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I'm back ! ,my peoples.
I don't have any thing to say, other than an inadequate "I'm sorry"
Buuuuuut, to make it up to you, this chapter is extra, extra long. So, I plead with you to accept my tiny winy  bribe😊.
Enjoy!

And don't forget to vote, comment and share this story with your friends, family, heck! even random strangers on the Street! 😃.

This chapter is dedicated to everyone who has stuck with this book from chapter one. I luh you, I luh you😘😍. yes,yes, even you @Tranquilcodifier 😒 , even after what you did.


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The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
-Seven sons.

Oblivious, like an insect before it is entrapped in the silk of the spiders web, Àdìo walked straight into Adéoba's ambush. The prince, after beating information about his rival out of Aríyíké, wasted no time in searching for the man. And then he waited, with several of his men. As he crouched behind a thick bush, his demented mind began to give excuses for his evil deeds , He began to comfort himself with the thought that he was doing Àwèlé a favor by ridding her of the pesky commoner who refused to let her be. Surely, she wouldn't choose a commoner over a prince if she were in her right mind.
Their target whistled and shifted his hoe on his shoulder as he walked through the path he had been taking since he was a young lad. To his surprise,  a group of men suddenly emerged from an inconspicuous bush, armed to the teeth and heavily built like warriors. By the time a leaner and more richly dressed man emerged from the same bush and waved his hand to signal an attack,  Àdìo was convinced that they were there for him. In a heartbeat, he swivelled mid-stride and took to his heels. But despite their bulk the men were faster. They caught up and overtook him easily, One grabbed the neck of his tunic while another swept his legs of the floor with a kick. Even though Àdìo wasn't a skilled fighter, he could hold his own in a brawl,  But his skills were useless against a team of hard trained men. After a lot of struggling and grunting, he was finally subdued.
Adéoba, who'd stayed out of the struggle's path swaggered towards them once Àdìo had been held down.
"Well, if it isn't Mr. Lover boy. In the flesh"
Àdìo was still struggling against the men holding him down.
"Who are you? What do you want?"
Adéoba laughed a sinister laugh that sent shivers down Àdìo's spine.
" You don't know me. But I know you. You're the commoner who has set his sights on what belongs to another"
"Wha-"
"Shut up and listen when I speak!" Adéoba spat. "Àwèlé is mine. She belongs to me, but you want to take her away from me. No one. No one, takes what is mine."
Àdìo laughed mockingly, "Has Àwèlé agreed to be yours? Or have you two come to any agreement? Judging by that look on your face, I'd say no. Àwèlé is not an object that belongs to someone.  Do you have nothing else to do? Is that  why you  are here, spewing trash to me?"
Adéoba's hands were clenched into fists by his sides. He ground his teeth together in anger and kicked Àdìo in the chest.
" You useless nobody! Àwèlé is mine! I don't care if she doesn't want to be mine. She already is!" He spat as Àdìo wheezed from his kick.
Adéoba rubbed a hand over his face and turned to his thugs. "Get him up"
The thugs did as they were told and held up Àdìo as Adéoba delivered savage punches and kicks to Àdìo's body.  When he was satisfied, he gestured to his thugs to let Àdìo down. Without the support of the thugs' hands, Àdìo crumpled into a pained heap at Adéoba's feet.
"If I see you with Àwèlé again..."
Adéoba began, but Àdìo cut in.
"You'd better carry out your threat now. Because I will not let Àwèlé go. We love each other. I will not let her fall into the hands of a man like you."
"Aaargh! " The Prince's anger had reached it's peak by then.
" I will kill you. I will cut off your useless head if you don't shut up this instant!."
Àdìo laughed, a wheezy affair that bubbled out of his aching chest.
"Do your worst. Prince Adéoba"
Perhaps, the prince would have left Àdìo with a warning, we do not know. But as the prince realized that Àdìo knew who he was, the man's fate was sealed.
He turned to one of the men with him. " Give me your knife"
The man hesitated before handing his knife over, The prince hadn't told them that killing Àdìo was part of the agenda.
Àdìo took a deep breath and straightened his shoulders, he knew that the time of his death had come. But he would die like a man, unafraid to look his killer in the eyes. Adéoba stopped in front of his rival and smiled a smug smile. " I'm afraid Àdìo, but this is the end of the road for you. You are not worthy..."
Again,  Àdìo cut him short.
" Just get on with it. I do not want to die listening to the words of a fool"
The Prince's hand did not waver, they did not shake as he stabbed Àdìo one, two, three, four times. He did not blink or shudder when blood gushed out of Àdìo's mouth. Instead, he smiled as he let the blood coat his hands and his clothes. He revelled at the choked  sounds Àdìo was making.
Soon , and unexpectedly, Àdìo's body began to shut down, giving in to the pain. He turned his eyes to Adéoba and struggled to whisper "As olódùmarè still lives, you will suffer for what you have done" then, his eyes rolled back in their sockets and with a last shuddering breath. Àdìo's body stilled.
The prince frowned , he had hoped that Àdìo's pain would last longer. He instructed his men to get rid of the body where no one would find it and set off for the stream that joined Àdìo's village to his. He smiled as his men carted the corpse away , thinking of the first time he'd met Àwèlé at that same stream.
In the midst of his thinking and the men disposing the body, no one saw a person hiding behind a tree , melt back into the shadows, and run back to the village.

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As Olódùmarè would have it, Àwèlé decided to go to the stream on that same day. She was humming merrily and picking wild flowers when Àdìo was being killed in the next village. And she reached the stream just as Adéoba arrived there. As she bent to fill her pot, she wondered why Ajagunyè did not appear today, maybe the prince had finally decided to leave her alone. She smiled as she thought of how she would see Àdìo the next day. His sweet words never failed to make her smile. The sun had begun to set, so she lifted her water pot and turned to go home. Only to stumble back with a scream.
There the prince was, standing behind her with a manic smile in his face.
And drenched in fresh blood.

   Aaaaaaand we're done. *Sighs* i just love a cliffhanger. It makes me feel like I'm flying or something. Lol😝.
Ok, Àdìo is dead. ( A minute of silence for him😥)
And we don't know what gonna happen with Adéoba and Àwèlé in the next chapter 😋. If you have a clue or an inkling, comment and share it.
And don't forget  : if you liked this chapter. Please
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And make this couch potato smile.😘😇

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