Red Lace

Chapter 53

NICHUME SIPHOSETHU MNGUNI

Adeyemi called to say that he was on his way to the mansion, I think he's been avoiding me. Its been over hours since they were taken from me and its been hell. Yes, I blame him but for the sake of peace and what dad had said I will try and look past everything and just try and make things work. I believe that if it weren't for this life then my children would still be in my arms, if it weren't for his father and shady dealings then we wouldn't be here, we wouldn't be fighting a dead Cathrine Phiri right now and her son. I decide to head to the dungeons to visit his sister before he gets here.
"May I see her?" I ask the guard and he shakes his head no.
"We were given strict instructions that nobody visits her," He explains.
"I am Nichume Mnguni, Adeyemi's girlfriend and I am asking you to let me see her or should I call the Prince and let him know that you are denying me?" I threaten with hopes that I am convincing in my act. He thinks for a second.
"Fine. You can only have 10 minutes with her," He warns holding up ten fingers. I roll my eyes and wait for him to open the door for me.
I walk in and the room has a single light in the middle, its nothing like the dungeons where they train girls how to pleasure men. This one looks like a cell for a prisoner. There's a mattress on the corner, a bucket to pee in another corner. The walls are a dark depressing grey and the environment itself is not the kind you would want to find yourself in. There are some writings on the walls, there are also scratches on these same walls which look like they were made with ones fingers. Just being in this place is giving me the chills. I feel terrible for her, she is sitting face down on the mattress with her knees up and her face buried in her knees.
"Adae," I greet. I think she was not expecting to see me let alone hear my voice. She looks up with both shock and fright.
"Nichume, what are you doing here?" She asks still hugging her legs but a bit more relaxed, the shock in her voice is audible enough despite how hard she tries to pretend unfazed.
"I just want to know why, I want to understand. Were you and Brianna working together? Is this a mission gone wrong? Where did she take my babies to? Why my babies? I mean, I've been trying to understand what level of anger would lead you to try and take my children away from their mother and I keep coming up short with nothing because I don't understand." I say and by now tears are rolling down my cheeks, "Maybe you don't have children but you have siblings which I would like to assume you care about more than anything in this world, imagine how you would feel if someone snatched them away from you," I ask hoping to appeal to her humanly side or whatever conscious immortals have but I'm clearly failing because she is silent and she is not looking at me. "ANSWER ME DAMMIT!" I demand and her eyes shoot up at me.
"I wish I had an answer for you, I really do but I don't have one. I have no reason for going after your children either than anger and hurt. The betrayal from my father cut deep," she says and I chuckle.
"I hope you know and understand how Adeyemi felt when your father chose you as his successor and not him, Adaego the problem here is clearly your father. Can't you see that he is pitting you and your brother against each other? I don't know the kind of relationship you guys have with your father but its not healthy. No father does this to his children. A father does not go back to his word despite what you have done but I also want to assume that because he lost his wife recently, he's acting out and doing things unintentionally," I assume with a shrug. "I'm not here for a chat, I just want to know where my babies are" I plead.
"I don't know the girl that took them. She and I only met once or twice and even so it was because she is friends with my sister. Either than that she and I have no relationship and I have no idea where she took your twins, if I did, I would tell you. You don't deserve to be caught up in our family mess, in our family drama. You deserve better Nichume, you deserve a life away from these mansions and I hope that one day you see it," she says and then she hangs her head on her knees. I guess that means we are done.
"And I hope that you change your ways before you destroy all relations you have with your family,"

NTANDOYETHU BANDILE MNGUNI

Mom sent me the location of the where my sister gave birth, she told me how hurt and distraught Nichume is over her twins being abducted. She is a mess and I can only imagine what she must be going through. Nichume was ready to have those babies, she was excited and she would have done anything for her twins, the pain she must be in after having them taken away from her must be unbearable. I park my car outside the drive way and make my way inside the mansions when the door swings open and some young dark beauty shows up, I stop in my tracks giving her my undivided attention. She looks familiar no lie but I have no idea where I might know her from.
"Hi, I am Ntandoyethu but everyone calls me Yethu," I say holding out my hand to her, she looks at me and swallows before placing her soft hand into mine.
"Adelola Ibrahim, I am Adeyemi's little sister." She says and I smile.
"Nice to meet you, I am Nichume's triplet. How are you? You look a little familiar, do we know each other?" I ask her honestly and she chuckles.
"We go to the same university but I'm not expecting a rugby guy to notice me," she retorts.
I chuckle, "I wouldn't not notice someone as beautiful as you are Adelola. I'm here to see my sister, can you take me to her?" I ask and she smiles genuinely.
"Of course. Follow me,"

ADELOLA IBRAHIM

When mom told me that I was capable of doing a manipulation over a video call, I had my doubts. I didn't think it would be possible to manipulate Ntando who is resistant to manipulation over the phone but being with him right now, I see that it worked and I am happy it did but I am sad that I made him forget me and my existence in his life. I may be fake smiling with him and trying to be civil with him but lord knows it hurts. Deep down it hurts so badly that I put him here.
"Are you okay?" I decide to ask him, he stops in his tracks.
"Yeah, why?" he asks confused.
"I don't know how much you know about immortals, mistresses and stuff," I start off and he chuckles.
"Are you a mistress?" He asks, I raise and eyebrow, "My sisters told me about this place, I think," He says and I nod.
"I am a mistress and being a mistress, I have some kind of powers that will sometimes allow me to feel what the next person is feeling. You feel lost," I say and he looks at me.
"Yes, how do you know? Its like there's memories missing in my brain or someone missing in my life but I don't know who or what is missing. This morning I woke up feeling like this, its like I'm having some kind of amnesia except I don't know what I'm missing and its messing me up really badly," he explains and starts walking, I take that as cue to continue walking with him. I hate that I am the reason he is feeling the way he does and I want to undo what I did to him. Ntando should have a choice, he should be allowed to choose whether or not he wants this or not.
"Can I take you somewhere before you see your sister?" I ask him. I feel terrible and I want to undo my mess.
"Uhm, sure," he says uncertain. I take his hand and lead him to the empty hall. I sit us down.
"Can I help you with the lost time you are feeling?" I ask him and he shrugs his shoulders. I look him in the eyes and try to undo my manipulation. As soon as I am done its like a switch has just been switched on in his brain and now he is back. The way he is looking at me right now is a look I have never seen directed to me before.
"Is this who you are? Someone who messes with another person's life and go about your life as if nothing happened? I thought you were supposed to be different from the other mistresses but you are just like the people you claim to hate. You are every bit like your brother, at least he owned it. I sadly can't say the same about you, you are worse than him. Stay away from me Adelola, I never want to see you again," Yethu says and gets off the chair walking away from me.
"Ntando wait," I call out to him pleading but he doesn't flinch or turn to look at me and just walks out of the hall leaving me crying. Remind me again why the hell I even brought back his memories? It was never supposed to be like this. He was never supposed to hate me the way he does right now.

ADEYEMI PRINCE IBRAHIM

I walk into the mansions and make my way to see Shadow first, I will always feel terrible that he got caught up in my family's mess whilst protecting my children. I get inside the room and he's connected to machines and breathing with the help of a machine.
"How is he?" I ask his doctor who nods.
"He's getting there. The new organ should arrive tonight so that we can start with the transplant." He explains.
"Will he ever be the same after the transplant?" I ask him.
"You want to know if giving him an elder's organ will turn him into an immortal?" The doctor asks and I nod.
"Nope, it won't turn him into an immortal. Its just meant to heal him for what happened that's all. Remember he was stabbed using an immortal's blade, that damaged his liver badly and giving him an ordinary human's liver will not work in replacing his old one because that blade is lethal to mortals and was meant to work only on immortals. Shadow did not only loose an organ or lost a lot of blood but his life is hanging on a thread. If she had pushed a bit harder she could have killed him hence we have to replace his liver with that of an immortal and not some ordinary one. The clock is literally ticking on his life," doc explains and I nod and sit on the chair.
"And how long does he have before the rest of his organs shut down?" I ask.
"12 hours," The doc says, I let out a sad sigh. We were not the best of friends but if he died, Nichume would never forgive me.
"You do everything you need to do in order to save him okay? Make sure that he lives!" I say and then walk out to find Nichume. I find her in the bedroom with her mother. I greet them both.
"I'll give you two some space," Mihlali says and gets out of the room. I sit on the corner of the bed because the way Nichume is looking at me right now, Its not safe to sit beside her.
"How is the search going?" – "How are you holding up?" We both ask at the same time.
"You first," I say and she nods.
"How is the search going?" she asks.
"We are failing to find her and the twins. We have searched everywhere but to no luck. Right now, Kwanda is searching every bnb, hotel, motel nearby and the rest of her team is searching in places further. How are you holding up? How are the stitches?" I ask her.
"They hurt but its nothing the emotional pain I am feeling right now. I can't sleep not knowing whether my babies are okay or not, I can't eat, I can't do anything Adeyemi," she says and that breaks my heart because I feel the same way she does.
"I went to see your sister," she starts off. I raise an eyebrow.
"Your father pit you guys against each other and for you to punish her for what your father lead on is not right. Adae wouldn't have acted the way she did had your father been true to his word," she says and I shake my head.
"That's Adae's manipulation talking, that mistress assured us that you were not prone to manipulation more especially because you carried the twins. You are supposed to be resistant to manipulation," I say and she shoots me a look.
"Adae did not manipulate me! Your father is the reason things are the way they are right now between you and your sister. Maybe its his grief that led him to everything but you and your sister need to fix things," Nichume suggests and I shake my head no.
"Where do we stand?" I ask her and she lets out a breath annoyed.
"Adeyemi, this is not about you and I. You need to sort things out with Adae, you need to talk to her and find a way forward. You guys need to talk to your father and make him see how he is responsible for the way things are between you and Adae,"

To Be Continued – excuse any errors