Chapter 41

Greg was awoken by the sound of loud knocking on the front door. He cussed furiously as he rolled out of bed, promising himself to wring Jemimah’s neck the moment he opened the door to let her in. He’d warned her severally to stop waking him up with such loud noises and that she should always have her keys with her whenever she went out, yet she won’t listen. Now here he was, awake at such an ungodly hour because she had forgotten to take her key with her again.

By the time he got downstairs, he was so sure he would kill Jemimah because the noisy knocking persisted still. And where the hell is that stupid housekeeper when you need her? He wondered as his anger continued to build. When he unlocked the front door and threw it open with a formidable frown on his face, Greg did not expect to be staring into the barrel of a loaded gun.

“Where is she?” Dare asked without preamble. “Where is Tiara?”

Greg was terrified and confused at the same time. “Who?” He asked.

“Don’t play dumb with me, Greg,” Dare warned. “I’m only going to ask you one more time, and I’ll advise you to think very carefully before you answer because the wrong response might land you inside a body bag.”

It was then that Greg noticed that the billionaire wasn’t alone, he had been accompanied by a bunch of hefty looking men dressed like SWAT combatants in full military gear. All for what? Greg thought with mountain confusion. What the fuck is going on here? And where the hell is Jemimah?

“Where is Tiara?” Dare yelled at him.

“Please, calm down,” Greg pleaded with palms raised in surrender. “I don’t understand what’s going on here.”

“Answer the damn question!” Dare shouted, leveling the gun between Greg’s eyes.

Greg was becoming more and more terrified. This behavior was completely out of character for Dare. The few times that he’d been in contact with the billionaire, he’d always been cool, calm, and collected. This man standing in front of him with wild eyes and a loaded gun was a sharp contrast to the Dare he’d always known. What has Jemimah done? Greg wondered fearfully.

The SWAT-looking guys were fanning out around the house with weapons drawn, searching everywhere as they went. Their formation was impressive, and even Greg could appreciate their practiced movement even though he was in a scary situation at the moment.

“To be honest, Dare, I haven’t seen Tiara since that day at the restaurant,” he said sincerely. “But I can’t say the same for Jemimah,” he added quickly when he saw how the billionaire’s grip tightened around the gun.

“All clear!” One of the SWAT-ish guys said. This one appeared to be the leader of the team.

“Are you sure?” Dare asked him.

“Affirmative,” came the reply. “This man is the only occupant in the house.”

Dare returned his attention to Greg and lowered his gun. “Where is Jemimah?”

“She went out yesterday and hasn’t returned since. I thought she was the one knocking on the door earlier. She said she was going to see a client, and that’s all I know. I swear.”

“Did she tell you which client she was going to see?”

“No, but she left as soon as she received a phone call.”

“What time was that?”

Greg thought briefly before answering. “Around 7 p.m. or so. She left in a hurry.”

“That was the time of the kidnap,” the commando leader told Dare.

“Kidnap?” Greg was alarmed. “What kidnap? Who was kidnapped?”

“Tiara was kidnapped yesterday evening,” Dare informed him. “And I have a hunch that Jemimah had something to do with it. Now that I know that she left here around that same time yesterday, I am more than convinced that she’s behind the kidnapping. The timing is too accurate to be a coincidence.”

“Fuck!” Greg cussed in frustration. “I told her to leave the girl alone, but she wouldn’t listen. Now her vindictiveness is going to be our undoing.”

“We have to find her fast,” Dare said with a sense of urgency. “She’s the only one that knows where Tiara is, and the sooner we track down Jemimah, the better our chances of finding Tiara before she is harmed by her captors.”

“Right,” Greg agreed. “Let me get my phone and call her.”

He ran up the stairs to get his mobile phone from his bedroom, and he was back downstairs in a flash. He dialed Jemimah’s number and put the phone on speaker so that everyone in the room could hear the conversation when the matron finally answered the call.

“Answer the damn call,” Greg said to his phone impatiently as the call went unanswered. He dialed again and again until the call was finally answered on his fourth try with an angry “What?” from the other end.

“Jemimah, where the hell are you?” Greg shouted. The fact that his business and probably his whole life was about to be turned upside down by this fuck was doing his head in.

“Did you call me to shout at me?” Jemimah asked angrily. There seemed to be some male voices murmuring in her background.

“Ok, sorry I yelled,” Greg apologized quickly. He didn’t want to upset her and not get the information he needed from her. “Where are you? Are you ok?”

His show of concern seemed to do the trick for her because her voice softened when she spoke again. “Aww, Greggy boo. Thanks for checking up on me, darling. I’m ok. Just here relaxing with Michael and Chude. I know you don’t like them, but these boys are bad,” she said and giggled like a little girl.

From the way she slurred her words, Greg could tell that she was high on drugs and booze, and he wasn’t surprised. Those man whores that she was hanging out with were some of their street runners, and despite all of his warnings to her to stay away from them, she had continued to mess with them and consume products from them that aren’t usually accounted for.

Greg changed tactics. “Aren’t you a selfish little rabbit? Why are you having a good time without me? Where you at?”

“Protea,” she said and laughed when one of the guys with her said something inaudible. “The one in Lekki 1. Get here fast. I’ll tell Chude to leave since he’s the one you like the least. We’re in Room 204. Hurry,” she said and hung up.

“Let’s move,” the commando leader said with an air of authority.

Everyone scurried to obey, except Dare who took one more look around the house before stepping outside. In another hour or so, it would be daylight and he hadn’t still found his Tiara.

I’m coming, baby, he thought fiercely. I’m coming to set you free.