HOOKERS DON'T LIKE CHEATERS (PT8)

I was allowed to see Efya the following morning. She had already been moved into a private ward, and it broke my heart to see her in that condition.

The nurse that took me in to see her left after telling me I only had a few minutes to spend with her cause she needed to rest.

I approached her quietly and called her name.

She turned her head to look in my direction with tear filled eyes.

She was such a sorry sight. Her eye was bandaged shut, and her amputated leg was lifted up and supported with bandages.

I couldn't hold back my tears as I got to her. We both burst out crying, and I hugged her for comfort.

I pulled a chair close to her bed and sat down.

"I am really sorry, Efya. I am so sorry this happened to you. I promise am going to do everything in my power to punish the people responsible for this."

"Why me?"

She wailed.

I wiped her tears with my handkerchief.

"It's okay. It's not the end of your life. You just have to see this as a challenge you are going to overcome with me by your side."

"How can I overcome this? Look at me. I can't even walk on two legs anymore, I am blind in one eye. My life is ruined. I can't go back to school for my degree, I can't face people anymore. I am in severe pain. This is the end of the road for me. I just want to die."

The tears flowed freely down her face, and I made no attempt to clean it as I was crying bitterly myself too.

"You still have me, Efya. I would never leave your side."

"I appreciate that, I really do. I still don't know what I did to deserve this. I thought I could do great things and make my parents proud in their grave. I am an orphan, this shouldn't be happening to me."

"It's going to be okay I swear. I would spend my last dime to make you comfortable. We are going to get through this together. Do you know who did this to you?"

I asked her hoping she would have a clue I can work on. I was already planning to take the law into my hands.

"That's just it. I don't know. They wore masks. They just waylaid me on my way back from classes. I don't understand, it must have been a mistake. A life-ruining one at that!"

She sniffled and wailed.

I tried again.

"Is there anything you remember? Anything at all? Just try to remember for me please."

She squeezed up her face in obvious pain, trying hard to remember. It hurt me to see her in that condition but I had to know.

"There's actually something I remember. It's not much though. That's why I said it had to be a mistake."

"Yes. What is it? Just tell me."

I eagerly shifted close to her.

"Those guys said I was reaping the fruit of my actions. They said the experience should teach me to lay off other people's husbands. It doesn't even make any sense."

It truly didn't make any sense. Efya was the purest girl I know, she doesn't even have a boyfriend as far as I can tell. She has always been married to her books saying she needed to study first before thinking of men. She had everything a student could need. I give her more than enough for her upkeep and she has always been simple with her tastes even refusing a car gift I offered her a while ago saying she didn't need a car yet. So, why would she be involved with a married man?

What could she possibly hope to gain? I had to ask though, to be clear.

"Are you involved with any married man?"

"I am not. I swear on my parents' grave. Why would I be?"

"What could be happening then? I don't understand all this. Do you maybe know any married man? Has any married man been asking you out?"

"I don't know any married man that's asking me out apart from your husband."

She replied defiantly.

"Excuse me, Efya. Do you know what you are saying? Tade is a very funny and jovial person. You must have misread the signals somehow."

"I didn't misread anything, Tessy. He verbally told me himself."

She paused to take in the look of shock on my face before continuing.

"He has been disturbing me in school. He promised to give me all I wanted and even threatened to have his lecturer friend fail me in his course. He sends text messages to me, he calls and chats me up all the time. I changed my other line but he still got it from my friend who takes one of his courses after threatening to fail her in the course."

She stared pointedly at me while saying all this almost as if she blamed me for it.

It can't be true, can it? Tade wouldn't be that stupid. He knows Efya is my family and he wouldn't do shit like that to family. He has always had the self-control of a bitch on heat but to want to date Efya? How could that have happened? I found it hard to believe.

"Why didn't you tell me, Efya? I'm your cousin, you should have called me."

"I called you."

She replied raising her voice at me for perhaps the first time in her life.

"I did call you several times, I visited you at home too. I told your gateman to tell you to call me that it was urgent. Your husband was frustrating my academic life, and you were never there for me. You didn't pick my calls nor call me back. You didn't even visit me at school. I wanted to tell you but you were nowhere to be found. Not like school matters anymore anyway. The bastards even recorded my pain and suffering. I begged and pleaded to no avail. I thought I was going to die."

Something clicked in my head.

"They recorded brutalizing you?"

"Yes, they did for something I know nothing about."

It can't be I thought to myself. Could Efya's number have been among the numbers I took from Tade's phone? I would have recognized her number if it had been there. It suddenly occurred to me that she said she changed her second number and Tade had it.

No! It's not possible. As much as I tried to debate within myself that Efya's number could not be there, I knew deep down it was. I was responsible for my cousin's predicament. I am a monster, the worst kind. No! I needed to confirm. I needed to go and get the flash drive. I stood up immediately feeling light-headed. I steadied myself and bent down to kiss Efya's forehead.

"There's somewhere I have to go urgently. I would be back as soon as I can."

She nodded and closed her eyes.

"Please hold on for me Efya. Don't give up on yourself."

I whispered to her before fleeing the room.

I ran out of the hospital to my car and drove straight to the bar. I parked outside the bar, headed straight inside, and located the bartender.

He handed over the flash drive without fuss.

I ran to my car, got my laptop, and played the video. It was just as I feared. The guys I hired put Efya in that condition. I couldn't finish watching the video before I shut my laptop.

Many thoughts filtered through my mind, and I finally settled on the strongest. It's all Tade's fault. He shouldn't have gone near my cousin. He shouldn't have at all. That bitch of a man! How did I miss the signs? It was happening right under my nose and I didn't know.

I shouldn't have gone to the extreme, I should have called it off when Olabisi suggested I do. I went too far. It all still boils down to Tade. He caused this and he has to pay.

I didn't think my plan through at all, those girls were innocent. If Tade had not approached them, they wouldn't be in a relationship with him at all.

Someone has to pay and the price is on Tade. I made a decision there and then.

I sighed and picked up my phone on the seat beside me. I called the number that usually calls me to tell me about the flash drive.

It rang for a while and I was silently praying that someone would answer it. My prayers were answered, and I heard the masculine voice I was almost used to hearing over the phone.

"Hello."

"Hello. It's me, Olabisi's friend. I want to call off the last job."

"Madam, are you sure? We don't give refunds you know?"

"It doesn't matter. I have another job for you and I am willing to pay double the price. I want it done today."

"No problem at all. Just drop the details with the bartender that gives you the flash drives along with the payment and consider it done. What do you want us to do?"

"I want you to break my husband's back. I want to render his legs useless. Keep him alive please, he has to be alive. I would drop the payment along with his details and location in about an hour."

"That's fine by us. As soon as we have confirmed the payment, we would set to work."

"Thanks so much for your availability. I have one request please."

"Yes, what is it?"

"Make him suffer for a long time. I want a flash drive too."

"It's settled, madam. You would hear from us soon. Enjoy the rest of your day.

" He clicked off.

I sat in the car weeping for a few minutes. I wiped my tears, braced, myself, and drove myself to the bank to make another withdrawal.

On my way back to the bar, I called Tade to confirm he would be at home all through the day. Since I couldn't take his words seriously, I called Funsho, our gateman to notify me tactically if Tade decides to go out. That being done, i made my way back to the bar with four million naira in a paper bag. I sought out the bartender and gave him the money.

I wrote down our house address, attached it with a picture of Tade and the architectural design of our home. I made certain to write it down in my note that we had a gateman that should be left unharmed.

I handed the note over to the bartender and made my way back to the hospital to be with Efya.

I was by her bed all through while she slept.

I sat by her bed for hours, my guilt was eating me up.

Efya was the innocent party in all this. I have made a costly mistake, one without restitution.