Chapter 4

Twenty years ago, somewhere along the street, Eduard was driving to one of the famous clubs at the time. It was his brother's birthday and they had planned a grand party. They had just joined the academy and all was cool but his brother was not okay. He wanted to take after his father. He wanted to be a politician but his old man Mr. Gerald was not in support of him.

Mr. Gerald didn't want any of his sons to take after him. He said politics was evil and so was he. He abused women and managed to bribe his way out of every despicable act he got himself into. He would twist, turn and bend the law any way he wanted. Well, it worked perfectly that time. But he didn't live long enough to correct his past mistakes.

Eduard was quick to spot the two beautiful ladies and so he decided to greet them. One was very shy while the other was vibrant. It was Angie and Jennie.

Angie hopped in without thinking twice while Jennie followed quietly. She had just visited the city and was still new to most of the streets. But she was not in a hurry, she was there for a better course. Eduard requested them to accompany him to the party and they did. They drove into the parking lot and then alighted. Eduard remained glued to Jennie as she walked through the disco lights. She glittered like the moon and the stars, she was so beautiful. Eduard knew it was finally his time to get himself a girlfriend. He had not been lucky in the past and there, a chance had just presented itself before him. What a day!

He turned to Angie and took the necessary steps. He whispered to her.

"Is your friend single?" he asked. Angie got furious, she didn't expect that from him. All along, she thought she was the one that Eduard wanted. She ignored him and went straight to Jennie. She held her hand firmly and walked with her straight to the dance floor. They danced together for a while until Andrew approached them. He stood in the middle and asked Angie to give them space. She was stranded and kept complaining to herself.

"You are the rich kid, hmm, y'all keep noticing her but you don't see me. Am I invisible or what," she murmured. She then accepted defeat and moved away. She allowed the two to have a good time. Little did they know, Andrews' long-time girlfriend was in the part too!

"Bitch what are you doing with my man!" she screamed amidst the crowd. Everything came to a standstill. Angie came out of nowhere and slapped her. She always protected Jennie like that. Her late mother had always wanted them to stick together and fight for each other. Angie could not even sleep without checking on her friend. She was like a sister she never had. Seconds later, Angie was on her neck strangling her. She threw her hands in the air hoping to get some help but people ignored her and cheered as Angie fought her. Jennie became scared and ran outside. Eduard followed her as the two women continued fighting.

"Hey stop dear, I mean no harm to you. Please hold up," shouted Eduard as he tried to catch up with her. Jennie turned and slowed down.

"You are the quiet type, I noticed. I'm just wondering how you ended up on the streets anyway," he asked curiously.

"Hmm, I just came to the city a few weeks ago. She is my best friend and she is showing me around," explained Jennie. As they continued to talk, Andrew showed up. He also liked Jennie. Andrew walked straight to her and totally ignored his brother.

"Hey sexy, why are you standing outside here while everyone else is having fun inside," asked Andrew.

"What fun brother, Martha is there fighting everyone. My lady here prefers the outside. She says it's calmer here…please leave us alone," Eduard said then turned to Jennie and held her hand, "let's go, my lady," but instead, Jennie pulled her hand out of his hands and turned to Andrew…" I want to go with you handsome," she said softly. Andrew braced himself like a winner in a contest and walked with his shoulders high. Eduard stood there dumbfounded. He couldn't believe what had just happened.

"Oh my Gosh, what just happened to me? Is it with good girls with bad boys? I can't believe she chose Andrew over me! I thought Dad said I was the cooler one huh? Goodness, gracious!" He murmured to himself as he watched Jennie and Andrew go back to the club holding hands and swaying shoulders. And just like that he lost her and ended up with Angie.

Martha was not ready to let go, she fought for Andrew's love to the very last minute. She got pregnant for him and made Mr. Gerald very proud of Andrew. She became the legal wife to Andrew until her fateful day when she died in a road accident. What hurt most was the fact that both Mr. Gerald and Martha died the same month and were both involved in road accidents. There were stories that were never confirmed that the deaths were planned accidents. But they remained as mere accusations that didn't have proof. The tragic deaths, there was paved the way for Jennie and Angie in the two sons' lives.

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Angie and Jennie had it all planned but with her demise, Jennie wasn't sure she would complete the assignment. She spent most days locked up trying to figure out her next month.

"Maybe it's time you give up, Rosetta. Your husband cares about you. I don't want you to die sweetheart. Something inside tells me that someone might have your plan and killed my daughter, Angie didn't commit suicide," suggested Angie's mother. Jennie agreed with the last part. Angie didn't commit suicide.

On the other hand, Schneider seemed preoccupied. Even during the burial the previous week, she remained glued to her phone. She would log on and off her social media accounts and be glad she had a big number of followers, instead of celebrating her mother's life. Well, Schneider was never close to her mother. A few months ago, during her 16th birthday, she posted pictures of her and her grandmother. And when one of her followers asked her why her mother was not in any of the photos, she brushed it off.

It was not easy for those who knew Angie. They sympathized with the family and kept flocking to her mother's house. Schneider couldn't understand. Deep inside, Angie was not the kind of mother she would have wished to have but things happen. She got used to calling her grandmother momma.

During that time, she saw a friend request on Facebook. It was a man by the name of Carlos Brown. He had very nice photos of him and a very attractive profile picture. At first, she was hesitant but later on accepted to be her friend. Their conversation started. After every few minutes, a Facebook message from him would pop up and Schneider would be happy to reply. Other times she would ignore him but he didn't give up nor did Schneider disclose to Jennie about her Facebook friend. She kept it discreet. Their conversation went on for quite a long time until her grandmother began to wonder if she was okay as she kept smiling and laughing to herself.

"Grandma, I think I found the man of my dreams!" She would show her grandmother some nice photos of him. She would just smile and ask her to be careful.

Grandma Vicky was growing old and was having a problem watching over her teenage granddaughter. She had started taking after her mother. She was getting Wilder every day. Grandma Vicky thought it wise to involve other parties. She invited Eduard and Jennie to discuss the way forward. They went to a hotel and had lunch. They ruled out that Schneider had to move in with either Eduard or Jennie. Well, Jennie was the best fit so took her in. Schneider joined them later. She was excited to finally move in with Jennie and also she was going to be seeing her daddy, Eduard more often. Jennie left together with Schneider leaving behind grandma and Eduard.

"Keep an eye on them, Jennie can be a bit of a wild cat!" Murmured grandma.

"Sorry, what huh! Jennie is the coolest person in the whole world, Grandma Vicky!" He laughed hysterically. Grandma knew what she meant. According to her, Jennie was untamed though most people mistook Angie since she was the talkative one.

Two tables away, Eduard noticed some strange man. He was in his early twenties. When the man noticed Eduard looking at him, he avoided him. A few seconds later he disappeared.

"What's the matter, Eduard? What are you looking at?" wondered grandma as she turned around to check also.

"It's nothing, Grandma Vicky, tell me, who was the man my daughter was talking about, did she say she met him online?' he asked curiously.

"Oh, she said that he was a secret admirer. They met on Facebook...I don't know, is Facebook a dating app or something," Grandma Vicky was confused.

"Ooh Grandma Vicky, I wish it was a dating site. I don't get it why on Earth would a stranger choose you amidst a million people on Facebook? I need to talk to her. There are so many cases of kidnapping going on. Stalkers are everywhere Grandma Vicky. Unfortunately, these youngsters don't even listen to us. They think we are too old to understand," complained Eduard. Thirty minutes later, they left the restaurant. Eduard dropped her home and then went straight to the police department.

When he got there, they asked him to remain outside. The head of the department Mr. Enzo, wanted Angie's case revisited and Eduard was out of the case with immediate effect. He pleaded with them to let him pick his kinds of stuff but they declined to claim that whatever was in that office was for investigation purposes. Eduard left the premises.

Later on that day, he phoned Andrew.

"Brother, we have a problem," he began.

"What now?!?" he yelled.

"If I were you I would control my temper and lower my tone. Are you aware that they are exhuming Angela's body and revisiting the case?" He asked.

"Hmm, so what does that have to do with me?" He sounded arrogant. There was no need to waste time with long stories.

"We were the last people to see her alive brother, you, and I. We might go down you know, think" Eduard said. Andrew was so shaken. He didn't know it was that serious.

"Wait what, no, brother this is not good," said Andrew, he had to use his powers to make the case rest.

There was suspicion mounting on the two brothers. The camera recordings showed them leaving the house...at the wee hours of the night.

A few days later,

"I asked you to come because I want to give you something to let the case rest," suggested Andrew.

"Are you trying to bribe me, Senator," asked Mr. Enzo.

"You know how this works. Name your price, just say it. You will get it now." He went on. Mr. Enzo was one of the few remaining good guys in the system. He refused to take the bribe but what followed the coming weeks made him withdraw his earlier proposal of revisiting the case.

During his daily routine, Mr. Enzo received an unusual call from his house manager. She was in panic mode and couldn't speak properly. All she managed to say was "mama dead" and then hang up. Mr. Enzo rushed home only to find his wife lying on the floor dead. He looked at her for ten minutes then removed his phone and called the Senator.

"You had to kill her, didn't you? You want to abuse your powers by hurting even the innocent and you still expect us to vote for you in the coming elections?" he was sad. He felt heartbroken.

"I guess now we understand each other Mr. Enzo. And if not, I can still prove to you. I know Stacy just joined grade four." He went on with the threats.

"You win Senator," Mr. Enzo agreed and pulled down the case. He even asked Eduard to return to his small office.

When Eduard went back to the office he noticed that there was a problem. Recording, someone had tampered with it. It wasn't the original recording. Just where was the recording that implicated the two? In the middle of confusion, Eduard began the search. It was evident he had enemies even at the workplace, just maybe.

In the evening he passed by his brother's house and found Jennie smoking alone at the balcony. He informed her about some missing evidence but didn't go into details as informing her that he and Andrew were the main suspects would bring more problems to them. Jennie reminded him that the case had been withdrawn and nothing was going to implicate them. She then served him hot coffee as they waited for Andrew to come back.

An hour later, Andrew came in holding files.

"Did you sack Emmy," asked Jennie. Andrew felt provoked.

"No, she didn't come in today. She called in sick so I had to do all her work," He explained.

"Why do you need her anyway, I can do her work with minimum supervision." Said Jennie. They all laughed.

Jennie made dinner and after they had dinner, she went to sleep leaving her husband to discuss with his brother about missing recording. Something that she had been aware of all that time.

During her visit to Eduard, she managed to steal it and edited it, and took the original copy with her. Through the recording, she found out that her husband had been having an affair with her best friend. And that's why she never shed a tear during the burial. Angie had betrayed her.

Still, from the recording, there were images of a guy in a jacket who went in immediately after the brothers left. What she didn't understand was who the person was and whether the brothers had killed Angie or the stranger did. Either way, it wasn't worth exploring.

"Rot in hell Angie, you forgot what we came for and finally started hurting me. Your only best friend! Fuck you, Angie!" She screamed at the picture on the wall. Then suddenly her husband walked in on her.

"You okay Jennie?" He asked.

"Yes I'm perfect, never been better," she replied.

Andrew wrapped his hands around her as they slept. And in the next room, was Schneider messaging her secret admirer.

"How was your day today like sugar," said Carlos.

"My day was great! I hope to see you one day!" Said Naive Schneider.

"Close your eyes, you will see me in your dreams. I will be standing just next to you waiting for you to kiss me. So will you give me the honor of kissing those beautiful lips sweetheart?" Carlos asked

"Yes, Yes Carlos, I would kiss you all night my Carlos," said Schneider.

Carlos logged off and so Schneider slept wishing Carlos would join her in bed. But he was beyond reach