Heir Apparent: A Nigerian Story.

XLIII

Amjad's POV.

We find Abba seated in his living room, casually watching tv.
"Ah, you arrived earlier than I thought" he says with the widest smile.

Rayyan, Huda and I just stood staring at him.
"It's been a while" Huda says smiling as she sits across him.

"Yes it has, I haven't seen my daughter in law in a while. Hope Amjad has been taking care of you?"
She smiles "He has"

"Can we please talk?" I ask.
He nods "I'll get food brought to you two" he tells them as he led me in.

We enter his bedroom and close the door.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Was the first thing I asked.

He smiles "I did, you found out, didn't you?"
"You could have saved us time, which we obviously don't have"

He nods "I'm aware"
"We could sort this out together"

He smiles sadly "No we can't, you have people who help you with that and I do too. You have a method and I do too. Your method is safer than my method and as long as we're doing this 'together' then both you and your wife aren't safe"

"And you're using the method? Everything I'm doing isn't just to keep Huda and I safe, I'm trying to keep you safe as well. Just let me handle this"

He smiles "You're alot like me. I'm not entirely sure whether that's a good thing but I'm proud"

I rest my hands on his shoulder "You have to trust me, I'll keep us all safe"
He nods "I have no doubt that you can but it's my job as your father to keep you safe"

I groan, getting annoyed "And I'm just supposed to sit and watch?"
He shakes his head "No, you have a wife to protect, she can't protect herself"

I huff.
There's no point, he'll never listen to me anyway.
"Where is the teacher?"

"She's in the guest room"
I stare at him.
"Guest room? You mean the room in your dungeon?"

He shrugs "She came to me, asking me to protect her".
I look at him suspiciously "And you just agreed?" I laugh "You're not really a kind and generous man, did she make an offer?"

He bursts out laughing "You know me so well, I'm not sure I can hide anything from you. Anyway she had information but she also kept asking for your wife"

"Okay, I'll take Huda there"
He nods.

I open the door about to walk out, I turn and look at him "You always refer to her as my wife, she has a name"

"Yes, she does and she's your wife" he smiles charmingly.
I chuckle.

::

Immediately after I saw them embrace each other I let them have their moment but it's been a while so I went back.

I saw them seated, still talking.
"Are two good?"

Huda raises her head smiling "Yes, sorry we took so much of your time"
I shake my head "No that's fine"

She turns to her "Bella, this is my husband, Amjad"
She smiles at me "it's an honor to finally meet the esteemed Amjad Hammad"

I smile "You as well but we have a lot to discuss"

She nods.
I sit across them.

"A few weeks after you returned from home and you were informed about the Emperor's plans to make—"
She stays quiet and looks at Huda nervously "I don't think I should tell you"

"Why not?"
"Not stopping Masoud and telling Najib got them both killed. If anything happens to you I don't know what I would do"

Huda smiles "At this point if the things we know didn't kill us then I doubt this would"
She looks at her hesitantly before turning to me, I nod.

"Okay" she takes a deep breath "Anyway—"

Flashback.

Bella's POV.

It was around 10pm when I heard knocks on my door. But seeing Masoud instead of any of the palace workers surprised me. I wasn't expecting to see him, especially so late at night.

He looked frightened and gloomy.
He hurriedly came in and closed the door.

"Masoud? What are you doing here?"

He huffs and sits on the couch "I didn't know who to talk to"
I nod sitting next to him "Calm down and tell me what happened. Did you and Najib argue again?"

He shakes his head "That's worse"
"Tell me"
"I heard my aid talking on the phone"
"Your aid?" I ask confusedly.

"Yes, we were all appointed aids to help us around the palace"

I nod "So what was he saying?"
"He was talking about a way to oust us all, I mean Najib, Huda, Rauda and I. I can't let them do that"

I was shaking already with fear but I knew I couldn't just sit by "We have to find out who it is as secretly as possible, I know someone—"
"—No I'll get someone to investigate it" he says cutting me off.

"No. I know someone more trustworthy, he'll never talk no matter what"
"If you get too involved it might get messy"

"And I won't let you do it alone"
He clasp my hands "Please, I'll handle it swiftly"

I was hesitant but he seemed desperate to take care of it himself so I agreed "But you have to update me on everything"

He smiles "Of course".

End Of Flashback.

"Time to time we met by the lake to talk while waiting for answers"

She sniffles "On the night of his death he asked me to meet him by the lake. When I arrived there all of you were with him, but Rauda left first and then Najib. You two talked for a while before you hugged him and left. At that point seeing all of you together made me happy, that things between you had finally changed for the better, I was ecstatic so immediately you left I walked up to him but the moment I saw his face I knew there was a problem"

I could see tears welling up in the eyes of both women.

"He told me that his aid had found out about his plans earlier that day. That he knew he heard him talking on the phone and that they might already be planning to take him out. He told me that he had managed to find out that the Emperor was very ill, he had little time left and they were planning to oust you all at once, make it seem like the four of you died in a crash, that way people would believe it".

At this point Huda was already crying profusely.

Cont'd next chapter.

::