*SILUNGILE NDABA*
I was coming out of University of Johannesburg lab. I was asked for some advice so I went there. Just as I was heading to my car, some men in jumped me and before I could say anything, they injected me with something on my neck. I felt my body getting heavy and it was lights out for me.
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I woke up and when I tried to stretch my arms, I felt restrained and then I remembered that I was abducted or kidnapped or whatever. I looked around and saw that I was in a very dirty place. There is dust, papers and cardboards everywhere. There are at least about 10 men who are armed and there is a woman who is busy giving them orders. She turns and smiles when she sees that I am awake.
“Good our guest is awake. What would you like to drink?” she is still smiling. If I didn’t know better, I’d say there are some loose screws on her head. I just keep quiet and stare at her. “Not much of a talker are you? Me either but I love to vent. But before that, boys how about you roughen him up a little?” the guards smile and then come to me.
Punches are followed by punches as they beat me. They not only punch my face but every reachable place in my body. The pain I am feeling is excruciating. The most painful part is that I don’t even know what I have done to deserve this. Why am I even here? Maybe they got the wrong person. “You got the wrong person.” I utter those words, even though my mouth is full of blood right now, in an attempt to save myself.
“Enough boys.” The woman says and they stop and back up. She takes a chair and sit in front of me. She is still smiling. I think she is bipolar or something.
“I am Shreya by the way. You must be wondering why you here. Well it’s all because of you fiancé who thinks she is above the world just because she has many connections.” I just frown and look at her. “You don’t know that you are dating the Empress?” she asks with an amused expression. I just give her a blank stare. She takes that as an answer and she continues. “This is going to be fun. Well let me give you the profile of your future wife.”
“Adriane Oyintando Thompson. Daughter of Thabisa and Nkateko Chiliza. Granddaughter of the famous late mafia king, King Ty, who by the way killed both your grandparents after they stole from him. She inherited most of his things, including the crime business but doesn’t have all the powers over it since, apparently, she hasn’t reached the right age of ruling the South African Mafia. She is the leader of the gang called The Cobras, a gang which she formed at the age of 18 years.”
“You are dating one of the most dangerous female in South Africa and she doesn’t even trust you enough to tell you what she really is. Talk about a relationship without trust.” She laughs shaking her head. I don’t believe a word she is saying. My Oyintando is very kind, loving and honest.
“You are lying. What exactly do you want Shreya?”
“I thought only Mozambicans are this stubborn but I guess I was wrong. Here is the proof that you want. Guards pass me my laptop.” They give her a laptop and she starts typing something on it. She then turns it to my direction. I bend a little to get a better view. I nearly puke when I see the woman I love chopping someone’s body parts and she is smiling while doing it. What the hell is this?
“That is the woman you are about to marry, the woman who will bear you kids and grow old with you. You sure know how to pick a wife. She killed my baby daddy and also his family. She is heartless and only cares about herself. Her friends, as you know them, work for her and they are assassins and street fighters. Are you sure you wanna build a home with someone like that?”
I keep quiet and just stare at her. Why did my fiancé have to be a monster? I don’t care about what her grandpa did because she surely was young and didn’t know what he did. Why did she have to be a crime lady? Why didn’t she trust me enough to let me know about who she really is? I am very mad with her and I don’t think I wanna build a home with someone who doesn’t trust me enough to tell me about her other life.
“Boss the outside men are not responding.” One of the guards inform Shreya. She smiles.
“Looks like your fiancé is here. She is early though because I still wanted to play with you.”
Men surrounding start falling like insects. I guess there are snipers by the windows who are shooting at the guards. When there at least about four men left, the door opens and Adriane comes in with Salizwa and Seipati on her sides. Sange is behind them.
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the famous Empress in the house. Welcome to my secret layer. Well I guess it’s no longer secret because you know about it.” Shreya says smiling and she takes out a gun and points at my head. Adriane looks at me and I don’t see the woman I fell for. Her look isn’t warm and welcoming. It’s just cold and reserved. She then looks at Shreya with a smug.
“You never had the upper hand in this situation Shreya. You lost the little power you had the minute you stepped into my territory.” She says and step closer to her. Sange hands her the iPad and she taps on it a few seconds and then smiles.
“You wanna transfer your assets right now? Smart move.” Shreya says but you can hear in her voice that she is no longer as confident as she was a few minutes ago.
“You have thirty seconds to release him and gain your freedom and little dignity. After that I am going to release you. You are going to leave South Africa and forget about your silly revenge plan or you can choose the second option which will end with you losing your life and your family following you.” Adriane says.
“By the way, I have your family in my warehouse in Chigubo.”
“You are bluffing.” Shreya says, her voice is shaking.
“You wanna find out?”
“I already know that you won’t let me go so…” a gunshot goes off and I feel excruciating pain emanating from my stomach. I release a rough groan. Another gunshot goes off and I hear something falling to the floor.
“You are going to regret this.” I hear Adriane’s voice but it’s drifting away slowly. I feel my eyes getting heavy and darkness just emerges.
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#TheEmpress
