"Boss wants to see me; I will go see him then" said Shanty. Jude stared at her and sighed. "What?" she was asking.
"You want to go and see him? Remember what you were to him. I know my boss; he will try to move at you, not caring about my feelings" said Jude.
"Let me ask you then; what if he tries to make advances at me, are you going to stand up for me or you will watch while he have his way at me?" she was asking and he kept staring at her. "Speak to me" she was waiting for an answer.
"Don't put me in a situation whereby I will be stuck and unable to fathom what to do. But you are who you are and I'm who I am; you are free to go anytime but what I'm involved in is complicated and one can't just walk away from it because they want. I am not regretting being part of this organization because it saved me when I was almost dying. Charles came through for me and saved my life. The street was already about to swallow me up but he came through and helped me out of the mess I was already into. You see, Shanty, a time comes in a man's life when he, no matter how much he tries to deny it he won't hide the fact that some people saw to his lifting. He saw to my lifting and I'm not going to repay him back by being rude"
"Being rude? Are you saying you are going to leave me to him if he asks for me?" she asked. He didn't want to be caught up by her clever questions but instead he held her hands and said, "Shanty, you are someone I had never thought would come my way but you came and so many things changed, my approach to life became different and it seems I see clearer now, that life can be something else, not necessarily or entirely what I have always been thought to accept about life" He said this to the excitement of Shanty who felt important by his utterances. She smiled and held his hands tighter and said, "No man has been able to see what you see. I will go and answer your boss"
******
Ken had just returned from dispatching his mother's corpse having killed her that night. He locked the door and sank on the seat in the sitting room and there he sobbed to his fill. There was a knock on the door and he sprang up. It was an ungodly hour and he could not imagine anyone coming to his place at that time. He stood up and drew his pistol. When he spoke to get the identity of the one outside one of his men spoke and he opened the door. To his shock it was Charles standing there. He quickly welcomed him into the house and he sat down.
"I'm sorry boss, I wasn't expecting you" said Ken. Charles could see he was trying to hide his eyes for he had been sobbing. He did not want to beat around the bush for he knew all the truth.
"Where did you dumb her body?" Charles asked and Ken looked up. "Tell me" he asked again.
"The bridge" Ken just said.
"Very well, the boys will take care of it properly. You on the other hand have to handle things more carefully now, get yourself together and do not put so much heavy load in your heart. I can understand"
"Thank you so much boss" said Ken.
"No, I should thank you, for being loyal to the family, I should thank you" Charles then stood up and Ken saw him outside.
*****
Shanty was waiting for Charles in his office and when Charles entered he looked sideways and then sat opposite her. She greeted him and he looked at her for a while before he spoke. "You are Shanty?" he asked and she nodded. "Tell me then; what did you find out?" she wasn't sure what he meant. "You know who I am?" he asked. She didn't understand what he meant and so she responded, "You are Charles Sir, owner of this company"
"No, that's not what I meant; I mean do you know who I am?" he asked further and this time Shanty understood what he meant, where he was driving at.
"Boss" she said and didn't know what to add.
"Good, you know, Jude must have told you everything; he is careless enough these with you around him. He loves you?" he asked and she didn't know what to answer. "Listen to me Shanty, you were brought into my basement to make me happy but I didn't want you and your kind and I had you all dismissed. You see you are here and seated with me; it's not everyone I give that privilege and because I have given you that privilege you should know already that I'm interested in you; not to have you as a girlfriend but that I'm interested because someone in my family is interested. You will be much more careful these days. You will know things that you are allowed to know; the ones you are not allowed to know you don't need to dig deep to know them. You hear what I said?" he asked and she nodded and added ,"boss" "Good. You can go" he dismissed her but then found out she was not ready to go yet.
"He speaks of how you helped him" she said and he looked at her. "He sounded like he was never going to betray your trust in him and I would rather die than getting him to turn against you. I don't want to turn against you or the family because I know I can't. I just feel if I could be of use in the family I would be so happy. I don't mind getting trained by Jude or anyone else if you think he doing it by himself would distract him or myself" when Shanty said this the boss stood up and walked outside and shortly he reappeared and handed a pistol to her. She hesitated before she collected it.
"That gun is loaded and it is silenced, which means if you fire the sound from it will not leave this room. I have decided and I do not go back on my words; you have one options to choose in these two options I'm going to lay down before you; you will shoot me on the arm or I shoot you on the arm. You choose" Shanty didn't think she heard him right.
"Boss?" she called.
"You heard me Shante or Shanty, you have two minutes to decide. If you shoot me on the arm you will still be part of us and if you shoot yourself you will still be part of us but if there is no shooting from you there won't be any joining us. Go ahead and decide. The clock starts to tick" Shanty didn't know what to do. Here is where her fate is to be decided and she had to decide quickly if she hoped to be part of what Jude was part of; his family. She stood up and cocked the pistol and pointed the gun at his arm but suddenly she brought it to her own arm, with her eyes covered tightly she fired the pistol but to her surprise there was nothing. She opened her eyes and looked at her arm and saw that there was nothing in the pistol; it wasn't loaded after all. She looked at Charles and wondered what he was up to. Charles then stood up and said to her, "You may go. Give me the pistol" She handed it over to him and wondered what was on his mind; was he angry with her, disappointed with her or regretful of her? She could not tell. She moved out of the office and headed straight to the other side of the office where she met with Jude as he was coming in with some men. Jude stopped to greet her before he entered Charles office.
"You sent for me boss" he said.
"Yes I did, you can have her placed under your care but be rest assured that we have rules and those rules will not bend for anyone, not even me. Are we on the same page?" He asked and Jude saluted him. "And Jude, about Ken, leave him to me from now on" he the sat. Jude didn't think he understood what he meant by that.
"Sir?" he called and Charles looked up.
"What?" asked Charles.
"I didn't get you" said Jude.
"What is there not to get? I said leave him to me; it means he is no longer under you, he now answers to me directly" said Charles.
"Sir but that places him equal with me?" said Jude.
"Are there not those are equal with you in this organization, those who report to me directly just as you do; are they not supposed to be there as well and if Ken has risen to that rank is he not permitted to take that honor, or don't you think he deserves it?" Charles was saying. Jude saluted him and walked out without a word. At this point Charles was irritated but he refused to show it.
Veronica and Anita having sorted out their differences Veronica was visited by Anita and she said to Veronica, "It's high time you listened to the boss. He has bug plans for you and he intends to make sure you are well grounded in the things that matter most in this world which knowing the secrets of power, riches and influence. I am bigger than what you think and that's why I'm asking you to come to me and be like me"
"What do you mean bigger?" asked Veronica.
"Would you believe if I told you I had the number of the president of this country and that I can speak with him as if I'm speaking with a random person? If you would not believe me then watch and see this" She brought out her phone and dialed a number then the president picked to the shock of Veronica who recognised that voice to be that of the president. They were discussing until she hung up.
"If you want power move with people that has power. Alone you are dead or worse. You need to know that Charles runs this city and most cities you would be shocked to know" Anita was done and Veronica sighed and said, "I'm scared"
"Scared of what?" Anita asked.
"Scared of hurting myself" said Veronica.
"Hurting yourself? I do not get you" said Anita.
"I am not more afraid of death than I am of heartbreak. Boss loves me and he says he loves me, now I don't know how true it is but I think he is not lying. I just...I just don't feel secured accepting a man as him to be my man. Can he not kill me if he suspects that I might be cheating on him? Is he not violent enough to end my life on a slightest provocation and how sure am I that he will not find another some day and decides to discard me?" Veronica said.
"Ever since I joined this family I have never seen or heard the boss talk about a lady or how much he loves that lady. You should know better by now that sometimes it takes so much more than just a word to convince someone of your loyalty or love but time reveals everything. Boss is a very dangerous man, a One Man Squad and such people as him can also be very caring if it comes to love life. You should give him a chance and you won't regret that you did" said Anita.