Chapter 33: Chapter 33

Eva dropped the phone on the dressing table after ending her conversation with Halal, she stared at the phone for a few seconds before chuckling bitterly.

"Clueless bïtch, poor, naive Halal.  When will you learn you bastàrd?" she asked the an imaginary Halal.

She picked up the Mac red lipstick on the table and ran it over her lips.

"Apparently you'll die a dumb bïtch, next week I'm going to end this game that I started a long time ago" she said to herself as she dropped the lipstick and picked up a black eyeliner gel.

It's been fun playing God in Halal's life for the past nine years, but the fun had to end.  She was getting tired of waiting, she had to act quickly.

Her eyes settled on a picture of Halal and her half brother William on their wedding day. "Hmm, the stupid girl wanted a happy ever after. Stupid enough to fall for my plans, stupid enough to get married to a character in my own script" Eva scoffed.

She walked across the room and threw open her wardrobe. Her eyes fell on the wedding dress Halal had worn on her wedding day.  A dress she herself had selected and bought before handing it over to William. The wedding band and the engagement ring were hers too.

Eva smirked, good thing she'd been following Halal on social media. She'd seen the post Halal had made of some wedding items for sale and had quickly swung into action by sending William's mother to buy it from Halal.

Her eyes settled on another picture of Halal pregnant, her baby bump prominent in the picture.

"Stupid girl even wanted to raise a fairy tale family with my own brother! And now she's turned my own brother against me, just like she took away my mother with her false innocence and pretentious acts!" Eva scowled at the picture.

Some years back, she'd decided to take revenge. To deal with Halal for everything she'd done to her, and what had Halal done to her?

Oh she had a long list of things, better to start from the beginning.

2001

Lagos

(Aunt Patricia's residence).

"Eva! look who is here?" Patricia announced walking into Eva's room with Halal by her side.  Eva sat up and eyed the girl beside her mother, her mood turned sour immediately.

"It's your sister, Halal" Patricia continued. Sister indeed, Eva scowled mentally.

Some years ago, she'd overheard her mom and her aunt talking about Halal's adoption.

It had been most refreshing to hear that Halal wasn't related to her after all.  Screw adoption, Halal wasn't her blood and would never be.  She was a bästärd, Eva smirked mentally before forcing out a fake smile at her cousin.

"Halal, what a surprise!" she said feigning excitement. She'd taken Halal as her sister till Halal had stabbed in the back by stealing her mother's love and attention.

Nothing Eva did was right, it was always 'Can't you do it like Halal?', 'Oh, Halal would have done this' or 'If it had been Halal...' the worst was 'Why can't you be like Halal?'. Her own mother preferred a bastärd to her.

Her hatred for Halal grew when Halal won the beauty pageant their church had organized. Eva had put all her time and effort into it, only for Halal to win.

The painful part was that, the stupid girl hadn't even wanted to contest.  It was her own mother that had forced her to do it and even purchased the form for her.

Eva had soaked her pillow with painful tears through out that night. She vowed never to forgive the pretentious baśtard. Halal looked innocent on the outside but Eva knew that within the innocent facade was a demon who liked to torment her.

Halal  grinned and went over to hug her cousin. "Since Mohammed won't come to the mountain, the mountain decided to visit Mohammed. Have I offended you Eva? You didn't even attend my matric" Halal asked pulling away.

Eva shook her head "No, no,  I've been busy with school.  I'm happy you're here, how have you been?" Eva asked trying not to show irritation.

Halal smiled "I'm fine,  I have a lot to tell you.  After mummy leaves of course, this is young people gist" Halal said smiling at Patricia who simply shook her head.

Yes,  you should know that the basťard called her own mother 'Mummy', Eva hissed.  Someone needs to tell this thing that her useless mother is dead, Eva rolled her eyes.

"You young girls and gossip. Okay,  I'll leave you two alone. I'm going to cook lunch for us,  Halal darling, I'll prepare your favorite" Patricia beamed at the duo.

"Mummy, why don't I assist you in the kitchen first, gossiping can wait" Halal offered.

"No, no, stay with your sister" Patricia protested. 'Sister indeed' Eva mentally hissed again.

"I insist, Eva let's go to the kitchen and help mummy" Halal took her arm.

Patricia smiled "See why you should come around more Hallie, your sister here never helps me in the kitchen. You should talk to her" Patricia complained.

'Here we go again'  Eva sighed.

"Your sister is very lazy, rude and disrespectful. Despite all my teachings, Eva grows worse everyday" Patricia went on.

Halal shook her head. "Mummy, don't talk about that now.  Eva will change. Right now, let's focus on getting lunch ready. I don't want you worrying about anything, you know  I love you. Worrying will only make you age faster" Halal took her aunt's hand.

Eva seethed.  How dare they talk about her like she wasn't present? She hated the two of them, she wished Halal to Hell. The girl was a thorn on her side.

After Lunch, the girls retired to Eva's room. Halal slept off the minute her head hit the pillow,  Eva watched her sleep and imagined how Halal would struggle to breathe if she decided to suffocate her with a pillow.

She imagined how Halal would look in a casket.  "No, a casket would be too luxurious for you.  You should be thrown into the bush for animals to feast on" Eva sneered at Halal as she slept.

"Ugly Trashy bïtch" Eva scowled. One day,  she vowed.  One day,  she would get rid of Halal for good.

(Presently)

That was just one of the reasons she hated Halal, there were plenty more reasons.

Eva glared at another picture of Halal, "One day is coming soon" she said to herself.

One day......might be next week.

"William wouldn't answer my texts or calls,  have you heard from him?" Eva asked her late father's secretary, who was also the junior sister to her father's lawyer and the mother of his illegitimate son.

"We spoke before he left the country, he was pretty mad. Do you know that he actually called Vincent and tried to expose us?  Thank God I convinced Vincent to ignore his calls" Deborah answered. She rolled her eyes in false annoyance. "You know he's soft hearted sometimes, he was pretty hurt when he found out what you'd been doing behind his back"

"You should know that I did what I had to do, I called him away from home all the time to get him to focus on our plans. William was falling in love with her,  he tried to hide it from me by pretending to hate her but I wasn't fooled. He would have picked her over us" Eva hissed pouring a little amount of red wine into her glass.

Deborah eyed Eva thoughtfully "But did you really have to kill the children? That's what hurt him the most, you should have given them out for adoption" Deborah said.

Eva narrowed her eyes at her partner "And risk them getting discovered? William will have other children, tell him to stop sulking, I did everything for our sakes. He shouldn't pick a bastärd over his family" Eva said coldly.

Deborah nodded "Of course, did you say she was pregnant again?" Deborah asked curiously. Eva nodded  "I'm not sure yet, I intend to find out" Eva said taking out a pack of cigarettes from her purse.

Deborah sighed "Evangeline, could you spare the child this time? For your brother's sake?" She asked with a pleading note in her voice.

Eva scoffed, what is it with women and babies?

"Deborah, William and the bîtch are divorced. You know why? She was sleeping with another man.  The slüt isn't pregnant with your grand child" Eva answered harshly.

After her talk with her son, guilt had been weighing down on her.  Deborah didn't want to show it  because Eva would consider her weak minded just like her son.

"Eva, you know I love you. And right from the day I set my eyes on you, when your father brought you to the office, I've always sensed a connection. I say this to you because I love you, spilling the blood of adults is one thing, spilling the blood of babies is another" Deborah said.

Eva laughed "Debbie,  I didn't spill their bloods. I only asked that silly doctor to poison them, I assure you not even a drop of their blood touched the ground. Your grand children are in heaven, and that's a better place than this bloody earth" Eva joked.

Deborah sighed, some how everything that had happened was her fault. If only she hadn't told Eva about the fifteen percent, but she'd done it for William.

"Eva do not kill another innocent child, promise me" Deborah took her hand. The little girl she'd looked after was now a woman who made her own decisions without caring about who it affected. She could only hope Eva would hear her voice.

"Do you want the money or not?" Eva asked coldly.  "Your family is swimming in debts, that fifteen percent might be change to me but I'd rather die than see that girl inherit that change" Eva said venomously.

Deborah nodded "I have to leave, I have a meeting with my bank manager" Deborah said and got up to leave.

"Oh and Debbie, I don't intend to hurt the child.  It's the mother I want" Eva said.  Deborah wondered what she meant but she didn't ask.

"Good bye" Deborah said before leaving.  Eva scoffed at her retreating figure, was she also planning to back out like her son?  Damn them all to hell,  she would end this alone.

Lagos

A few months after Patricia's funeral.

"Here are the deeds to the estates, the house in Abuja and the one in Port Harcourt" Vincent, her father's lawyer handed her a file.

Eva wasn't paying attention, she was still engrossed in the figure sitting in her father's bank account.

"Vincent, something is not right. Father had Thirty million Naira in his account before he passed on, thirty million which he left Patricia in charge of. There's just twenty five point five million Naira in the account. I thought Patricia had no right to the money" Eva said.

"She's your father's wife and your mother.  Even if the money was willed to you after your father's death, Patricia was signatory to that account. She had access to the money" Vincent replied.

Eva frowned, she still had a lot of money but she was bothered about that four point five million. Her father had set up a trust fund for her when she was born and she'd gotten the money when she turned eighteen, she had gotten ten million Naira to her name already.

She was the heiress to his estate, houses and the rest of his properties, Vincent Wondered why she was bothered about a mere four point five million Naira. He decided not to tell her why Patricia had withdrawn four point five million Naira and what she'd done with it.

"Damn that Patricia" she scowled picking up her bag and her documents.  She hissed and walked out of Vincent's office slamming the door loudly.

She was still seething furiously when she bumped into Deborah right outside the building.  "Eva, what's the rush?" Deborah asked surprised that Eva would attempt to walk past her quickly without saying a word.

Eva stopped and turned to Deborah, her late father's girlfriend. She'd known that her father had been cheating on Patricia when he was her alive and that Deborah was the reason why her father and Patricia fought all the time.

She also knew her father's biggest secret that Patricia didn't. Deborah had a son for her father, Patricia would have gone nuts if she'd known. Crazy bîtch, Eva smirked.

"Why do you have a frown on your pretty face?" Deborah asked concerned.

Eva sighed "Patricia had the audacity to take fifteen percent of my father's money that he left to me. I'm so freaking pissed, why am I not surprised? She was a money hungry bîtch" Eva hissed.

Deborah's eyes widened instantly, so Vincent hadn't told her? "How much is it?" She asked just to confirm.

"Four point five million Naira" Eva responded. Deborah smiled, it wasn't even four point five million Naira anymore, it was more than that. Patricia had invested the money in a profitable business.

"You mean you don't know?" Deborah asked pulling Eva close to herself. "Know what?" Eva asked clueless.

"You poor child, Your mother invested that four point five million into a profitable business" Deborah informed her.

"How do you know this?" Eva asked curiously. Deborah smiled "Walls literally have ears, I hear Vincent and Patricia talking all the time" Deborah grinned.

Eva smirked "So? Patricia is dead, why didn't Vincent tell me about it?" Eva asked.

Was Vincent planning to keep it for himself? Whatever, she didn't need it. Four point five million was change to her, she was freaking rich.

"I don't know, but you should know that Patricia invested that money in your cousin's name" Deborah said.

Eva turned cold instantly, "Halal?" she asked.

"Yes" Deborah answered.

"She took out four point five million from my father's account to make investments for a bastärd"  Eva said coldly.

"Uhmmmm.....Yes" Deborah answered softly. "I want it back" Eva said immediately.

"You don't really need it Eva, you have a lot of money" Deborah protested.

Eva grinned . "You're right, I don't. I actually wanted to gift it to my brother but since you say I don't need it, no problem. Halal can have it" Eva said with a shrug, she knew that Deborah would be hooked once she heard that.

"To William?" Deborah asked interested.

Eva nodded with a fake smile on her face, hell, she didn't mind getting the money just to burn it later.  She didn't need it, she just didn't want Halal to have it.

Deborah sighed "I'm sorry Eva but we can't get that money" Deborah said sadly.

"Why?" Eva asked.

"There were some terms and conditions guiding it" Deborah replied.

"What are the conditions?" Eva asked.

"After investing the money, Vincent and Patricia got twelve million out of it.  Four million was handed to Vincent for his loyalty to her, eight million would be handed to Halal on her thirtieth birthday, on the conditions that she's married and has children." Deborah sighed.

"Well.... What if Halal doesn't have a child by then?" Eva asked deviously.

"When Halal turns thirty two, if she isn't married and she doesn't have children, the money will be given to charity." Deborah said.

Eva laughed "Well we better start up a charitable organization now. When the time comes, you must convince your brother to fund your organization." Eva said her eyes sparkling with mischief.

Deborah was confused "Why are you so sure Halal won't have children?" She asked Eva.

Eva shrugged "I'll think of something" she murmured.

(Presently)

It had taken her years, many sleepless nights thinking of Halal spending her father's money with mini Halals and mini Darrell before she'd finally come up with a plan.

Over her dead body! Now, she couldn't wait for the remaining years before Halal turned Thirty two. She had to end what she'd started.

She had to end it soon,  hopefully next week.