embrace he offered. "Your mother said you were tired from your modelling career work yesterday."

She winced at his words. That was a lie. Actually, she had tried for modelling months ago and decide she couldn't do it anymore. It was tiring when she went through it for her Miss Nigeria pageant training and she absolutely hated it. Her only aim for wining that pageant was for the attention, nothing more. Using the modelling was her excuse when she didn't want her nosy mother asking too much questions. She was going to need it again for today.

"Yes, I'm trying out modelling classes. Amanda, Lucas's sister, is so good at it, she's making lots of money from it, and I thought I should follow in her steps." Mentioning that family in her pleads always helped her cause.

Not today, however.

"That stupid Caspian-Asiegbu! Hearing his name makes me so angry. He's mannerless!" bellowed Mr. Archibong, looking grim.

Karen recoiled from his side, visibly upset. "Mom?"

Susanna sighed, rubbing her temples. "Your uncle is terribly upset about your future husband."

She and her mother had always liked Lucas and wished he would marry her. Despite his sudden marriage, and the equally sudden divorce, they did not lose hope.

"What did he do?"

"He had an agreement with your uncle about the polo resort in Victoria Island but Lucas went over him and partnered with a South African man and now the Minister had awarded the contract to them and your uncle is only getting agent fee as commission. It's an insult on his pride, honey," her mother explained quite sadly.

Karen frowned. That would explain everything. Lucas has always been shrewd when doing business, not necessarily when it came to affairs of the heart, but nevertheless he was bound to suspect Mr. Archibong might go over his head, so he had done it first and cleverly too. They were all sharks in the tourism sector and once CAPPEL gets involved in an investment, they never liked to lose. But telling that to her uncle was pretty useless at this point, so she went for the strategy that would work in her favor.

She sat beside the pot-bellied man and sighed. "Uncle, I understand how you're feeling. I felt like this when Lucas went over my head to marry that shameless woman that divorced him just so she could steal his money," she paused, thinking back to the awful fact that Lucas was now hanging around with that woman again. Didn't he learn his lesson the first time?

She exhaled and continued. "What I'm saying is that I can help you get your revenge. I know how you can get your money back and I know the right person for the job."

If his reputation was anything to go by and judging by what she'd seen at his hands, he was the man for the job. She picked up her phone and dialed his number, explaining to him when he answered, the issue at hand. Mr. Archibong and Susanna could only stare at her in shock. They didn't think she was capable of such devious thoughts.

An hour later, the doorbell rang and Karen went to answer it. Then minutes later, she walked in with a man trailing behind her. She stepped out of the way for her family to meet him.

"Mom, uncle, I want to introduce a very good friend of mine to you guys. He's going to help you get your money back, uncle. His name is Donald Donalds."

+++++++++++

Two weeks later, Karen drove her red Toyota Venza into an apartment complex in the Lekki peninsula. She was here to meet Donald. He has been quite the help, seeing that he was able to convince her uncle, Mr. Archibong to agree to his plans of stealing from Lucas. Not necessarily the term for it, Donald said it was more like getting a hold of crucial and important company secretes to help CAPPELs enemies. Karen didn't understand the difference, but if it meant her getting free naira notes, then she was up for it.

She walked up the stairs of the storey building and paused at the door on the left. Two separate flats of two bedroom each occupied the floor, the same as downstairs. In fact, houses in this area were built in similar manner due to corroborations between the government and construction companies. Donald opened on the second knock, looking wet obviously fresh from the shower and Karen resisted the sudden urge to jump him. He looked hot and dangerous when he didn't dress so serious and nerdy.

"Are you going to stand here checking me out or are you going to come in? I don't mind either way." He invited, lifting the corners of his lips.

Karen glared at him before marching into the apartment and went to sit on the leather sofa, making herself comfortable on his plush chair.

"Make yourself at home, Karen dear," he scoffed, coming to stand in front of her. "Should I get you a drink or can you do it yourself?"

She shook her head, declining. She was not here for frivolities as she needed her wits about her. Her eyes roamed his apartment aimlessly admiring the single guy feel to the place when she noticed he was only tying a white towel around his waist thereby exposing his glistening muscular chest to her helpless view and she swallowed hard, admitting she needed that drink after all.

He sat on the chair opposite her, studying her critically so she was forced to avert her eyes at his serious gaze. She had never been this aware of his presence before. Well, she had never seen him in just towels before. He was oozing of raw sexiness and it was undeniably suffocating her senses and making it hard for her to breathe.

"Won't you go and change? You could catch a cold," she mumbled, barely holding his gaze.

He smirked, aware of what his presence was doing to her. "In this weather? You've got to kidding me. And no, I won't change. I love the fact that you are completely tuned in to my sex appeal."

Her gaze flew to his face at the cockiness in his tone and she instantly regretted her action. He was now standing in front of her.

"That is a lie!" She cried desperately, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart and sweaty palms. Dear lord! What was this temptation?

He smiled, bending to level his eyes with hers and his lips with hers. "You're too obvious, Karen. Did Lucas ever make you feel like this, I wonder?" He asked, brushing his lips against hers. "Tell me, did he?"

Her breath hitched in her throat as she fought for some semblance of control over her raging hormones. They won, however, when she reached her arms up to circle it arounf his neck, pulling him closer to her. Eagerly, she let him deepen the kiss and take her to the familiar heights of passion in his bedroom. After two rounds of hot, passionate sex, the two lovers and partners in crime lay side by side on his bed basking in the aftermaths.

Donald smiled as he stroked her hair. She was a really beautiful woman, gorgeous even and he knew she had him wrapped around her little finger. Beautiful girls were his Achilles heel and he didn't mind throwing the gauntlet for them. She lay in the cocoon of his embrace, her head resting on his chest and their legs entwined. She was running her fingers absently along his bare chest deep in thought. She shifted slightly, moving her legs and he felt his flesh rise up at that action. This girl would be the death of him!

"He did, but Lucas never loved me, at least not the way I loved him, so it doesn't count," she said, and it took a moment for him to realize she was answering his initial question. "We were together for six years. Four years in the University and two years after."

Donald frowned at the information. "Wasn't degree for engineers five years?"

She nodded. "He wasn't mine in his first year. He was dating his girlfriend from high school, Cindy Oluloye. Getting him to notice me was like looking for American visa. He kept trying to force me into the friend zone. That was until our first scandal in school. Cindy found us together in bed after a drunken birthday party. He ended things with her right after and I thought to myself, he's finally mine. But I was wrong."

She sat up on the bed, pulling the sheets to her chest. "It was really hard for me all those years. Sometimes he ignored me and flung around campus with different girls day and night. I think he did it to get me off his back. Then in his final year, he said I was more of a distraction since he needed to read. That was a lie! He was smart and intelligent. He didn't need to read anything since he was a straight A student. That idiot!" She yelled angrily, as her tears spilled out from her eyes following her outburst.

Donald sat up too, to pull her into an embrace. He would never understand why women threw themselves at that idiot's feet when it was obvious he didn't want them. "Don't cry. He isn't worth it."

She nodded and smiled. "I know that now. He used his final exams as an excuse to stay away from me. My mom said to let him go and I did. Then he came back to me after school and we started dating again. We were so happy and my parents said we should get married. He didn't want to and that made me so mad. So I decided I needed an opportunity to show him what he's missing only for me to return from that stupid pageant and find him married."

She extracted herself from his embrace to look him deep in the eyes. "This is why this revenge is so important to me. Lucas cannot be happy with that woman. She brought him pain so she possibly cannot be good enough for him. I want him back and you have to help me."

He sighed and climbed out of bed, moving to his wardrobe to search for a shirt and short. Seeing her still hung up on that fool made him angry. Lucas didn't deserve her in any way and that was why he was working hard to bring the man pain. But if the end result of all his works was her coming together with that playboy, he wasn't going to put up with it.

"I really think you shouldn't bother getting back with him. Focus on making him pay for all the tears you shed because of him. I'll gladly help you with that."

"That is not your concern! I want Lucas for myself and if I can't have him, neither can that bitch," she retorted, fuming at his back.

"How is it going with your plan?" She asked suddenly.

He wore the short and forgo the shirt, coming to sit back on the bed watching her. "It's all good. I've tried to get some files from the office but it hasn't been much help. On the other hand, my plan with Sara still needs a little bit of persuasion and since they're no longer together just as we wanted, it'd be easier to convince her to allow me help her with her son," he explained resignedly.

"That bitch!" She gritted through clenched teeth. "I really hope you can convince her otherwise all these would have been for nothing. Next thing you know, she's sticking by his side and you'd be the fool to help her out again," she chided, grimacing at the idea.

He shrugged helplessly. "I didn't know you would need my services until I saw you at that bar. And you wouldn't even give me a chance to even toast you at the Rovers Club," he winked at her.

She flinched at the memory, her lips turned up in dry humor. "I really had a terrible day that day. Lucas let that gold digging slut sister of that bitch humiliate me. Like I was nothing!" She cried.

Donald rolled his eyes at her dramatic display but more so because she was thinking about that playboy again. "And to think it was barely two weeks later their arrangement became official."

Silence covered the room like a blanket, each wondering if things would have been different had they become partners from the very beginning. Karen, in terms of getting Sara away from Lucas, and Donald, well, more interested in pursuing this girl in front of him than stealing from his boss.

"Come here," he coaxed, feeling the need to cuddle with her again. She eyed him and slowly moved closer before settling next to him. He smiled, stroking her hair. Damn, he might even be in love with this woman already, he mused.

"Do you want to hear a good news?" He asked smiling faintly.

She nodded. "Anything as far as it's not those two," she mumbled.

He hummed. "Don't worry, you'll love this. So, your uncle, Mr. Archibong had agreed to my plans and has given me the go-ahead. And yesterday, I got him some files about the new plans CAPPEL has about buying the ultramodern shopping mall in Apapa. It's huge and your uncle thinks we can go over Lucas's head with this."

Karen looked up to stare into his eyes. Slowly, she pulled herself on top of him and kissed his lips.

"Wow! That sounds like good news," she said when they broke apart.

He grinned at her, nodding. "Your uncle is ecstatic!"

"I'm ecstatic!" She shrieked, laughing and kissing him in exhilaration. "We're going to be rich!"

He was quick to tamper down on her mood. "Not quite yet, but this is a good stepping stone."

But Karen didn't care. If all goes well, they could beggar CAPPEL and blame it on his ex-wife. Then Lucas would be forced to seek for a merger and her family would be there to support him. Wasn't that how it went with the Tonimas oil chairman? He had accepted a merger by marrying his daughter off to save his company and it worked out wonderfully well.

And once she got Lucas where she needed him, she wouldn't even need to lift a finger to get rid of those gold-diggers called the Amadi's, as Lucas would gladly do it all by himself.

~~~~~~~~~

I told you guys 'Daren' (Donald and Karen) was a sailing ship. Best jump in now to avoid being left behind. 😉

And now we see what their true intentions are towards Lucas and Sara. I know you all can't wait to see it play out. 😏

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