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“Still no luck?” Bach asked when Saiida shut off her phone that morning.
“Can’t blame him for being spooked,” she said, having just left her third message to Maxwell Davis. “I’m sure my last name is setting him on edge.”
Bach pushed from the den door frame. “You could try my last name.”
She laughed. “He’d probably not even allow his voicemail to answer if he heard your last name,” she continued to laugh while sliding the phone into a pocket on her tote.
“I’d still like for you to try it,” he pressed and then silently ordered himself to leave it when she only continued to pack items into her tote. He was halfway back to the door when she called to him.
“When I take your last name, it won’t be to get some doctor on the phone.”
Bach felt his breath catch. “Wh-when?” he stammered.
“When,” Saiida confirmed, her tone steady.
Bach retraced his steps into the den. “What are you saying?”
She turned. “I’m saying I can’t wait to be your wife, Mbaku Nkosi.”
His eyes closed as he exhaled. When he appeared to sway, Saiida rushed to him and pressed steadying hands to his chest. “Easy,” she soothed. “Please don’t faint on me. You weigh a megaton. You’d have to stay sprawled on the floor until your brothers get down here to pick you up.”
Bach laughed shakily, his soulful eyes coming to rest on her face. “You’ll marry me? You mean it?”
“I mean it,” hands still flat on his chest, she smoothed them over his very broad shoulders to lock them behind his neck. She gasped when he suddenly hoisted her up to plant a hard kiss on her mouth.
“When?” he joined in when she laughed.
Serious soon returned to the moment, however. “Would you be terribly upset if I said I wanted to wait until this was somewhat behind us? What’s happening with Kam and...your brothers?”
Bach’s striking features tensed. “Haddad,” he gritted out the name but nodded. “You’re right- we’ve been through too much to let anything more darken our day. Okay, I guess I can live off knowing you’re my fiancée for a while.”
She pressed her fingertips into his nape, “It won’t be forever. I want this all over and done with, but I won’t let other people’s drama put us on hold indefinitely.”
He pressed his forehead to hers. “I like the way you think, Ms. Okonkwo.”
“That’s Mrs. Nkosi to you,” she said and sealed those words with a kiss.
––––––––
Beverages were already set on the long buffet in the main dining room in preparation for that morning’s breakfast. Only one diner had arrived and it didn’t appear that eating was high on her list of priorities.
Kieli had taken to silencing her phone since embarking on the trip to Canada. It had quickly become a habit. In the days since arriving, she’d barely looked at her mobile.
Ali had suggested she take a few days away from the grind and Kieli had taken him seriously. The staff back in Jamaica had proven more than capable of handling whatever came their way. Still, Kieli knew she couldn’t hide her head in the sand forever. As Ali Okonkwo’s second in command, her job was far too demanding for that.
The aromas of a sensational breakfast wafted in the air. Kieli had settled into an armchair along an alcove of dining room windows and studied her phone intently. As expected, Les Raymond had continued his incessant calls and texts. Kieli forced herself to read the latest messages, each one more hate-filled than the one preceding it. The latest message had come during the earliest hours of the morning. Its contents made her heart stop.
She was still there seated- her body and features frozen with fright- when a softly clearing throat jerked her from her trance. Ali.
“H-hey,” she tried to greet him with a lightness she didn’t feel. When he returned her greeting, everything changed. Her current irritation evaporated as if by magic.
“Are you in love with him?” Ali asked.
Kieli blinked as though she were dazed. “I-huh?”
“The guy whose texts I’ve seen you frowning over for the last few weeks.”
She closed her eyes now. “Oh Ali,” she sighed, letting the phone fall into her lap as she covered her face in her hands.
Whispering a curse, Ali crossed to the chair and took a knee before her. “Kieli don’t, don’t cry, please,” his distractingly handsome face was shadowed by worry. “Kam and Saiida will skin me alive if I upset you.”
Again, Kieli sighed as her hands fell away from her face. “Ali, I think I’m the one who’s about to upset you.”
“Kieli?” His sleek brows drew close.
“Les Raymond,” she said.
He shook his head, bewildered.
She pursed her lips, unsurprised by his confusion. “Remember the man they found in the car fire near the offices?”
Ali required but a moment to recall. “The delivery driver,” he said.
“Les Raymond. He came to the office posing as that man. We struck up a conversation- he asked me out to dinner. We agreed to meet at the restaurant- he showed up at my flat instead.”
“He what?”
“He wants the serum,” she barrelled ahead with the explanation before cowardice caused her to stop. “He thought I’d appreciate him showing up like that- or that’s what he said, at first. When it was clear that I didn’t, he took the gloves off and just told me what he wanted. We had a long, seemingly innocent conversation that several people witnessed on their way on and off the executive floor that day,” Kieli’s laughter was sharp and derisive then. “I even walked him out. From all accounts, it looked like we were old friends. He said if I spoke a word of the truth, he’d say stealing the formula was my idea and if I tried to ignore his demands he-he’d-” She shut her eyes tight before continuing.
“He said he’d kill me and find another way inside. He said...s-said if the rest of the women working for you were as beautiful as me, it’d be fun to work his way through us until he found one to give up what he really wanted.”
Rage had taken the place of Ali’s bewilderment. Rage for what Kieli had endured on her own. Rage for the fucker with nerve enough to try stealing from him...he took the phone from Kieli’s lap.
“He’s been contacting you on this.”
She nodded jerkily.
“May I have it?”
Another jerky nod. “Ali I’m so-”
“Stop. If you’re about to apologize, don’t. None of this is your fault. If apologies are owed, I’m the one who should be giving them. It’s past time to put more safeguards in place.”
“Ali,” laughter crept softly into her voice. “The offices are already like a fortress.”
“Clearly not.”
She looked at her phone then. The device looked minuscule against Ali’s wide palm. “What are you going to do?” she asked.
“Find Mr. Les Raymond,” he was cool with his reply. “Maybe treat him to the same fate as our delivery driver.”
Kieli gasped but knew the man wasn’t issuing an idle threat. She’d worked for the Okonkwo long enough to know full well how they dealt with their enemies. Thoughts of Les Raymond drifted away as others set in.
“You thought I was in love with him?” she asked.
Ali winced. “Yeah um...sorry, Kieli. That was out of line. Who you’re seeing...who you’re in love with is none of my business.”
“For the record, I wasn’t in love with him. I was only going out to dinner with him.”
Ali focused on the phone. “Just seemed like you were pretty distracted- pretty um...taken by him.”
Noise stirred in the dining room as the cooks arrived to set the long table for breakfast.
Kieli stood, but leaned close to Ali who still knelt by the chair. “It’s not Les Raymond I’m taken by, Ali.” she left the alcove as he stared after her.
***
“My, my Haddad, I never knew you loved your cousin so.”
“Fuck that. Asani was an idiot, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care that he was mauled to death!” Haddad Nkosi snarled as he stalked the hardwoods that creaked in annoyance under his heavy footfalls. Anger had darkened his attractive face a few shades beyond its usual light caramel tone.
Julien Dwele aka Deke Obu, had been putting off the meeting with his intimidating accomplice, fully aware that this latest upheaval would send him into a tailspin. Such ferocity was exactly why he was glad Haddad Nkosi was on his side. He needed that ferocity on hold for the time being, however.
There was still the matter of the serum- a prize that Obu fully intended to claim for himself. Having Haddad Nkosi go into battle mode too soon, would ruin that. Haddad was a formidable man, but against a company of formidable men like his brothers...he stood little chance.
Obu was counting on Haddad hanging back- a move that might hopefully prompt his brothers to seek him out. By now, they were well aware of his betrayal- the part that he, along with the good doctor Max Davis, had played in kidnapping Kam Okonkwo. They would come after Haddad for that and chances were strong that they would all come. Where would that leave his prize?
Any security they left with her would be laughable next to his people. There would be another perfect chance to snatch the divine Miss Okonkwo. This time, he would take what he wanted from her. Everything, he wanted from her.
“...C’s gone too far this time,” Haddad continued to rage.
Obu masked his smile. Yes, they would all come. This was personal. Haddad Nkosi’s involvement made it so. “Did you never consider he might do something this rash? Given the motivation?” he asked.
“Ah yes,” Menace hugged Haddad’s voice and expression. “The luscious Kamili. She must be an extra sensational fuck. I was sure my little brother would’ve had his fill of her by now.”
“Sounds like love,” Obu mused, receiving a mocking snort from Haddad in turn.
“You know what outlasts love, Obu? Money. The money we stand to make if we get this serum on the market. That’s what started all this in the first place and I’m the only one who’s held true to the mission. On my life, I’ll see it through. What?!” Haddad blurted in greeting to the knock that fell on the door just then.
A young man in The Safari garb of khaki trousers and shirt sleeves entered. “Yared Okeke, Sirs.”
“One of the crew bosses,” Obu told Haddad and then waved to the young man to show in the visitor. “Okeke,” he extended a hand when the man entered.
“Apologies for the bother,” Yared Okeke nodded to Haddad while shaking hands with Obu. “I thought you’d both want to hear about this.”
“For your sake, Okeke, I pray you’re not here to tell me I’ve had another cousin be ripped to shreds.”
“No Sir, uh...but it is related...” Okeke nodded when his superiors remained silent. “The info comes from the cleaner who is cooperating with us.”
Obu took a seat, while Haddad folded his arms over his chest and waited.
“We lost track of him after he told us about your cousin, Mr. Nkosi. After the payoff he received for the info, we didn’t expect to hear from him again.”
“Let me guess,” Haddad bellowed, “back for another handout?”
“Seems he has more to barter with, Sir.”
“Information about what he saw,” Obu put in.
“Get to it, man,” Haddad hastily prompted.
“Sir,” Okeke cleared his throat. “Whatever he has, he’s not sharing it. He’s demanding to see the big dogs-er-big cats was how he put it. He says what he knows should bring him quite the payday.”
“Where is he now?” Haddad asked.
“He’s shown up at the Zambia compound.”
“Kill him,” Haddad ordered.
“Patience, Haddad, please,” Obu spoke with soft reverence, not wanting to draw the ire of the powerfully built man across the room who fairly seethed with malice. He looked to Okeke when Haddad swatted a hand at the air and turned his back. “Did he offer any hint as to what this is about?”
“Sir, I can only guess it’s more of what he’s already given to us. Whatever it is, he seems afraid.”
“Afraid.” Haddad queried flatly.
“He showed up looking like he was being chased by the devil himself.”
Obu sent a raised-eyebrow look toward Haddad. “Couldn’t hurt to hear the poor fool out. You can kill him afterward.” he smiled grimly when his accomplice appeared pacified and then nodded to Okeke.
“This is a waste of time,” Haddad hissed when he and Obu were alone.
“A rather dangerous way to waste one’s time- in terms of this cleaner,” Obu noted. “Showing up at the Zambia camp...our men aren’t the most hospitable sort.”
“What do you think he knows?” Haddad probed.
Obu shook his head. “If it’s good intel, we may soon have what we’ve been working for.”