Sinners and Saints II

Chapter 59

"Rise and shine princess!"

Rafael groaned loud to show his frustration, pulling his pillow from behind him and covering his eyes with them to stop the loud sound of Sam's whistle from disrupting his sleep. Tony opened the curtains as fast as he could so he could let sunlight in.

"How can someone sleep in such a dark room? Even if say na vampire." Victor walked up the tiny stairs leading to Rafael's bed. 

"And it reeks of alcohol too." Sam placed his hand over his nose, kicking the empty bottle of alcohol away from his way. "Are you really now a drunkard Ralf?" Sam continued just as Victor pulled away the pillow from Rafael's face.

"Uncle, wake up,"

"Go away." Rafael groaned and then pushed him away gently.

"Come on Ralph." Tony walked closer to the bed. "It's been a week now. You can't stay locked up in your room like this forever. Drinking and sleeping. You have to go out there and do something."

"Do what?" Rafael slowly opened his eyes just so he could see all of them, a sharp pain passing though his temples. A pain he knew he had to endure.

"We don't know. Go get your woman for example." Victor said. "This una fight don tey. There's no reason you guys should be fighting for so long like this. If you hate being apart from her so much, then go and apologize. Bring her back."

Rafael slowly sat up. Lying down on that bed for so long had really cramped his muscles. He took a deep breath, managing to raise his face to look at all of them just as Sam made himself comfortable in the sofa close to the window while Victor slouched on the stair railings and Tony, Tony just sat on the first stair.

"I can't."
Rafael was managing to keep his eyes open at that moment. "It's really complicated."

"What's so complicated about it?" Victor asked. "There's nothing money can not fix. Just show her how sorry you really are. Take her out. Buy her gifts. Trust me, she'd come running back in seconds. It works with my woman all the time."

Rafael scoffed. He wanted to defend Olivia's integrity so bad but words were beginning to fail him. He was too drunk to even say anything at that moment.

"That's a bit too insensitive Victor, don't you think?" Tony cut in before Rafael could even say anything. Not all women are money conscious." Tony glared at him. "We honestly need to stop thinking that we can do whatever we want and hurt people's feelings just because we are privileged to have it better than them. They are human beings too not objects. Sometimes, a sincere apology is all you need, if you really want someone's forgiveness, you should earn it and not buy it." Victor narrowed his gaze to him. "Not all poor people are that shameless. It's actually not that easy for them. The least we could do is treat them like human beings at least. We should honestly do better."

Victor scoffed.

"Ah, sorry o, Chimamanda Adiche. Freedom fighter. Speaker for all women." Victor rolled his eyes. "It's no ones fault that we have it easier than them. Why do we have to feel sorry for them all the time even when we don't have to?"

"Honestly Tony," Sam continued, sitting up from his sofa and they all turned to look at him. "What's wrong with you?" He asked him.

"It has to be that stripper girl from the club." Victor cut in. "Ever since yesterday he's been behaving so strangely."

Tony scoffed.

"What stripper girl?" Rafael looked at them one after the other before his eyes rested on Tony. He shrugged his shoulders, pretending not to know what they were talking about.

"Skye," Victor smiled and then turned to Rafael. "One new stripper at my club. If you see this girl ehn, my God." Victor chuckled. "She's a bomb. If you see her hips, it's to die for. She's really pretty. I think your friend knows her from somewhere. You needed to have seen the drama when they met."

Rafael slowly turned to Tony hoping he could explain better.

"She's just someone I know from a long time ago." Tony exhaled. "You don't need to listen to these two fools."

Sam scoffed.

"Who is he calling a fool?"

"The story is," Tony continued, taking their attentions back to him.  "You and Olivia have gone through so much together to just let it go like this over something you both don't have control of. What happened wasn't your fault Rafael. You're hurting about it just as much as she is. You shouldn't punish yourself any longer. You shouldn't let yourself lose anything more than you already have. Life has taken so much from you, now it's time for you to collect. To fight for your own happiness and Olivia is in all of it."

"Word." Victor said.

"This is not Randy's home, it's your home, your family."

"Word." Victor repeated.

"He's done playing with his and ruining his and now he's trying to ruin yours. You're playing his game, doing everything he wants, everything you always hated. Taking advantage of people, lying to people, letting go of people, he's making you do all of it. Since when did he have a say on what you should do? Why does he have to tell you how to live? Your mum, your brothers, your sister, Olivia and Grace, he has no right over their lives. They are his people just as much as they are yours. Your people. Your responsibility. They are always going to stand by you no matter what choice you make but it has to be worth it. It has to be worth putting their lives on the line for. Do something about it. Go get yours. Make them on your side and that's the greatest advantage you'd ever need against Randy. Family. Your family.  Something he'd never understand."

"Hmm, wor-"

Tony shut his eyes.

"If you say word one more time Victor, I swear I'm going to give you a quick knock on the head."

Rafael scoffed just as Victor and Sam chuckled.

"Come on guys can we be serious for once?" Tony tried not to laugh too. But he couldn't help it.

Rafael watched his friends burst into a loud uproar of laughter. He snorted. He could get used to it.

He could only if it were that easy. If it was as easy as Tony made it seem.

He let out an exasperated sigh. There was only one way to find out.