Sara was tired. Simple.

After a long and stressful week at work; which first off started with arguing back and forth with Jeremy about which design prototype would favor the house as the client was a 'blind' client, then later arguing with the ambitious fool about the benefits of taking the company from his father. Sara wasn't sure which side of the argument she was on. All she knew was that she didn't want to lose her job. Her finances knew she couldn't. She had a family who depended on her even if they didn't have to.

Today, she was not going back to her apartment. She was spending the night over at the family house because she had promised her dear mother she would visit once she had the time, and she had chosen today. At least that way, she would be too exhausted to argue with her family.

She wasn't too keen on coming back home, especially after Jeremy had helped her get her own apartment two years ago which offered her the freedom she needed to be away from her family and their constant nagging and bantering over her hasty decision five years ago.

Entering the compound that housed her family mansion in the prestigious Lakeview Estate in Lekki, she spotted Mide strolling out of the house with Tonya, her immediate younger sister. Olamide, a gorgeous specimen from the Yoruba tribe, was a member of the Yoruba demons association, a colloquial expression for playboys. Her superficial and supercilious sister was obviously with him for the money but would not agree when she preached to her to change her thinking. Tonya always believed in wealth above all else so it was prerty useless. Not wanting another confrontation, she quickened her steps to pass by them.

"Hey, sis. How was work today?" Tonya greeted, smiling like a Cheshire cat at her.

Sara had no choice but to pause in mid strides. "You know, the usual," she answered offhandedly, nodding awkwardly at Mide who was casting lustful eyes at her. He had eyes for everything in skirt and Sara wondered how their relationship was.

"Okay," replied Tonya before linking her arms with Mide and literally dragged him off muttering something that sounded like 'prideful fool' at her back.

Sara merely rolled her eyes at that, already used to the name calling and taunts from her family and friends alike. Ever since her decision five years ago to not stay with a cheat and a womanizer, she had been labelled a fool for choosing pride over wealth.

Sighing, she strolled into the house. Although it belonged to her, her family {which consisted of her mother Antonia, her elder sister Evelyn, and her younger sister, Tonya} weren't too eager to step back into the poverty her marriage had pulled them from and hence had moved in with her. The house was more spacious, in a very nice and expensive neighborhood that elevated the status of the Amadi family and of course the rich and wealthy friends they had made from her fortune of marrying a billionaire.

She was met at the door by her mother, who looked like she was going out for a beauty pageant. Evelyn followed behind Antonia, helping her adjust her gown.

"Hello dear, you're back. How was work today?" Antonia asked barely sparing her a glance.

Sara sighed again, getting tired of the question. "The usual, mom," came her monotonous reply.

Antonia eyed her disapprovingly.
"Look at how tired you are. Working for that stupid miser, laboring of for what? The chicken change he barely stuffs out every month? Never in my wildest dream did I foresee this for you, Sara," she complained bitterly, moving to seat on the sofa delicately as though she was a queen.

Sara grimaced at the scorn, moving towards the fridge for a glass of cold water. Goodness knew she needed it after the stressful day at work. After taking a deep gulp, she felt better.

Turning towards the stairs, she proceeded to climb towards it.

"You cannot keep running away from your problems, Sara. You are a smart girl, but sometimes I doubt your actions," Antonia pointed out.

Annoyed, she retorted. "They are my actions, Mother. Let me make them."

Before she erupted, she whirled around and quickly climbed up the stairs.

++++++++++++++

After a quick shower that relaxed her, Sara was left with reviewing the catalog for the new client. She wasn't sure accepting a client when the company was on the verge of a split was a good idea, she had even voiced out her thoughts to Jeremy, but the egotistical man wouldn't listen to her, claiming that everything was under control.

She was almost through with selecting designs and items to soothe each model when a knock sounded on her bedroom door.

Before she could respond, it was opened and Evelyn strolled in to come sit on her bed.

"Why did you bother knocking if you were going to come in anyway?" Sara quizzed rolling her eyes at the action.

"Because you, my sister, are a lazy bum. It would have taken you ages to invite me in," Evelyn replied, giving her a pointed look.

Sara chuckled at that. "You know that isn't true. I'm not like that."

Eve shrugged. "How should I know? Being married to a billionaire sure had its perks for you. Having a servant for practically every need."

Sara frowned deeply at the thought. "It wasn't like that when we were married. We did almost everything by ourselves, you know. But it was like being pampered at his family home. You can't even lift an arm all by yourself."

At that admission, both girls burst out laughing.

After a few minutes, everything was calm. Sara focused on her work and Eve's mind wandered around.

"You loved him a lot, didn't you?" Eve quizzed, turning to look at her.

Sara paused in her work and stared back. "I did, and that's why everything hurts so much. I just wish mom wouldn't be so quick to judge my actions."

Eve nodded. "It isn't easy, Sara. Marrying him was the best thing that ever happened to you, to us, to this family. We were stuck in debts so bad we were practically drowning in it. I had to stop school because of it. Mom was working towards getting me married to help lessen the burden and our uncles were no help just because Mom didn't have a male child."

Sara grimaced at that thought. "I didn't mind it all."

"No, you never did. School was so important to you and I couldn't bear to see you not continue. I was ready to be the scapegoat and then you became our saving grace."

"You make it sound like I married him for his money." Sara frowned at her train of thought.

"Does it matter either way?" Eve was unrepentant. "Because of school, you became friends with his friends and he noticed you. He fell for your intelligence and he married you despite the socio-economic differences. Like I said, does it matter if you married him for his money? The point here is that marrying him brought us out of our debts, it gave us wealth, and it pampered us, a little too much if I must say that I don't think we are ready to go back to where we came from, Sara," Evelyn explained, sitting up on the bed.

Sara closed her catalog and stood up from the bed to stroll to the window.

"I know, Eve. Believe me I know where you're coming from. But I already made my decision and I don't regret it. Even if I did, its five years too late, anyway." She whirled around to stare at her sister, who shook her head in disagreement.

"It was not a decision anyone in this family agreed with and you know it. Just because you are our saving grace doesn't give you the right to whisk it all away in a heartbeat. We can never forgive you for divorcing him, Sara," Evelyn stated determinedly.

Enraged, Sara retorted sharply. "How dare you?! How dare any of you judge me or my decisions? I divorced him because I wanted to, because he hurt me. He hurt me so bad that all I wanted to do was to kill myself. You all can hate me for it but I don't care. I made a decision to save myself..."

"A selfish decision you mean?" Interrupted Antonia, strolling into the room.

Sara swallowed a sob threatening to escape from her lips. "It was not selfish..."

"It was very selfish. You didn't draw up a prenup, you didn't fight to have shares in his company, and you couldn't even be bothered to fight for maternal rights over your child at the very least! What kind of a selfish person leaves her child with her ex-husband just because he cheated on her? As if you're the first woman to be cheated on!" Antonia yelled angrily.

Sara stilled at the mention of her son. The little infant she could barely bring herself to look at. He was the spitting image of his father, the constant reminder of his betrayal. Yes, leaving him with her ex-husband was a selfish idea but she was broken and she had feared transferring the hatred she felt for him to her son. Although that was not the entire truth and her family didn't know that.

"You are ignorant, mom. It is obvious your daughter's happiness meant nothing to you as far as you continue to live in luxury. Tell me honestly, where is all the money my divorce brought to this family? I can see that all the kobo has been squandered due to your extravagant spending. Five years is what it took me to get back on my feet. Five years to move on mainly because my family had to continue living in luxury, luxury my accursed marriage pulled them into and I had to continue providing for them as my punishment.

"You're right, mom. It was a selfish decision to divorce him, to leave my son behind all because I wanted to save myself emotionally. But if I am put in that situation again, I will make the same decisions like before but this time, I won't accept a single kobo from him. At least that way, my family would have ample reasons to hate me!" She finished heatedly, wiping away furiously at the tear that had spilled.

"How dare you?!" Antonia choked, placing a delicate hand over her chest. "I am your mother, Sara. I gave birth to you, I provided for you even when your father couldn't be bothered to do so. I'm not asking you to pay me back for all those years but you should have thought about this family as well."

Sara nodded. "I'm grateful for all that, believe me, but I had to think about my emotional wellbeing at the same time as this family financial status. All I'm saying is that I'm proud I didn't sacrifice my happiness for money, mother. I will never do it."

Seeing the hopeless of the situation, Antonia huffed "I hope you never regret it," she mumbled, before walking away.

Silence filled the room after Antonia had stormed out in a furious haze. Sara battled the emotions clogged up in her throat, willing herself to stay strong, to continue fighting.

Evelyn walked to sit back on the bed, sighing audibly.

"Mother is right, you know. About your son. You should not have signed him away."

Sara turned to look at her with a determined jaw. "You think I wanted to sign him away? Do you think I was that inhumane?" It was rhetoric, so Evelyn replied with the wave of her head.

"Do you know what she told me after I had filed for divorce?"

"Who?" Evelyn's attention was piped now.

She swallowed. "His mother. She said just because she had kept quiet when I married her son didn't mean she would do same while I was divorcing him. She made it clear that my son belonged to them and they would not let me take him away just because I wanted to. She even swore to make me and my family 'pay' for using her son."

Evelyn could hardly believe it. And made sure to say it. "That is preposterous! How can she say that? We didn't use him, ok? Every kobo we spent was because your generous husband let us."

Sara shrugged. "From her tone, she believed otherwise. In fact, it was as though she was implying something else, and I only found out about it later." When they took away my son, she opted to add but kept the thought to herself.

"She's nothing but a hypocrite for making us look like gold-diggers. If she didn't like us, she should have told us, not insult us behind our backs!" Evelyn retorted, fuming.

Sara stared at her and smiled, happy that her family would always have her back.

"Forget it, Eve. It was a long time ago. Besides, Judy, Martin's wife, helped to open my eyes to the errors of my ways if I had tried to fight back then."

Evelyn was confused. "Really?"

"Yeah. Apparently, there was an issue with the company about embezzlement over some documents Rocky was overseeing. The family were of the opinion I had been involved and would have used financial crime to pack my ass off to jail if I as much as mentioned custody rights."

Sara watched Evelyn squirming on the bed, obviously upset by the news before excusing herself claiming she had to go make dinner.

Eve and Rocky had been lovers and partners in crime. Although Rocky had been jailed in connection to the embezzlement, she had been omitted, in reality, the whole family had been kept out of the issue. And for that at least, Sara was grateful.

Now, as she stared out of her room window to the darkening sky outside, she couldn't help but wonder if giving up on her son that easily had been such a good idea.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm not sure I like her family very much.What do you think?

The Amadi's are the perfect example of people who live 'fake life' and Sara is the one carrying all of their financial burdens. 😥😩

As usual, share, vote and comment.

Thank you 😙😘