With purposely strides of a jaguar panther, Adnan traipsed into the warehouse with a straight face. He didn't react to what Bilal had told him. His body sizzling as onslaught of wrathful form of energy cascaded on him like an avalanche. Bilal followed closely behind trying to see how the man is going to react but he said nothing and did nothing. Was he really expecting Adnan to say anything about this?

Adnan ferried past the broken plasters, doors hanging loosely from broken hinges, rats and mice altogether skittering through debris, trash-covered stairwells decorating the area, spiderwebs hanging off old light apricot fixtures, a broken elevator posing in the middle. There are exposed pipes and loops of loose wiring hanging through holes in the ceiling, torn-up flooring, dirty windows with missing panes, with rusted grates, with boards over them, condom wrappers. Adnan didn't even bat at that, of course, some sleazy filthy people would do that there.

He continued up the crumbled brick stairs and other rubble. He badly wanted to wrinkle his nose at the smell of rotten carpet -is there anyone there?- mildew, dirt, urine and feces, body odor, dead things, wet dog fur, a rancid smell from God knows where but the myriad acerbity souring his mouth won't permit him. At least he should get the place cleaned and closed.

Adnan entered the weak, tea-stained light lit the stairwell and debris clouded cemented floor. He picked a path through the litter and rat feces, avoiding the wires spilling from the broken wall like a corpse's innards. The sight of his two preys filled with him with delectation, he gave a menacing grin. They are both tied. One to a rotten chair with three legs and other to a pole inside the large room.

He walked further and instead of his feet carrying him to Jibril, he went for Bakri for reasons bizarre and to unknown him. The pain, anger, self-loathe and frightening tears he's seen and heard in Jannah whenever she talks about the man that took away her virginity and left her came all at once resonating in his ears, drumming like persistent pulse. His breathings altered as Bakri's eyes snapped open to look at him.

Adnan's resentment was too incarnated, he felt it in his bones.

Before he would see nothing but a daddy's boy that got everything in a silver platter but all he could see right now is a monster, a womanizer and assaulter reminding him of his own bestial past. They really do have something in common with Jannah, huh? His hand swung, the gloved fist landing straight on his right cheek in double fist punch. A hammer fist met with his nose, a crunching sound emanated in the whole room but there was no satisfaction in him.

Bakri groaned through excruciating pain and yelled out. "Dra-Draco what is all this? Bilal yes but you? Why?"

Adnan had experienced complete rage before, the blinding hot emotion that raced like fire in the veins, but this went beyond that point, to a frozen state in which he could think with ice-cold clarity. Methodically, quickly, his mind sifted through a dozen possibilities and selected a course of action. Bilal watched him uneasily, shifting from one foot, to the other. This Adnan is after blood. Adnan stood in thought for a moment longer, and then he lifted his head.

"You slept with my wife after lying to her that you will marry her. Bauchi rings a bell?" Adnan smashed his head together in between his two palms making sure Bakri's brain jingled inside his cranium.

Bakri gasped in both pain and galvanization because he remembered everything perfectly. It felt as though the smash on his head made his memory more clearer, he's remembered. Firdausi is the Jannah Adnan is married to? She was the one he met that day in his mansion? And didn't she recognize who he is then, too? Because he surely didn't, she's changed a lot from the girl he's met years ago. He would've ran away had he recognized her!

What a small world. He hanged his head, Draco won't be tenderhearted, not when they had nothing to begin with. After seeing Jibril Shehu, he is going to accept it and hope he won't be annihilated.

It was thirty six minutes later when Adnan stepped away from Bakri, satisfied with the way he's ornamented his face and body. He's used tweezers around his naked arms and plucked a few skins enough to make the man pass out from pain. A knife had pierced a few places around his legs to make sure he won't ever be able to walk straight without the use of crutches or wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Bilal had dumped a towel back on Jibril's face and emptied a whole bucket of cold water on it. Bilal was definitely in his element. He was in the business of inflicting pain and all Adnan could do was fold his hands and watch. He leaned his back against the wall behind him, his eyes trained on Bilal and Jibril who has awoken from his painful slumber. He's dealt with Bakri, Jibril deserves more pain because he almost raped his wife.

Though Bakri is not going to be in good shape for an extremely long time.

The thought again made him tighten his hands in two fists, he wants to punch his face again until his eyes are damaged and his hearing completely ruined. He watched knowing Bilal is going to make all wrath dematerialize. He trusts the man to make him pay for all his sins, the betrayal and the murder he's committed seven years ago before he ran away from the country.

Adnan announced into the room in a loud voice. "I know you killed Abu Aliero seven years ago, Old friend. I have all the proofs I hid from you because I wanted to see how you were going to react but you ran away like a coward. And now want to help his daughter seek revenge on the wrong person? Tsk, tsk, tsk... I'll make sure you rot in jail after this. Or maybe, allow the daughter to finish what she's planned on the real murderer."

Jibril shuddered at the feel of cold water poured over him and Adnan's words. He knew it! Adnan came forward towards Jibril, his eyes flickering for a second to an unconscious Bakri. The man is not even recognizable.

"You've really underestimated my intelligence. You've dug your own grave, haven't you?" Adnan asked the hanging man in front of his, eyes leveled with his.

Jibril flinched, realizing how close Adnan was. Neither man was going to rat him out. Crossing Bilal Hashem Garo was something very few people in Nigeria do, and those who were stupid to go that route didn't live to tell the tale. Even if Bakri with his influential father and Jibril a terrorist, did run their mouths to the feds, Adnan had half the judges of Nigeria in his pocket.

The torture was done much sooner, their victims both hanging unconscious and bleeding heavily. Bilal did as he usually does, woke them up with more cold water and called the ambulance to come take them away. The aim was not for them to die. Bakri got what he deserves while Jibril is probably a living corpse without legs and one eye. Besides, Abu Aliero's daughter might finish the job once she finds out who murdered her father.

If he knew anything certain about Adnan Ibrahim Attahir, then the man does not forgive. He won't let Jibril Shehu go scot free neither will Bakri -his might be a little bit more merciful.

"And don't ever go near my wife again." It was Adnan's turn to address the room. The air was heavily perfumed with sweat, blood, and violence. He tugged his leather gloves as he looked around. "If I hear you so much as breathed in her direction, there will be hell to pay. In fact, I'll personally be checking in to see you keep your distance from her. If I find you in her zip code..." I trailed off.

He didn't need to finish the sentence. They knew. But who is he warning now? Jibril maybe dead before next week and Bakri won't ever want to come anywhere near them. The guy is terrified and traumatized for life.

Adnan made it back home to his wife at home. He quickly took another short bath in the en-suite to cleanse away the blood, revenge and anger. He feels like a whole different person after dealing with them, not like he used to feel before. Then, there was no satisfaction whatsoever but this time around, the story varies. He changed into casual charcoal sweatpants and a white tee.

Ferrying to the glass cubicle where his bed is in, Adnan tentatively climb on the stairs and entered. Jannah is motionless on the bed which means she's passed out, she did since before he left. The room is entirely dark except for the two bedside lamps she refused to turn off. She doesn't sleep in the dark, he's noticed that about her.

He sat down on the edge of the bed where she was lying on. A smile broke it's way on his face, a genuine one at the way she is clinging onto the pillow like her dear life. Is she so used to cuddling Imara like that? Because they've never cuddled before in bed. Maybe wake up and find her all over him but not romantically doing so intentionally so this must be all Imara's love. The mother and daughter duo bonded up though surfeit of things.

His head banged, chest pounded at the remembrance of his dead daughter. With everything that is happening now, the death had slipped to the back of his mind but it's emerged again now that it has settled down. The distraction was too little. Recalling his daughter's death is always his worst moment, he becomes downhearted with the dull ache, unbearable pain and throbbing around his skull and chest.

Adnan erased the dent between Jannah's brows with his forefinger. What was she dreaming about now that she is frowning her face? Is she having a nightmare?

As he continued to look over at her, he was suddenly struck by her sheer beauty. He always knew that Jannah was beautiful, right from the day he's met her crying. There was something he'd always been obsessed with about her though, it was weird and stupid at first but he realized that whenever she is close to him, all he wanted to is cup her swan-like neck and feel the pulse there. The neck that fill up his fist with no space at all.

He had the oddest impulse to touch the base of her neck right now. His breath caught up when he saw her smile, as if she knew about what he is thinking of doing to her right now. She must be dreaming about something evil to do to him, a sort of punishment. That drew him to a conversation they had when they returned to Nigeria before Imara's death. The only one they had since returning actually, apart from the encounter at the farm-house few days before.

Jannah was standing before his desk while he works. "You know you're no good for me right? But I was and still am too naive to see that because, well, I like you... a lot."

Adnan didn't stop typing an email when he answered her with causality that annoyed her. "I'm not good for anyone and you shouldn't like me. That's a dangerous thing."

"Well... I've finally come to accept the fact that you will never think I'm good enough for you." She pushed herself away from the table and started making her way to the large wall window when she recalled how he's pushed her into the pool. Oh, feels like ages ago.

"Not good enough for you, that's the right words." His answer came from behind making her jump a little in fright.

"Oh, please. We both know that I'm not good enough for you because why else are you hiding us away here? You never wanted anyone other than your family to know that we existed! Now what's your reason if I am good enough for you and you are not?" She crossed her arms beneath her chest, her back now on the glass wall.

Adnan stopped typing for a few seconds, his fingers hovering on the letters but he couldn't punch them. He is known for his honesty, he must supply one too right now. Besides, it is going to calm her down.

"It is for your safety and nothing else. Like I told you, I have enemies more than you have hair on your head so it's safe to say you guys are going to be the next target when they cannot get to me." He explained and went on typing.

Though it made her heart flutter beneath her pectoral, Jannah refused to show that. She went to stand in front of him, used both her hands and raise his head to look up at her in the eyes. Adnan allowed her to toy with his neck mainly because he knew she wouldn't have it any other way. Jannah is now hellbent on getting whatever she wants, wherever she wants and from whoever she wants. It's either go along or not get any work done.

"I'm done playing this game or whatever it is we have going on. You cannot tell me that we are going to go back to being strangers after I regain my memory, I will not have that in this marriage. I swear I'm done suffering for this lifetime, I want to be happy! If that happiness isn't with you then so be it but I will not go back to a life I'm sure I wasn't happy living." She murmured in a calm voice, her eyes roaming through his.

When he said nothing for a long time, she went on. "Tell me you never loved me. Tell me that I meant nothing to you. Tell me this past few weeks changed nothing between us. Tell me that this was all a lie and I swear to God, I'll let you go."

Adnan was quiet. Too quiet because he was galvanized at the turns of event and also the threat beneath her words because he's never seen her eyes looking so wild and desperate and serious and cold in his entire life. He never knew she could pull off a look like this but staring into those abysmal jolly pools inundated him in arsenal of emotions. He hates feeling, they are stupid.

He tilted his head back and dropped his eyes to the MacBook in front of him. "It's changed everything, it wasn't a lie but I don't love you, Mama. Love, is never meant to be in the books for me so yeah, there is nothing as such."

Jannah unfolded her height and stood straight like she's been slapped in the face. It would've been better if he had refused to answer her or acknowledge her love at all. But rejecting the love she's twisted as confession so blatantly? That is the last straw.

"Then I shall start packing. But before then, I'll give you a week to realize whether or not you want me to stay. And staying means going along with what I want and not the other way around. I'm doing this because of my daughter, not because I desperately want to be with you. I've got pride and I've learned to start putting my own happiness ahead of anyone else's. Though I always put my daughter's first." She licked her lips as she spoke in monotone.

Jannah started pacing around the room while Adnan continued working though he could feel his heart lounging in his throat. Is she seriously going to leave him? Why wasn't he thrilled like he was when he told his mother about it at the hospital those months ago? Why isn't the idea of being free from his crazy wife so welcoming like it's always been? Indeed something has changed after all.

She starting listing what she wanted in the marriage. "If you want me to stay without love, I can do that for my daughter but only if our marriage is going to continue on like this. I don't want the life I've had before my memory loss, I know it was a total failure. We must have dinner dates like normal couple. Maybe a few movie nights too when you are not busy? Taking a walk in the park with Imara once in a while. You are going to be coming back to dinners each night by seven. And most importantly, we are going to be sleeping in the same room on the same bed! You will do everything normal husbands do because my daughter won't grow up in a toxic environment. She should see her father trying to make their relationship work out so she can have a better relationship in the future when her time comes. Anything less than that in this marriage, I don't want to be in, Dracs. You can hold your love and soul but you must be a good husband if you want me to stay."

She pivoted around to smile coldly at him. "Do you know why I am thinking of staying back even without love? One, because of Imara and two, because I know somewhere deep down in that heinous heart of yours, there's a part of you that cares about me. And that will be enough."

Jannah made her way out of the room when she stopped by the door. "You have only one week and I'm out of this forever or we are in it till eternity, Dracs. Your choice." And she left.

When her footsteps dissipated into thin air, Adnan realized with much dismay that he's written all she's said in an email and sent it to Alim by mistake. "Damn it!"

Isn't Adnan just too cute?🤣🤣🤣