"Okay here is the thing now; I don't know what you are talking about but I don't want to know. The truth is that in all things I can't go behind the back of boss to execute any business. I can't be a party to it Anita. Meanwhile how sure am I that you weren't sent by boss himself to know if I will fail his test or you think I'm a fool?" Anita smiled and adjusted herself. At this point Mr White was tempted and he asked, "50 million dollars?" Anita nodded.
"I should trust you on this or not?" he asked.
"If I said you should will you, will you not be afraid still and refuse to be part of it?" Anita asked.
"Anita don't play games with me" said Mr White.
"I'm not playing games with you. I am being real with you, it is you who is not being certain about what you want. Maybe I will have to take my offer to Mr Jude, perhaps will be able to see what you aren't seeing yet" Anita had said and had made to move but suddenly Mr White stood up and said to her, "I know that I need money, I know too that my daughter is sick and in the hospital and I plan to give her the best life she would ever hope for. One thing is also sure Anita; before I became part of this organization I was actually a nobody, it was boss, it was Mr Charles that picked me up and made me who I am. He did same to most of us and it is not like I should go ahead and do what you are saying but truth be told 50 million dollars is a huge lot yet I can't see myself getting involved in what you are asking of me. I'm truly sorry" When he had said this Anita then said "Done" when she said this Mr White did not understand why she said It but just then it appeared that nothing has begun to happen already and that Charles was watching them on a live camera. When Mr White discovered this he fell on his kneels with both hands covering his face.
"Don't be afraid Mr White for you did not do anything that will make you afraid. You have stood with me no matter what. Anita was only trying to bring out your true self by enticing you with money. Now that you have said these words I have nothing else to say but as long as it goes on to become exactly what you are I will make you proud" Then The voice died down and the live camera was cut. Anita then stood up and offered her hand for a shake. Mr White Rose to his feet and shook her hands.
"If I had been a fool I would have fallen into a trap. Truth be told Anita, I needed that money but another truth be told, I needed my life even the more" Anita heard this from him, smiled and walked out.
*****
Rose was feeding her son Abel with the food that Ken had brought in through another man. The man had offered the food to her and asked her to eat up at once. While she ate her son ate too. Rose looked at the man and demanded for privacy.
"Privacy because you want to eat?" asked the man.
"It is our culture please" said Rose.
"Where you come from it is piss and shit. Now you want to bring it to this place? Why should I respect your culture here?" asked the man but there was no response from Rose. The man then hissed long and walked away, closing the door behind him. After she left Abel then ate with his mother, with his mother feeding him with the spoon. Once they were done Ken entered and asked, "Have you had to reconsider your decision?"
"My decision? Do I have a choice here?" asked Rose.
"Ofcourse you do have a choice here and you know it; you have a choice to decide what you want and to decide what you do not want. Here two options are leveled before you and it is in your own capacity to choose which one to do and which one not to do; you are told to choose between going to jail and choosing to be a member of the family" said Ken.
"Family, when you and your boss and everyone else in this cartel call this a family I wonder why; family sounds more like a rightouse thing, a harmless thing; but when you call it a family and I'm sure this has ruined many lives, ended many family and destroyed many homes I but wonder why?" said Rose. Just then Ken drew closer a seat and sat upon it, now closer to Rose than before. Rose was wondering what he had in mind to say.
"You should be sorry Rose. Boss sees what he sees and he saw what that man Mr Kelvin was going to do to you if you had been allowed to continue with him. He knew that you were never going to call it quits until he ends your life" said Ken.
"My choice you keep saying; if you and your boss and your family so much care about people's choices you would have allowed me to make the decision of whether I wanted to stay with an abusive husband or not. How dare you, how dare you and your boss and your family think you could make my decision for me. If your family wanted me couldn't it have sought for me without having to take the life of my husband?"
"We noticed how much you love him and even if we had succeeded in making you family in his lifetime you would not have yeilded to us hundred percent. A divided mind a dangerous one and you know it Rose. What then do you say; that we leave him and allow him be the end of us? Never. Now listen to this; it is you who should go ahead and do what needs to be done. It is never in us to decide but it is you who should decide. Believe me Rose, we love you too much to allow you slip from our fingers, we love you too much to watch a man hit you as you faint every day but you know what; we love ourselves the most, our family, we love us too much to allow you be the reason why we fall. So when you make your decision make sure you think properly" Ken then stood up to leave but turned and said, "And Rose, boss is so much interested in you as well as the rest of us. You know what, it would do you a lot of good to be fast with your decision because we have not all day to waste" He walked out and Rose felt this was futile; fighting this and pretending she was strong and could get away without either endangering her life, the life of her only son, Abel or the involved in the affairs of the mafia. She rose from the bed and walked to the door that Ken left open while he was stepping out and then closed it. She returned to her seat and sat back, looked at her son for a while and said to him, "Son" Abel nodded and she continued, "You do know what happened to your father don't you?" Abel nodded and she continued, "You do know of who was responsible for the downfall of your father and this our condition?" Abel nodded, "Let me now tell you this son: you must not let the enemies get away with this. They are very dangerous, a very dangerous group and they can do anything to get power and retain their family. Whereas you will become part of their family. The weakness of a man is the heart of the man; you are already loved in the family and they can't wait to call you son so long I'm willing to call them family. And yes, I'm willing to call them family and you will call them family too my son" She then held the boy up and made him sit on her leg and she continued, "You will make them pay for all that they did to your father when you are grown up. Make sure you don't forget what I have just told you" To her surprise the little boy nodded his head and just then Ken opened the door once again and said, "Now is the time Rose, make your decision and choose" Rose stood up with her son in her hand and she declared, "I have accepted to be family with the boss" when she said this Ken smiled and so did the rest of the men that entered the room with him.
*****
Mr Charles was inside his office when the door flew open and Jude entered.
"What is happening to us boss, what is happening?" Jude was saying. Charles looked up and pretended he was not understanding of what he was complaining about. "Common boss speak to me" he was angry.
"What do you want me to speak to you about when you haven't told me what the problem is?" said Charles. Jude sighed with frustration and then sat down for a while before he said, while placing both hands on the desk; "Boss you need to know that there is something going on and I'm not comfortable with it. You are the boss and there is nothing going on that you aren't aware of. How come everyone is disrespecting me and you have turned a blind eye to it. Firstly you elevated Ken and I am not sure if you elevated him to be equal with me or higher because the way he behaves is strange and it can only be because you handed him that audacity. Now here is the thing; I'm not sure if there is anything that is going on that hasn't gone on already. Nobody is ever going to make a way for this. Why have you decided to neglect me and treat me as if you had never believed in me before. Have I offended you then speak to me about it, have I made you sad then speak to me about it, have I made you angry then let's talk about it; taking everything from me, the friendship I enjoyed with you, the love and understanding we both shared is not fair" When he was done Charles thought he had actually been so hash on him and then he said to him; Go ahead and do what you must and do it as fast as you can Jude, try and regain the confidence I had in you in the time past. You are right when you say that I neglect you for yes is the answer to that, I neglect you because you suddenly began to show signs of someone who has lost understanding and focus. I could not continue to trust that you could still make the right decisions owing that you had to take that girl home after I wasn't in my right frame of mind to have anything to do with her. I know it will be easy for you to conclude that I did what I did out of jealousy but that is not it my friend. You have to prove your loyalty to me once again Charles; you have to kill that girl Shanty" When Charles said this Jude didn't think he heard him right for he began to doubt if he did. How on Earth could Charles be so demonic as to request for the death of someone that has brought joy to him these past few weeks. He continued to stare at Charles, wondering if he meant his words or not.