Veronica sat with Ken and watched the recorded video of when Edu was collecting some money from him and Rose and accepted not to have anything to do with her any longer. She sighed after she was done watching it and spoke to him.
"I know how it feels, to have something like this working against me, he didn't even have a sense of remorse, never really cared about me. It is saddening though, it is really saddening" Veronica was saying and Ken could feel her pain.
"What do you want to do then?" asked Ken.
"I don't know. I am broken in my spirit now and all I want to do is to be left alone" she said this and Ken stood up and left her.
*******
Jude and Shanty had decided to relocate to another village since they already begun to sense they were being hunted.
"Ken must have taken orders from boss to eliminate us. It is really saddening that things are happening the way they are happening. Meanwhile I know now that it takes our courage to be able to escape what is coming to us" said Jude. Shanty didn't say a word but just touched his face and smiled.
"I feel better now" he said and she smiled even brighter. "You sure you can continue with me?" asked Jude.
"If I said no where would I be heading to an alone? You and I are being hunted by the team and they are not only looking for you but for the both of us. You can't possibly think I am going to leave you because of this, hell I'm also being hunted" said Shanty and Jude forced a smile and help her on both shoulders with both hands.
"I thank you so much for loving me" said Jude.
"And I thank you so much for standing by my side all these while. It gives me so much joy seeing that you are standing here with me in this times. You were actually sent to kill me but you didn't because you love me and I can't doubt that love. You rejected your family, your cut off the bond you shared with them because of me, because you wanted to be here with me. I so much appreciate it and I love you still and always"
"I love you too my queen" he said and she smiled. She had never heard him call her such names and now that he did she couldn't stop desiring to hear it again.
"I know that there are times when I misbehave and all you want to do at that moment is to throw me off the road, to fend for myself but you see there is nothing anyone can do about it. It is left for you to understand that I can't handle it, just loving you, I can't handle it. I so much love you" Shanty confessed.
Days passed and they kept eluding the men that came at them. Once Jude was able to capture one of the men and he confessed that it was Ken who was sending them to kill him.
"Ken sends you after me under the order of the boss" he said and the man wasn't sure if he asked him a question or not. Go back to then and let them know you were not able to kill me. I am not against the organization, I simply want to live a normal life" said Jude.
"But you know the rules sir and nobody, not even the boss can change the rules. You found this woman and all of a sudden you have turned your back on your family. Doesn't that mean you never were for us?" asked the man that Jude had apprehended, the man that had come to kill them.
"My family is where I find peace. Boss wanted her dead because he felt threatened not because he saw me do anything to jeopardize the family business. I don't have anything to say with you. You have to go back" finalised Jude and the man want away.
Days passed and Veronica having had to think deeply about her life decided she was no longer going to continue with the life she had found herself in. At first she had had his notion that Charles was not going to let her go just like that but on a second thought Charles surprised her when he stood from his desk one afternoon and sighed, paced infront of her before he said, "You know Veronica you came to this city a poor girl, a girl who wanted the best for herself and it was your friend who introduced you to me and made me take you in. You made me feel so happy with you when you decided to go ahead and do what you did, by going to make that betrayal of a partner in business pay for killing Anita. You did great and that is why I had also decided to keep you close and make you family. It seems you have alot to settle with yourself and I have been pushing you really hard. It is your life and I am not going to make you feel so ashamed of yourself. You are going to need all the time you can get, you are going to need all the time you think you need and actually do need. You go home Veronica. I have decided to let you be. You can travel to the village if you will find comfort there. You can always return whenever you feel like it. I am always here to welcome you with open arms by the time you return. Okay?" When he had finished Veronica went to her house in the city and cried. Rose was there to comfort her.
"You are in love. I was in love and I always felt if I was given the room to decide I would still want him to stay alive, if not for me but for my kid Abel. I know without being told that my daughter is sure going to be like him. I so much will do my best to ensure everything goes well. There is nothing anyone could have done about it. You on the other hand have made up your mind and you have always insisted that you decide what you want. Boss has given you the liberty to choose and this time it is different from other times when he had to give you your freedom only to monitor you. You have proven to him that you are with us in this family and that is what he so much appreciates. I would advise you visit the village. Have your rest over there and then return to be the best you want to be and that is also if you will ever want to return. it is all up to you"
Veronica left the city two days after and Charles was informed. He did not know what to say but kept mute inside his room after he had dropped the phone, having been informed of her departure by Ken. Ken on the other hand left the company to his house and when he opened his door he met Rose in his cloth and she was cooking. He smiled and entered, closing the door behind him.
"Where have you been?" she asked while moving towards him.
"I have been at work and today was so hectic" he said and sat down.
"Come on in and take your shower after which you will eat your dinner. You need to rest.
The next day Veronica began to pack her things..She was actually preparing to head back to the village. When she had packed her things and there was nothing else for her to pack she sat down and began to think about herself. She thought for a long time and then suddenly she stood up and began to walk up and down the room. Having watched the video of when Edu did what he did she felt he never loved her.
'If he ever loved me the way he always said he did he would not have collected that money. What we shared was beyond money, was beyond anything but clearly that was only to me but not to him for he was never in love with me as much as I was in love with him. This doesn't move me though because I am certain it has happened the way it is supposed to happen" She sat down again and sighed. She was going to leave everything behind and go back to the village same way she left it. She was sure if she did and if her uncle found out she had returned to poverty he was going to make sure he chased her out of her father's compound once again. She decided she was not going to let that hinder her from following her heart which was to head back home. That evening she had just finished packing her things and the next day she was gone from the city.
Charles was seated inside his office and for a while he felt something had left him. He picked his phone and dialed her number but she was not picking. He then sent Rose to go to her house and see what happened. Rose went there and returned to inform him that Veronica was gone.
"She left already Sir" she said.
"Okay" he just answered while trying so hard to hide the fact that he was pained by that news. She watched him and thought it wise to say something to him, atleast to try to calm him down.
"I know she will come back Boss, I know" she put in. Charles looked up at her face and said, "You know, sit first" Rose then sat down, facing him inside the office. Charles continued, "You see my dear I have done some things in the past and most of the things I have done I have not had the time to think about. I knew that a time would come when I must be forced to reflect on the decisions that i made, I knew it and it was almost as if there was never going to be a time for me to be free. Veronica left with a part of me and I am stuck here knowing that it will never be the same again for me. She...I don't know how to explain her but she changed something about me, something about how I think and act and the way she made me feel i could do just anything to have her make me feel that way always. I guess I did not deserve such a soul who understands loyalty as much as I do, fighting to honor the lady that brought her to the city. I so much appreciate her for she have thought me quite alot" When he had stopped for a while Rose sat there not saying a word. "Atleast say something Rose" he asked.
"Boss, I don't know what to say. I mean I have always been a psycho and it never went down well with me in the days when I had to go for what I wanted and took those things not minding how others felt about my actions. As long as I got what I wanted it did not matter who gets hurt. Veronica's presence actually taught me alot you know. She was, she was different, someone that just couldn't change for anything. Not even the betrayal from the one she loved could make her worse. She just wanted to be loved and to love and also to be free from anything that hurts others. Makes me wonder if Jude was doing the same with Shanty?"
"No, Jude wasn't doing same with Shanty. Jude and Shanty are trying to expose the company and see all of us to jail and that is more reason he and that lady have to die" Said Charles.