Jane's POV

The fact that my father locked me up in this horrible office of his has been a nightmare on it's own. How could he do that to me, For years I had wished for a part of what I saw him do to my friend to be a lie but unfortunately it's not. Now he also did the same to Meredith, mom has been living her life blinded by his fake, disgusting, stupid marriage to her.

I had to get away from here, I need to save my mom from this lie, KJ needs to get a wind of all this.
They even took my phone, stupid ass holes, if I could just get away from here I'd..... Wait a minute I have an idea.

I started banging on the door " hey! Hey!!"

A very huge and tall man opened the door and came in,

"Yes!  Why are you disturbing my peace? Boss said never to let you out on any circumstance but to give you whatever you want. So make your request "

"Well as you can see I've been wearing this cloth for days, I need a change of clothes and a bucket of hot water, there's something wrong with the heater here and I can't bathe with cold water. Make sure you get me trousers and tops, I don't like tight trousers so make sure I can move my legs in the one you get me. Size 30 to be precise. I'm starving too so get food and be fast about it. "

He only nodded and on his way out he called me a spoil brat. If only he knew what I had planned out for him.
It didn't take long and be came back with everything I had requested for, I ate enough food and changed into the clothes he brought me and proceeded with my plan.

"Help!  Help!  Please! Help me!
He rushed in and came into the office,

" Miss where are you,? What's wrong?
In the bathroom, please hurry!!  the hot water started rushing and it poured on my face, please help! Be fast"

I heard him approach and I pretended to be in pain and blind, I started moving towards the hot water he brought me earlier and by the time he got closer I threw it on his face "

He yelled out in pain and kicked him on his groin, he fell and i grabbed the keys he threw on the floor. I zapped out of the room locked him in and proceeded outside, there I saw two more guys talking with the secretary. There had to be another way out of this place, they'd definitely see me if I took that way.

Of course, I proceeded to the window and I started climbing down, Thank God for Gina she gave a lesson or two about scaling buildings and thankfully father was afraid of heights and would only have his offices on the first floor.
By the time I was down, I almost died of heart attack, Gina was definitely a fearless lady.

I got out of the building quietly and hailed a cab, I didn't have a wallet so or money but I promised him my wrist watch , he must have known the worth because he agreed immediately
He dropped me of at KJ's and left,
Luckily for me KJ was home which was odd and his house looked like a war zone.

"My God!!  KJ what the heck happened here?"

I broke up with Meredith " he replied still lying down with a bottle in his hand.

" Wow, seems she's not the only thing you broke up with, why did you break up with her what happened?

" She cheated on me, I've got evidence they are right there on the table"
I picked up a picture and It was indeed mer and another man there, I looked closely at the picture and something didn't just add up.

"KJ how come mer is just sleeping in the pic, I don't know but KJ things are not always what they seem to be, there's a big possibility that this is not real."

"Jane I know you like her but just stay away from this, she admitted that she kissed a guy, so it's true"

"She kissed a guy is quite different from I had sex with a guy, besides KJ you don't know what Meredith has been through. If she's managed to be with you all these while and especially now, trust me she loves you."

"What do you mean what she's  been through, I'm the one suffering here, I'm the one going through this crap because of how she broke my heart "

"KJ Mer is ummm, KJ Mer was ummm.... This was even more difficult than I had thought it out to be"

"Mer was what Jane!"

She was...  I was interrupted by a knock at the door, it sounded like father, I immediately whispered to KJ to tell him that he hadn't seen me at all.

He spoke with father who was not thrilled with the state he was in, father asked him about me and he told him I was not with him. kJ returned while I went to peek to see if father actually left. And while he was walking away he laughed.

Wait a minute, why hadn't I thought of this maybe father had a hand in KJ's breakup. I rushed back in asked KJ for a huge sum of money and left.
It was time to meet the law and mom.

MEREDITH's POV
Gina it's totally useless calling him, it's been over a week and he hasn't he reached out to me, hasn't taken my calls or replied my messages.
I wonder how he is.

"Gina!  Gina!  Are you even listening to me?"

"Yeah I was till I got this text, it's from an unknown number. It says, tell Mer  that father was the one who caused your break up, find out who he used, look for a clue there must be something you can use. I can't come over because I think father has someone watching you. Be careful Jane"

"Jane!  Wow jane where has she been?
Gina text her back please"

"She says her father locked her up but  she escaped, Gina replied

" Bastard ! Gina I knew it, that man is despicable.

Just then my phone rang.

"Hello mom, yes I told you I was coming back but not now, mom there are things that I need to fix, I know I know, yes I'll be back soon. Mom stop threatening me it won't work, I miss them too what!  Mom that doesn't work on me. No!!!  Don't come here let me handle it for you, it's not as if you enjoy these things. That's really good, that's wonderful you don't want a merger anymore great! "

"Mom I said I'll come home"

Mom kept saying chinenyenwa!  Don't you dare hang up on me!  Don't you dare, chinenyenwa!

Mom can be so dramatic, Gina I think I know what to do, first I need to reveal something to the police, Mr Andrew has been left unpunished for too long.
Gina grinned she had a part to play too

School felt different, Scott was more withdrawn, I could tell that something about me had changed and maybe the kids could tell, I needed to return to being happy but I couldn't not with everything happening. I met the police and reported about being followed and they assured me that they'll look into it.

On my way home I decided to check into the hospital, I felt I needed to check my self, a part of me feared that whoever took my pictures might have done more than that.

I just wanted to be sure, I never really got to check myself after my first encounter with Andrew so I couldn't tell if something bad happened to me, but thankfully I didn't fall sick or pregnant so I was lucky.

I don't think I'm comfortable with the test procedure doctor" Was this man serious about this two finger test. Wasn't this the same as fingering a person. Getting a swab of my private part was for other things but to know if I was touched in any way.

"Two finger test or Per Vaginal Test is done on a rape victim to check the laxity of the vagina and to determine the extent of damage caused to the genitalia of a woman, wasn't that what you implied you had gone through miss? " the doctor just poured out those words as if he was talking about what he was having for dinner. So easy for him to say he's not the one opening his legs for a total stranger ".

I wasn't even sure that the photographer touched me, I had told the doctor that I wanted a confirmation. He was quite surprised when I told him I didn't feel any pain around my private part.
It took an hour of thinking before I decided to go with the test, after all there was nothing the doctor hadn't seen before . I tried so hard not to think about the procedure but the result and it worked.

The doctor told me to come back In 3days time to get my result and also for other tests to be run.
On getting home I had to bathe three times just to be sure my body was safe from post medical embarrassment.
I thought of KJ again, Nathan too and scott. How distant everyone had become, maybe there was really something wrong with me.
I reached out to my drawer and started looking at the pictures, then something struck me. There was a tattoo on the guy's arm. A tattoo of  an A that looked so familiar.

Marvel A!  Avengers A! Whoever did this to me was also a lover of marvel comics, how ironical. They save, he destroys.

Tomorrow I'll continue with my quest for truth, but first I had to fix things with my new friends Nathan and Scott, I did need them.

Nathan called me and told me that Scott wouldn't be having lessons anymore and I was disappointed. On getting to school I decided to question him. It felt like the little boy avoiding me for some reason

"Hey! Scott can I talk to you now?
Is there something you want to tell  me , I need to know why you don't want lessons anymore "

Well miss Meredith I don't think I require that anymore, besides I don't deserve you teaching me anything "he said looking away

" Hey look at me, we are pals even if you did something wrong I would forgive you, you shouldn't beat yourself up"

Okay I'll help you find the truth, would you please come over to our house today
"
I was thrilled by the offer and I agreed to it immediately
After school I waited for Nathan to show up and when he did I was glad, he was surprised that I was coming along but we went anyway.
On getting to the house Scott dragged me to the kitchen, he was looking for something and I had no idea what. He was disappointed when he did not see what he was looking for and almost cried.

What was wrong with this young boy, I drew him close and hugged him. When be calmed down I went with him to his room and helped him sleep.
When I came down Nathan was just sitted on the couch lost in thought, I came down and sat close to him

"Do you want to talk about what's bugging you? '

" No not really, I don't think so, I'm an asshole, I'm so weak and stupid, my hands were tied because I was indebted , god father offered to help me but he didn't lend me the money he promised instead he blackmailed me to do something despicable. See mer you should just stay away from me I'm a horrible person "

I really felt bad for him so I hugged him, seems the Josephs need more comforting than the girl who lost her fiance.

" KJ and I broke up, it's been over a week now so I'm almost as distraught as you are, but I think you are not as tough as I am" I joked

He laughed and hugged me tighter, when we pulled apart I felt slightly disappointed maybe I needed the hug more than he did, I was barely even holding myself together after our break up.

Nathan just leaned in and kissed me, I simply went in, with the flow, but my mind won't stop thinking of the last time KJ and I kissed, everything I had pulled on KJ and I wanted to get it out of my  mind. The more I thought of KJ the more I wanted to continue kissing Nathan.
Something about his kiss had changed, he reached out for my shirt and started unbuttoning it, I was too preoccupied telling my brain that kJ and I were not together that I didn't notice. Till I felt a hand on my tummy, no I couldnt let that happen

"KJ stop!  I yelled  he froze
Crap I just called him KJ, this was horrible

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have, we shouldn't have, I'm just too vulnerable at the moment. I picked my shirt up and when I looked up he had his hand on his head and the portion of his shoulder that had been covered by his T shirt revealed something familiar. A tattoo an Avengers A tattoo"

I was beyond shocked, I zoned out
Mer! Mer!  Mer! "

" Don't you dare call me that you asshole, what did you do to me? I should have known, that's why scott had been distant all these while, he knew what you did, how did I not think about this, you still had the effrontery to kiss me, you should be ashamed of yourself!

Mer I don't understand what's going on? He replied

Don't you dare play dumb with me, you drugged me didn't you Scott must have seen you, that's why the kid didn't want me to take your stupid drink, you took my pictures even. See that tattoo of yours I've seen it before and it was on the man lying close to an almost nude version of myself sleeping.

"I was almost sobbing now" please  tell me you didn't touch me please "

He only  shook his head " I'm sorry Mer, my god father Andrew Johnson he made me do it,  he threatened to leave Scott and I homeless including my mom, he threatened my son's life and he's a very powerfulman, mer I didn't want to do this"

"But you did, I can't believe I actually liked you, don't you ever come close to me again, I don't want to ever see you again " I kept thinking of what Mary told me, Scott was indeed trying to protect me.

I picked up my bag and left and while I was in the bus, I couldn't stop myself from crying so hard, when the other passengers turned to watch my sniffing self, I simply yelled "o gini" and they all looked away minding their business "

On getting to the apartment I brought my phone out to text Gina and I was only at my first word, before a cloth came over my face and everything went pitch black.

I woke very dizzy and disoriented but when I tried getting up I realized I was tied to a chair, then It hit me I had been abducted

GINA's POV
Mer had given me instructions about withdrawing proposals for the merger and  a little package for Mr Johnson as well. She had to fix things with Nathan and Scott, but personally I thought that Nathan guy might be guilty. I've seen the way he looks at Mer and all the fuss about kissing him, made me feel Mer felt something for him too. Poor Mer, she's been through so much.

I got to the building, took the elevator to the sixth floor where KJ's office was. His  secretary was all over my business, giving me stupid signs to steer clear of KJ. What was even wrong with the hag, making me wait and being so rude.

I was just in an official mood, if not I would have dealt with the goat, In her cheap dress.

Two hours later I was still sitting, waiting for the hag to get me into KJ's office. I was seriously praying to God for patience and tolerance because I wanted to kill that lady with my bare hands. How does Meredith put up with all these ladies around KJ?
I was just about to give her a piece of me before KJ walked out.

He definitely did not look good, he was the human version of Kong,  his eyes hollow with dark circles, the man must really be suffering.
He showed me into his office and I sat down still trying to figure out a less wicked way to tell him how he looked.
KJ you look very handsome, seems the break up brought out the "zac efron" in you. He rolled his eyes and continued typing.

"Gina please don't tell me you came to talk to me about Mer, I don't need that right now " and stop staring at me like that, it's scary! seems everyone is on her side

He reached into his pocket and popped candy into his mouth,I wonder how Mer copes with this big baby.

"First you need to sack that ape you hired as a secretary, she feels like she owns this place, then secondly we need to talk about your merger with the onwuka's"

He was surprised at my statement

"How do you know about the merger with the onwuka's? don't remember mentioning it to anyone.

" Well the Onwuka's want to withdraw the merger, apparently you're having big issues financially and they've already seen foreign investors, they feel it'll be a liability.
Gina how come you know all these things, and why are you  telling me instead of the Onwuka's, it's not like you're a lawyer or an agent "

"Their daughter would have come herself, but she's teaching at the moment" I responded, this was sweet, wait till he finds out the teacher daughter , I thought to myself

"Isn't that rude ? why didnt she come herself we might actually work things out"

Well she's heartbroken so she needs space and teaching her kids helps her"
How come you know her? I mean she trusted you with this? "

Meredith chinenyenwa onwuka is like a sister to me, she knows she can trust me with anything "

"That's really co.... Wait a minute Gina, which Meredith are we talking about? My fia... Ummm mer or another Meredith "

I only nodded and smiled, that mer
What!!  How's mer "the Mer", I mean she  never really talked about her family, she teaches for Christ sake, she took my television, how's this even possible?

"I felt the same way too kj
Well it's another one of her secrets, I mean why would she keep things from me, now I don't even know what to believe? She kisses a guy I see a close to nude picture. I'm just tired and
Sad. I mean I love mer a lot, there's nothing I wouldn't do for her

" So why didn't you do what she wanted the most from you? Give her that trust?

" Listen kJ I know Mer and I know she's very principled, she would never do anything to hurt you, her life is much more complicated than you can imagine, but she loves you
. And to be honest if you don't take that leap, and trust her blindly you might not end up with the girl, nature is already tearing you apart but maybe fate can come to your side. Mer is in a tough situation, the road to being with you is rocky and hard,and even though she hasn't thought about or maybe she has, your rival is the easy way out. KJ it's left for you to get the girl. "

Help me pass the news about the merger to Your father and send him this letter, it's from Meredith.
I left and  headed home , this was a tough situation but I really want the two of them to end up together.

The apartment was empty, that's odd mer should have been back. Maybe she's sleeping over at the Joseph's that was not like Mer.
Well there was a possibility, I went in and prepared noodles to eat, didn't have the strength to cook and eyeing that secretary all day had drained the energy from my body.

I waited and still there was no sign Mer, no phone call or anything I kept waiting till I slept off on the couch. I was woken up by a loud banging on the door, which was strange. I went to the door and asked who it was and it was strange because Mrs chinwe and Jane were the ones banging.

Why was Mrs chinwe even here, they rushed in and shut the door. I checked my watch and it was 11:30 and mer was not back yet. I was getting really worried at this point.

Mrs chinwe what is the matter?  Why were you banging on the door, jane it's nice to see you by the way.
She was nervous and kept shaking her hands, was this lady high? Won't be surprised if she  was after i had caught her smoking.

Gina the devil is at work in this house, he is really at work "Mrs chinwe began

Maybe this woman was I'm need of a stick of cigarette, but Jane was really eager to hear what Mrs chinwe had to say and urged her to speak.

" I saw him. I saw him!  Take mer, I was at the back doing something, when I heard someone jump in. I thought it was you Gina, I've seen you climb in a few times. But when I looked closely I noticed he was a man, and he had a mask. I climbed to my apartment and started peeking, I didn't want to make a sound, because I didn't know if he had a gun. The next thing I knew I saw Meredith coming and he held a cloth over her face and just like that she fainted. He called someone and he brought a car and they took her away.
I was so scared and confused, I didn't know what to do. I called the police but they didn't take me seriously. Your friend is in danger.
Doing something indeed I thought, she was smoking that's why she couldn't save my poor friend.

Jane just slumped into the chair" Guys I know who took Mer and I know why, I went home and told mom some things about my dad, he kept people around the house to be on the look out for me, I had to scale our fence thanks to your lessons Gina,  to get in, and I told my mom everything. I begged her not to confront dad about it, I wanted to get her evidence.

This is all my fault, I never knew dad would go to this extent.

This was really bad, mer was in big danger. Luckily for us Jane came with a car, if mer had been abducted n this place, it meant jane and I were not safe. We left in her car and went straight to KJ's Mrs chinwe took her kids and went to the church.

KJ was surprised when we arrived. Jane and I just walked passed him and sat down we didn't want to involve KJ yet. Jane cooked up a lie and we went to bed, whatever it was we needed to keep KJ out of the dark so that we would use him to get to his father.

Nathan reached out three days later, and was very worried , I didn't even know the man had my number. He wanted to help as I told him Mer had been kidnapped, we thought about involving the police but Jane thought otherwise. She knew her father would probably kill Mer if he got wind of  the law at his back. What about Mer's parents? Maybe we shouldn't involve them now.

I got to pick a result for Mer at the hospital because she wrote down my number and name instead of hers and they kept disturbing me about their balance. Mer was always fond of roping me into her debts as a form of taunting and seek payback for the times  she  spent on me. How I missed her!

I got back to KJ's place, Jane and I had been staying there now, Jane hired someone to trail her dad. We needed to find out where he kept mer and it seemed like he was close to doing that.

I walked in on kj and Jane having an argument about Mer , she was upset that kj hadn't been checking up on Mer which was why she got missing but she didn't tell him that
Jane please she cheated on me okay, just let this rest"

Jane was beyond pissed now
"KJ you are a big fool, I can't believe you'd be so wicked and heartless, mer is suffering, do you even know what that lady has been through?  What she is going through?"

"Going through what!  Jane I'm tired of everyone siding her, mer this!  Mer that! She texted me three days ago okay she left town.

That caught me an I spoke up"that's not right Mer can't leave town without telling me and why would she text you?  Aren't you having issues something's is not right.

"Gina what do you mean she didn't tell you before leaving? I got her text and I can show you"

He brought his phone and I checked, the text had come from mer, that was odd. Andrew was very smart he probably didn't want KJ on his back.
Kj how long have you known mer? I asked

"Why do you ask Gina?"

Can you describe how she writes her text messages?

"Gina what's the point of this interrogation?"

"She writes them in English of course, sometimes igbo and sometimes pidgin"

Kj I need you to check this out , I need you to go through her previous texts and compare them with the last one.

"I don't even know where this is headed Gina, but I'll check
Well uh the last one is not in all caps, why?"

Exactly!  Kj I don't think you've paid attention to mer, she always sends her messages in all caps. She got used to that because of her father, mer sends proper WhatsApp messages, notes, but when it comes to her text messages they'll always be in all caps.

"Wait a minute Gina, you want me to believe that she didn't send this text?
It's true fool, I don't even know why we are keeping the truth from you, Mer has been kidnapped!
And you've been too stupid to notice" "
Gina im telling my brother everything."

I just nodded, maybe it was time for kj to hear the truth

"KJ father is not who he seems to be, he knew Meredith before us, before you and it was a very horrible encounter. This will be difficult but you need to hear it."

Kj uhmmm......
I was watching Jane get tongue tied and kJ stare cluelessly at her and I had to do something.

KJ dad ummmm.....

Tell him already jane!

He uh.....

Your father raped Meredith! There I said it

KJ was shocked and he couldn't speak.
Gina that was a bit insensitive " Jane spat out.

" No jane insensitive is watching him die of curiosity while I have a friend in danger. He deserves to know the truth for once and I'm tired of all this.
I tried walking away and hit my leg on a chair, I bent down to rub my feet and the result fell out.

I went into the room and checked what Mer had even gone to check, perhaps pregnancy test, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a pregnancy test with all the love she had been spreading around. I opened the envelope and read through, why would Mer even go for this kind of test, it wasn't as if she was intact down there. Besides I hated the test procedure, it was unethical and partly unreliable.

Wait a minute  could she be! She didn't even know

I was still in shock when Jane ran to call me,

"Gina quickly!  Come he's found where dad is keeping Mer

KJ had not recovered from shock but he had to save mer first and ask his questions later, we all rushed out only to come face to face with KJ's rival Nathan.

" What was he doing here ? I could see kj trying to kill him, his hands kept folding into fists and he kept eyeing the young man. Nathan on the other hand was too worried about mer to notice KJ and he insisted on following us to rescue her. We needed all the help we could get so even if kj didn't approve we were going with him.

A/N :I know a lot of words😩