Talk To Me

35. Who is the victim?

"Cherry, it's...lovely to see you again," Wale ventured, sounding about as convincing as a broken record.

Cherry sat across from him, arms crossed in a stance that screamed, "I'm not buying it."

"I really mean will Cherry."

"Oh, drop the act! You didn't even notice me while you sprinted over to your beloved," she shot back, rolling her eyes so hard they almost circled back to yesterday.

Wale sighed. "Look, I hadn't seen him in a while, okay? You've got to understand—it's just my concern for him, considering the danger and all..." Cherry, completely unmoved, looked at him like he'd just offered her a stale cracker. This wasn't getting him anywhere, so he cut to the chase. "Anyway, what do you need? I care about you and the baby, you know."

She scoffed. "Oh, please. My parents—whom, by the way, you've also thoroughly offended by running off with another man—are taking good care of us. I didn't come here to ask for anything. I want Kind to drop the charges against my sister. If you care about the baby, convince him. My sister doesn't belong in jail; she was blackmailed by your even so charming uncle, so if anyone's to blame, it's all you!"

Wale leaned back, marveling at this new side of Cherry. Had she always been this...boldly conniving? Had he been blinded by nostalgia? "Kind's the victim here, Cherry. You don't know the state we found him in: drugged and hallucinating. Your sister told her buddies not to feed him or give him water."

Cherry looked affronted. "Lie! Kind is spinning a tale. She fed him for the first four days until your dear uncle skipped out on his part of the deal. Do you honestly think she'd risk losing her leverage? And yet here you are, defending Kind to me—your fiancée, the mother of your child! We were together for a decade, Wale! Ten years, and you choose him over me?"

She glared, a smirk of disbelief crossing her face. "You play innocent, but didn't you drug him before too? If anything happens to my sister, I'll bring every little dirty deed you've done to Kind out into the open, so don't even try to play the innocent card here."

"Fine, fine, you've got a point; I've wronged him too," Wale conceded, holding his hands up. "But listen, your sister's...not exactly thinking of you. She's only keeping you close because she needs you. The minute I walked into the police station, all she wanted was to see if my uncle could help her skip town. Did you even know she's been here all along?"

Cherry's face twisted. "That's exactly why I want her out of custody, Wale! I haven't seen her in years. I finally get to see her, and it's through iron bars! She may have made a few poor choices, but she was protecting me. Your uncle is the one who kept sending threats, demanding information about you, and I confided everything in her. She made sure the threats stopped, even from afar."

"By picking up where you left off!" Wale countered. "Cherry, you risked everything by blabbing to her, but thankfully, Todo's mother was three steps ahead. Otherwise, we'd have never caught my uncle. Cherry, I'm sorry if I hurt you, but our time together wasn't a waste. We shared good times. I meant it every time I said I loved you, even if I ended up frustrating you along the way."

"Oh, you're telling me!" Cherry laughed bitterly, wiping away a tear. "Every time I turned around, you were asking Kind what to get me for birthdays or anniversaries. You always came back with two gifts! Even when I practically begged him to make you propose, he went along with it, and I fell for it like a fool. Only to find out he's been rolling around with his lover in the best suite in the villa! How can you be so blind, Wale? Does Kind have some magical hold on everyone? Is it his looks? Because apparently, even Swalha's fallen for him since collage. How could you pick another man over me? Do you know how humiliating this is?"

Wale noted with a smirk that Cherry's words almost mirrored what her sister had said when Todo's mother first confined her. Cherry was practically reciting her sister's grievances at this point, making her a ripe target for manipulation. Being pregnant and desperate didn't help, either. Debating further would be like arguing with a brick wall, yet he couldn't shake the concern he still held for her.

"Cherry, I'm sorry, but your sister is beyond my reach—and Kind's. She's mixed up in too many of my uncle's crimes. Even if she somehow slinks out of this, Todo's mother is determined to keep them both locked up for good."

"Wait...that was Todo's mother?" Cherry blinked in shock, her bravado fading. "I thought she was his no-nonsense nanny. She's terrifying!"

Wale stifled a chuckle, watching her shift uncomfortably. "Yes, she's the real deal. Trust me, you don't want to be on her bad side. And believe me, even if your sister hadn't confessed, Todo's mother was already steps ahead. Your sister won't be seeing the outside of a cell anytime soon."

Cherry stopped sniffling and gazed at the floor, quiet for the first time since entering the room. After a long pause, she finally asked, "Can I see Kind?"

Wale immediately shook his head. "Bad idea. We still don't know what happened to him. Your sister left instructions to have him...violated if she didn't return, and they injected him with some nasty stuff. Todo was the one who found him—bare and abandoned. Whoever did this ran off when they heard Todo's team coming. They later confessed they were following your sister's orders."

Cherry looked up, guilt and hurt mixing in her expression. "Fine, then. I'm sorry for everything my sister's done. My parents warned me to stay out of this, but I thought I could help her after all she's done for me. I guess...I was wrong."

Wale raised a skeptical brow. "Or maybe she's just an addict stringing you along. She's pulling the family loyalty card, Cherry."

Cherry's face lit up with a flash of determination. "Then she should be in rehab, not prison!"

"Cherry," Wale sighed, "her rap sheet is a bit more... diverse than you think. Todo's mother is personally invested in keeping her locked up, and she's got plenty of dirt to ensure that."

Cherry slumped, realizing she had lost the fight. Resigned, she stood, brushing herself off. "Alright. I have no reason to stay any longer."

Wale got up as well. "I'll take you home. It's late, and I wouldn't want to keep you out here."

Cherry glanced back with a smirk. "Then invite me to stay over. I'm pregnant, emotionally volatile, and might just do something drastic—you wouldn't want that on your conscience, would you?"