A Need To Act Fast
Hannah was just coming downstairs and she overhead and watched Owens asked the question. It shocked her, completely.
“Grandpa, it’s merely a coincidence…. I met their mum just few weeks ago. How do you expect us to have kids in such a short notice?” Mark countered.
“No! That’s a lie”. Stoic replied immediately and then turned to Owens “Dad and mum first met six years ago at a nightclub house and it was then and there they had sexual intercourse which resulted to us! Mum doesn’t remember because she is suffering from a memory loss. But Dad remembers that night!” Stoic detailed, his voice as taut as a wire.
“Forget it… She is not the lady from that night!..” Mark retorted shouting.
“Will you just get out already!” He added, he seemed enrange that this little brats are actually being interrogative and gut filled.
“How then did my mum got possession of the Silver ring?” Stoic questioned, with a smirk.
“Thought about that?” He added as Mark is thrown into thoughts.
As if struck dumb with astonishment and surprise Mark spoke softly without vibration of his vocal cords, after all he can’t avoid to shout when it’s about something that can ruin him completely.
‘Keep quiet… Don’t let anyone hear that…..! And probably, she bought the ring’. Mark looked around to be sure no one was around to be listening.
“If you deny it again. We’ll expose you… We know how important the silver ring with the initials K. O carved on it… We’ll keep you covered if you just accept to be our Father” Legacy spoke, supporting his brother with his manipulative abilities.
Mark’s eyebrows drew together. “How did you little brats?’?” his voice was gripping. His slim fingers tightened convulsively around the phone he was holding. “Blackmailing me huh?”
“Choose wisely!” Legacy answered him with firm determination. They were here to even the score find out what happened to their mum but, now they were doing something else.
With Marks fingers knotting in the trousers he whispered with so much strength “Don’t.”
Hatred for this truth burned in his throat like unshed tears. He had held back, and by not saying what he knew-that this kids are undoubtedly his-made him complicit in his silence. And now, having dropped the truth with the weight of a crushing boulder. He is short of words.
If information got out that the silver ring was not in his possession, it’d be catastrophic. For the past six years, he had inclined to secrecy the whereabouts of the silver ring.
“The ring? The silver ring? In Diana’s possession? Damn it… No wonder I couldn’t find it” Hannah bit hard on her lips and clenched her fist, from where she was eaves dropping.
“Do you agree?” Legacy pressed in.
Mark shivered a little but nodded, still staring numbly at him.
Drop dead silence enveloped the room at once..
‘”I have always knew the silver ring was not with you, son! It’s obvious the kids are telling the truth! A DNA paternity test can confirm that!’ Owens finally broke the silence that enveloped the whole room, he strode forward as he spoke.
Mark initially thought if Owens learnt about this, he would be infuriated but surprisingly he wasn’t. Mark looked at him, not knowing what he might say next, but dreading it.
‘Goddamnit! If the DNA paternity test is done. Our plan will be ruined. I need to act fast’ Hannah slammed into angry thoughts. Afterwards, she stopped the video recording she was doing and tip toed back upstair not wanting to be noticed.
“Welcome Daddy!” Stoic and Legacy said excitedly as they rushed and threw themselves at Mark who responsively embraced them.
The next moment, a fury of footstep was heard. It was Richarlison. He pushed open the door and when he got closer he saluted and spoke “The intruder is highly skilled, Sir. We caught sight of him but he managed to escape, Sir, he wore a mask and now our tracking team are on his trail sir!”
“Make sure you get him!” Owen’s roared into live. For the first time, he is actually putting his mouth into the matter. His tone had a strange urgency.
“Check the CCTV footage .. check his flexibility skills, he must be someone who have been and had served here in the military base, to be able to come and leave at will… we may find a clue to get to him!”
“Sir, Yes Sir!” Richarlison, standing at an attention, freed himself and left, navigating his iPad.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.
“Go back to your mum and take good care of her… we’ll discuss more when I come to check up on her ….” Mark ordered and walked out. He was now feeling like not himself anymore.
Mercy is a condition of agreement…. indeed.
He had come to a conclusion that he’d perform a DNA paternity test to confirm he is actually the childrens father and of course, relayed to the kids. He feared if he didn’t come to the kids terms, it may cause problems for him.
Owens went to meet Mark at the lounge he suspected Mark must must have went, just a hundred metres from the sitting room, and when he got there he asked Mark two simple questions after a heavy sigh.
“Why do you think, their mum is not the lady from that night? Isn’t she the lady I met you kissing last night?”
Mark wondered and then opened up..
“Firstly, Her ex husband was here few days ago claiming custody of the kids and yes, she is the lady from last night….. I felt it last night”
***********
Mark was having a board meeting as regards to the decrease in fuel subsidy which was drastically affecting the Jake’s oil company – then he heard the sharp two-tone beep that signaled that a text message had just arrived on his cell phone. The phone itself ought to be silent, but it wasn’t. The meeting was already close to an end, and immediately it ended, he picked up his phone and saw that the message was from Hannah – not exactly a message, it was a video –
He flipped the phone open and scrolled hastily down to the text that accompanied the video “What’s the next move?” It read.
Jake watched the video over and over again to be sure it was not edited and now Jake has learnt everything when he watched the video Hannah had sent him.
He has learnt that the silver ring is in Diana’s possession, and the president general entertaining to carry out a DNA paternity test on his children…
“Funny dude….. Really? Mark is always fond of taking what’s rightfully mine and when I’m done with him…. He won’t dare to, in his next life!” Jake said, smiled in evil and closed his tab.
Meanwhile, Stoic and Legacy were back home with their healing mum. They narrated the ordeal to their sister Jennifer while an army medical attended to their mum.
Hannah’s phone beeped with a message. She checked it and it read “Make the President General hate Diana at all cost. Be it by framing. We need to get her out of the picture.”