"I wonder what you're doing walking out of the ladies room."
Rafael scoffed so loudly as he froze the moment he heard Victoria's voice, he glared at Victoria at the same time. She didn't look different from how she always did, at least this time she wasn't in a lace or with an Ankara across her body. She was completely dressed in English with her usual frown across her properly baked face. Her make up artist did a good job there he had to admit.
Rafael narrowed his gaze on her.
"You know," Victoria continued, "I've taken quite an interest in you Mr Okonkwo." She continued "But it's really unfortunate you can't even see value and success even when it's standing right in front of you."
Rafael raised his brows, waiting for her to get to the point.
"My family and I have been great admirers of your father and his works. We've hoped for some sort of partnership with your family for a long time. It took us ten years to get him to partner with our company, and now," she exhaled "And now, I'm standing right in front of his son, isn't that amazing?"
"What's your point?" Rafael frowned
"It's not a coincidence fate brought you to us-"
"Fate?"
"We can work together." She hurriedly reached for Rafael's hands. "Your family and mine, me and you." She looked into his eyes "We don't necessarily have to be at war with each other. We can build an allegiance, both our families, you and my son."
Rafael clicked his tongue. He couldn't believe his ears. He was begging to see this woman as exceedingly pitiful.
"After tonight, he'd be the CEO of Silver group, you both can work hand in hand, be a good team-"
"The autopsy results came out today." Rafael cut her off. Victoria froze for a moment. She watched as Rafael slowly pulled his hands away from hers, not bothering to look at her face. He already predicted her expression before he walked into that building.
And it was exactly as he had thought.
She was surprised, and scared.
Victoria gulped hard just as Rafael slowly raised his head to meet hers. She just stood still, glaring at him like she had just seen a ghost, trying so hard to keep herself from looking so nervous.
"Judging the look on your face now, I'm sure you already know that I know the truth, I know who did it."
Victoria exhaled.
"It wasn't me," he could hear how her voice trembled. "you've only wasted your time because you won't find anything on me. I would never have possibly killed my own son."
"Oh I know it wasn't you." Rafael slowly pushed himself against the pillar beside him, resting on it and crossing his legs.
"And I also know you know who it is, you've been trying to protect him the entire time, that's why you had to frame someone else and make her take the blame for it because you tried to convince yourself that if you just made yourself believe she did it, if you made the world think she did it then you wouldn't have to blame the real murderer, that you wouldn't have to hate the real murderer, you wouldn't have to lose another family because you were scared of being alone, scared there would be no one else to inherit all that you've built for all these years-"
"I," Victoria stood straight, she was beginning to shake now but she was trying so hard to hide how terrified she was. She looked away "That's just absurd, I don't know what you're talking about."
"You know what?" Rafael raised his hand to his eye level and pretended to clean his finger tips. "I think you know exactly what I'm talking about and who I'm talking about."
"This is just crazy. I won't stand here and listen to these shenanigans." Victoria had had just about enough of all that. She turned to leave.
"Go on." Rafael slowly dropped his hands and stood straight just so he could have a good look at her and maybe, have a better chance at stopping her from leaving "Run away, It's what you're ever good at."
Victoria paused
"But just know this, you're not going to have it your way this time Victoria." He took three steps to her. "I'm going to make sure the real murderer, the killer you're trying so hard to protect, meets his waterloo, I would not let him stay another day as a free man after what he did, I will put an end to you and your family's legacy based off sacrificing people, innocent people."
Victoria turned to him quickly.
"You would do no such thing." She walked as fast as she could to him . "You can't prove anything, you have no proof and no evidence."
Rafael let out a tiny chuckle.
"Didn't you just hear me? I said I have the autopsy results-"
"Those results don't prove anything." She snapped back at him "That corpse is six years old and getting accurate evidence isn't exactly going to be factual." She glared at him "Now I know I respect your father very much and I would never want to cause any distinctions between us but don't you for once, think that if you come for me I would sit back. I would never watch you ruin my family or my business, do you understand that?" She pointed at him. She was so angry, so furious. "You have no idea what I'm capable of. I would never hesitate to destroy you if you ever come for my family or what's mine."
"You knew." Rafael told her, trying to remain calm, really calm. He squinted his eyes like he couldn't believe it either, he was disgusted.
"You know he did it, you had always known from the start but you chose to hide it, chose to act like it never happened because you didn't want to get hurt." He paused. "What kind of mother are you? What kind of mother raises sons like you have? A woman beater and a murderer? What kind of a mother watches her son kill his brother and does nothing about it?"
"Don't judge me." She widened her eyes at him "You have no right to judge the choices I've made. Everything I've done! Every choice I've made, I did it for my family. I'm the only reason we are standing so strong after everything that has happened. I know I had to make sacrifices, big ones but it was for my family. Haven't you ever done anything for the sake of your family? As far as I and the whole world are concerned, there is only one murderer in this building and it's that witch, It is Olivia Kalu!"
"The only thing you should have done is give them the help they needed. You knew both your sons were sick and you chose to let it slide, just like you chose to hide the fact that your husband also suffered from DID and probably passed that trait to both your sons. You chose to ignore it and because of that, they hurt a lot of people. A woman lost six years of her life in jail, suffering for a crime she did not commit. You hated her so much and did so many awful things to her even when you knew she was innocent."
"She is not innocent!" Victoria yelled "She has never been innocent! She did this, all of it! She's the reason my sons became how they were in the first place! If she had just taken the money and disappeared like I asked, my son would not have had to murder his brother just to keep her by his side! So as far as I'm concerned, she killed my son!"
"You're so delusional." Rafael told her. He couldn't believe it, he couldn't believe his ears. "You're a wicked and an evil person."
"Call me anything you like, I did nothing wrong. I don't regret it, I don't regret any of it."
"You," Rafael shut his eyes and took a deep breath "I'm going to see to it that your son atones for his crimes. I'm going to ruin and destroy you with my last breath." He told her. "And I'm going to make sure there are no judges to bribe your way out of it this time."
Victoria scoffed
"In five minutes, the police are going to get here and they are going to take your precious son away from you."
Victoria narrowed her gaze to him.
"All you have to do is watch."
"Madam Victoria!" A woman said rushing to them as fast as she could. Victoria took back her words "It's time for the announcement, we need you on stage please."
Rafael raised his brows and let a tiny smile grow on his face. He was cornering her and Victoria was beginning to give in to pressure, she was beginning to see that he wasn't just calling her bluff, he meant it, he meant every single word and even if he didn't, she knew she couldn't risk it.
She turned around and started to hurry down the hallway as fast as she could, rushing to the direction of the hall. She could feel her head racing, her heart too. She pushed everyone out of her way the moment she saw Austin in the middle of the hall, talking to Olivia. She wanted to yell his name so loud but she was scared she'd make a scene and get everyone to notice.
"Mrs Silver!" The event planner yelled again, running after Victoria as she got closer to Austin, her block heels making a loud noise as it knocked the ground. Austin slowly turned in her direction the minute she grabbed his arm.
He frowned, surprise written all over his face. Why did she look like that? So pale like she had seen a ghost? Olivia slowly turned too. She blinked hard.
Was she about to cry?
"Mum?" Austin said almost in a whisper.
"Let's Go." She pulled him.
"Go?" Austin pulled her back. "Mum, the party has barely even started, where are we going?"
"I don't have the time to explain, just come with me right now!"
Olivia stared at the both of them, she didn't understand what was going on.
"Mr Austin Silver!" Rafael announced as he walked into the room, the music had started to fade as everyone turned their attention to him. Olivia frowned. She narrowed her gaze on Rafael, trying to establish eye contact with him but he was barely even looking at her. He had his eyes glued to Austin, finding his way to them. What was he doing?
What on earth was going on?
"Don't say anything. Don't listen to him. " Victoria pulled Austin's face to meet hers "Just come with me."
Austin scoffed
"What on earth is going on?" He asked Victoria.
"I'd tell you everything in the car."
"We found traces of your skin on your brother's remains." Rafael continued "His fingertips to be exact, can you explain how it got there?"
Austin scoffed
"Just what are you talking about?"
Olivia was more surprised. She slowly turned to Austin, staring at him, hoping she made sense of what was going on.
"I'm asking you to tell us what you know." Rafael got in front of him "How did your brother die?"
"How am I supposed to know that?" Austin answered.
"But you do." Rafael cut him off. "You do, don't you? You know exactly how he died, and what his last words were," Rafael was looking straight at him. "Because you were there, because you killed him."
The entire room was filled with a lot of rumble and noise again. No one could believe it but they couldn't help but want to know more, to know what was going on. Olivia cringed back
"Mr Okonkwo!" Victoria yelled at him
"Your brothers autopsy results!" Rafael waved his phone in the air so they could all see it. Not like they all could, he just needed to show them how serious it was. "He didn't die of overdose or anything that was said to have killed him before, he was suffocated to death, I'm guessing with a pillow. The doctors say his nose was fractured. I'm also guessing it's because of all the force and pressure you had put into trying to get him to stop resisting isn't it?"
The murmurs got worse.
"It also looks like your brother wasn't really the type to cut his fingernails regularly. That night was one of those days he didn't. He struggled so hard to free himself from your hold and in the course of doing that, he scratched into your skin and that's why we found your skin under his nails, skin that matched your DNA, DNA you let me have from that cup back at the hospital."
Rafael continued.
He wasn't going to stop. He was going to keep pushing, Austin looked around in fear. He could feel his heart racing especially with the way everyone was looking at him now, the way Olivia was looking at him like she was trying to read him.
"And then it got me thinking, why would a man who claimed to be so good, why would a man who claimed to love his brother so much do something like that to him? Do something so inhumane? Then I remembered; you and Andrew were co-heirs to your father's company. He was also the man that took the only woman you had ever loved away from you and also got married to her. It must have made you so upset, so angry that you always had to share everything with him so you thought about getting rid of him so you could keep them all to yourself, the company and his wife, that was the real reason you came back after all those years wasn't it?"
Austin glared at him, not moving a muscle or saying a word .
"That's why you carefully waited for the right time to strike and when you saw an opportunity to carry out your evil intentions, you took it, please, correct me if I'm wrong but I have a witness though, someone that used to work for your family before your mother tried to frame her for attempted murder. She saw you with her own eyes."
There was a lot of silence in the room.
Everyone watched Austin, hoping he could talk at least or defend himself
"God, this day couldn't get better." Tony whispered, rubbing his hands together just as Austin let out an exasperated sigh. He quickly turned to Olivia who just stood there, numb from head to toe, with tears lingering in her eyes, hoping he just said something, hoping he said anything at all to convince her she hadn't been a fool all along.
"Olivia-" he took a step to her
"You didn't do it." She told him "Tell me you didn't do it." She looked at him. Austin opened his mouth, he tried to speak but he wasn't saying anything.
"Austin." Victoria reached for his hand again. "Her hands were shaking terribly "You don't have to say anything." She told him "Just come with me, I can fix this-"
Austin pulled his hand away from her, his eyes still on Olivia.
"Olivia," He stammered again as tears welled up in his eyes. A lot of people were raising their phones already, this was exclusive news and no one was going to miss it.
"I was only trying to help you."
Olivia exhaled as she felt all her strength leave her and her legs weaken quickly. She was almost about to fall before a group of women behind her held her back.
Austin took a step to her and then paused.
"I didn't know mum was going to try to frame you for it, you weren't supposed to be involved. That was why I only did it after you had left the mansion."
He tried to explain.
"Austin," Victoria needed him to listen. "Austin stop talking."
"I couldn't take all the terrible things he did to you- the, the way he hurt you. He took you away from me, he took everything from me and he didn't even deserve them."
Olivia was trying so hard to stay on her feet even with all those women holding on tight to her.
"Everything! We were supposed to have them together, both of us, a house, a family, a daughter. Grace was supposed to me mine and not his. He didn't deserve you and I'm not sorry for what I did, I'm not sorry that I killed him."
The murmurs got worse. No one could believe it. Everyone were taking pictures and recording so fast, even faster then the media and paparazzi.
"Austin!" Victoria yelled at him
"I love you Olivia," Austin continued, looking earnestly at her as he took slow steps towards her "I always did and always will-"
Olivia slapped him as hard as she could the moment he got closer to her. She had no idea where all that strength came from, she couldn't take it, she couldn't take how disgusted this man in front of her was making her feel. She was so disgusted to even blink or move as tears began to tickle down her eyes. A lot of it. Austin just stood there, his eyes fixed on her, he didn't believe it. He never saw it coming. The look of anger and disgust evident in her eyes.
"How dare you?" Victoria glared at Olivia as Olivia slowly turned to her "How dare-"
Olivia slapped her too, even harder.
Hard enough that it echoed round the room just as everyone began to hear loud footsteps and police men began to rush into the room in their uniforms and with their guns. Rafael could count about six of them. It was about time.
"You're monsters!" Olivia yelled at the both of them, pushing herself to attack them both before the ladies held her back. "The both of you are monsters!"
She was trembling. She was furious. She wanted to hurt them, she didn't know how but she just wanted to make them suffer for what they did at that very moment while she tried to break free from the hold of the women. She could feel her heart break into tiny pieces, she couldn't take it, the hurt and pain that were pushing inside of her.
"Olivia," Austin was almost crying too.
"Stay away from me." She warned Austin before he made another move "Stay away from me or I'm scared what I'd do."
"I did this for you, I did this for us-"
Olivia scoffed in disgust. God, she was such a fool.
"Olivia, baby."
"You both are the most disgusting people I've ever met. I regret it, I regret all of it. I curse the day I met you." She glared at Austin. "And the day I came into your family." She turned to Victoria "And I curse the both of you to never find any type of peace for what you've put me through."
"Olivia," Austin gently reached for her arms as tears began to fall from his face "Olivia please listen to me-"
"Let me go!" She yelled at him trying to pull him away from her just as the police rushed in to stop him.
"Olivia I never meant to hurt you please,"
"You never meant to hurt me?!" She yelled at him, not even bothering to mind the police or the people that were staring at the scene. "You set me up. You made me lose six years of my life!"
"Olivia," Austin's voice broke as more tears began to fall from his eyes.
"And all that time you made me feel like you did all those things because you were good, because you were better than the rest of them but I was wrong, you were just trying to vindicate yourself, to make yourself feel better, less guilty for what you did. You made a total fool of me, you lied to me and you took advantage of me. you ruined my life."
She raised her purse in the air and threw it as hard as she could at him. It collided with his face, hard enough to leave a scratch on it. Olivia didn't care, she didn't care. If she could bring down the entire building on him, she'd have done that.
"Olivia I did this for you." Austin repeated. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen." He took a step to her before the policemen surrounded him. "Olivia I love you."
"May God punish you!" She yelled. "God punish you!" She was screaming at the top of her lungs now. God she just wanted to make him feel all of it, everything she had been through.
"Olivia please!" Austin yelled as the policemen pulled him away from her as fast as they could, walking around him as they pulled his arms to the back and placed handcuffs on them while another walked to Victoria and did the same.
"Mr Austin Silver," one of them announced "You are under arrest for the murder of Mr Andrew Silver and you Mrs Silver as an accomplice. What you say or do can and will be used against you in the court of law."
The man continued as the noise in the room became worse.
He turned to the other men
"Take them away." He ordered
"Olivia," Austin was breathing fast "Olivia, Olivia, I'm sorry!"He yelled as the policemen pulled him and Victoria away.
"Olivia please!"
Olivia didn't turn for a second, she just couldn't. She couldn't believe it, she couldn't believe any of it. Rafael exhaled as he watched her cry as hard as she could just as the ladies let her go.
He just wanted to go to her, to hug her so tight but something kept pulling him back, he just couldn't. She was breaking down in tears already and no one could say anything to her.
Tony watched him, wondering why he was hesitating when he knew he really wanted to. Rafael exhaled in frustration, he just couldn't, he just couldn't keep watching any of it. His heart was breaking.
"Brother," Tony whispered to him.
Rafael turned quickly and walked away. He wasn't going to watch anymore.
Tony exhaled. He wasn't going to push it, he knew Rafael needed his space.
He slowly turned to Olivia. She was almost on the ground now, he rushed to her.
"Olivia," he held on tight to her, hugging her as fast and tight and as he could while she grabbed on to his arms as she slowly cried her way to the ground. The cameras stopped flickering, everyone were beginning to get so moved and pitiful.
"It's okay." Tony whispered to her, rubbing her arms gently. "It's over, you're fine now."
He told her
"You're fine now."