STORY: Hidden Truth (PT 4-6)

HIDDEN TRUTH. PT4

"Hey, babe, it's past 8pm already. I guess you should go home to your father. He must be worried sick about you by now. For a whole day, he hasn't seen nor heard from you, may he not get a heart attack because of you ooo", Helen said as she continued with her cooking. She was Cassy's best friend right from primary school. As the saying goes, "birds of the same feather flock together", Helen and Cassy had a lot in common. Sometimes, it seemed they had one mind as they saw things from the same point of view, shared similar ideas and agreed on practically everything. Cassy had come to stay with Helen for some time till she was certain of the next step to take. Helen had always given her a shoulder to lean on whenever she was sad. Apparently, she was also from a very wealthy family like Cassy. Both her parents were medical doctors and owned a very big private hospital. She was the last of the four children her parents had. She had three elder brothers who were all married to beautiful and hardworking women from different parts of Nigeria. She was a very good listener and this was the exact attribute she possessed that made Cassy trust her so much. Cassy told her anything and everything. She just sat on the sofa looking so dejected. She was indignant of the fact that she won't become the next CEO of her father's company. Helen looked at her and said, "Cassy take that sorry look off your face. Besides you are an accountant. I don't know how you plan to run such a big business."

Cassy took the vase on the table and dropped it on the floor. “You see that, it’s broken! I will throw the next one at you if you do not shut that big mouth of yours! That’s is my father’s company we are talking about here. How could he make her the CEO. I must take back my rightful place and put that gold digger in her’s. In fact, I would eliminate her from our lives!”, she said as she laughed loudly. “I would go to the office tomorrow. I have received an email already. I need to go home, at least to have a change of clothes. I can never give up without a fight. She thinks she can steal what’s mine? Never! This will surely have a grand ending and of course, I will win. I will have Fergason all to myself and of course, my rightful place as the CEO of Adeboye cooperations.” She got up from the sofa and walked towards Helen who was slicing an onion bulb. Patting her on her shoulder, she said to her in a soft voice, “Helen my dearest friend, just sit back and enjoy this show.”

Monday mornings are always very busy moments. The traffic in Lagos could be used for tourist’s attraction. Everyone had to leave very early to beat the traffic. Cassy had returned home very early in the morning to get a change of clothes and prepare for her first day at the office. Everyone was asleep when she got home. Quietly, she went up to her room and began to make some calls. On hearing a knock on the door, she hastily hung up and put her phone aside. She opened the door but saw no one there. She turned to close the door to continue with what she was doing but this time, she heard the sound even louder. It was obvious someone needed access into one of the rooms in the house and therefore, kept knocking on the door. Her ever inquisitive mind decided to find out who it was that continuously kept on knocking. She opened her door a second time and slowly walked out of her room. Shockingly, she saw Fergason knocking on Kate’s door. She decided to manipulate the situation to her advantage. She walked up to him to know what he was doing in front of Kate’s door at that odd hour. As she approached him, Kate opened the door.

“I am so sorry, I was fast asleep”, she said rubbing her left eye with her left index finger. “Good morning Cassy. What time did you come home last night. Dad has been worried about you.”
“I came home early this morning, thanks for asking. If I may ask, what is he doing in front of your room at this time of the day?”
Leaning on the closed door, Kate said, “oh, he spent the night here. I had a lot of paperwork to do for dad, you weren’t around so he decided to help out. We went to bed very late so I asked him to wake me early this morning so that I don’t get stuck in traffic.”
“Ok”, Cassy said, starring at Fergason.
“I would leave you two now. I have to get ready, I also do not want to get stuck in traffic.” She entered her room and shut the door behind her. “After today, it would be over, I just hope these men do not disappoint me”, she said to herself. She took her phone to send pictures of Kate’s car to the assassin she hired to kill her. She dialed his number and anxiously waited for him to pick up. “I have sent you the pictures you asked for and the location. Make sure you do a neat job.”

Cassy had left for the office before Kate. Kate and Fergason were still at the dinning table having their breakfast when she left. Kate realized that she was late already and may be delayed further by traffic.
“Cool down, we can still make it on time. I will drop you off at the office and once you are through for the day, just give me a call and I will come get you.”
“Thank you so much Fergason, you are really a life saver. Please let’s get going”, she said to him.
They both rode in his car that morning. The traffic was inevitable but he managed to manoeuvre his way out of it in order to get her to the office on time for the board meeting.

HIDDEN TRUTH. PT5

It was thirty minutes into the meeting already and Kate had just arrived. She entered the board room and apologized for coming late due to the traffic. Cassy was shocked to see her. She could not believe her eyes. The board members were about to make a unanimous decision on who will go to oversee their branch in Switzerland. This branch was newly opened and needed to be supervised In order to ensure its progress.

“I guess Miss Kate is in the best position to handle things there. This is a new branch and I suggest she goes there to supervise the staff. As a first class graduate in business administration, I know she will do a great job”, Mr Benjamin Shoye said. The board members looked at each other as they conceded to Mr Shoye’s suggestion.
“Excuse me”, Cassy rudely interrupted. I am the only legitimate child of my father and by right, I should be the one to go on that trip”.
Mr Shoye looked at her and said, “we are aware of that but after weighing our options, we came to a conclusion that your sister, Kate, is in the best position to handle things at the new branch in Switzerland.
“Then, I don’t think my presence is needed here anymore.” She took the files on her side of the table and walked out of the board room.
“I am deeply sorry for my sister’s inordinate behaviour. I guess she’s just having a bad day”, Kate said calmly.
Cassy left the office and went to Helen’s. She needed someone to talk to.

“I just don’t know why that girl has refused to leave my life. She keeps meddling! Now, the whole board chose her over me to go and supervise our branch in Switzerland. She stole everything from me”, she said amidst tears.
Helen held her by the hand and say “stop crying, we will find a way to tackle this. Meanwhile, you said something about going to Switzerland right?”
“Yes, she would be leaving in a few days time”, Kate replied reluctantly.
“I have an idea. You want her dead right? I will contact Baju again this time. All he has to do is loosen some nuts I guess or perhaps, change the position of some vital components in the jet, aeroplane or helicopter and it will crash.”
“Wow, you are a genius. Thanks Helen”, she said happily. “But, there’s a little problem. I don’t have enough money on me right now.”
“I don’t think that would be a problem. You are in charge of your company’s finances. You could always press some buttons here and there to get some money from the company. All you need to do is go home, act normal and leave the rest to me. Most importantly, do not forget to text me the necessary information.”
“Ok, I will. Thank you so much. I really do hope this works. I want her out of my life for good.”
Kate had packed just a handful of clothes for the trip. She was supposed to spend a week there are return to Nigeria afterwards. She rushed into Mr Adeboye’s study to say goodbye. After a warm embrace, he asked her, “have you said goodbye to your sister?”

“Dad, of course, I will. I just decided to see you first.”
“Ok. I wish you a safe trip. Please do your possible best when you get there. I can’t wait to have you back home”, he said.
She left his study and decided to go to Cassy’s room. On a second thought, she went in the opposite direction. She wasn’t in a fit state for an argument. Cassy was with Helen at a party. They had gone to celebrate in advance though they still had not heard the news of Kate’s death. It was already getting late and the party was over. Although they left the party very drunk, they managed to find they way home.
A bright new day had come and Cassy woke up with a terrible headache. She took her bath and changed into a pair of pyjamas. She was so eager to watch the morning broadcast hoping to hear the news of Kate’s death. She was still in her room when she heard her father shout. This was so unusual, so she ran downstairs to know what had happened. She met him on the floor in pains. The news that the private jet which was supposed to fly Kate to Switzerland had crashed was the headline for the day. The news broke Mr Adeboye. He was rushed to the hospital but unfortunately, he gave up the ghost. This bad news triggered a heart attack. Already, he was suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure for about five years and all these led to his death.

HIDDEN TRUTH. PT6

“We meet again, Miss Adeboye”, Inspector Boye said with a sardonic look on his face. “I can see that you aren’t willing to talk but I will not stop until you pay for all your crimes. You can leave, but I promise you, you would be back here and this time, you won’t leave.”
She stood up and walked out of the room and out of the police station. Jail wasn’t an option for her. She knew that only Helen could come to her rescue but sadly, Helen’s phone had been switched off since the police began their investigations. She decided to go to her house to inform her of the recent development and seek a solution but to her greatest surprise, the house was locked. Cassy was so confused, she had never been so scared all her life. She decided to act fast to save herself. She resolved to go home to rest after having a stressful day. She got home to see a team of police men in her house. They were gradually packing all their belongings out of the house. Cassy forgot that she had to pay back the loan she took from the bank. She came into the house and decided to put a call across to the manager of the bank to plead with him. As she was about to go back to her car to get her phone, a policeman accidentally broke her father’s favourite flower vase. She turned and saw the broken flower vase on the floor. Tears rolled down her cheek, she missed her dead father so much. The memories of her late parents ran through her mind.

She stood there, motionless until a policeman tapped her shoulder and said, “Madam, I found this note in the flower vase that was accidentally smashed”. “A note in dad’s favourite flower vase?”, she said to herself. “Thank you but next time be more careful because everything in this house is quite expensive” she said to the policeman.
Fergason was the only one who she could run to. He didn’t understand what exactly had happened but was willing to help her. She promised to leave the next day. This was about a week since he received the sad news of Kate’s death and her body had not yet been found. All he could do was pray to God.
The next day, Cassy was invited to the police station for further questioning. She expected some information from Baju the previous day but got nothing. It never occurred to her that they will send it while she was at the police station. Inspector Boye threw a lot of questions at her hoping to get the answers he needed but Cassy refused to admit to her crimes. Her finger prints were required for further investigation. She knew that all the paths were best and none could lead to her so gladly allowed them to get her finger prints. Immediately the she left the room, her phone beeped, it was a message from Baju. He needed some money from Cassy to leave the country. He had stated this in the text message but unfortunately, Inspector Boye read the message instead of Cassy. He quickly forwarded it to his phone and deleted it from Cassy’s phone. He needed to get more information from Baju.

Few days later, Cassy had begun searching all her bags for her international passport but it was no where to be found. She opened her purse to check and saw the note that was found in her father’s favourite flower vase. Out of curiosity, she decided to read it. The ink on the paper seemed to have faded a bit. “This was written by Nanny Andrea”, she said to herself as she began to read what was written on it.
“I do not know who will read this letter but I hope this gets to my daughters. Years back, my mother and I served the Adeboye’s family. Along the line, Femi fell in love with me and decided to marry me but of course, his parents were against it. They objected to his decision because I was the daughter of their cook. They made sure he got married to a lady from a wealthy home. I really loved him but there was nothing I could do. I accepted all that had happened but that did not change the fact that I love him. My mother died few years after he got married. When his parents relocated to the US, he decided to employ me in his house as the house keeper. His wife knew that their marriage was nothing more than a business deal. Both families had a lot to gain from their marriage. Christa was a peace loving woman who treated me like a sister. Although she was always occupied with her job, she never neglected her duties as Femi’s wife. I know Cassy feels that i killed her mother but I didn’t. She suffered from cancer but hid it from everyone else. The day she died, I was the only one in the house with her but it was not my fault, Christa died of cancer. I could never think of killing her after all she had done for me. When she discovered I was pregnant with Femi’s child, she did the unexpected. She took good care of me and provided me with all I needed. She planned to pretend she was pregnant and needed me to accompany her to have her baby abroad. No one knew I was the one who was pregnant. Everything happened smoothly according to our plan but we had an agreement that u give her my child. I guess that was the best decision I could make. I did not want to cause a scandal because I knew the consequences. She pleaded with me to give my daughter to her at birth and I agreed but when I had twins, I begged the doctor not to disclose the information to anyone.

One of the girls was dark skinned like their father and the other had a lighter skin complexion like me. I willingly gave her one of my daughters and told her I adopted the other from an orphanage in the US. Both Cassy and Kate are my daughters. This is the truth I hid from them for such a long time and I hope they forgive me. I only wanted what was best for the both of them.
What she had just read was unbelievable. She never understood why Nanny Andrea loved and cared for her but this letter had explained it all. She felt so remorseful for all she had done. She realized she had made the wrong decisions. She felt so sad knowing that the blood of her biological mother and twin sister were on her hands. She cried and begged God for a second chance but obviously, it was too late. The police were already at Fergason’s house with a warrant of arrest for her. Baju and his gang were already caught and they made sure to tell the police all they knew. Helen had managed to escape before the police began looking for her. Cassy had no option but to submit to the law.

THE END (Story by Olonma)