Madina left the building with her brows knitted together thinking about where the hell she's heard that name Captain Louis talked about with so much respect. Why was he excited that she was going to work for such a respectable man? Because she doesn't know him?

She could count with one hand how many successful people there are in Abuja that she doesn't know of. How did this certain Bilal slip away from her grasp and why so much reverence from Captain Louis?

What does he do with that security company of his? She's heard about so many people hiding behind a business name when that is really not what they do. She's been with a lot of them and heard them talking about so many illegal stuff, it never bothered her as long as her surfeit share is by the side.

Bobbing her head to 'A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton' she stopped herself last minute from searching him up on internet because then, she won't be able to find out everything she wants. She will go home first before she browse her new boss all over the internet and know every single thing about the person she will be dealing with.

First, she's going to take this new uniform of hers to get it fitted. She's not going to wear that baggy thingy Captain Louis gave her like he had no eyes. That was the last set with him, she'd give him that excuse.

She only wanted to get her job, go back home and laze around for the rest of the day. Something Madina never thought she would look forward to. Especially after how so many things had changed since Mariam got married. She became so busy she could not rest a day in her own home.

Parking outside a plaza, Madina took the clothing bag and went inside to get them furnished.

Her expression immediately hardened when she saw a few people she recognized from Instagram. They are now desperately trying to get to the top tier rank since Mariam is out of the picture.

Obviously, no one is going to come close to what Mariam was when she took the reigns but they are trying their hardest to at least get known all over Abuja. Since Madina is now thinking about concentrating on aviation, they are going to try reaching up that pinnacle. She despise every single one of them for competing with her.

She was meant to stop at the first store but seeing the sleazy whores, she held her head up high and continued walking down the plaza to another store by the corner where fortunately, there won't be other hoes seeking attention. But she was not lucky enough for one of them gasped and hurried to tell the others who she was.

For goodness sakes, she is wearing a fucking sunglasses!

Three girls in jeans and t-shirt came to surround her like she is some celebrity. Normally, no one would approach them when Mariam is present but since she is alone, they think they now have a chance with her. With a hardened expression, she refused to lower her RayBan sunglasses and instead stared them down through it.

She also refused to talk first and waited for them to start. They all look and reek dejection.

"Hi! We are a huge fan of yours, Maddy." The first one grinned, showing her cream teeth with gap teeth.

Madina recoiled not because of her teeth but the atrocious smell coming from her mouth. Do people still have mouth odor in this era? She wondered with deep brows beneath her sunglasses while moving a step back.

The other one by her left took over. "Can we please have your phone number so we can talk sometime? We have a lot of questions."

Not waiting for the last one to also chirp in her request, Madina sidestepped them and gave a curt shake of her head from left to right.

"No, you cannot have it. Have a nice day."

Now she gets why Mariam had always maintained her cool when in presence of people like them.

"Maddy!" A woman called from behind the sliding doors Madina was trying to open. The shop around the corner that is fortunately empty.

Madina rolled her eyes at the myriad of enthusiasm in her voice. She's ignored her because she was starting to misbehave just when she's become popular. Who made her a popular designer? It was Mariam but she won't design their clothes on time so they abandoned her.

There are so many fishes in the sea, huh?

"Don't Maddy me please. I had no other option but to come here because I need this as soon as possible." Madina dumped the bags in her hand and sink down on the couch inside the store.

The entire place is filled to the brim with different kinds of expensive ankaras, materials, laces and so much more. The shiny things were making her eyes bleed so she lowered them to the white tiles beneath her heels. Everywhere is just bright and cushions. What are those for?

Hafsa, the fashion designer made a pout but opened the bag to see what was inside. What she saw made her mouth hang open. Of course. The woman is also freaking nosy, asks questions she shouldn't ask her clients.

With that flabbergasted expression still on her face, she hauled before Madina could stop her. "Whose clothes are these? Is it a costume?"

Another roll of eyes from Madina. "They are not costumes and that is mine. You know my size, I haven't changed. Get on that machine and get it altered asap. I don't have all day." She's not in her sarcastic mood.

Without another word seeing how curt Madina is and how her brows are tightly knitted between her eyes, Hafsa did as she was told while making small talks. Never breaching where she shouldn't go and not saying anything about Mariam also. That is good. They should all know their places. It is good being so succinct with people.

While she was altering the onyx blazer, the sliding door was pushed open by another client whom Madina was very much familiar with. When she raised her head to see who those fake Aquazzura belong to, she raised a brow and hid back a guffaw. This cannot be real.

Right in front of her was her older sister's best friend. The first woman in the world that made life hard for Madina in her own father's home.

All Madina's sisters were prostitutes as it was inevitable growing up in a household like theirs. But this lady in particular managed to ruin everything for her family when she also joined the circle from the upper tier where lesbians and gays locate.

She's also gotten one of Madina's sisters bedridden, forever because of her haughtiness. She made her sister go all the way to Dubai only for her to come back home with maggots and worms crawling out from her private part. When she was asked, her mouth refused to move. She only started talking a year ago after going through so much medication.

No one thought she was going to survive because of how she's changed. There was hardly any flesh clinging to her bones, her vagina was rotten. She had to go through so many operations and they had no money at that time. Life was extremely harsh and difficult for them so Madina and the other sisters made the sacrifices.

The other sisters were already in the business, it wasn't bringing enough money to pay for the hospital bills of almost a million naira. Madina had no other choice but to allow men of all ages to be with her for a chicken change. All because she cannot watch her sister die. She was her favorite sister in the world.

She used to protect her through thick and thin. Shield her away from the life they found themselves in. Madina knew she had to do it for her. The others, she wouldn't think about it but she can never do that to Misha.

Madina had allowed different kinds of men then. The ones without good hygiene. The ones she'd glared at on the road a few times, would do everything they wanted with her, pay up and leave her there discarded like a worn out bathroom slippers.

And who supplied those men then? It was her... Zainab.

Look at her now. Wearing the cheapest clothes you could find in hands down sales. This is what life does to people that cause nothing but corrosive damage to people around them. She is slowly seeing how life is changing.

But what the hell is she doing in this store? Hafsa only works for rich people and as far as Madina could see, Zainab cannot afford her.

Zainab stared at her with open eyes and mouth but no sound emerged. Madina returned her sunglasses, took the bags Hafsa was offering her then stood up. Unfortunately, she was still not taller than Zainab even though she was also wearing heels. That's fine. She's reeking expensive perfumes that she could only smell from television or magazines.

"Ask your shopkeeper to follow me to the car. I think I have cash in there." With that, Madina marched out from the store with her head high.

She heard the sounds of heels scraping the gravel and winced at how painful that sounded. That would've been her life too had it not been for Mariam bulldozing through her life like a tsunami. She's forever grateful for that woman no matter how serrated they are.

Madina keyed her car, the already attention seeking color earning her more glances from people around. Mounting inside, she checked her glove compartment and yank out five hundred Naira notes then gave it to Zainab that's patiently waiting by the window of the driver's side.

She held the notes with her forefinger and thumb then made it fall to the floor with an oops. "She should give you the change."

With that, she raise the tinted window of her car and zoomed off the plaza back home. She took a deep breath.

It's been a long time since she's seen the people from her past. She hates it. Her sisters are all over the place but she's never bumped into any. Misha is still hanging in and out of the hospital -the best one Madina could get her- and she's planning on moving her to one of her houses in Wuse II with a caretaker.

She got down from the car and ordered the security guard to get the bags inside the car. She was so exhausted that she only wanted to crash on the bed though she's been there for so many hours already. She needs to be productive but at that moment, nothing is more alluring than her bed.

After taking a short shower, she made a short journey to the kitchen to fix herself some lunch.

Madina has so many talents and cooking is one of them. No matter how brief, her food or snacks are always amazing and topnotch. She's worked in a restaurant when she was young and went to catering school at some point.

Taking her sandwich to her room, she eyed her MacBook on the desk and remembered her homework from Captain Louis. Of course, curiosity won and she made her way to the desk to find out who her new boss is. Whether his business is genuine or not.

Hands on the keyboard, she let them fly on the words before she could change her mind.

Bilal Hashem Garo.

So many articles and websites that she had to lean back on her yellow chair. She had no idea he was going to be this popular even though earning Captain Louis respect is hard. How is he this popular and she had no idea he existed? What world is he living in?

She went through so many of them but wasn't satisfied with things people were saying about him. They made him sound too good and too perfect that she wants to regurgitate her precious chicken sandwich. There is no such flawless man in this world anymore. She is one to tell the story.

Bilal Hashem Garo CSO is a Nigerian businessman and cybersecurity expert. He is best known as the founder, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Garo Security Group, now the largest and prevailing security company in Nigeria and neighboring countries in Africa like South Africa, Egypt, Mauritius, Ethiopia, Algeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Mozambique and DR Congo. Even other countries far and wide-

The CEO of Garo Security Group is a self-made billionaire after working hard to make ends meet as a street fighter. He later got recognized by the well known oil magnate, Adnan Ibrahim Attahir who is rumored to be his best friend at the moment. He started as a professional private investigator, got too perfect with computer and took it to the next level-

The Bringer of Doom, Bilal Hashem Garo was seen dressed as a plebeian in South Africa giving out charity to the needy. An old woman estimated that he's donated more than a few millions in so many NGOs and charities-

Young ladies are still in line waiting for the self-made billionaire, Bilal Hashem Garo to pick a wife amongst them. Hearts are still throbbing for the bachelor that is keeping everyone in the dark about his relationship status except that he is very much single-

The second everything starts getting too perfect for her to read, she moves to another article that gets even more ridiculous. They are painting him with too much aspartame like they were paid. Maybe they were. This much perfection hasn't been seen in this epoch and not in Nigeria at least.

He cannot be a self made billionaire through legal means, be charitable, loved by so many people all at the same time. That is never possible except if the media was paid to write all those balderdash about him. She already hates the guy for being so perfect.

It's like they were rubbing it on her face to make her feel less confident in what she's achieved today. But she is worth working for such a man. Is she not?

Biting her lower lip, Madina closed her eyes to tamper down those goddamn insecurities fluttering beneath her eyelids. She cannot feel this way about herself after building up so much walls around herself. She took a deep breath from her nose and release it through her mouth.

Her hands went back to the keyboard and she clicked the images by the side. They came flooding but none of them were clear. Hmm, seems like Mr. Perfect Gentleman doesn't want his photos on internet. Now she is more than a little intrigued about the guy. Most of the pictures were old from three to five years ago.

That won't just do. She is going to meet him tomorrow, without delay. She promised and closed her MacBook.