AT LAST

Linda breathed heavily as she sat down watching. Frank, her brother-in-law, stood babbling loudly so that the occupiers in the whole mansion could hear him. He was banning out his intestine.

"A pauper will always be a pauper," he coined arrogantly. "You impoverished brat wishes to reap from where you never plow..." He added scowling "...that won't be, whether you're the only benefactor to his will or not. But one thing is that I will make you pay. You will regret making him ever authorize your name as his only benefactor to the will. You won't even have the energy to drag my brother's properties with me," he rambled precisely.

Linda gazed at the ugly grin on his face. She detected hatred and resentment as usual, before she took her face from him.

She blinked her brows in anger as her system couldn't stomach the insults ranted on her. She shook her head rapidly as she decided to respond to him.

"An empty barrel makes the loudest sound. This was your attitude that impelled your brother to will his properties to me, if you have any issues to formulate. You can go and meet him to complain," Linda retorted as she shrugged, looking sideways and ignored him hitherward.

The grin on his face tightened into humiliation. To cover up his shame, he smirked mischievously. His body shuddered as if pains were traded into his body. It hurt his ego and personality. He saw Linda as a nonentity and her retorting after his words was a dent to his image which made him boiled in anger.

He wanted to hurt her by slapping or forcing her down until she begged him but he certainly knew he couldn't just do all that because of her crazy friends.

"We shall know who will go and meet him between the two of us, you contaminated pig!" He yelled with an evil grin and grinned at her. That was one thing he could do right away. Then he stormed out.

Frank had never failed daily to lambast Linda for five months after the death of her husband who happened to be his elder brother. But Linda had been too mourning to ever respond to him, but until some minutes ago. She always allowed his tirades.

Hot tears swooped from her eyes. The reflection of her husband's portrayal engulfed her head and she riled.

"Richard, why have you failed in your vow to be there with me in every one of my trials?" she bewailed.

Her two personal maids walked up to her. Their faces were both welled with tears.

"Linda, you need to take it easy," Bee, one of her maids with a blonde and cute petite face said as she coiled to sit beside her.

She gently rubbed her shoulder as Linda sniffed.

Bee, as they always called her, was from one of the down countryside. Her full name was Benita George. She was the most respected and matured out of all Linda's maids.

Linda glanced at both of them and a pinching sob slipped out of her mouth.

"Thank you," she finally said to both of them as she pulled them to her in a warm embrace and they sobbed together.

Moment later, her phone buzzed. Sluggishly, she picked it up.

"Hey, girlfriend!" Sofia, one of her best friends, mumbled through the phone.

Linda gently wiped her tears, she didn't want her friend to notice her bad evening.

"Hi, Softie girl," she replied in a murmur.

"Your voice sounds jaunt, are you alright?" Sofia said concerned and Linda knew out of all her friends, Sofia could be a mood catcher.

She breathed in just to calm her nerves. She didn't want her to know about her sober mood.

"We are about to cruise the city right now, get ready in fifteen minutes, or else, we will drag your ass out," Sofia decoded jovially and Linda knew what might be on her mind but she definitely wasn't in the mood to go anywhere.

"I am not interested," she rejected.

"Whether you like it or not, get your ass down or you will be the spark for tonight," Sofia insisted, scoffing over the phone.

"Why aren't you going?" Bee asked as Linda dropped the phone beside her.

Linda turned her teary eyes at her and gazed at her, "I am not in the mood," she replied, her voice low and sullen.

"You certainly are in the mood. Do you know why we all like you more than the rest?" Bee asked calmly as her brows tightened.

Linda knew why Bee asked but she never replied.

Bee knew she intended not to reply to her but she answered on her behalf anyway.

"It is because you are stronger than the rest. You amass an aura that gives you strength regardless of what you face. So, you need to get up and mingle with the rest and even the dead will smile at what you're becoming,"

With her maids persisting intensified, Linda agreed.

However,.she agreed not without promising to get them ice creams.

Those two maids were just like sisters to her. But they would never admit it.

They preferred a boss to maid relationship rather than being called sisters.

Ten minutes later, Linda stepped down the stairs to meet the stares of her maids.

"She is so stunning ' Ashley said chuckling

"Woah!" Bee mumbled in awe, walked to her abd held her hands, "You're stunning, Linda," she said.

"Stop flattering, I am in my mourning period," Linda said, sadly.

Her maids gazed at each other and scoffed.

"Mourning?!" Ashley exclaimed as if she was shocked to hear that, "Linda, oh forget your mourning," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Be happy, dear boss. And smile," Bee tickled her waist.

Linda chuckled out until she burst into a forced laughter.

Linda was extremely beautiful, with tall slim stature, natural long black hair that reached her upper hip, slender tender legs, and a beautiful chiseled carved face.

Her beauty had hooked Richard Logan, her dead husband to her.

Richard's parents had forbidden the relationship. They despised Linda with passion. Especially Mrs. Logan, she was just thick in their relationship. She desired a wealthy lady for her first son which wasn't Linda.

Richard was adamant fighting for her.

His dad disowned him. He never cared but made a vow to her that he would be there with her in every one of her trials because he knew Linda had no one being an orphan who once lived with her aunt who was a poor widow.

Unfortunately, her aunty also died some months after their marriage.

They had wedded within a month they met. It was just them and a few friends.

Linda accepted her maids to lead her to the door. As they got to the door, they heard the car hoot of her friends.

As they opened the door, they found out that her crazy friends had put on five car lights that could blind anyone even in daylight...

Upon seeing the entrance door being opened, Linda crazy pals hopped out of their cars at the same moment and catwalked toward where Linda and her maids stood while wiggling their asses seductively.

They dressed gorgeously and sumptuously.

"We show up to cart away our friend," Diane declared as she stood facing Bee.

"Woah! You look gorgeous, those maids of yours got some capability. May I buy one and get one free?" Matthias mumbled, her cheek lifted in a probably.

"Well, before you can buy, I have already paid for Bee," Florence chimed jovially, shrugging.

Bee scowled, drafting her eyes through and for, from Matthais to Florence.

Watching those wealthy ladies fight for her, she didn't think she would ever agree to live in anyone's house except Linda's. Those snazzy friends would suffocate her with their craziness and attitudes.

"It is Bee I need," Matthias insisted, facing Florence.

"Even if you quarrel from morning till night, those ladies you perceive as maids, are sisters, so they are going nowhere," Linda admitted.

Bee and Ashley glanced at each other and giggled.

"I am the one who orchestrates today's outing, But you people arrive here to chatter about maids," Sofia pouted, feigning anger.

"Care like you never crave for one, we all know you," Diane decided to spice the atmosphere.

"If you ignite any babble, you know what I am capable of!" Sofia snapped, feeling hurt.

"Your craziness isn't half of mine!" Diane retorted.

"Are you people here to invite me out or you come here to exhibit your craziness?!" Linda yelled with an air of authority.

Abruptly, those who were quarreling softened down.

Linda had been the only matured one out of the six. The others were termed "The crazy five"

They admired Linda for her maturity.

It wasn't that Linda wasn't crazy, but she got threshold. She could be crazy and still have the patient.

If Linda's friends had learned about the daily loquacity of Frank, they would have dealt with him.

She didn't want family dilemmas.

Only Linda had an impoverished experience.

Her friends were from affluent setting.

They were all amberted except Linda

She is a widower, same as being single without a living spouse.

And they were all career women.

Diane was a top notch model.

Sofia was a medical doctor. She owned her own private hospital.

Florence was a musician. A prevalent one.

Matthias was a CEO of a fashion garden, a collusion of fashion houses and magazines.

Pauline was a judge.

They were all in their early twenty.

Brilliant, smart, gorgeous, ambitious, outspoken, beautiful, wealthy and powerful.

They all jointly inaugurated a club for ladies called the sweet twenty club.

The club was a global ranking and outstanding NGO for twenty years plus old ladies.

They funded them in training, gave them a career or appointed them. The alumni of the club donated yearly as auxiliary capital to run it.

Linda was the administrative general of the club. She ran it. She had 50% shares in the club. While the others had 10% each.

The club global ranking was as a result of Linda's competence.

That was the rationale that inspired her husband to willed her his companies and properties.

His brother would only defraud all his sweat over the years, he had thought.

Moments later, they drove into the Broadway club.

Restricted, for only billionaires.

They drove into the parking lot, everyone in her own car.

In slow motion, they put on their eye shades at the same time. They stepped out at once as if they had rehearsed together.

They gazed at the surroundings in a rehearsal mood and then turned to Sofia.

She nodded. They grabbed their handbags from the cars and glimpsed at their cars as they all stepped away in unison and walked majestically in unison into the Broadway's club structure.

Men are dripping saliva.

"Woah, those beautiful and hottest babes!"

"Can I have their numbers!"

"Diana, will you marry me?"

"Linda is my babe!"

"I must have one of them!"

"I am ready to give them the whole world just to have one of them!"

Just some tables away from the entrance door, a burly figure sat watching.

Ethan overheard the other men as they slobbered over the sweet twenty ladies.

He had heard about them and had encountered two or three of them.

This was the first time he would be catching a glimpse of them concurrently.

Acknowledged, they were stunning.

But he had orifices on Linda.

She was the kind of lady he yearned for.

He had investigated about her. He comprehended everything about her. Even the one she wasn't conscious of.

He would explain to her everything himself at the precise time for him.

But for now, all he wished for was to create a moment for her to fall for him. He had made a mistake in the past on her which regret and would like to correct.

He didn't need to force her. The first time he did it to a lady, his heart was shattered into pieces.

All Rose cared for was to be called a queen. He had been carried away by her beauty and charm.

He was arbitrary by love to detect the other side of her demeanor.

She had abandoned him to marry another royal prince, whom she pressed him to make her acquainted with on the royal day, the festivity of royal families and had broken him to pieces without a goodbye.

The sweet twenty ladies seated around a table assigned to them.

A burly bar man walked to them and they ordered what they wanted.

They have unison taste.

They started guessing one another about what had happened at their various workplaces.

"Prince, you have been itching to date Linda, this is your best chance to attempt your luck," Eric , Ethan's assistant whispered into his ears.

Ethan shook his head.

"You don't understand, those snazzy friends of hers, I don't wish for their craziness," he explained.

"Oh...okay," Eric muttered, continuing to stare at them as their table was some space from them.

The bloom of music growled higher.

The ladies stood up to dance and twitch their asses except Linda and Sophia.

Ethan excused himself to go to the gents

The barman arrived with the ladies' order.

He plopped it open for them and was pouring it in their various wine cups. His eyes dashed to the half unearthed boobs of Matthias, flirting out upon her blue shirt. He forgot that he was pouring the liquid into Linda's glass.

The liquid overflowed and spilled into Linda's pink flower gown.

Sofia stood and bestowed him a fluttering slap.

Every eye was on them.

And the word "ooh!" shattered across the large hall, even the music couldn't stop those who were sitting far from them not to hear the ugly sound of the slap.

"Is your perception so blind to see that the liquid has already overflowed?" Sofia harshly yelled at him.

"Pardon me," the bar man spat shamefully, shivering as he realized what occurred.

"If you know how exorbitant that dress cost, you won't say pardon me!" Matthias yelled at him.

"I caught him peeping at your boobs. He wasn't paying attention when the liquor spilled over," Sofia explained.

Matthias sauntered to him and gave him a resounding slap.

"You! peeping at my boob? with your stinky eyes?" she shrieked and then burst into an annoying laughter.

"Pardon me," he mumbled again with a jerking voice.

Matthias sent another resounding slap across his face again.

She wanted to kick him when Linda halted her.

"Stop! Do you need to eliminate him for peeping at your boobs?" Linda intervened as she stood up.

There was laughter all over the club.

"Just let him go," Linda added and Matthias obeyed as she backed away with a scowled grin at the barman.

"Give me a minute," Linda said to her friends and then walked toward the ladies to tidy her stained dress.

Then she shoved into someone...

Linda shoved into someone

She was about to stumble when the man's hands prevented her from collapsing.

The familiar cologne sniffed into her nostrils.

She lurched back and stared at his familiar face. His crimson eyes reminded her of her past.

"Asher!" She blurted.

"See who we have here. You just ran away from me. All I heard was that you have married some billionaire." he smirked mysteriously

"Skip the yore! I am not the Linda you once comprehended," she confessed as she struggled to be bold. She stepped away from him, her body dripping of sweat and fear.

Slowly, Asher clapped his hand mysteriously, showing off his teeth, pacing in front of her and laughing. His ugly face turned more ugly. There were scars over his face, hidden by a blue facecap.

"I can detect that you are no more than an intimidating baby girl. You are now upscale. Every time I observed your face on the TV, I said to myself, this little girl has grown up rapidly... But one thing is that nothing will ever snatch you away from me. You will remain my babe girl... forever," he said as he clasped her to the wall, pinning her with his body.

"I missed you so badly," he whispered into her right ear as he bit her.

"Ouch! Leave me!" Linda wailed, struggling to free herself. But he was so dominant. His lips licked her ear roughly.

Suddenly, he halted and then attempted to kiss her directly on her lip, but she winced it. However, he kissed her neck instead.

His hand released a hard hit against her cheek and she groaned in pain. He thrusted his tongue into her open mouth. so her outcries wouldn't be heard.

She shut her mouth irritatedly and spat saliva into his mouth just as he forced his tongue into her open mouth.

He tasted her saliva then booted her by her stomach, making her wailed more. Blood surged out from her mouth.

He thrusted his tongue further into her throat, making her sunken her mouth for him.

As he deepened the kiss, she shut her eyes, wishing she could have the strength to kill him. He was her past, a past she ran away from and she did fear that her past could come back to haunt her.

He moved his hands over to her boobs, wrigglibg both steady, making her moaned. A smile flashed over his face. He knew that he knew how to handle her and make her moan. He cowered her body with his body so that there was no breath between them.

After so much of mouth salivating, he extracted his lip from her.

"Woah! Your mouth still taste the same. Still the sweet eighteen I once tasted. How I have missed all this?" he said, smirking wickedly.

Linda loosened her eyes to see a guy lifting a shaft up over Asher's head.

He whacked his head. He crumpled to the ground as blood surged from his head.

Asher groaned in pain while the guy yanked Linda away from him.

"Why force her, when she doesn't want to?" the new guy said, disgusting.

"Are you not the fella from the gent, you will pay for this!" Asher yelled. He searched for his rifle over his trouser but found none.

The guy laughed. He pulled out Asher's rifle from his own pocket.

"Is this not the rifle you are searching for?" the guy asked, smirking.

Asher grinned wickedly at the guy.

"How do you get that? You... Your face looks familiar, " Asher said, striving to recollect.

"Asher, I know you very well. Next time you ever strike Linda's path, count yourself dead!" the guy threatened. His eyes sparked crimson red.

Then he left, ushering Linda back to the bar. Her friends had been fussing about her returning.

The guy moved to his table after ushering Linda to her table.

The expression on her friends' faces reflected that they comprehended who he was.

Linda slumped down on her seat. Her friends observed the blood by the corner of her mouth.

"Linda , what resulted in blood on your mouth?" Sofia asserted.

"It is nothing," Linda snapped as she tried to remain steady.

Catching sight of Asher after two years was provoking a past memory which she had preferred to forget forever.

"Linda, you are acting weird, you left for the ladies to scour off the mess the barman did to your gown and you came back without rinsing the mess. Even your face were swallowing... tell us what went wrong." Florence asked anxiously.

"I am okay, I will let you know at the right time," Linda said as she swiveled around to peep at the guy who salvaged her. But his table was unoccupied. He and his assistant had left.

"Linda, a reasonable explanation please. We know we are the only one you got after your husband's death. We had vowed to strut by you," Diane assured her.

"Asher was here!" Linda said amidst tears.

"Asher!" they shrieked stunned in unison.

"Let's understand this, we can't discuss this here. Let's move to my suite. And Linda, you will confide in us how Asher gets here and how you and the prince met and came out together, right?" Sofia asked and everyone agreed.

"Her bruise?" Florence asked.

"No query, I have a first aid kit in my car," Sofia replied.

They guided Linda to Sofia's suite and Sofia pertained the first aid to Linda's injury.

Moment later, they all sat down waiting for Linda to enunciate.

"You all know about Asher and me?" Linda began and they all nodded.

She confided to them what transpired and at the end they were bubbled with outrage.

"I have advised you to let plop that criminal into bars where he belongs,* Pauline spurned in outrage.

"And the Prince salvaged you? Woah, it is romantic just like in movies!" Diane said amusingly

"It is true, the Prince may have some feelings for you. I learnt that he refused to marry the lady the king chose for him. He explained that he had already seen someone he wished to marry," Matthias declared.

"Although the prince is charming, there is much turmoil surrounding the royal families," Florence churned, shrugging her shoulders.

"Linda, we will make it inevitable that Asher goes behind bars," Pauline assured.

"Can I order anything for you?" Sofia asked everyone.

"Yes!" Pauline said, stretching up her hand.

"Miss foodie, persist until you are fatter than a rock," Diana said, grinning wickedly.

"Not everyone is like you. Don't eat and someone will slice you into two," Pauline refuted in a mockery.

The others laughed not minding Linda was nervous.

When Linda drove home it was almost midnight.

Her maids had fretted, waiting for her.

Immediately, she drove in, they approached to welcome her.

They heated her bath and prepared her favorite food.

She was just dwelling like a queen without picking a needle.

The maids were those she pulled from the street.

They had equipped under the sweet twenty club.

All of them had graduated with recommendations.

Some had decided to go back to school. While some concluded that they woukd survive with their works.

The club had supported millions of ladies.

Some didn't possess families and desired accommodations and were provided for.

Linda laid In the bed. The reflection of what transpired at the bar appeared back to her.

What was Asher doing in a billionaire's bar?

Asher she remembered wasn't that comfortable in cash.

Did he come in with a rich lady?

No, she was sure that in the bar, she and her friends were the only females. Not even female workers

Her phone buzzed. She was bewildered.

She examined the caller.

"PAT!" she examined an official name on her screen.

Who could have contacted her by this time with a name PAT? She marveled.