Abducted – Episode 1

Abducted – Episode 1
© Onyinyechukwu Mbeledogu

6: 15am!

Pretty Miss Why-Do-It-Yourself-When-You-Can-Pay-Someone-To-Do-It stretched out lazily on her big soft canopy bed with a loud, surprisingly lady-like yawn courtesy of many years of practice. She sat up reluctantly. She hated it when she got up this early but today, she didn’t have much of a choice. She had places to go, people to see.

The door opened and a girl in her late teens walked into the bedroom. Ibitoru occupied a suite in her father’s twelve bedroom mansion in GRA Phase 3. She had her own expensively furnished sitting room complete with a bar for entertaining her guests. The adjoining bedroom was massive with her canopy bed covered with expensive red velvet bed sheets and six pillows with matching pillow cases. Two large teddy bears lay on the now scattered bed, Ibitoru’s favourite buddies – Gabe and Sammy.

‘Good Morning, Miss Davids.’ Her personal maid, Mary greeted.

Ibitoru didn’t respond to her greeting but Mary was used to it. In the last eight months, over six maids had been hired and fired but Mary had lasted a little over a two months because she had the temperament to put up with Ibitoru’s snobbish attitude.

‘Is the heater on, Mary?’

‘Yes, ma. I put it on earlier.’

Ibitoru loved the feel of the soft red rug which spanned the length of her bedroom on her bare feet. She strolled past the dressing table with its heart shaped vanity mirror and wooden surface lined up with designer perfumes, creams and makeup. She paused before the walk-in closet with more clothes than she needed. She shivered slightly as she undressed as a result of the two Panasonic split units. She tossed her white negligee to one corner of the room. She selected the clothes she would be putting on after her bath and handed them over to Mary.

She wrapped herself in the soft white towel Mary held up for her and crossed the room to the adjoining bathroom. The bathroom looked like something you would find in a seven star hotel: marble bath tub, large enough for two with a shower overhead and golden taps, an adjoining shower stall with glass doors and curtains, and marble toilet and sink.

About an hour later, she returned to her bedroom where Mary had laid out her under wears and the neatly ironed clothes she would be putting on for the day. She also noticed that Mary had straightened the bed, pulled aside the drapes and swept the bedroom. There was nothing out of place. It felt so good to have someone clean up after her. IB thought work of any kind was restricted to the commoners or peasants as her father would say. Supervisory roles belonged to the wealthy, like her.

Poverty should be made a criminal offence!

She was the only child of a Kalabari High Chief, a former governor of the state, one time Minister of Finance and Deputy Senate President. Her father made things happen in Nigeria and he had more connections than the president. She was the apple of his eyes and spoilt rotten since birth. She had been taught that she didn’t have to do anything but rather, there were persons created for the sole purpose of serving her.

All she had to exert her energy on was her studies. And at twenty-three, she had a first class Degree in Business Management and a Masters in Business Administration from the Harvard Business School. With her extra-ordinary beauty and amazing figure which she had inherited from her maternal grandmother, IB had more suitors than she could handle. But she had class and she had her own demands. She had a long list of characteristics she wanted in a husband.

1. He had to be very wealthy. Wealthy enough to give her the kind of life she was used to.

2. He had to love her totally, completely, unconditionally and treat her like the princess she was.

3. He had to be exceptionally good looking with a physique to die for. She didn’t want ugly children.

4. He had to be strong enough to protect her and quick enough to defend her.

5. He had to be attentive to ALL her needs.

6. He had to be well educated with the minimum of a Masters Degree.

7. He must have impeccable manners.

8. He must make her his NUMBER 1 priority.

9. He must have self discipline and self control. Keep his zip up whenever she wasn’t around.

10. He must be able to stand up to her father.

11. He should be blind to ALL her faults, not that she had any.

12. He should have a will of his own, but where there was a conflict, her will SHOULD always prevail.

13. He should keep his family away from her if they were going to pose a problem.

Her list went on and on. Her taste was highly placed, she would concede, but she was quite certain she would find a man who would meet all her requirements.

Presently, she worked with her father in his company, IBITRONS LIMITED. She was very class conscious and wouldn’t settle down with just any person. All her friends were either wealthy or had wealthy parents and had their own cars and expensive phones. She couldn’t abide anyone beneath her class.

Her one month leave officially began today but she had a few things to put together before her vacation in Sweden and Norway. IB loved travelling, seeing new places and with the money at her disposal, it was no problem at all. Besides, she had a new catch, Steve, who resided in Sweden. They had met during his father’s sixtieth birthday party in London a few weeks earlier and they had hit it off. He had invited IB to Stockholm and she had accepted the invitation.

He was the first son of a wealthy entrepreneur who was friends with her father and the heir to his father’s billions. If he met all her requirements, she might be walking down the aisle real soon, IB thought as she sprayed her favourite perfume and rose from the seat before the dressing table. She took a few steps then turned to face the mirror that occupied an entire wall in the room.

And she liked what she saw.

A tall dark skinned young woman with a killer figure, full bust, slender waist and full hips. Her long legs were emphasised by her mini jean skirt and expensive sneakers. She tossed her long hair back as she admired herself. She was breathtakingly beautiful and knew it and took advantage of it. She batted her long lashes and laughed.

‘Baby, you are too much,’ she told herself.

~*~*~*~

‘Good morning, daddy,’ she greeted as she joined her father in the dining room.

Chief Sotonye Davids was a thickly built man with an imposing height that could easily intimidate others. He was in his late fifties but still handsome enough to attract the younger women. He took such great care of himself, travelling twice a year for routine medical checks and his money ensured that he looked years younger than he really was.

Like his daughter, Sotonye used his good looks without apologies. However, where his daughter simply flirted with the young men without getting the least bit serious with them, Sotonye kept mistresses. His infidelity was no secret but as long as he made fat allowances at her disposal and used protection with her, his wife, Ibitrokoemi Davids didn’t care who her husband took to bed. She was his only wife and he didn’t bring them to the house, and so she was fine with it.

Their marriage had a faulty foundation. Emi had married Sotonye because their parents were good friends and wanted a union between both families. Emi had been attracted to Sotonye but did not love him. Presently, after twenty-eight years of marriage, they were not in love but they had an understanding. Athough there was nothing IB could do about it, she at least had their love and they ensured that she had everything she wanted and needed. That was all that mattered to her.

At least her father’s taste had changed from underaged girls to adults. No, she wouldn’t even think about it. She wouldn’t think about the incident that had occurred in the Government House, years earlier, when her father was Governor or her part in hiding the truth. It still haunted her every now and then but most of the time, she liked to pretend it didn’t happen because the female involved was a little nobody. But her eyes, those blue eyes, haunted IB more than the act itself.

Her silence had paid off. She had ended up studying in the United States and she could easily get any amount of money she sought from her father.

‘How are you, my dear?’ Sotonye enquired as his daughter took a seat opposite him.

‘Just great, dad,’ she replied.

‘Preparing for your vacation?’

‘You bet,’ she stretched out a slender hand to select four slices of bread which she placed in her plate alongside the scrambled eyes and then poured out coffee into her mug.

‘I need to do a little shopping at the EXCLUSIVE.’

The Exclusive was a one stop shop of international standard and had top designer wears for ladies and gents, provided professional hairstylists and makeovers for customers who enjoyed free snacks and coffee/tea. There were also sections that sold gym equipments, provisions, household goods etc. You haven’t shopped until you have been to the Exclusive. The only problem Ib had with this wonderful place was that just as it provided lots of things for the wealthy, it also had affordable things for those who weren’t wealthy. She figured it had to do with the nature of man who owned the place. Dienye Daniel-Hart. He was a well known philanthropist. However, Ib hated the idea of shopping with ‘poor’ people but then you haven’t done any shopping unless you’ve been to THE EXCLUSIVE.

‘You don’t want to shop outside the country this time?’

‘I intend to. But I need to pick up a few things.’ she said.

She took a bite from her bread.

‘Don’t forget that we are expecting guests tonight, my dear. And you are to help your mother as a co-hostess.’

‘Is there such a thing as co-hostess?’

‘If there isn’t, then I’m inventing it,’ Sotonye laughed.

‘I’ll be there in time. Besides, the evening gown and accessories I ordered will be available today.’

‘Good. And be warned that there will be some young eligible bachelors present.”

“I’ll be in my best behaviour.’

‘You are 23, IB. You should be thinking of settling down. You haven’t introduced anyone to me since you broke with Dagogo.’

‘In good time, dad. For now, it is not a priority.’

Her ex-boyfriend Dagogo, the nephew of her father’s political godfather, as far as IB was concerned, did not deserve her. They had dated for ten months and he couldn’t keep his hands off other women because she was old fashioned enough to want to wait until marriage to have sex. And her three weeks in the Scandinavia would give her a break from the multitude of persons seeking her hand.

‘It’s not a priority!’ her father repeated. ‘What can be more important than that, at least to a single woman?’

‘A lot of things, dad but I’d rather not go into them.’

‘Why not? I have introduced you to several wealthy and good natured young men but you turned down their proposals. These are men with great potential.’

‘But not the kind of men I seek. When I see the man who meets my requirements, I shall let you know. Until then I am not interested in settling down. I am not going to settle for second best.’

‘Your mother and I -’

‘Married for the wrong reasons and that is why you can afford to tolerate each other’s infidelities.’

‘Do not speak to me like that!’ Sotonye thundered.

‘If you say so but I only speak the truth.’

‘Keep it to yourself.’

‘Of course. Until one of the women shows up and the civil war is re-enacted.’

‘Quit this ridiculous line of conversation. You want money, then ask for it without digging your claws into a matter that is no business of yours.’

‘I am a member of this family and so it concerns me.’

‘It is not your business. So drop it!’

He gave her a look which would have intimidated someone else but not his daughter. She met his look head on but changed the topic all the same.

To be continued

 

ALL EPISODES

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