Reyna

I pushed the glass door open and above it hung the sign, Ukamaka's kitchen. Afam locked his arm with mine and dragged me off to the side.

"Quick, put this on." He said while he helped me take off the purse I wore over my shoulder. Then hurriedly put on the African print customized apron over my neck and tied knotted the straps at the back. It was exactly like the one he had on.

He handed a notepad and pen to me. "Go ahead and take an order. I'll keep your purse in the locker." Before I could get a word out, he'd hurried away. The smile on my face was faint and brief, grateful for his help. My eyes met with Mrs. Williams who just walked out of the kitchen. Fast, I made my way to a customer of two at a table.

"Good afternoon, may I take your order?" I asked as politely as I could and watched while they took another look at the menu.

"We would like two plates of jollof rice and two portions each of asun, that's peppered goat meat, right." The man asked and I nodded. "Yes sir." He looked at the woman in front of him. "Do you want anything else?"

She shook her head at his question. "I'm fine. Maybe a bottle of water as well."

"Yes, two bottles of water." The man added and I wrote down their order as well as their table number before leaving to the next customer that just took their seat.

Ukamaka's kitchen was a restaurant specialised in the Igbo cuisine. It was run and owned by Mrs. Ukamaka Williams and her husband. She was the talent behind the dishes and her husband was the brain behind the business affairs. They had two children. Afam and his older sister who as of now was away in medical school. For the past two years, after high school, this has been my place of work. It was I, Afam and a young lady, Shola whom most of the time stayed at the desk as the receptionist.

"Today was a close call." Afam said when he walked into the small spaced locker room early in the night and met me taking out my purse and wore it over my shoulder.

"I know and I'm sorry." I said before shutting the locker and turned to walk away.

Afam stood in my path. "You're leaving?"

I nodded and took a step to the side in order to walk past him but he stood in my path again.

"Are you ever going to tell me what you've been up to this past week? You've been acting strange. I thought this year was the year for college admission."

I sighed and kept a hand on his shoulder. "You're a good friend. Good luck on your college applications." This time, I succeeded in walking past him.

"W-wait, you're not applying this year?" He asked as he followed me from behind and out of the room and into the open area which was now void of customers.

Mrs. Williams was seated on one of the chairs and took her time making the balance of the days' earnings. "Good night, Mrs. Williams."

She lifted her eyes to me. "Good night, Reyna. Say hello to your mum on my behalf."

It was hard to steady a smile after hearing the word 'mum' but I did my best to keep at it. "I will." Those were my words before I walked out of the restaurant to where my scooter was parked. I got on it and wore the helmet over my head then inserted the key.

Afam stretched his hand in front of me and that stopped the action I was about to take. His hand fell back to his side and he flipped open the face shield of my helmet.

"Why aren't you applying this year?"

I shrugged, not quite seeing the necessity to tell him the truth. "Because, I'm not ready. You're ready so I support you."

He cleared his throat and his eyes shifted a little left and right. "I—I didn't say I was ready."

I drew my head a bit closer to him, staring directly into his eyes. "You're not? You've been yapping about college nonstop..."

"I know what I said. Forget it, go home. See you tomorrow." His words were sharp with a hint of frustration before he turned away, sparing me not another look and was back into the restaurant.

Afam and I have been acquainted since our high school days and only got to know him a lot more after I started working here. He was kind, loving and was there whenever I needed a friend. I would admit that a few times, like this moment, it was hard to really understand what he wanted. Either way, I was grateful for his presence in my life.

I closed the face shield, started the scooter and was on my way home. After a few flights of staircases, I was on the second floor. For a minute, I stood in front of the door into my apartment after unlocking it. Finally, I took in a deep breath before opening the door and walking in.

A sigh left my lips. The memory of the day was fresh in my mind. I felt like a failure, unable to achieve anything. I buried my face in my hands and hated myself some more. I've been unable to tell anyone except the police that mum was missing.

The first day, a made a complaint and was told it couldn't be registered as a missing person case until forty-two hours had gone. I knew she was missing because she hadn't come home at her usual time. I told them to ask Mordecai Steele for her whereabouts since she worked at his home as a maid. Instead, I was asked questions like did I see him hit or harm her. Sure, I didn't but I just knew her disappearance has to have something to do with him. Moreso, it seemed they were scared to poke at him because of his high status in the society. Then, I decided I was going to either find her myself or bring good enough evidence for them to act on his immediate arrest. Mum was all I had for a family. I can't lose her.

After freshening up, I stood in my room and stared at the sticky notes with writings of my observation stuck to the wall. There was nothing new to add. My eyes caught sight of a date on one of the sticky notes. I picked it out and read. May 26th. It was tomorrow. Mordecai Steele was going to be in attendance as the chief guest to a charity auction event. This was it. It had to be. My one way to get an audience with him.

The next day, that evening, I left work early and somehow snuck into the venue on the pretense of being one of the waitresses. Holding a tray in my hand, for the first time that late evening, I laid eyes on Mordecai as he was welcomed onto the stage to share a few words. I didn't pay attention to anything he said, all I could think of was getting him to confess where he hid my mother. I wasn't going to act rational and was going to wait for the right time when he was by himself.

Finally, he stepped out of the hall and I took the opportunity to quietly do the same. My hands shook and my heart beat really fast at the mere sight of his back. I was nervous and more so because I held a table knife in one hand. Yes, maybe I'm insane but people never confess unless at gunpoint. I walked up to him, stealthily at first. The hand in which I held the knife, I stretched it to him and only stopped when I was in front of him. Our eyes met.

"Allison, I'm going to call you back." He said before withdrawing the phone from his ear. He blinked a few times and I could see the slight amusement drawn across his face.

"What are you doing kid? You're going to hurt yourself with that."

It's fine. It's very fine. I've got this. I repeatedly told myself.

"Where is she?"

His head tilted a little to the side. "Where's who?"

"My mother, Bethany Bishop. She left to work at your house and hasn't been back since then."

His brows slightly squeeze and his eyes lurk from one end to the other for a moment. It was clear he knew something.

"Your mother is Bethany?" He asked and the evidence of surprise was in his eyes.

"Yes. Now, tell me what you've done with her."

Strange enough, the amusement he once had was back on his face. He folded his arms below his chest. "Let me get this straight. I have to release your mother or you'll cut me with that knife." He chuckled in the end and it annoyed me to the core that he was making a mockery of me.

"Stop it! I'm not joking."

He unfolded his arms. "I never said you were. It's clear that you believe I have your mother. I'm not sure why you have that mindset but, it's wrong." Mordecai attempted turning away.

"Don't!" I raised my voice a little higher than usual so he knew I wasn't kidding around. It did the trick because he didn't continue in the action he was about to take.

"Just... just let her go. No matter what she has seen or heard, I promise you, we are not going to disclose anything to anyone. We can even leave the city and never return." I pleaded, hoping it was somehow going to get to him.

Mordecai sighed, somewhat irritated. "What are you waiting for?" His eyes drifted from me to something or someone behind me. "Take it from her."

The second I turned to the man behind me, he stretched his arm past me and snatched the knife from my hold. It was too late for my struggle. 

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