Chapter 33: Chapter 33



Charles POV

I felt like crap.

Why wouldn't I? When the past few days had been hell. I thought Meg was joking when she said she was going to be staying till she went back to London.

Yep, she was still sticking with the story like a second skin.

I tried like hell to ignore her as if she was the plague herself, but Meg wasn't having any of it. The wrench was freakishly persistent. I contemplated leaving the house for the duration of time she was going to be around, probably go rent an apartment or stay with the boys. But something kept telling me that the bitch would find me.

So I decided to give her the time of day and listen to what she had to say. Maybe if I pretended to relax a little more, she'll relent.

I was sitting in the large living room, plumped on one of the sofas with a PS4 console in my hand and the game in front of me, waiting for Eric to arrive so I could destroy him when I heard a chuckle behind me. I turned just in time to see Meg enter the room.

"Bet ten thousand that I'll destroy you in two minutes."

I scoffed. "That's impossible," I say under my breath.

"Oh, you don't believe me?" She sulked, moving to place her round ass beside me as she picked up the other console. "You scared of losing ten thousand? Or the deals not hot enough for you?" She asks with her eyebrows raised in a knowing look.

I sighed in defeat. if she wanted her ass kicked, well I'll be up for that. As I adjusted myself on the sofa to kick her ass, she said, "When I win, I want to talk."

I paused.

"Talk?"

"Yes Charles, talk."

"Deal."

We picked up our console and as the screen showed FIGHT, Meg attacked so fast I didn't even see her coming. Before I could say, Jack, my avatar was on the ground.

What the hell! She was bad! I began to understand the trap I walked into. She was a pro.

"Shit!" I cursed aloud.

"Yes!!!!" She screeched, bouncing up and down on the sofa beside me. For the first time since all this fiasco started, I looked at her. Really looked at her.

"What do you want to talk about?" I suddenly blurted out.

"Me. I want to talk about me, Charles. And I want to apologize for how we started."

"What exactly do you want to say about yourself that I don't already know?" I asked, Ignoring her last statement.

"I want to show you something." She stood up, went to the table by the corner of the room and picked up her iPad which she did have apparently. Still unbelievable to me since I thought she was a waitress. She shouldn't be able to afford it. Maybe I was wrong. I didn't know anymore. She kept surprising me daily.

Placing the pad in my palms, she sat beside me again. "This is me, my mum, my dad." She said, pointing them out to me as she did. "They died when I was five. Leaving me with a shit ton of money of course. I have been on my own since then. What you saw at the hotel in Abuja was me trying to experience a normal life. I am sorry I lied to you, Charles."

I turned my head at that moment and stared at her. She sounded so honest, so real. "We started on the wrong foot Charles. Can we start over? Be friends? Nothing more."

She offered me her hands for a handshake. I just stared at her, trying to decide if this was a good idea or not.

Someone cleared their throat behind us. I turned to find Eric standing by the corner with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Hey man, " I said as I stood up and went to him. "Been waiting for you for ages, " I said as I patted him on the back.

"Sorry man, I got cut up in something," he said gruffly.

"You wanna join us?" I asked. He just shrugged his shoulder. Something was off with him. Ever since the ball, he's been acting strange. I didn't want to bring it up and get him uncomfortable or something. I was gonna wait till he was ready to talk to me.

We walked back to the couch and Eric took a seat beside Meg. "Eric, this is Meg--"

"I know all about her Charles." Eric cut in. He turned to her, "Hey, Megan Soyinka right?"

"Right," Meg answered wearily.

"See, " he said, looking at me, "I know all about her."

The tension between them was strange. Meg looked pale and Eric looked highly irritated. What was up with them? Maybe they didn't like each other or something. I have never seen Eric this way before.

I decided a hot drink would calm everyone down and help us all relax.

"You guys care for a drink?" I asked, standing to my feet.

"Yeah," they both said in unison. As I moved to the bar, I picked up my phone and dialled Annabelle's number. We had a date tomorrow and I absolutely couldn't wait. I missed her. I missed her smiles, craved her kisses, her moans, her anger, her soul, her everything.

I knew it was too soon to feel like this. But I was completely whipped for her. There was nothing I could do about it even if I tried. As I poured whiskey into three glass cups, I waited for her phone to connect but it kept saying not available, not reachable and then finally switched off.

I frowned.

Maybe her phone was dead. Maybe she forgot to plug it in before sleeping off. Maybe she just slept in and isn't awake yet to realize it's dead. Maybe--

I hear a commotion in the living room. It looked like Eric and Meg were arguing. I hadn't left them for up to three minutes and they were already fighting?

Well damn!

I dropped my phone in my pockets, placed the drinks on a tray and strode back to the couch. As I approached, I heard Eric complain.

"You've won me. Can we now watch the news at least?"

"The news? Really? You just got here and you are already making demands like-"

"I am not making demands, I said please."

"When did you say please? Because I don't recall--"

"THE DRINKS ARE HERE!" I screamed at the top of my voice. Interrupting their senseless banter.

They both turned to me. And before any one of them could say a word, I picked up the remote and changed the channel to BBC.

"It's settled. Drink up y'all." I said with a smirk and dropped on the couch adjacent to them. They wisely kept shut as we watched the pictures on the news. From the look of it, they were reporting a murder case.

The reporter said, "The body was discovered at the early hours of the morning beside the beach. It had a clean shot to the head. The police are still speculating as to who could be responsible for this gruesome murder."

As she spoke, a picture was displayed by the side of the screen. As I looked at the man, I couldn't help but feel a twisting in my gut.  Why did he look very familiar? I knew I had seen him somewhere. To confirm my suspicion, the reporter continued.

"The victim has been identified as Dr Joe William. The CEO of W.B law firm. There is still a wild guess as to why someone would want him dead. further investigation is being made as to the whereabouts of his daughter Ms A--"

I shot to my feet in a fit of panic. Oh, no, no, no, no...

As I glared at the pictures being displayed on the screen, my blood completely ran cold.

Annabelle was missing and her father was dead. Picking my car keys from the table, I ran out of the house.