The Wedded Whore (Completed)

Chapter Twelve

Oh, damn him to hell! She almost wished he'd drop dead so she could have an iota of peace in her life, but some tiny part of her rebelled at that thought. If he something happened to him, then there was nothing for her to live for.

And the car continued to move, sometimes slowing down to a crawl as she became immersed in the abominable Lagos traffic which was a horror. But at least it gave her the time to clear her mind and think of what to say to her husband, and she was almost sorry when she finally arrived after spending almost an hour on the road. But her anger got the better of her, and she had to clutch at the reins of it, letting it wash over her so that she would not allow herself to be swayed by thoughts that she knew would be detrimental to her plans.

She parked her car in the well-laid parking lot of the Phoenix Hotels, and then she jumped out of the car, her eyes moving up to the office area so she could glimpse the curtains of the office Obi occupied on the tenth floor. She had often castigated him sometimes jokingly that he was one of the few men that chose to make a hotel the headquarters of their business, but he had seemed to love and enjoy having his main base of operation here at the hotel.

And then she saw him at the window, and their eyes met and held, a current of unspoken words surging through them like a wave. She forced herself to look away, and she headed towards the opulent hotel, aware of Obi's eyes watching her.

And he was really shocked that he was seeing her here. He'd merely come to the window so he could part them and allow shafts of sunlight drift into the air-conditioned room. He'd sighed with a feeling of contentment, and was about to turn back into the room when he'd caught sight of a white car driving into the complex. He'd paused, knowing instinctively who the car belonged to; Adamma. Frowning severely to mask his incredulity, he watched as she jumped out of the car with the energy and agility of an athlete, and their eyes clashed. But she looked away and headed towards the sprawling complex, and he steeled himself as he awaited her intrusion into his office.

Minutes later, he heard the elevator doors sliding open, and then Adamma's voice pierced through the stillness with the strength and sharpness of a bullet blast. She was thundering at the secretary in an icy voice to let her into the office, and the woman was rendering excuses. But the singer was not to be deterred from her course; she walked right past the woman and then marched into the office, slamming the door shut with feral force. She walked towards him, her chest heaving with rage, her hand clutching the sheets paper she'd printed out from her computer.

'How dare you?' she asked in a harsh voice, waving the papers in his face. 'How dare you do this to me? Why don't you just leave me alone?'

Obi stared grimly into the face of his wife. 'What did I do to you, my dear girl? What could be so bad that you've decided to come to me even after I'd made a lot of efforts to contact you?'

'These!' she snapped, flinging the papers down on the table with a thump. 'You enjoy digging dirt up, don't you? You're just a filthy blackmailer. Oh my God, Obi, how low you've gone. You run around, digging up dirt that is supposed to be buried, just so you can blackmail me. But it will not work!'

Obi stared at the pictures on the tabletop, his lips compressed in a grim line, his eyes narrowing on the pages sharply. Though the fact that Adamma pointed accusing fingers at him unwaveringly, he knew that he was not the person who had done what she was accusing him of. And there was only one person who could have done it: Hope.

Forcing himself to look up at the near-hysterical woman who stood before him, he said succinctly, 'It was my mother who sent you these pictures, not me.'

Adamma stared at her husband, her eyes wide with disbelief. 'Hope?' she asked, her voice trembling. 'She did this? Oh no, and I had thought that she was a good woman, but she's just shown herself to be the hypocrite I never suspected she could be. But I'll get her for this. I swear it!'