Chapter 21 CHAPTER 21
More deals
Ayisha hummed some random tune, deliberately loud, as she paced the living room. She was trying to distract herself, but the truth was that she too felt the sting of Mariam’s betrayal. Still, unlike Tessa, she carried it with humor, with mockery, with laughter that cut through grief.
Tessa flinched. Her heart leapt. She dropped the spoon she had been holding in the kitchen, her eyes suddenly wide and desperate.
“Lady Bianca?” she whispered.
For a moment, Tessa froze, her hand gripping the door frame. Then, slowly, she let the hope drain out of her body.
“Good morning,” Lady Bianca said smoothly, her voice as sharp as glass.
Ayisha pushed past Tessa, arms folded, chin lifted. “What do you want?”
Lady Bianca stepped into the room as though she owned the very ground. The scent of her expensive perfume filled the apartment, too rich for the tiny space, suffocating.
She turned her gaze toward Tessa, then to Ayisha, then back again. “I came to make an offer,” she said.
Tessa’s lips parted, but no words came out. Her knees buckled, and she lowered herself onto the floor, her back against the wall. The tears she had been holding back slipped free, tracing down her cheeks.
“You want us gone,” Ayisha said flatly.
Lady Bianca nodded once. “Yes. For everyone’s good. Name your price.”
Tessa let out a broken laugh through her tears. “Price? You think money will buy away what you’ve done to me? My children…”
She clutched her chest, shaking her head violently. Her voice cracked as she whispered, “You can take everything, Bianca, but you’ll never take them from my heart.”
Ayisha, on the other hand, was calm, deliberate. She walked to the couch and sat down, crossing one leg over the other with a slow grace.
“You heard her,” she said, smirking faintly. “We want a four bedroom stand-alone home, lavishly furnished. And two exotic cars. That’s the price.”
Lady Bianca’s perfectly arched brows shot up. “You must be joking. That’s ridiculous.”
Ayisha leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “No, Lady Bianca. What’s ridiculous is you walking in here thinking you can shoo us away with scraps. Tessa may be soft hearted, but me? I’m not. You want us gone, you pay the price. Otherwise…” She shrugged, letting the silence stretch. “We’ll stay. Right here. And you’ll deal with it.”
The two women locked eyes. A battle without swords or fists, only willpower.
Lady Bianca’s lips tightened. “At least the house must be in another city,” she countered, voice icy.
Ayisha’s laugh was sharp, mocking. “No. We’re not running anywhere. In fact, we’re not even interested in living in that house. We’ll rent it out, make profit. That’s our business, not yours.”
The older woman’s nostrils flared. Tessa, still seated on the floor, buried her face in her hands. This was spinning out of control, and yet she couldn’t find the strength to stop it.
Finally, Lady Bianca straightened her spine. “Fine,” she said coldly. “You’ll get what you’re asking for. The documents and keys will be delivered. But don’t think this means anything more. When you leave this place, you leave it for good. I don’t ever want to see you again.”
Ayisha’s smile was pure triumph. “Good. But everything must go through our lawyer. Legal, clean, no tricks. You understand?”
Lady Bianca’s jaw clenched, but she gave a curt nod. “Of course.”
Then she turned and walked out, leaving the faint trail of her perfume behind.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Tessa raised her tear streaked face to Ayisha, her lips trembling. “Why… why are you doing this? I don’t care about houses, or cars, or money. I want my children. I’m not leaving this city without them.”
Ayisha knelt beside her, her hands firm on Tessa’s shoulders. “Listen to me,” she said, her voice steady. “I know. I know what you want. But trust me, Tess. Trust me to handle this. We can’t fight them head on. We need power, we need leverage. That’s what I’m building for us.”
“But my children…”
“We’ll get them back. One step at a time.”
The days that followed were heavy with waiting. Tessa drifted through them like a ghost, her face pale, her laughter gone. She spent most mornings by the window, staring at the street below, hoping to see her children’s faces among strangers. Nights were worse—long, restless, filled with muffled sobs into her pillow.
Ayisha, however, was the opposite. She busied herself with plans, phone calls, endless pacing. She kept reminding Tessa, “Hold on. Just a little longer.”
And then, one bright afternoon, the knock came again.
This time, it was Lady Bianca with two men in suits. She carried herself like always, proud and untouchable, but there was a stiffness in her eyes.
“The documents. The car keys. Everything you demanded,” she said, her voice clipped.
The lawyer was already there, sitting with Ayisha and Tessa at the table. Together, they went through every page, every signature, every seal of approval. Ayisha’s eyes gleamed with satisfaction as she signed. Tessa signed too, her hands trembling, tears splashing the paper.
When it was done, Lady Bianca gathered her purse and stood. Her gaze swept over them one final time.
“I don’t want to ever see either of you again,” she said coldly.
Then she turned and left, her heels clicking like gunshots against the floor.
For a moment, the apartment was silent. And then Ayisha threw her arms into the air, spinning in wild circles.
“We did it!” she shouted, laughing, twirling like a child. “We actually did it! Tess, we’re set for life!”
But Tessa didn’t move. She sat at the table, staring at the keys in her hand, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Her voice was a whisper, broken and raw.
“I don’t want houses. I don’t want cars. I just want my kids.”
Ayisha stopped mid dance, staring at her friend with quiet seriousness.
“We’ll get them,” she said softly. “Trust me.”
But Tessa only lowered her head and cried harder, clutching the keys as if they were chains instead of treasures.