Chapter Two

Madame Janet, an elderly woman probably in her late seventies sat worried in the living room. She had not seen her daughter-in-law since morning and was scared about what may have happened to her. She was not familiar with the city and so she was vulnerable wherever she could be. Madame Janet had sent her grandson, Kelvin to go and look for her and had also alerted the police who were on the search. She prayed in her heart that Alice was safe wherever she was and that she would come back soon.

Just as she glanced at the fancy wall clock in the large living room, the door opened and Alice walked in slowly, with her head lowered. She closed the door behind her and continued her way slowly to the stairs. Daniel had dropped her outside the gate and drove off after seeing that she had entered the house, through the gate.

"Alice" madam Janet called, standing up. She was happy and relieved to see that Alice was back.

Alice stopped and raised her head to face Madame Janet. She had not noticed that Janet was in the living room till she heard her name.

"Where have you been? I've been so worried about you." Janet gave her a warm hug, then noticed her outfit.

"You're still in your gown?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Alice looked at herself and did not reply.

"What is the matter Alice?" the old woman asked.

"You and your husband did not spent the night here." Janet said having noticed.

"It's nothing, grand ma" Alice managed to reply. She did not want to tell the woman anything and risk giving her a heart attack.

"I know, it's not nothing. Something definitely happened and I know it's not good. Your husband came back home from God knows where this morning and you're just returning now. Alice, talk to me" Janet expressed worry.

Alice fought back the tears that was about to flow, "There's no problem grand ma. Stop getting worried. I spent the night here and left for a stroll early this morning. I normally do that back in the village remember?" Alice forced a smile and lied to put the woman's heart at ease.

It seemed to work as Janet smiled back, "Well, this place isn't the village and you don't know your way around here that much" she said.

"I know, but I'm getting familiar with places here now. It was why I stayed late." Alice said.

"That's fine. Go and freshen up and come lets eat. I'll call Kelvin to inform him of your return so that he can come home and we'll eat together" Janet said and left Alice. The poor woman got calm and forget to ask about Alice's outfit, her age was telling on her.

******

After Alice had freshened up and had changed her clothes, she joined her family in the dining for lunch. They ate in silence that afternoon. It was only Madame Janet that spent the time talking and telling stories. Alice was lost in her thoughts of pain while Kelvin did not seem to care. After the lunch, Kelvin charged at Alice when they were in their room. He was angry that she had left the house abruptly and that had made his mother begin to question him.

Alice just kept quiet, listening to his gibberish with tears in her eyes.

"Oh now you're crying. You were the one who almost got me in trouble and now you're crying?" Kelvin yelled the more at her.

"I got you in trouble" She said, standing and facing him, "You were the one who abandonned me, you're newly wedded wife on your wedding night to go and have fun with your girlfriend and you're talking" She found her voice. She may be a naive girl from the village but she was not the kind of girl to keep quiet in the face of an insult and abuse.

"You are talking back at me" Kelvin raised his voice, wanting to threaten her.

"Yes, and you should be lucky that I didn't tell your grandmother about what happened. You would have lost your inheritance for good" Alice threatened and Kelvin kept quiet. His heart skipped a bit to hear that.

"You would dare" he finally found his voice after a while.

"Dare me" Alice moved closer to him. Her smallish body in a face off with his big body. She stared at him unflinchingly in the eye.

Kelvin was now scared but he knew he had to hide it or else, Alice would have the upper hand over him and use it to her advantage. He would not want to spend his life living according to her terms and demands.

"I'll just walk to grand ma right now and tell her everything you had confessed to me and what actually happened last night after our wedding. You will lose your inheritance and become a no body" Alice repeated.

"And what do you think would happen to you, huh?" Something came to his mind. It was his turn to threaten her.

"When you finally tell my grandmother about this, I'll lose my inheritance and will divorce you since I have no use for you anymore. You will have to go back to your village and you very well know how you will be received by the villagers there." he said.

Alice was the once with the pounding heart. She knew she would be ridiculed and insulted for the rest of her life. No one would want to marry her again and she would be tagged a bad luck, not just her but her family too. She looked at him, feeling hurt and angry. He was downright wicked and evil, she told herself.

"What do you have to say now?" He asked, feeling fulfilled that he had won.

Alice thought for a moment. She was not going to lose. She was not going to be treated like an animal just because he thinks of her as a lowlife, uneducated village girl. She knew she was smart and she was going to make him see that.

"I know" She spoke just as he was about to walk out of the room. He stopped and turned back to her. She looked at him and continued,

"I know that my life would be ruined after you divorce me. It's not like you won't divorce me after getting your inheritance anyway"

Kelvin blinked.

She continued, "It's something I will still go through. So, I think it's better that I end everything now and make you suffer with me too. I get to be a curse for the rest of my life and you will live all your life without your precious inheritance. You will get to struggle and suffer and I'll even be better off than you." She paused for a moment then said, "I think it's better this way. Let's just do this and go our separate ways". she said and started towards the door.

Scared and with a little panic, Kelvin rushed to her and held her by her hand, stopping her.

"Where are you going?" He asked fiercely, tightening his grip on her.

"I'm going to tell your grand ma and end all these. I cannot live like this" she said as she tried to wriggle her arm free from his hurting grip.

"And what do you hope to achieve?" He asked her, "I won't let you ruin things for me" he said.

"You think you can shut me up. I'll just scream" Alice said and started yelling on top of her voice, "Grand ma, Grand ma..."

Her voice was very loud and Kelvin was getting more scared. He tried to keep her quiet but she kept calling out louder. Kelvin was thinking fast, he had to do something to stop her. He used the hand with which he had held her arm and pulled her closer to himself and used his free hand to cover her mouth. She struggled hard with muffled sound but eventually gave up seeing that she stood no chance against him.

When he saw she had calmed down and was breathing heavily, he removed his hand from her mouth but still held her arm and said, "What do you think would happen to grandma should she know about this. You would just give her a heart attack and she could even die from the shock. Do you want to be responsible for her death?" he asked.

Alice felt sad to hear that obvious truth but she did it from him. He wanted to use that to emotionally blackmail her and she would not let him do that and so she acted not to care about it.

"I don't care. She's your grandmother not mine and besides, you're the one whose hands would be stained with her blood should she die after hearing this. I am simply not going to suffer alone." She said and when she noticed his grip on her had weakened, she freed herself from him and took two steps backwards.

"What do you want? Kelvin asked. He saw her determined spirit and knew that she was going to spill everything to his grandmother. She was not as he had thought. He had thought that she could be manipulated and blackmailed emotionally being that she was a villager and uneducated but he was shocked to see that she was not the kind of woman to be intimidated by anything no matter what. He could not afford to live life without anything, starting from the scratch like a pauper and since he was already there, he and Alice could reach an agreement that they both would benefit from.

On hearing Kelvin's questions, Alice had to think. She really would not tell his grandmother about anything to save her from losing her life. She simply threatened him to make him scared to come to her terms. And she also did not want to lose completely. Hence, it would be better to reach a truce with him and have something for herself at the end of the day, and she knew exactly what to ask for.

"I want a share of your inheritance" She said and Kelvin was shocked at the authority she had.

"How bold of you!" he exclaimed and thought.

"I'll give you one percent" he said.

She laughed. "I may be an uneducated villager but I'm not that stupid not to know a thing as this"

Kelvin looked at her.

"I want half of your inheritance. Full stop" she said.

"You must be mad" Kelvin cursed.

"Do you agree or should I tell your grandmother?" Alice pressed.

"I can't give you half of my wealth" He said.

"Alright. Then you'll get nothing at all" She said and turned towards the door.

"Wait" Kelvin stopped her. She faced him again.

He thought to himself that he would just agree and when he would have gotten his inheritance, he would ditch her since there was no written agreement made between them.

"I agree to it. I'll give you half of my inheritance" he said.

"Good. So you'll get that written down and we'll both sign it and have a lawyer handle all the legal work. Then the deal will be settled. You have one week to get this done or else I'll tell your grandmother" Alice said. Finally, her hobby of reading has paid off. She did not advance her studied to the university but she never stopped reading books. That was her hobby.

Kelvin was shocked to hear that from her. If he was not so sure he would have thought that she was lying about not being educated. Alice could read the shocked expression on his face and felt proud of herself. She had just proven that she was not completely dumb.

"You have just one week to get the agreement papers ready for us or else I'll tell Grandma and end everything" Alice said and stormed out of the room, leaving Kelvin to his thoughts.

He threw himself on the bed, thinking of a possible way out for himself.