Chapter 2 The betrayal and the explosion

"What deed?" Tessy asks.

"Beheading him and sending it in a water bag to my apartment."

"Oh shit"

"That is what they said to me."

"Men like Dare cannot be trusted," Tessy says

"And what are you driving at with that statement?" I frown.

"I'm just saying that maybe he got into shitty business with those shady men, that's why they're demanding money from him."

"Tessy, you've always had a personal distrust for Dare. love and trust Dare, he wouldn't get involved in anything that would get me into trouble."

I exhale. "I shouldn't have involved you in this."

"You can't be serious, Maria, I'm your best friend. Okay, I'm sorry about what I said earlier."

We end the discussion with a credit alert I receive from Tessy after much begging and wailing.

That night I dropped the money in a black bag at the location they sent to me. I drive home slowly. As I lay on the floor of my bedroom, I realize that had just sold everything, all my savings were gone and 80% of my inheritance from my father's property was also gone. All because of Dare, my lover.

Truly the same night, Dare shows up in my apartment. He staggers into the room with bruises all over his body. He has a mini brown bag on his shoulders, the favourite that I gifted him. We both have a wonderful time together. It feels as if it's the first time after a thousand years. Those idiots left me depressed and craving his touch for days.

"Who are those people and what do they want from you?" I ask him

"We'll get to the end of this," he says as his eyes become teary. "Thank you, my love. I'm sorry for putting you through all of this."

I say nothing and interrupt him with a kiss.

"Go and have a warm bath, I'll prepare something for us to eat, you must be hungry."

I watch Dare walk into the bathroom to have his bath. I enter the kitchen and think about what to prepare for him. After much deliberation, I decided to microwave the sauce I had in my refrigerator and make some spaghetti.

I watch as the heat melts the spaghetti and it makes a hissing sound. I think about what had transpired in my life, in just three days, I had nothing left with me. No money and heavy debt, on my head. I had been carrying Dare on my shoulders for years now. Balancing all his financial needs and now we had nothing. How would we survive?

I sob quietly.

I hear a faint and consistent sound of Dare's ringtone from the room. I rush to Dare's bag to give him his phone. Something drops out of the bag, it's an envelope. I open it and see a wedding invitation letter, a smug smile appears on my pink lips. It would have been the happiest day of my life if it was my name written on the invitation card next to Dare's.

I become breathless and my cheeks flush pink.

I quickly dig my hands into the bag to check the remaining content.

I impatiently tumble the bag upside down. A pile of papers and a gun drops on the floor.

I fall to the floor and my breath seizes. The temperature of the room drops. It's as if oxygen had been sucked out of the room.

I summoned the courage to read through the other papers on the floor. It's all transaction papers, six million, six million...

It all made sense now. I had been set up by my lover.

Dare never wanted to get married to me, how foolish of me it was to think that. The man I've been dating for five years duped me and tried to elope with another woman.

I pull my hair and scream like a banshee. I pace around the room, shaking my head like a mad person. I try to fight the reality, that I had been betrayed by my boyfriend.

Dare rushes out of the bathroom with his towel wrapped around his waist.

He looks at the papers and his jaw drops.

"Baby I can explain, it's not what you think." He stutters.

"Shut up, you bloody bastard!" I pick up the gun and point it at him.

"Babe, you don't want to do this," he says

His words spill out like a mountain of streams after the rain.

I can smell something burning, it is spaghetti. But I don't care at that moment. My head is hot and my heart is shattered.

Her hands become wet and slippery as I point the gun toward him. I can feel myself losing grip of the gun.

I'm startled by the banging sound from my front door. The sound is loud and aggressive and it almost deafens our ears. The banging sound becomes persistent and it makes Dare and I frightened. Dare places his finger on his lips signifying me to keep my mouth shut.

"What do you mean?" I ask as I'm darting my eyes, my hands shaking. Dare stands up slowly in a cautious manner. The sound becomes louder this time and I lose my grip. The gun falls flat to the floor. Dare rush from where he stood and grabs the gun before I can reach it.

"You bastard!" I yell as she pulls my hair in regret. Beads of sweat glisten on my forehead. My eyes become red and teary and I fight hard not to let it pour.

"Do it!"

"Shoot me if you have the mind you cheat"

"How shameless of you, Dare!"

"Keep your voice down please, we'll talk about this later."

"Talk about what? How do you dupe me, and plan to get married to another woman? Do you hate me so much, Dare?"

"I want all my money back, all of it" I stretch my hands towards him.

"I will explain everything to you, my love, it's not what you think."

We are so engrossed in our arguments that we even forgot that the banging on the door had stopped.

A choking smell fills the room, followed by a loud explosive sound.