Author's Note
Has anyone wondered what transpired between Yemisi's mum and Alessia's mum. I mean how they got pregnant for the same man and the feud between them. Well I actually planned this as the last chapter but nope I think it's needed now. So I give you Fisayo(Yemisi's mum) story

Yemisi
The dim glow from the bedside lamp cast soft shadows across my mother’s face. I could see the weight in her eyes as she took a deep breath, preparing herself to share memories she had clearly buried a long time ago.

“Yemisi,” she began, her voice wavering a little, “there’s a lot I’ve never told you about my past. I wanted to protect you, keep you away from things that… well, from things I had to endure.”

I nodded, sitting down beside her, bracing myself for whatever was to come.

“When I was your age,” she started, looking past me as if she was seeing another world entirely, “I was just a girl trying to survive. I had graduated from high school, but there wasn’t much for me afterward. Jobs were scarce, and your grandmother’s health was getting worse. I felt so helpless.”

I reached over to hold her hand, and she gave me a small, grateful smile. “My closest friend back then was Aderonke. We grew up together, both of us knowing what it was like to have very little. But one day, she started coming around with new clothes, new jewelry, and talking about the future as if it was hers for the taking. She’d gotten into a good college, and suddenly, life was looking up for her.”

“What changed?” I asked, sensing that this was where the story would take a turn.

“At first, I didn’t ask,” she admitted. “I was happy for her—truly, I was. I thought maybe she’d found some good work, a scholarship, something that could make sense of it all. But then, one day, when my mother needed urgent treatment and we were desperate for money, I couldn’t ignore it anymore. I finally asked her, and she told me the truth.”

My mother’s eyes clouded over. “It was prostitution, Yemisi. She’d found work with a network of women who met with wealthy clients. I was horrified, but desperate too. I didn’t want that life for myself, but my hands were tied. And so, in that moment of desperation, I made a decision.”

“You didn’t…” I whispered, hardly daring to believe it.

She nodded slowly. “I did. Just once, I tried it. And I told myself it would be the only time. But, oh, Yemisi, nothing can prepare you for something like that. I was so ashamed. So when Aderonke came to me a year later, saying she’d ‘hit the jackpot’ and that everything was different, I had already decided I was done with that life.”

My mother took a shaky breath. “She was so proud. She’d met an American businessman, and she was pregnant with his child. He was willing to take her in, even marry her to save his image, and that meant a life of wealth and comfort. She told me I should do the same—find some rich man to ‘trap’ with a baby and secure a future. I was furious; I couldn’t believe she was so willing to throw her morals away like that. I told her so, and we didn’t speak for a long time after that.”

“What happened next?” I asked, feeling the tension in the room.

“A year later, my mother fell gravely ill again, and we needed money fast. I was desperate, out of options, so I went to Aderonke. She was living well by then—she had the American husband, the big house, a daughter. I thought… I hoped she might help me.”

My mother’s eyes darkened. “But Aderonke turned me away, told me I had to find my own way out, just like she did. And that’s when I made the decision that changed everything. I took her advice, but I couldn’t have imagined how things would turn out.”

She paused, and I could see the pain etched into every line of her face.

“I ended up with Aderonke’s husband,” she continued softly. “It was a mistake, but by then, he was the only man willing to offer me a way out. I got pregnant, and I thought… I thought he’d accept me, that we could build something. But when Aderonke found out, she was furious. She accused me of trapping her husband, of betraying her.”

My heart twisted, watching my mother relive the shame of it all.

“To get rid of me, Aderonke went so far as to fake a DNA test. She used that test to ‘prove’ my children weren’t his, and he believed her. I had no choice but to leave, to start over on my own.”

I swallowed hard, feeling the weight of everything my mother had been through. “So… you raised us by yourself?”

“Yes,” she said, her face softening as she looked at me. “It wasn’t easy. I started my own small business, and over time, it grew. I had to build everything from the ground up. But I had you, and I had your siblings. And that was enough.”

A lump formed in my throat. “Why didn’t you ever tell me this?”

“Because I wanted to protect you,” she said quietly. “I wanted you to have a chance at a life without knowing all this. But with everything happening now… maybe it’s time you knew.”

I reached out and hugged her, feeling the full weight of her love, her sacrifices, her strength.

As I pulled away, she looked at me with a steady gaze. “Yemisi, be careful with what you’re doing. People like Aderonke don’t play fair. They’ll do whatever it takes to protect their own secrets.”

I nodded, the truth of her warning sinking in. If Aderonke could ruin my mother’s life, then maybe she could do even worse to me. And for the first time, I wondered if that was exactly what I was walking into.