Chapter 37: Chapter 37

"Happy birthday baby!" Halal rolled over Darrell. Darrell groaned and pushed Halal away gently.  "I'm trying to sleep" he said.

"Wake up! Lazy man" Halal shouted startling Darrell from his sleepy state. "Halal, what the hell? I'm trying to sleep, you know I was up all night" Darrell growled.

Halal smiled and wrapped her arms around Darrell. "Happy birthday sweetheart, you can sleep later. For now, just stay awake. I want to talk to you" Halal said.

Darrell sat up "Okay, I'm up. I'm up, what do you want to talk about?" Darrell asked cupping her face. He already had an idea of what she wanted to say.

"I don't know how you're going to take this and I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I really do love you and I... I...I guess I was scared that's why I didn't tell you" Halal started.

Darrell's eyes met hers, he knew immediately that she wanted to talk about the baby, their baby.

"I'm pregnant" she said not looking at him. Darrell sighed causing Halal to look up at him. "You don't want a baby? You don't look happy." Halal watched his expressionless face.

"Darrell say something, look it's okay if you don't want the baby. I might....I might lose it on the long run" Halal sighed.

Darrell brushed her cheek with his palm.

"How could you ever think that I wouldn't want a baby with you Halal? I love you, you're the most important person in my life" Darrell said.

Halal smiled sadly. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have ruined your birthday morning like this. It's just that, there was no better time to tell you" Halal said.

"I've known for a while now Halal,  I just wanted you to tell me yourself" Darrell said. Halal stared at him in disbelief.

"Oh...Did....Did Jacques tell you?" Halal asked frowning a little.

Darrell gaped at her "You told Jacques and you couldn't tell me?!" Darrell asked in disbelief.

Halal looked away "So he wasn't the one who told you, who did?" Halal asked. Darrell didn't want to tell her that he'd learned the truth from Valentino.

"It's my job to know Halal, let's not talk about that now" Darrell said. "I can't wait to  have this baby with you and I don't want you being negative. We're not losing this baby, everything will be fine" Darrell assured her.

"Darrell,  I love you so much. My life would be so meaningless without you" Halal said pulling him into her arms.

"I love you more" Darrell pecked her cheeks.  'I'll keep you safe Halal, you and our baby'  Darrell promised.

Eva shook her head "Romeo and Juliet, tonight Juliet will die and Romeo will be blamed for it" Eva mocked. She chuckled heartily just as her phone rang.

'Hello, Venom" Eva answered.  "Boss,  I've taken care of Deborah just as you instructed' Venom said.

"I hope you covered up everything,  no mistakes. No one must trace it back to us" Eva said.

'I don't do sloppy jobs boss, how was your meeting with Abdiel?' Venom asked.

"We'll talk later, right now I have other arrangements to take care of" Eva said and ended the call. Arrangements to kill Halal tonight.

She held up a transparent packet containing a white powdery substance. "Kill her once and for all.  Poison for breakfast I suppose" Eva glared at the packet as if she could see Halal's face on it.

She got out of bed and proceeded to go in to the kitchen.

Darrell and Halal were still in their bedroom when she mixed the flour and the poison together. "Pancakes for Halal, Eggs for Darrell" Eva smiled.

"Eva, why are you out of bed? Do you need something, you should have called me to get it for you" Halal said startling Eva.

Eva turned to look at her immediately, "I just wanted a glass of water, good morning" Eva said.

Halal smiled "Of course, do you need anything else?" Halal asked eyeing the flour canister.

"No,  would you like breakfast? I can make pancakes for you" Eva said smiling. Halal smiled back "Daria called, she's whipped up breakfast for everyone. She's on her way" Halal said.

Eva's smile faltered "Oh,  okay. I'll go take a shower then" she said walking out of the kitchen.

Halal nodded and picked up the flour canister.  "Pancakes would taste really nice" she murmured

She took out her phone from her dress pocket  and texted Valentino. 'Hello Val, Have you sold the house already? I know someone who needs a place to stay'

Doctor Mathew watched Victoria closely as she stirred restlessly. "Darrell....." she muttered.

Doctor Matthew leaned closer "Victoria, relax" he said softly and placed his hand on her forehead.

"Darrell...Felicity... " she muttered again. "Just sleep, I'll phone them tomorrow. You need to relax, you woke up just yesterday and you've barely recovered. I don't want you stressing yourself" Doctor Mathew said.

Victoria shook her head, a troubled look on her face. "Darrell, Felicity.  Janice, Janice" Victoria continued.

She continued chanting the name Janice till Mathew sedated her again. "Janice? Does she mean I should call Janice, isn't Janice Harvey's wife?" Mathew asked himself.

He remembered Felicity's warning and decided to call Felicity. He'd refrained from calling her since because he didn't want Victoria to be disturbed, he wanted her to  recover fully.

He watched her troubled face as she faded into sleep.  He had to call Felicity now,  it was obvious Victoria was not going to rest till she saw Felicity and Darrell.

"You mean you've not found anything about my sister, why am I paying you detective?"  Vincent yelled.

"How are you sure that your sister is in danger, what if she just took a vacation?" Detective Jack asked.

Vincent glared at the detective "Deborah sent me three messages that there was something urgent she wanted to talk about, I tried calling her ever since but she wouldn't reply.  She hasn't come home since then, don't tell me she went on a vacation!" Vincent yelled.

Detective Jack was about to reply him when his partner walked in.  "You will not believe what we found after searching the house again" Percy said.

He held up a mobile device. "That's Deborah's phone" Vincent said.

Percy sighed "I think your sister is involved in a low key illegal organization. There are texts sent to Eva asking how her meeting with Master Abdiel went, no reply, a text to  William" Percy said.

Vincent looked confused "William is her son but I adopted him. He's not in the country. Eva is my late client's daughter, who is Master Abdiel?" Vincent asked.

Jack whistled "He's a big crime lord, we're still trying to find him. So far the guy is as slippery as an eel. He slips through out finger every time, if your sister is involved with this man then she's in a lot of trouble" Jack said.

Vincent sighed, what had Deborah gotten herself into? "How about Eva, how well do you know this Eva?" Percy asked.

Vincent nodded "She's my nephew's half sister and the daughter of my late clients, Patricia and Austin" Vincent said.

"Well we need to find her too,  she seems to have a connection to Master Abdiel. How about a Halal?" Percy asked.

"Halal! Is she also involved with Master Abdiel?" Vincent asked alarmed. Had Halal changed over the years?

Percy shook his head "No, your sister sent her a couple of mails.  I must say Vincent, your sister and that Eva have done a lot of evils in this world. Especially to that Halal, I wonder how the poor woman must be feeling" Percy said.

Vincent looked at Percy confused, Percy handed him the phone. Vincent read the texts and the mails.

"We need to contact Halal immediately" Vincent said closing his eyes.  "Actually I've contacted one of my assistants in Lagos to trail her for security purposes" Percy said.

"Tomorrow, we'll contact her"Jack assured Vincent.

Vincent nodded "Oh... Deborah what have you done?" Vincent muttered to himself.