BELLA'S MEMOIRS (ENTRY #27)

UNFOLDING MYSTERY!

As we made our way home, I started to understand Yinka better. It wasn’t easy being him. First of all, because he wasn’t sure who he could trust, we had to fly privately so no one would know we were back in the country. I guess the trip must have cost him a fortune, although I asked him for the cost, but he thinks it’s obscene to discuss money with a woman so rather he ignored me. We arrived just in time to check into a discreet location (which I later discovered was one of Yinka’s very many undocumented assets). His security detail and mine were in the house with us and Yinka had bought their secrecy.

I was a bit worried as to whether or not I could trust Yinka but given that Okechukwu’s life was still on the line, I knew I had no choice. I could only hope that when Okechukwu eventually finds out how closely I was working with Yinka – and even in seclusion with him – he’d understand that I had done it out of my commitment to him.

We followed the elections on the news and even though there was unrest in some parts of Lagos, things were looking up for my dad.

Yinka: You have to contact your family so they don’t become suspicious.

Me: I have been chatting with my stepmom on BBM. I know they would have tried to reach me if they fail to hear from me in a long while.

Yinka: Perfect. So now, down to business. Who would want me dead?

Me: Are you for real? Is that supposed to be a rhetorical question? Off the top of my head I can think of at least ten people that want you dead.

Yinka: Apart from your arrogant lover, twisted grandmother and maybe you, I can’t think of anyone else.

Me: Are you kidding me? How about we starting with Toni your mistress!

Yinka: Toni loves me; she would never hurt me.

Me: So you think! She is afraid of you – that’ isn’t love.

Yinka: What are you talking about?

Me: She told me everything Yinka! Your controlling nature, your threats to leave her and her family penniless if she ever leaves you.

Yinka: I have never threatened Toni! Are you insane?

Me: Clearly, am I thinking I could trust you? I’m out of here.

I got up to walk out of the room but Yinka grabbed my arm.

Yinka: I can’t let you go out there. Until the election results are announced and we are sure everywhere is safe I can’t let you leave.

Me: Let go of my hand Yinka. Holding me here against my will is kidnapping in case you are not aware.

Yinka: Bella please. I need you, you’re the only one I can trust right now.

Me: Unfortunately I can’t trust you so this partnership can’t work for me.

Yinka: Ok ask me anything you want to know. I’ll tell you the whole truth, I promise.

Me: Tell me the truth about Toni and I swear if I find out anything you told me is a lie, I will ruin you.

Yinka: Tell me what she told you.

I recounted my conversation with Toni.

Yinka: Bella please tell me this is your way of getting back at me for all the things I have ever done to you and your arrogant lover.

Me: I am serious Yinka, that’s what she told me.

Yinka: And you just believed all of it.

Me: Well of course I did! Considering what you were doing to Okechukwu and me at the time, Toni’s story didn’t seem out of character for you!

Yinka: Not only was Toni the mastermind behind all that happened between you and me; including the threats to your family, she is also not poor! It’s true that I met her in the UK but she was never an illegal immigrant; she grew up there and is a British citizen! Yes, her father is late – that bit is true but she has no sister in the University, in fact she has no siblings. She grew up with relatives in the UK while her mother remained here in Nigeria. Her parents never got married but her father made provision for both of them and she lacked and still lacks nothing. We were in love and the only reason we didn’t get married was because she can’t have children! I told you this when we first met, I told you I had a fiancée that I had to break things off with because she could not have children.

Me: But she told me she was pregnant for your PA and that you were sterile.

Yinka: Sterile??? For goodness sake Bella how gullible can you be? Do I look like someone who is sterile to you??? In fact I have to prove to you that I am not!

Me: So Christopher didn’t get Toni pregnant?

Yinka: First of all, Toni is incapable of getting pregnant and secondly Christopher would never betray me like that.

Me: Are you sure about that?

Yinka: What are you referring to? The fact that The Duchess was paying him to give her information to take me down? I am well aware of that. When she approached Christopher he came to me and I told him to play along. How do you think I always seemed to know her next move? Obviously, Toni’s little theatrical performance put a hole in that plan because you obviously recounted Toni’s lies to your grandmother and she immediately cut Christopher off.

Me: So why would Toni cook up such horrible lies?

Yinka: Obviously because she didn’t want you to marry me. She said all of that because she was trying to give you a compelling reason not to marry me. This is just typical of a woman! You often can never make up your minds. My choosing you was her idea in the first place and she obviously tried to sabotage the wedding.

Me: How can the woman you love be in support of you marrying another woman?

Yinka: I had to get married because of the pressure my father was mounting on me. The agreement with Toni was that I’d get married to another woman, have children with her but Toni would always be in my life and eventually when I had cemented my political power we would find a way to be together. I had a few options of suitable families to marry into but she was convinced that you were the best option.

Me: You two totally deserve each other. You know that right? That is the most sick and twisted thing I have ever heard in my entire life!

Yinka: Oh well. Sick and twisted always works for me.

Me: Ok so Toni cooked up that whole thing to keep us apart and when that didn’t work, she tried to poison you. She probably put enough poison to delay the wedding but not enough to kill you. Case closed we have found our culprit, now we need to get her to confess so we can get Okechukwu out of detention.

Yinka: Calm down Nancy Drew. I am pretty sure that Toni did not try to kill me.

Me: How about we ask her first? If we set her up we may be able to get a confession out of her.

Yinka: Even if she confesses we still have teeny weeny problem.

Me: Which is?

Yinka: Toni is to Yinka as Okechukwu is to Bella.

Me: What are you saying Yinka?

Yinka: Even if Toni is guilty she’s still the love of my life. I won’t let her rot in jail.

Me: So knowing what I know you expect me to let Okechukwu rot in jail instead?

Yinka: We need to reach a compromise.

Yinka called his security detail and had him place a call to Toni. He informed her that Yinka had sent her a package from the UK and she needed to come and pick it up urgently. She promised to come first thing in the morning.

I stayed awake all night not only because I was following the elections’ updates but also because I was scared that Yinka would turn on me. I couldn’t blame him for doing whatever he could to protect the woman he loved; after all it was my quest to protect the man I love that has led me to where I was.

Toni arrived at 8am and Yinka came bouncing down the stairs like a little child on Christmas day.

Yinka: You have to go to your room and stay there. If Toni sees you she won’t talk and you know it.

Me: There is no way I am leaving you and your conniving mistress alone. I want to hear everything you both have to say.

Yinka: For once Bella just listen to me! I know what I am doing!

Before I could respond, the door to the living room swung open and Toni walked in. She was obviously shocked to see Yinka and me.

Toni: Yinka…what are you doing here?

Me: You thought he’d be dead by now didn’t you?

Toni: What do you mean?

Yinka: Bella please this wasn’t the plan!

Me: Oh please!

Toni: What plan? Yinka what are you doing here with her? I thought…

Me: You thought what… Isn’t a man allowed to be around his fiancée?

Toni: Yinka are you still marrying her? What is going on here? Did you lure me here to humiliate me?

Yinka: Toni we know you poisoned me. Drop the act.

Toni: How absurd! Why would I poison you?

Me: I saw you at the pre-wedding dinner. Obviously you didn’t want us to get married that was why you cooked up all those ridiculous lies about your relationship with Yinka. You hoped I would use it as a leverage to end the relationship. You even went as far as lying about being pregnant and Yinka being sterile and now a young man is in detention because of you!

Toni: I admit I told you a bunch of lies so you would break off the engagement and I only did that because I realized I couldn’t bear the thought of him being married to another woman.

Yinka: But Toni you knew this was the plan. You chose Bella for me and you agreed.

Toni: You don’t understand Yinka.

Yinka: Make me understand why you poisoned me.

Toni: I did not poison you! I lied…yes! But I did not poison you!

Yinka: Then who did?

Toni: I don’t know honestly. I was only at the pre-wedding dinner because you insisted that I should be there. I would never poison you Yinka, you know how I feel about you.

Yinka: If you wanted me to call off the whole thing you should have told me. I would have done that for you and you know it but now I can’t even trust you anymore!

Toni: I thought I could handle you being with her but I couldn’t. I swear on all that we have shared, I never tried to kill you. The person who did is still out there.

Me: So why did you choose me for Yinka? What made me special?

Toni: I wanted to make your family pay for what they did to me and my mother. I wanted them to see how lies and deceit can ruin people’s lives. I wanted to watch you struggle to free your husband from my grasp the way The Duchess struggled to free hers from my mother. So you would know that your money can buy you everything but happiness and true love.

Me: I don’t understand. What has The Duchess got to do with this?

Toni: Yinka I am sorry I lied to you all this while. My father is late but he wasn’t wealthy. My mother has been the mistress to a very wealthy man for decades and he took care of both of us. I lied that my father left us a fortune because I didn’t know how to explain our lifestyle to you.

Yinka: Who is your mother’s lover?

Toni: Chief Ayo-Kessington. My mother has been his mistress for decades.

Yinka looked at me in disbelief.

Yinka: Your father?

I shook my head.

Me: My grandfather.

My world once again had stopped spinning. My family had no boundaries…so Toni’s mother was the mistress The Duchess had referred to.

It was becoming a dangerous web of deceit and skeletons, and suddenly my focus wasn’t finding the person that wanted Yinka dead anymore. my focus was getting Okechukwu out no matter what so we could go away and start over.

Okechukwu was right, the Ayo-Kessington family had nothing to offer me but a lifetime of dirty surprises! Well now it was my turn to give them a dirty little surprise of my own.