Chapter Thirteen

"I told you to stay away from her," Kofi said calmly, "give me one reason why I shouldn't turn you in this very minute."

"Because if you turn me in, I will never be granted parole and I will die in prison. You will never be able to live with that," Wolfgang replied. He was still sniffling, so I took his arm, brought it close to me and inspected the wound.

"Can you stop at a hospital?" I asked.

"Of course not. It won't take long until the media finds out about this. Tell me no one recognised either of you."

"One guard did..." Wolfgang began, squeezing his eyes shut, "but he's dead now."

"Good."

The detached tone in his voice, the absolute nonchalance for the loss of the life of an innocent man, it scared me. He was dead on the inside, Kofi. The only people he cared about were Elorm and his brothers.

I wondered if it was plausible to take Elorm away from him. I wondered if it would drive him mad.

"Tell me why the two of you were here," Kofi demanded.

Wolfgang shot me a look that cautioned me against saying anything, but it turned out that I didn't even have to speak because Kofi already knew everything.

"You came to have revenge on your rapist, didn't you?" he asked me.

With those dangerous green orbs fixed on me through the driver's mirror, I didn't even have the strength to lie. I managed a timid nod and lowered my head.

"Fine, I understand that. What I don't get is why you had to drag my brother into this."

"I decided to help her," Wolfgang blurted. He was probably afraid that I would spill the beans and get us both in trouble. He should've known better than that.

"False. This place traumatised you. You wouldn't come here of your own free will. Now stop lying to me. Why did you agree to help her?"

"Because he wanted to break Elorm and you up," I sighed.

"You bitch!" Wolfgang yelled, moving towards me like he was going to hit me. I didn't doubt that he would have, if only there wasn't a gaping wound in his hand.

But what really stopped him—and jolted my train of thought—was the sound of Kofi's rare laughter. We were staring at him as if he'd grown an extra head.

"That? You were willing to risk your freedom to break Elorm and I up? When we would've eventually gotten back together anyway?"

"Neither of you is in the right state of mind to be in a relationship—especially with each other," Wolfgang confessed.

"Well brother, that's our decision to make. And besides, I already knew of this tomfoolery."

"Excuse me?" I asked, honestly thinking I'd heard wrongly.

"I hacked into your laptop and saw all the evidence you'd gathered on my fiancée."

"What?" Wolfgang and I spoke simultaneously, my own exclamation a scared whisper, and his, an angered yell.

"You both heard right. Elorm and I are engaged and she knows about what you too planned to do to her."

"I didn't plan anything."

"You didn't? You weren't in cahoots with Michael to throw her behind bars?" he mocked.

"No! That was just to scare you away from her. I would've never hurt her!"

"Because you're in love with her?"

I gasped. It took a while for me to catch my breath before I refocused my gaze on him through the driver's mirror. We were in traffic, so he could easily fix his triumphant smile on me. It was like he was taunting me, like this was just the beginning of how badly this night was going to end.

"What is he talking about?" Wolfgang asked me.

"You heard me right. That coloniser is in love with my fiancée," he told Wolfgang. To me, he said, "Elorm really did think of you as a friend. After all that she knows now, she never wants to see you again. When we get back to the penthouse, you'll see your suitcases in the parking lot. She wants you to take them and go far, far away from her."

I felt it. I really did feel it; the pain. The intense pain as my heart was crushed and then grated. She knew I was in love with her, but she wanted me to leave. Could I blame her? I'd been plotting to take away the man she loved, all because I selfishly thought that with him out of the way, she could've been mine.

But I should've known all along that I never had a chance, because I didn't have a stupid penis between my legs. It was so insignificant; just some long rod of flesh that hardened at the least physical contact, but it could've made all the difference. It could've given me a chance.

"But that's not what I want. Oh no," Kofi said, a devilish look forming on his face. "You'll pay for this Barbie, and I know exactly how. See, I did come research on you and I found out something very peculiar. Your mother, she's a sex worker, isn't she?"

I nodded, gripped by fright.

"During the time she was seeing your father, she had another boyfriend. Did you know about that?"

Knowing where this was going, I tightened my fists. "I know I'm my father's daughter. I look exactly like him."

"I looked exactly like the man I thought was my father. He still wasn't my father."

"That's different! Say or do anything you want to me but don't come near my family! That's where I draw the line," I hissed.

"How ironic," he said in such a sarcastic tone that I recoiled. "Don't worry, you are your father's daughter. That wasn't the point I was trying to make."

My fists immediately loosened at his words. At least, even though this night had gone horribly, I felt a little bit better.

"What I'm coming to reveal to you is much worse than not being your father's daughter. See, the man your mother was cheating on your father with was involved with the Italian mafia."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes.

"You think I'm joking, don't you?" Kofi laughed. "Okay. Let's wait and see. Now, this man was smitten by your mother, but she was in love with your father. She was only with him because of the money. Your mother is quite the whore, isn't she?"

I sent him a glare that would've rattled the strongest of men. Not Kofi though. Not him.

"When he found out that the baby she was carrying wasn't his, he went crazy. He searched for Ken, but fortunately for him, he'd relocated to this country, and how would your mother's boyfriend ever consider searching in Africa?"

"Kofi, get to the point," Wolfgang said, having mirrored my thoughts.

"Fine. Barbara, if you don't turn yourself in and confess to what happened a few minutes ago, I will contact this man who wants to see both your father and you dead, and inform him of both your whereabouts."

"Kofi," Wolfgang groaned, pausing to cradle his hand, "please don't. Don't do—"

"If you asked me to choose between a woman who tried to put the love of my life behind bars and my family, my own brother, who do you think I'd pick? Look at her disguise, Wolfgang. How are they ever going to recognise her? You on the other hand, stupidly went in there with only a policeman's cap to hide your face! It won't take long until they find out you were in on this! And what do you think will happen next?" he waited, but when he heard no reply, he answered his own question. "Death penalty."

The two words rang in the air, the ominous note on which they ended chilling my blood. Death penalty. They could really do that. They could kill Wolfgang, and it'd be all my fault.

"How are we supposed to trust this cock and bull story of the Italian mafia?" Wolfgang asked, seething.

"I spoke to your mother herself," Kofi said to me. "She's at my grandparents' house right now. She thinks I want to be her 'sugar daddy'—well, that's the lie I told her—and at the prospect of money and sex, she told me everything. What a loose woman," he chuckled.

Once again, my mother had ruined my life. I wondered why I ever expected anything from her. Time and time again, all she ever did was disappoint me. Perhaps, if she'd comforted me the way a parent should comfort a child when they learn that they'd been raped, maybe, I wouldn't have been so thirsty for vengeance.

I hated her more than I'd ever hated her in my life. She was the cause of all my misfortunes. If she hadn't selfishly alienated me from my father, I would've never gotten into sex work. I wouldn't have had daddy issues. I could've actually been someone in life. I could've fallen in love with someone who'd have been in love with me too.

She ruined everything. She gave me life, and very tactfully, taken it away from me without killing me.

"Fine," I said.

Wolfgang looked at me, unshed tears filling his eyes. I refused to believe that he was crying for me. He was probably crying because this whole story was pathetic and stupid.

I had my justice. I should've been content with it, but I wasn't. Now, I'd just made everything ten times worse. Now, I wouldn't have my freedom. There was no point in trying to have a normal life anymore. I'd given that up the minute I didn't leave all this behind with my father when I had the chance.

"Good. Once I drop my brother off at home, I'll immediately drive you to a police station—in this silly disguise of yours—and you'll turn yourself in."

"Okay."

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