Presidential hotels, Enugu
Enugu State, Nigeria.
Present day.

Sara was stunned to realize she knew what the woman was talking about. Karen was obviously behind everything that happened that night five years ago.

"You are a bastard!" Sara choked as livid fire coursed through her at the woman's confession.

That insult enraged Karen instantly. "He is the bastard here, not me!" She spat out angrily. "Six years! I gave him six years of my life and not once did he ever say he loved me. Not once did he ever tell me that he loved me. He waited for me to go for my pageant to propose to the girl of his dreams, tossing me away like a used rag. Like I meant nothing to him. How long did it take for him to tell you that he loved you? Not very long, I'd imagine, seeing as he's all over you like a drool on a lollipop," she grimaced at the memory, shaking her head in disgust.

Sara knew it was best to not provoke her by saying anything, so she kept mute.

"I loved him. Even though he flung around in and out of campus with so many girls, I loved him still. I fell in love with him in high school after he saved me from those mean boys who loved to tease me saying my brothers had died because of me. I was Martin's girlfriend until Lucas saved me and then he became my hero. I worshipped him cause he was so handsome and smart and rich. Mama always told me he was made for me and me for him.

"Everything was so perfect until you came along and ruined it all! Suddenly, Lucas was a different person altogether. He preferred hanging out with that stupid fool, James, in the slums. Even Martin too went ahead with that ridiculous idea. Martin, the son of a Prince. Can you believe it?" She asked, turning to glare at Sara as though she were stupid.

"What am I saying? Of course you can since you bewitched him! Martin told me how you bewitched him, trapping him to you such that he was so eager to marry you after meeting you for a month! Heck, he didn't have sex with me for at least 3 years after we met. He didn't even want to, kept saying I was Martin's girl and he had to honor their bro code. As if I gave a damn about the stupid code!"

She was now pacing the room, moving from one wall to the other watching Sara like a hawk watching a day old chick. It made Sara uncomfortable to know that somehow she had become a prisoner in this room. Unconsciously, she reached down to link her fingers with Lucas's. He was knocked out hard, maybe for at least 12 hours, but the action visibly relaxed her.

"Did you know how upset, how devastated I was when I came back from my reign to hear he had married you in this ridiculously expensive wedding? I was furious! I was mad with rage. I wanted to tear my hair out, to slap him repeatedly on his handsome face till it became raw. To stab you repeatedly over the chest for stealing him from me. But I couldn't, so I knew I had to get him back some other way. All I needed was patience, and the help of a little sleeping drop. I should probably explain it all to you, right?" Karen asked, pursing her lips up in mocking manner.

Sara nodded numbly, realizing what a fool she had been. Karen had used the fact that she doubted herself to tear them apart. And it had worked brilliantly.

Karen shook her head slightly, amused at the knowing look on Sara's face. It was good the poverty stricken bitch knew she was no match for her.

"I'll admit now, I cannot take all the credit for what happened that night. You see, I had anticipated getting Lucas alone. I had even planned it to the smallest detail, like booking a motel room that can help sneak in those desperate reporters. But I never actually saw your divorce happening.

"How was I to know you would go into surgery the night before or that seeing your cheating husband face in the morning papers would force you to let him go that fast? I'm smart but even I couldn't have thought of that." She paused to watch the horror slashed across Sara's pale face before casting an idle glance at the sleeping figure on the bed.

"Lucas, the poor fool, had been so confident of your love that night at the convention -all in his attempt to evade my advances- that it had me doubting my plans. Despite it, I still wanted him in my bed. Drugging him was easy, even getting into bed with him, down to undressing him. I still remember my way around his body, you see."

She winked slyly at Sara before continuing. "I only settled for a passionate night in bed. Even had half a mind to call of the press. I couldn't have sex with him since he was knocked out, so I just lay down next to him, wondering if I should let him go. He was so excited about being a dad and I wanted him to be there for his son because I loved him. But the fates were against you, Sara. Because even in the stillness of the night with me by his side, kissing him and loving him, do you know the exact words that came out from his lips?"

"I love you, Sara... He said it with me lying right there next to him. Those words were my undoing. Those exact words made up my mind for me. I drained the bottle of champagne, called a friend of mine to help me with the press in the morning, and passed out right next to the man I love. He didn't love me and he wasn't mine but he sure as hell wasn't going to be yours either. You know the rest of that story, don't you?"

Sara was fuming with rage when finished her story. It was obvious now what had happened that night, and it made her furious to realize she had let her insecurities about this woman blind her to the truth of that night. It made her ashamed to admit she had ruined her marriage, left her son behind and wasted five years of her life all because of a lie. She felt like stabbing this woman over and over again.

Karen smirked at her, grinning cheekily at her, evidence of her happiness at having been the mastermind behind their divorce.

"It was your plan in Calabar, right? You must have realized his reluctance to be with you was because he wanted to start again with me, so you spurn that ridiculous tale just to destroy us again. How you could you be so wicked? How can you be so heartless?!" She seethed, while clenching her fist to rein in on the anger running through her veins.

Karen ignored her, her left hand placed on her waist for balance while her focus was directed on the perfectly manicured oblique nails on her right hand, as if Sara was boring her.

Sara's eyes found the camera again and she felt her vision go red. "That's evil scheme is what you're trying to do again, isn't it? You want me to think he's cheating on me with you so I'll leave him." She asked rhetorically, finding it quite hard to take in a breath at the murderous rage coursing through her bones. She felt like strangling this woman. After stabbing her, of course.

"When I told you that you couldn't have Lucas all to yourself, I wasn't giving you a choice, my dear," Karen retorted unflinchingly.

"You are evil, Karen. You are a manipulative bitch! Trust me when I say this, I will kill you once I get my hands on you!"

"I'm not scared of you or your empty threats cause you're a nobody. You don't deserve Lucas. You never did and you never will!" Karen yelled back disdainfully, her eyes brimming with fire.

Her roaming gaze found Sara sitting next to Lucas's sleeping form on the bed and she chuckled mirthlessly, her lips lifted up in derision.

"I bet you didn't know that fool was going to propose to you again at his grandfather's birthday party." She informed, sneering angrily at her. "Like, did he not learn his lesson the first time around? And knowing how foolish you can be, you would have said yes too. I couldn't have that so I kissed him as a distraction just so I could steal it. If there was no ring, there would be no proposal!"

To Sara, it was like being drenched with bone-chilling cold water. Only a tone could fall out. "What?"

Karen bent down and dug her hand inside her purse that was on the center table and pulled out something from inside it. From her hold, Sara could tell it was her supposed engagement ring.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" She asked, smiling mischievously. "Because of you, I have to stoop so low just to get what I want. So I stole it with the aim of waking up tomorrow morning by his side, caught up in another scandal with the caption: happily engaged. I dare you to stick around him once that makes front page news."

That was the cane that broke the camel's back. Standing up from her bed, Sara moved to where the girl stood and slapped her. Hard. It left both women stunned and speechless.

"You slapped me?" Karen couldn't fathom it. No one had ever laid a hand on her, not even her parents.

"Yes, and if you say one more stupid thing, I'll do it again cause you deserve it and more for the pain you've caused me, you whore!" Sara stated belligerently.

Karen reached out and grabbed her by hair pulling instantly. Sara fought back head on.

++++++++++

Lucas peered open an eye and groaned. Shutting it instinctively, he raised a hand to his head, turning to the side. He opened his eyes fully to find Sara sitting beside his bed on a chair, smiling at him. He smiled back, until he noticed his surroundings. Looking around him on the bed, he quizzed.

"Where am I?"

Sara sniffed, rubbing her nose with the back of her hands. "You're in a hospital, but don't worry. You're okay now."

He frowned on hearing her words. "Why? What happened?" He looked lost.

Sara watched him carefully before asking. "What do you remember, Lucas?"

He looked at her before transferring his gaze to the ceiling. He clamped his eyes shut, plainly trying to remember. "There was a dinner convention, and I was supposed to go the after party. And then I talked to Ebuka Obi, and I think I also spoke with Jeff from the media house."

He brought his gaze back to her face. "You said you wanted to talk to me and I gave you my key."

Sara nodded, connecting the dots. "You don't remember anything else?"

He shook his head in disagreement and winced suddenly at the pain in his head. "This damn headache! Not really, I may have talked to Karen but I don't remember what it was about. Did I faint at the dinner convention? Is that why I'm here?"

She smiled sadly at him. "You were drugged, so I had the doctor flush it out of your system so you could get better," she explained, gauging his reaction.

He was perplexed. "Drugged? How is that possible?" He stuttered in shock.

Sara felt heat rise to her cheeks in guilt, so she looked down at the print on her gown. "It's actually more common than you think."

The fight between the two women had escalated quickly, with Karen grabbing fistfuls of her hair and she reaching for her clothes. Which were, unfortunately, underwear. She had tugged in retaliation for the hair, tearing it off. Karen in a furious rage had torn her turquoise gown, leaving it in tatters. That action spiked Sara's anger, and so she had dragged Karen down to the floor and straddled her while delivering kicks and punches as she cursed the manipulative woman in foul words (words that I cannot write here because they are too unsavoury) even as Karen tried to put in a few good scratches as well.

Martin, who came upstairs to find Lucas because his presence was needed at the after party, arrived just in the nick of time to separate the two women and prevent the fight from escalating further. He had much difficulty diffusing the situation as both women were pretty vicious. Then, he had sent off Karen to the police station for drugging Lucas, while promising to review the situation with the aid of the camera later. Then he had asked Judy to bring Sara a gown.

Later, she was led to the hospital where Lucas was administered since she demanded to see him. She had barely been here for an hour, reviewing what she heard this night and how to use the truth effectively, before he awoke.

"Sara, what happened to you?" Lucas asked quietly, cutting swiftly into her thoughts.

She grinned at him. "I had an impromptu history lesson this evening that didn't sound very good."

"What?!" To say he was confused was putting it mildly.

"I learnt one or two valuable lessons that changed my life and the way I thought."

She sighed audibly before explaining. "Lucas, I realized something about your scandal sometime these past few weeks while I was with you. It occurred to me that the scandal had hurt me more than it should because it was her. Because it was with Karen Thomas."

He began to shake his head slowly. "Sara, I already apologized for that."

She was adamant about her point. "No, you don't understand. If you had been with any other woman, I wouldn't have minded too much. I knew that much about you when I married you. Yes, you made me a promise but I expected a toss in the hay once in a while because of your reputation. I was heartbroken by that scandal because deep down inside, I've always envied Karen."

"Why? You're more beautiful than her."

She scoffed, smiling sadly. "They say it's easier said than done. I knew I was beautiful, gorgeous even, going by your words which should obviously be more than enough. But she always made me feel inferior. Even though I was Cinderella, with my very own fairy tale prince, I didn't feel like it. Despite knowing that I was your wife, I feared her coming back from her reign to take you away from me. That thought alone gave me sleepless nights!" She sniffled, trying not to cry.

He sat up on his bed to reach out for her but she pushed her chair backwards and stood up.

"I wanted to be brave. I wanted to believe you were mine but that isn't true because I never believed it. Then it got me thinking really hard and I realized the problem was me. I doubted myself, not her, not even you. I felt like I didn't measure up to you, like I didn't fit into your life. My thoughts dealt heavily on how someone like you could possibly have genuine feelings for someone like me or choose me above all those other girls around you. We were from completely different social class, and being thrown into all the luxury and spontaneity that being rich provided, I lost myself. I lost my self-esteem and it destroyed me. It destroyed my marriage, Lucas."

He was sitting on the bed now, his legs hopping of the bed watching her critically.

"Why didn't you say anything, Sara?" He rasped, trying to comprehend her words.

"I didn't know how to tell you that you had married an emotionally insecure woman! My family had been going through so much crisis because of money before you came and changed our lives and made us very happy. And then you had been so happy with me being in your life, that I thought, how can I make you happy too? I tried not to think of my fears. Then I became your wife and that perpetual smile was etched heavily on your face. It was as though I had found myself again until I got pregnant and you weren't there as often as you should be."

She wiped her palm across her face and let out a shuddering breath. "I guess what I'm saying is that I let low self-esteem steal my happiness away from me. If I never doubted myself, Karen wouldn't have torn us apart. It's not you I don't trust, it's myself I doubt. But I've learnt my lesson.

"I'm my own unique person. I'm not inferior to anyone and I shouldn't compare myself to anyone. I'm important even if I don't fit into your life, even if I'm not a beauty queen, even if I'm not rich. I deserve to love, and to do that completely, I've chosen to trust you. A lot more than I trust myself actually," she finished, flashing him a smile that expressed her resolve.

Lucas felt his heart leap out on hearing her words. She had chosen to trust him and that pulled a protective and possessive man out of him. Slowly, he made his way to her, pausing to stare into her eyes shining with her spent tears.

"I'm sorry if I ever made you think you were not good enough for me. That I was with you because I couldn't get better than Karen or because some other girl out there left me. Listen to me carefully, I chose you because I fell in love with you at first sight and I'm not ashamed to say that." He paused in his speech when he saw a smile flicker across her face.

"I'm twice, no, thrice a fool for not realizing my world would confuse you greatly, only being bothered about my happiness at that moment. I was selfish for calling you out on your fears, I see that now, and I swear right now in front of you that I'll never make you doubt my love for you. Sara Amadi, you are the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I'll never trade it for anything."

Cupping her jaw with one hand, he tilted her face so she could look deeply into his eyes. "Never let anyone ever again make you doubt yourself. You're important to me. You matter."

She smiled at his words. Slowly, she reached out her arms and wrapped it around his body in a hug, loving the feel of admitting her fears and getting over her doubts. They weren't just falling in love again, they were building something different, something stronger and she knew for certain it will withstand the storms of life, the test of time. And that made her very happy.

He swayed suddenly on his feet, surprising them both. It was her hug that prevented him for falling.

"I believe you are still very weak. It's a side effect of the drugs. Come on, you need to get back into bed," she stated, pulling him towards the bed. He didn't argue.

Once he was settled, he let his gaze travel over her face, wincing at the nail marks and bumps on it. Funnily enough, she was still very beautiful despite her impromptu history lesson.

"What happened while I was passed out, Sara?" He murmured, his eyes narrowing tiredly even as he yawned loudly.

She smiled at him, pride overwhelming her that she loved this man. "You need to sleep. But don't worry, I'm sure Martin will be more than eager to fill you in later."

He grinned at the thought, as he imagined Martin having a field day with the tale. The comical clown had found a Christmas worthy tale for the Caspian-Asiegbu family.

"I love you, Sara Amadi. More than you'll ever know," he said tiredly, yawning again.

Before his eyes drooped, she bent over him slowly to drop a kiss on his forehead.

"I love you Lucas Caspian-Asiegbu. More than this world will ever comprehend," she whispered just seconds before he drifted off to sleep.

~~~~~~~~

I only thought it pertinent that everything should end exactly where it all started.

What are your thoughts concerning everything that happened? What do you think about the book in general?

What do you think about Sara's confession? Does it tally with the events that happened in this book?

Our 'LucaSara' ship is now sailing' 😄💃. Thank you guys for helping me build it.

Vote and comment, please.

Thank you 😍😘