Laura ran the bristles of a comb down her thick long black weave that radiated under the bright light of morn. She smiled into the mirror and uttered motivational words to herself and the gleaming profile on the glass repeated every word she said. Damian laid amused on the bed revealing only his torso on the black tank top he had on and buried his legs under the coziness of the duvet. Laura turned back sharply when he ruffled his thighs within the sheets and added extra layers of red lipstick on her already baked face.
"Didn't know you were awake," she said smiling at him. "Did you see?"
"All of it," he replied and broke into laughter. Damian hardly laughed. He hardly did anything that involved fun or amusement or even happiness. Perhaps his idea of happiness was different. He worked so hard to relieve himself and his family from the debt of shame their late father passed on. Happiness to him entailed making money, lots of it so his children wouldn't suffer same fate.
Then came Laura, with her beautiful skin, lovely eyes and enchanting smile. She redefined life and gave him a reason to do so. She made him enjoy the littlest things like love and laughter while they last. She taught him from a different script.
"Leave me alone jor! Today is my first day at work. I need to give myself all the boosters I need," she replied patting her puffy cheeks with more powder.
"OK o!" He replied. "Yea that reminds me, have you seen my mini statue of liberty? It's crazy but my dad gave me that when I was ten. It reminded me of how brave I should be. I never really did like my dad, but I liked that."
"No... I haven't," she replied, stuffing a large file into her bag.
"That's strange. I don't lose things and recently I've been losing a lot," he added.
"I'm sure you'll find it somewhere."
"Yea, later I'll look around," Damian replied, getting out from the warm sheets and giving her long kiss on her forehead before she left. It was a ritual.
*****
A knock came on the door in threes and Regina quickly reached to the eye hole carved graciously on the wooden door and peered one eye through while keeping the other shut. She saw a glimpse of Duncan's torso in full build with his face slightly bigger than the rest of his body as viewed from the hole. She exhaled deeply and opened the door so he could walk in. His whole figure came into display and he went right in, flashing the text he received from her to her face.
"I got your text... What do you have to say?" He asked. Regina moved closer to him urging him to sit and offering to get some of her home made food for him, but he declined.
"What about coffee?" She asked again.
"I am not eating anything!" He replied. "Just explain the text so I can leave," he added. She released a weakened sigh and sat on one of the long soft chairs that were in the living room hoping he did the same which he did. He tapped his feet repeatedly on the floor as Regina mustered the courage to tell him all she intended to.
"I know the truth about your real father. I apologize for not being that mother you could be proud of and I promise you, I intend to change only if you let me. Since I was drunk the night of my heated argument with Stephen and lost track of details of that night, I decided to certify if truly Stephen was not your father. I was still able to extract the DNA from one of his personal items I got and with some of your hair strands, I compared them. Stephen was your father! I ran the test again for precision and the result came out positive son," she replied.
"He.. He is?" He asked. His voice broke into uneven parts as he spoke and Regina nodded in response. "What about the illegitimate child Stephen spoke about?" Duncan added.
"I don't have an answer to that question. You were the only one I had doubts about and it's clear now. I have no idea what he meant by an illegitimate son."
"Can I borrow that DNA test kit?"
*****
Tessy had gone over their little scheme over and over to Celine, but the latter had shown disinterest as she thought about all the possible ways the plan could go wrong. They had thought about the idea on how they could eventually certify if Laura was indeed Diane and Tessy had been quick to suggest a staged kidnap with brutal force as the way of getting the truth out and so they followed Laura around town up until the moment her beautiful self had disappeared into an establishment and hadn't come out.
"What if she doesn't come out? We've been here all day!" Celine said. She peeped through the make do black sunglasses that was intended to keep her disguised along with the matching black jean and top.
"She will. Look," Tessy said scrolling up to Laura's last post on Instagram and reading out the caption, "New day at work... Lol! Rate my dressing guys. She will surely go home," Tessy added locking her phone. Raising her hands a little up so as not to hit the rooftop of Celine's car, Tessy said. "Thank you Lord for revealing everyone's privacy through social media!"
"Quit messing around, here she comes!" Celine said and knocked Tessy off her thoughts. Celine began to fear they had not gone over the odds of their plans quite well. How would two women kidnap another in broad day light? But Tessy had it all figured out and when they saw Laura walk out of the office and across the road to board a taxi, they sprang up from their seats blocking her view.
Celine looked around hoping no cameras or bystanders saw them, before Tessy sprayed the contents of a small bottle on Laura and the droplets stuck to her face making her dizzy until she fell into the ready arms of Celine. Tessy aided as they carried her unconscious body into the rear of the car and hopped into it driving fast and far away. They beamed at their courage and bravery and deliberated a bit before deciding to take Laura to Celine's house, into the underground room where no one visited.
They were back home in no time and suddenly Celine drove into the garage and then with the aid of Tessy, carried Laura through the door at the garage and into an old room. It was once a gymnasium, but all it turned into afterwards was just a storage filled with old equipments. It was perfect.
Dropping Laura on the floor, Tessy made sure to tie her wrists together should she try to jump on them and escape. For all they knew, she could have her own secret agenda that no one knew about and just as Tessy tied the second knot around Laura's wrist in place, the latter slowly woke up and was blinking repeatedly trying to comprehend where she was. Then she recognized Celine.
"Celine? What's this?" She asked.
"Uhh- Tessy please untie her I'm not comfortable with this," Celine replied.
"Na ah I won't. We have some questions to ask her before that. Like who are you exactly? How could you marry your brother?" Tessy asked.
"Excuse me?" Laura asked startled.
"What she means is, are you Diane Richards?" Celine opted in.
"Yes... I am Diane Richards. Any problem with that?" Laura asked slightly irritated.
"Oh my God! It is true," Celine said.
"What is true? What is she talking about?" Laura asked.
"You are Diane. As in the sister to Damian and his brothers," Tessy replied.
"What? No! how can I possibly be a sister to my husband? Have you forgotten couples run all manners of tests before they get married? If I were my husband's sister, I would have known. Where is all this coming from? I demand you let me go now, or I'll report to the police once I'm out of here!"
"Listen Laura, Damian and his brothers had a sister named Diane. I found a copy of her birth certificate in their house and apparently, you were born on the same month and day. I didn't want to jump into assumptions, so I didn't conceive any thoughts until I figured out that your name is Diane. Everything points to the fact that you might be their sister." Celine was calm as she spoke.
"OK all of this is crazy and I promise you that if you don't release me right now, I will call the police to come after both of you," Laura replied.
Tessy rushed out to get a bucket of water nearing the brim and dunked Laura's head into it, holding her in there for some seconds before releasing her.
"Oh my God! Tessy! What did you do that for?" Celine asked.
"I'm sorry, I was panicking. She threatened to report us to the police," Tessy replied.
"We did illegally hold her here," Celine said.
"Yeah! Because she is Diane! Their sister!" Tessy countered.
"I am not my husband's sister you crazy people! Everything you think has a perfect explanation to it." Celine turned the bottom of a pail face upwards and sat on it as she waited for Laura to say more, "My name was Ibekwe Laura Diane, I had always used Diane Ibekwe in all my social media handles until I got married and changed it to Richards. That birthday post you saw, wasn't my actual birthday. I wasn't around because I traveled often so Damian fixed a date when I came back. I know Damian had a sister that bore my name too but I promise you, I don't know who she is." Laura looked up to see if anyone had bought her story. Celine seemed to have bought it, but Tessy still remained adamant.
"Don't tell me you believe her," Tessy chipped in cutting Celine into her thoughts.
"It's a lot to take in. I had always thought I am the one but seems there's is a possibility that I might not be." Her voice cracked and eyes seemed to trail off Laura's drenched body and unto the floor. "Yea? If you're not the one, what then would you say about Tessy's abduction? She heard your name in their warehouse. Why were you there?"
"You were at the abandoned warehouse that day? I think there's someone else you need to ask about your abduction, Duncan."
Apparently Laura is Diane, but a different Diane lol. Then is Celine really Diane or we should be on the lookout for another person? Why does Laura have that statue and why did she lie about it? Should we be worried about Duncan?
Find out in subsequent chapters, for now, please vote this chapter. 🙏💕