SHE HAD IT ALL

CHAPTER 1

She had it all. Riches, friends, a perfect social life, success, and power. Just mention it, and she'll have it.

But in African society, a woman's worth was judged not by her wealth and power, but by how happy she made her spouse and her home. A woman without a home, a husband, or children was a total failure.

Victoria felt like a failure though she had everything, her list of things to conquer and own didn't include a husband.

She had been in a few relationships, but she was always looking for a good time rather than a long-term commitment.

She could be described as gamophobic or philophobic because the only healthy connection she had been able to maintain was her friendship with her best friend Tessa. Tessa was her confidante, family, and sister, and she adored her.

Victoria had been raised by a single mother in Oda's harsh and nasty town as an only child.

Unlike most of her classmates and friends, she had never had it easy because she had to work hard to put food on the table and pay for her education.

Not that her mother wasn't present or helpful; she was, and she did her best; the trouble was that it was never enough to support their family. It was difficult for her mother to hold a work because she lacked a degree and was illiterate.

That didn't stop her from working and providing for her kid, because she adored her and was her sole source of joy and reason for living. Victoria knew that so she did her best in school and life as well to keep her mum's effort from going to waste.

Victoria most certainly kept her word, and her mother lived like an empress in a completely furnished sixteen-bedroom palace on the outskirts of Kokomlemle.

When her mum initially moved in, her mother remarked,

"Vic, all of this is not needed at all, what do you expect me to do alone in this mansion that could hold a whole village, I would prefer I stayed in your modest house over at Spintex."

"Mummy dearest, you need not be concerned about me or the grandeur of this mansion; it's what you deserve, and I got it for you," she remarked proudly, patting her mother's left shoulder.

Well, that was a long time ago, but today she had to get ready for shopping and it was certainly not one of her usual shopping sprees.

Tessa was doing her final shopping before marrying the man she loved. Victoria was ecstatic, but no matter how powerful her feelings were, she was able to hold them in check.

She was completely awake at 5 a.m. on a beautiful Saturday. When she initially awoke, the first thing that sprang to her wasn't her business dealings or contracts; it was Tessa's cheerful face, which she had been wearing since Sam proposed to her.

After she finishes her yoga, she slips her feet into flip flops made of Russian sable that she purchased on one of her many international vacations. 

She hurries into the bathroom and takes a long, hot shower before putting on a bathrobe and sitting to blow dry her hair.

She takes her phone off the table to check the time, but she gets a call from Tessa before she can put it down.

"Tessa, it's just 6:30 a.m., and I'm still not done. You have to calm down, all this excitement is getting to your head," she said sternly.

"Vicky, oh Vicky, my mother is very ill and in the hospital. I'm so devastated, the doctors don't think she'll make it," she sobbed, followed by a loud yell. Victoria clutched the phone.

"What how is this possible, how did it happen, don't worry what hospital is she in".

"Korle Bu teaching hospital"

"Okay, I'm on my way take a chill pill".

Even though Tessa's news had shaken her, she didn't react, she kept her cool and rose from her seat to fish out a white velvet sheath dress from her closet.

She changed out of her bathrobe and put on the dress, which she paired with a pair of black heels. She quickly put on makeup and dashed out of her bedroom.

"Madam, your breakfast is ready."

"No, Dorcas, I'll have it later; I have an emergency to attend to,"
she said as she walked away. She noticed Dorcas's puzzled expression but didn't have time to go back and explain things to her.

Dorcas was respected and treated as if she were a mother, but they never really spoke or had a tête-à-tête. Besides, she wasn't obligated to explain herself.

She entered her garage and pressed the button on her car keys, causing the car to beep.

She jumped into the car and yelled for her security personnel to open the gate. She drove out graciously in her Mercedes-Benz.

  The traffic jam was so exhausting, she had been stuck in it for several hours now and her expression gave away just how frustrated she was.

For God's sake, her friend needed her and here she was stuck in traffic

Two street kids appeared out of nowhere standing behind her front door glass, just as she was venting her frustration by sounding her car horn incessantly.

Her heart skipped a beat because of the sudden appearance. She quickly grabbed her phone and began fidgeting with it, pretending to be busy.

One of the children, a female, began to knock on the glass. She was still unconcerned. The knock became more insistent, and she couldn't ignore it any longer.

She rolled the glass down a notch and handed the kids a fifty cedis note.

She rolled the glass back up before they could thank her. She stared at the filthy and tattered kids who mumbled words she couldn't understand but knew exactly what they were saying because she had been there before.

She hadn't ignored the children because she was arrogant or stingy, but because they reminded her of herself when she had to beg for money on days she couldn't work.

She wasn't ashamed of her roots, but she wanted to get away from them because they were too painful, but these kids just made everything flood her brain again, which flooded her eyes.