11/10/2023
MYSTERIOUS MARRIAGE
EPISODE FIVE/SIX
I had to feign excitement and hide my true intentions towards him.
I pretended to be excited. "Bookworm Thomas?where have you been? I missed you so much. Can we meet now? Where exactly are you?". I winked at Ricky Roland as I waited for his response.
"Why did you marry my worst ene-my?".
"Marry your worst en-emy? Who is that?".
"That stup!d detective that has a poultry".
"My husband is not a detective". I looked up at Ricky Roland and he nodded. He had been a detective and I didn't know all these while. "Where do we see, so that I can explain everything to you, bookworm Thomas?"
"I will meet you anytime you don't expect". He disconnected the line.
The number he had called me through was an unregistered number. I looked up at Ricky Roland. "What's the next step?"
"Keep contact with him. I will place a secret camera on you that will always alert me everywhere you are"
"Are you a detective?".
"Everyone knows that".
I awkwardly cleared my throat. "My bad".
"Happy new year, Stella". He said softly.
I gasped and glanced into my phone.
The time was twelve o'clock on the dot.
I excitedly hugged him. "Happy new year darling!".
He watched me release him. "you look so excited about this year, 2021".
"2021 will be good for us. Our mission will be accomplished. What should I cook? Fried rice? Jollof rice? Intercontinental rice? What do you want to eat?".
He reached for my hand. "Why don't we just take a long walk?".
I already called my elder sisters to wish them happy new year and I walked excitedly with Ricky along the road. "You didn't call your mum to wish her happy new year?".
He shrugged. "I don't see any big deal about this new year".
"Your dad will recover this year, we will trap bookworm Thomas this year and we will d!vorce this year! Three perfect goodnews!!!". I cried out.
He chuckled. "Are you kidding me right now?".
I nodded emotionally. "I pray that when we part ways, we will still be good friends".
"We will definitely".
"So tell me, why did you resign from the station?".
"My team leader told me to close the case on Bookworm Thomas and it hurt so much because I had carried out proper research on the bæstard and after that stress, one fo0l was telling me to close the case! I knew that it was time to work alone, so I looked for you and found you".
I nodded thoughtfully. "You looked for me because I am the only one that can lure Bookworm Thomas out of his hiding place".
"I will be meeting your father today".
"Thanks so much Stella".
We watched the knock out write, HAPPY NEW YEAR 2021 on the sky and we smiled excitedly.
It was the first new year that we had celebrated together.
*
"The R-R family will be so frustrated that they ever met me. Rita will have no option than to give up on this 2021 election". Collins Roland said with determination.
"Should I carry out the rit-ual?". Chief Harry asked softly.
"Why not?".
Chief Harry drove to the hideout that Ricky's father was kept.
He was going to sneak into the hideout through the ceiling like he had always done because he knew where Ricky's camera was located.
He was the artist of the paintings that always frightened Roy Roland.
The pictures he had used to tie him down in a mental state for years.
The money Collins Roland had paid him for years was what he had used to take care of Belinda and her children.
I drove to Ricky's father's hideout.
Roy Roland.
When I entered into the hideout with the key that Ricky had given me, the man was righr there, sitting and facing the mirror dejectedly.
I smiled and waved. "Hello handsome"
He ignored me and continued staring into space.
Did he have panic disorder?
I leaned towards him and noticed that he was holding a piece of paper.
I tried to collect it from him but he ran to hide under the bed.
If he was holding a piece of paper, then someone had definitely entered the room.
"Where did you get that paper?".
He didn't look at me.
He didn't have schizophrenia, he had a trauma over his daughter.
Someone with trauma only needed something to take them off that depression.
I walked out of the hideout and headed towards my car parked at the front.
Suddenly someone grabbed me from behind and whispered into my ear. "Stella James, haven't you been looking for me all these while? Now I am here"
SIX
It was the forty year old Bookworm Thomas.
He was holding me tightly from behind. "Why did you marry so early?"
"What are you talking about?". I whispered back without turning.
"I have no family. You are my only family, Stella James. I will gladly die for you".
"I am married as you know, Thomas".
"I know that Ricky didn't just get married to you for nothing. Your marriage is mysterious".
"I love Ricky".
"I don't care about whom you love, I only care about whom you will love".
Ricky appeared from nowhere and smiled to himself. "Welcome again, Bookworm Thomas. Is it ten years now?"
He must have tracked me because of the secret camera he had placed on me.
Bookworm smiled and released me. "Ricky Roland, it's been a while".
Suddenly we were surrounded by the police.
They pointed the gu-n at him.
Bookworm Thomas was fast enough to grab me from behind and smiled devil-ishly. "If you don't allow me to leave this place, I will k-ill her".
Ricky Roland smiled. "You can't ki-ll the woman that you love".
Bookworm Thomas chuckled. "You have not changed, Ricky. Always believing that you know everything about me". His fingers tightened around my neck. "I am capable of ki-lling this woman and ki-lling my self"
There was fear in Ricky's eyes. He looked up at the police. "Put down your rifles".
"If we do, we will loose him" one of the policemen said.
"...we can catch him some other time! Put down your rifles!!!". He fired.
It was the first time that i had seen Ricky act that aggressive.
The police put down their guns and Ricky rushed in with full f-orce and grabbed me from behind, while one of the police team fi-red at Bookworm Thomas's leg from behind.
It had all been planned by Ricky.
He k-illed two birds with one stone... making Bookworm Thomas release me and making the cop fire at Bookworm Thomas's leg so that he wouldn't be able to run.
Bookworm Thomas groaned but he continued running despite his shot leg.
Ricky and the police aggressively chased him from behind.
I followed them from behind and watched as Bookworm Thomas jumped into a moving truck and grinned at us as the truck moved with full speed.
Ricky grit his teeth and fumed.
I touched him from behind. "I know how much you want to catch Bookworm Thomas. I am going to do it for you. I will get Bookworm Thomas's heart again".
"How do you intend to do that?"
"I will do that because Bookworm Thomas is still mentally unstable. I will heal him again just like I had done at Adeyeri crescent".
The look he gave me showed that he believed in me.
I turned towards my car but he stopped me. "Let's go together in my car".
"What about my car?".
"My driver will bring it home later".
As he drove on, I remembered how he had saved me from Bookworm Thomas's hands earlier. "If you had allowed the police to have shot Bookworm Thomas the time they had the chance,I am not sure we would have lost him today"I said softly.
"...but we would have lost you". He said as he gave the road a hard look.
"That was your only chance after so many years. You lost the chance because of me. I am sorry".
"It is fine". He didn't say a word again till we got home.
I walked out of the studio and noticed Laura Joseph making a call in front of the toilet.
Was she talking to Ricky Roland?
I moved closer and discovered that I was right.
She was making a phonecall with Ricky.
She turned to me immediately she heard my footstep from behind. She disconnected the line and watched me closely. "Ricky will be here soon for me".
"For you? Why?".
"I lost my grandmother, my only guardian in this world on the first of January 2021".
"I am sorry about that".
She cleared her throat. "Your name is all over Nigeria, you have the world in your hands but the only thing that I need by my side is Ricky Roland. I am not blind, I know that your marriage is a mysterious one, I know you guys don't love each other, but if you can take my career, I don't mind, but Ricky is the very air that I breathe".
I nodded thoughtfully. "I and Ricky will get a divo-rce soon, but I want you to do something for me. If you want me to agree to the div-orce, stop forci-ng yourself on him, he is still my husband. It !nsults my pride when you treat him like a married man, when he is still married to me. If you act like you are sharing my husband with me,I will never sign the papers".
"How long do I have to wait then?"
I smirked. "You have no right to give me conditions because you have nothing to offer me, Laura Joseph. It is in your place to always wait no matter how long". I walked past her into the room of Rita Roland.
I smiled at her election stickers she had placed around the walls of her office. 'VOTE RITA ROLAND AS SENATE PRESIDENT FOR 2021'. "Without stickers, you can make it as what you want to be with my own influence, I assure you".
"Worry about your barrenness and don't worry about my election, Stella James".
I shrugged and looked away. "Probably you didn't train your son well for not knowing his manners as a married man".
She glared at me. "What do you mean?".
I threw three pictures of Ricky and Laura in a compromising position on her table. "How do I get pregnant when your son's mind is always distracted?".
"Did you and Ricky ever love each other?why did he get married to you?".
"I thought he did but I realized that, it might just have been an infatuation he had felt, who knows?".
"You guys want to get a div-orce?".
"Divo-rce?you want us to get a d-ivorce?".
"You are famous in Nigeria because of my newshouse. I can't let you go just like that".
"If you can't let me go then go talk to your son".
"If you want me to talk to my son, then do your work as his wife".
I shrugged and walked out of her office.
Bookworm Thomas popped open his eyes and found himself in a strange looking room with paintings around the walls.
Last he remembered, the owner of the truck he had jumped into when Ricky Roland and the police were chasing him had arrived on purpose.
The truck had been prepared by Collins Roland, Ricky Roland's uncle.
Bookworm Thomas had fainted in their arms as soon as he had realized that he was in safe hands yesterday evening.
Collins Roland was at the far end of the room, looking out of the window and sipping wine. "We removed the bullet from your leg this morning. Don't you feel pains?"
It was when he had called his attention to the injury on his leg that he felt the extreme pain coming from the sealed wound on his leg. He winced.
Collins Roland walked to him. "Bookworm Thomas, help me win this election. Threaten Rita Roland's family and distract her from the election".
When Bookworm Thomas was alone in his room, he unplugged his phone from the charging point and dialled Rita Roland's number. "Hello".
"Hello, who is on the line?"
"This is Bookworm Thomas. Collins Roland, your brother in law wants me on his side, but I am going to choose your side over his since I have nothing to loose. I can help you win this election since I have strong connections with the strong officials in government, but in return, you will help me do something...stop Ricky Roland's investigation about me".
Onyekachi
If we get 500 shæres, the next episode will come really early
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