Fading greys.

”Most injuries heal in time, but guilt is a cancer that knows where to hide.”

—RMA Spears

Maverick.

Through the drawn up window blinds, Maverick watched the city. People packed together like Titus fishes in a sardine can, struggling to move. Hawkers, students, beggars, some in corporate wears moving back and forth.

The place was busy, as busy as the sea of thoughts in his head.

That he had laid accusations on his innocent wife and sent her away. That he had trusted who he was supposed to distrust and distrusted who he was supposed to trust.

Anger had blindfolded him to the point of utter foolishness. Maverick's late father had warned him. "This anger will push you to the point of no return if you're not careful."  Times without number he had been told. His mother had warned him.

What made it more painful was the fact that his mother called him out on his foolishness almost immediately but he had refused to listen until it was too late.

Leticia had vanished as though she was never there. Sometimes it felt like her existence was like a midsummer night's dream. Perhaps she was never there. Perhaps she was someone he made up in his head because of loneliness.

But Marcel was living proof that she was there. She was there even when he did not value her. She was there even when he never returned or acknowledged her feelings. She was there when he was never there for her.

And her mother. All those stories about the suicide, picture and others were lies. Crappy lies about her own daughter. Little wonder she never called to ask about her whereabouts, and on second thought, the day she came to give the sob story, her focus was on her daughter's wrongs and how she did not train her well.

It never ceased to mystify him, however, what her mother stood to gain from all she did. Why would she lie against her own daughter?

Thankfully, his mother had sat him down to explain the circumstances surrounding their marriage, including the role Leticia's mother played. He could not blame his mother for not telling him earlier, because even if she did, it would have made a little difference.

Guilt and shame settled on his shoulders like a cement blanket.

Those were the only emotions he was capable of feeling as of recent, and it intensified whenever he laid his eyes on Marcel.

What kind of father was he? Very soon, Marcel would start to ask about his mother. No matter how amazing a father he tried to be, his son would still resent him if he heard how he drove his mother away on baseless accusations.

His anger had cost him a lot.

It caused him to be foolish. So foolish to the point that he did not hesitate to push Leticia out on speculations. He felt even worse because he actually believed that she did all that. He believed!

Maverick had come to realise that he never thought about the issue from all angles. For that reason, it was so easy to fool him, to make him believe that Leticia was the culprit. If only he had settled down to think, but then it's too late to cry when the head has been cut off.

Fear spread over him like a drenched blanket. The fear of never finding her again. What if something terrible had happened to her? What if she was truly kidnapped as she had said and she was still kidnapped?

Maverick please listen to me. I need your help, please.

Every night he laid his head to sleep he couldn't because her voice would resonate in his head. Shaky voice, distressed tone, but during the call, he had continued in his folly and even threatened her. He had told her he would deal with her if he found her.

The search for Leticia was still on, but with every day that dragged on came a dimmer ray of hope and a heavier shroud of guilt.

And the company. It was a mess. The directors were on his neck, asking when he would recover the stolen money and if it took too long then a lot of workers who depended on the company as their only source of income would have to be ousted and their families would suffer it.

The luck on his side was that his mother had stepped in to help out, bought some shares, given large amounts of money to make up for some of the losses.

In as much as half the issues were already solved before things got too bad, he still needed to find the real culprits.

That would be killing two birds with one stone. It was clear that whoever they were had framed Leticia, and there was a high possibility that they would know where she was. In that case, he would recover the company's losses completely and find his wife.

At the moment, his key suspects were two people, and he needed a critical plan to confirm that it was them. This time, he would make sure his emotions were not involved.

He shut the blinds and returned to his recliner, running his fingers through the thick curls of hair on his head which was a reminder that it had been well past a month since he got his last haircut. But that was not important. The plan was.

The first thing would be to conceal the fact that he had realised that Leticia was not the culprit and that he had started having suspicions. Since they had constructed the evidence against her so meticulously to frame her, it wouldn't be wise to make it obvious that he had started having doubts.

Maverick glanced at the clock hanging on the opposite side of the room. It read thirty-two minutes past two. What was taking Lara so long? She'd said she wanted to get something and would be back on time.

"Come in," he said as he heard a knock on his door.

His personal assistant walked in, a pile of files in her hands almost to her neck. She wobbled as she walked, hardly able to put one foot before the other and at the same time pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

Maverick got up from his chair and fetched the files, dumping them on his desk.

"G-good afternoon sir." She bowed her head as she greeted. As usual.

He had employed her less than two weeks ago. The girl was twenty-one years of age if he could recall well and her baby face left no doubts about her age. That, and her not more than five-foot-two height made it easy for others to prey on her, and from what he had been seeing, she never objected.

"One, do not bow your head when speaking to or greeting me. Two, I do not want to see you slaving away again. If I do, you're fired. You are my personal assistant, and you will only run my errands unless otherwise stated. I hope I'm clear."

He walked back to his seat. "What do you want?"

"You have a meeting with Mr Akin now, sir." She stammered her way through the statement to the extent that it took him a while to gather what she had said.

"Miss Daphne, can you repeat what you just said in a manner that I do not have to gather my thoughts?"

"I said you have a meeting with Mr Akin, sir."

She managed not to stammer this time, but her voice quivered.

"Can't you speak with confidence?"

Daphne jerked as he spoke in a loud voice, knocking down the flower vase that lay at the edge of the table. The vase shattered.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry sir, I'm sorry sir..."

Maverick stared at the mess, sinking further into his chair. Her hands shook as she gathered the pieces and rendered the apology.

She reminded him of Leticia. Her tone and stammering were all too familiar. He hated it. He hated the fact that she just had to sound like her because he missed her more, and the guilt was more intense. He screamed at the girl, the same thing he did to Leticia whenever she stammered or sounded so small. It was a major reason why Maverick always ignored her, and that had gotten him into this whole mess.

Maybe if he wasn't so obsessed with confident women things wouldn't have turned out the way they did.

"Leave it be."

"S-sir?"

"Leave it," he said and stood up from his chair. "Get me Miss Lara."

The girl nodded and scurried out.

Maverick took the broom behind the bathroom door and brushed away the pieces of glass, dumping them in the waste bin when he was sure he had cleared it all.

The door was pushed open shortly after when he was seated and Lara walked in.

"Good afternoon sir."

"Hey. What took you so long?"

"I was kinda held up where I went. By the way, when last did you sleep well? God, you have serious dark circles under your eyes. Why not go home and rest? I can handle things here. You should consider getting a haircut too. Your hair is unruly and so are your beards," she said.  The slight frown on her face as she spoke would be interpreted as concern by any other person.

But he knew better than to be fooled further.

Maverick smiled. "Never mind. I can handle things myself."

"No, you can't. You're already dishing out your frustration to others, Mide."

"Don't call me that."

The sharp edge his voice took was unintentional, but it panned out anyway. Lara held a surprised expression. He sighed and offered an apology.

"Maverick, I think you really need to rest. Oh before I forget, I got something for you." She plastered a big smile across her face and took out an envelope from her bag.

"Here. It's just a little something."

He took the envelope and unsealed it, then scanned the contents of the paper he brought out.

Maverick's eyes widened. "Lara, what is this?"

"As I said, it's just a little something. I want to help out in my little way."

"No, this is too much. I can't accept it."

She had paid some money into the company's account. A million dollars. Where did she get such a huge amount of money from?

"Are you rejecting my help right now?"

He was tempted to ask where she got the money from, and he did.

"My savings. Don't have them reverse it back to me please, Maverick. If you truly value our friendship that is."

A chuckle burst through his half-open lips. If he truly valued their friendship? That was bizarre coming from her.

"Okay. Thank you so much. I appreciate." He decided to play along, notwithstanding his thoughts. The first rule of the game was pretence.

"You're welcome. But why did you call me?"

"Oh yeah. I wanted to see the recent reports. Let me know how long it would take to get things back to normal."

"Okay. I'll send it up." With that, she smile at him and left.

He scoffed, leaning onto the recliner. In as much as he had yet to start digging, something in him poked at Lara and he didn't know why. Sure, she had been a great friend, but what kind of friend would have a hand in framing his wife?

The facts had not been confirmed yet, but he was at least seventy per cent sure that she was involved because she was the first to bring up the allegations. How was it so easy for only her to discover it was Leticia in such a short period when his whole team had not been able to get even one clue from days of searching?

That should have been his first question then but he was too angry.

He got off work early and reached home to meet his mother. She was seated in the living room when he arrived, reading a Bible story for Marcel.

They had spent just a week in Abuja but Marcel bonded so quick with his grandmother as fast as he did with Michelle. His mother, on the other hand, accepted Marcel with so much joy that she dedicated him to the church that Sunday. And her opinion about Leticia still did not change. She said the same thing Michelle said and prompted him to think deeper by first letting go of his anger.

That was what got him to where he was.

"Daddy!"

Maverick caught Marcel as the child threw himself at him, throwing him up and spinning him in the air. Marcel giggled, almost out of breath as Maverick finally put him down.

"Mom." He hugged his mother who had been watching with a soft smile.

"You look haggard." She said when he broke the hug, running her fingers on his face.

"Everyone's been saying so lately. I want to say I'm tired, but it feels like I don't even have the right to say so." He plopped on the couch opposite her, standing as fast as he did. His butt came in contact with something.

"What is it?"

"I sat on something. It's been quite a while since anyone sat here." As he spoke he bent at the waist and slipped his fingers inside the chair. He ended up dragging out a small purse.

It was plain. Just the shiny brown leather and lined edges. Leticia's purse.

Maverick did not know why, but it took him a while before he shakily opened the purse. What if he found a clue? He shuffled through the contents with his eyes at first, then started to take them out one by one.

A tail comb, lip balm, an ATM card, a picture, a receipt and her phone. He turned the picture over and was met with the smiling version of himself. When last did he smile so bright? And did she always carry his picture around? He glanced through the receipt but couldn't understand the purchase.

The phone. He powered it on. The battery was red, showing five per cent and it was locked. He typed in a combination of numbers but none worked. He tried her birthday, her birth year, but it still didn't work.

An idea came and he followed. The moment he typed in his birthday it unlocked. It struck a chord in him. He started to wonder why he blocked her out. Just why? What did he think he would gain?

Pushing aside the thoughts, he went through her last calls. His number appeared five times at the top of the list, then events and more.

He dropped the phone with a deep sigh, dropping on the chair. Only when he heard Marcel's voice did he remember that he was not alone.

"Daddy." Marcel placed the coloured book before him and pointed.

He smiled at him and ruffled his hair. "You painted it so well. Give Daddy a hug." Maverick took his little frame into his arms and held the boy tight. It was not only the hug that was tight. His heart was tight as well.

The child ran off when he released him, leaving Maverick a jumble of feelings. He dropped his head on his hands.

"We'll find her. We will find her. No matter how long it takes we will find her. Okay?" His mothet placed her hand at his back and hugged him.

The emotions hit him like a trailer that lost control. The first sob was strangled, rocking his body like tidal waves. Slow and ever so gentle came the powerful whispers of negativity. It made itself at home until it got to the pit of his stomach where his solar plexus started to protest.

But no matter the protest, it couldn't change the fact that the chances of finding her were slim. Very slim.

Phew!!

Can't believe I'm finally done with my 5-chapter-update plan🤸‍♂️🤸‍♂️

Dear readers, find a place in your heart to forgive me for making you wait so long🥺. I have no excuses to give this time. I hope I'm forgiven🥺🥺. Thank you.

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This chapter is dedicated to kennyblez and ChristineGold for their support, encouragement, ideas, help, times when I'd force you guys to proofread for me even when it's not suitable, the list goes on and on, but without you guys, I wouldn't have been able to pull it off. I really appreciate it. God bless you Penny and Kofo. I'm blessed to have you as my friends🥺❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤