STOLEN PARADISE

CHAPTER THIRTY- FIVE

Good morning everyone😊😚. It has been really long without coming to update this precious book.  I am back and hopefully for a very long while. Here is another chapter for you💖💗💖.

Thank you so much for your patience, especially @asa_nwa. God bless you dear for checking on me and encouraging me to update. Life is indeed unpredictable and I surely didn't see myself not updating since April. Thank you all once again.

Enjoy😊.

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FLASHBACK (TWO MONTHS AGO)

"Someone is here to see you Sir," Antonio's Secretary said through the phone.

"Bring them in." Antonio ordered.

About a minute later, a man opened the door without knocking. Confusion hit Antonio's mind as he tried to figure out where he knew the man from.

The man seemed to be in his late thirties, wore a rather crooked smile an arrogant look for a client and had an A3 brown envelope on him.

Antonio's memory was refreshed almost immediately. This was the rapist he put behind bars seven years ago. His sentence ended the previous December holidays but why would the idiot come to his office a year later?

"Surprised to see me Mr. Lawyer?" The man asked with a conniving smile on his face.

"What are you doing in my office?" Antonio shouted.

"Calm down. I came to congratulate you on your wedding because I missed it last year. I hope you will invite me to your upcoming one year anniversary." The ex-convict replied and sat down across Antonio.

"You haven't answered my question yet, Mr. Clement Johnson!"

Clement laughed out loud and said, "Wow, you even remembered my full name." Suddenly, his facial expression changed and he looked really agonized.

"I can't get a job since I came out, thanks to you that added a new title to my profile and made my face a household memorabilia."

Antonio was still confused. Why does Clement look so calm, arrogant and in charge? What does he have up his sleeve?

"You did this to yourself," Antonio replied harshly.

Clement waved his left hand as if dismissing all he said.

"I need money Mr. Lawyer and you will help me to get it."

It was Antonio's turn to laugh out loud. Clement could not understand what was happening but allowed him to calm down and speak his mind.

"You had a degree in Engineering but you threw that away when you assaulted, robbed and raped an innocent woman in her own home."

Clement became upset but kept his calm. He knew what brought him there and will accomplish it before leaving.

"Dream on Clement. I will not give you a dime!"

Clement opened the envelope he was carrying, too out some photographs inside ad laid them before Antonio.

"You can buy them and they cost 1 Million Naira. I'm sure that's just peanuts for you."

Antonio became furious. The photos had compromising and damning evidence against him with Sharon. This man had been stalking him for very long, but the pictures were taken recently.

"You want to blackmail me?"

"My friend, it is called, adultery. I wonder what your pretty wife would say when she sees them."

"Leave my wife out of this you pervert!"

Clement got up and said, "I'll keep in touch and leave these copies with you. The originals as well as the memory card are with me. In fact, I have numerous copies and will be waiting for your call. My number is behind one of the photos." He left without another word. Antonio stood up and began to pace around his office. How was he supposed to get out of this mess? How could he have been so careless?

Antonio never called Clement, he did not pay the money demanded and now, he was about to pay a heftier price.

PRESENTLY...

Antonio's phone began to ring, bringing him back to the situation at hand. He was driving home and thoughts of the ex-convict's threats and evidence bombarded his mind. He stopped the car at a bus stop to answer the call. It was an unknown caller.

"I let her in on your stupidity, Mr. Lawyer. I called Funmilola and told her that you were at Sharon's place but even before that, she already guessed where you were at. See ya soon." The line went dead. Antonio's hands rested on the steering wheel as he began to seethe in anger. All the plans and preparation for their First Year Anniversary at the church the next day. They were supposed to give a testimony about how God brought them closer together, especially his wife's beautiful soul. His family and friends will be so disappointed.

He had gone to Sharon's house to tell her it was completely over and then, one thing led to the other. When he finally realized what was going on, he woke up next to Sharon in her house, on her bed. He had cursed and shouted, the calmed down.

He tried calling Funmi's phone again but it was still off.

Meanwhile, Funmi was home packing a few of her things to take with her so she could leave and be alone to think. But which hotel can she lodge in without her being recognized? She decided to go to her house. She closed the luggage and was about to leave when her eyes caught Antonio's work briefcase. She felt pulled towards it and rushed to it and it opened. No crazy locking combinations? The first thing she was a brown envelope. She opened it and saw more evidence of Antonio's infidelity. They were the photographs given to him by Clement. Tears ran down her face at the evidence of her husband's affair. The tears fell in torrents as she opened her handbag and placed the envelope there.

As she got downstairs, Antonio was just rushing in. The despondent and doleful look on his wife's face stopped him in his tracks.

"Funmi, please forgive me. Please, let me explain. I am sorry." Funmi said nothing as he walked towards her and stood before her.

"I promise I went there to end things because she kept bothering me. I just wanted to tell her face to face so that my message could be clear but one thing led to the other."
Funmi responded by giving him a hot slap across his face.

"Stay away from me you jerk!"

H grabbed her hand and pulled her into a hug. "Forgive me Funmi." She broke away from him and slapped him harder.

"I trusted you! You were the first and only man that I gave my entire self to and you treated me with so much disrespect. What you did on the eve of our anniversary shows that you don't value me. I loved you from my heart and with my entire being, even before your pretended change in character."

"I'm sorry," he wailed like a child.

"What is it about Sharon that kept pushing you back to her?" She walked away from him, dragging her luggage behind her.

"Tomorrow is a big day. The church and our parents will be waiting. Please, don't do this." He pleaded.
"It has always been about you, well Antonio, I don't care anymore! I will not stand in front of God and my family and pretend for the second time that all is well. I am sorry Antonio, I did it once and look where it has brought me. No." She shook her head and rushed out of the house.

Antonio crashed on a sofa and began to weep all over again. He has lost his wife, for good.