House of Thorns – Episode 44

HOUSE OF THORNS

Tales by Eve

Episode 44

“Please mother, I know I don’t deserve to call you mother again, but I have no one else. I have lost everything and right now, the only thing I’m yet to lose, is hanging on a thread. I’m about to lose my life to my poor decisions and wrong choices. My breath is about to be sniffed off my lungs, by the one you have rightly called a rōgue. The world has rejected me, and rightly so, but I’m begging you mother, don’t reject me, this wounded soul may not be able to survive it” Vivian told her mother crying her eyes out

Pascal stood where he was, holding his daughter in one hand and the other hand cupping his mouth as he tried to keep himself from crying. He kept looking from the kneeling Vivian to her mother, then to Vivian’s baby that was lying on the couch besides Vivian.

He had been told a lot about the woman Vivian was kneeling besides, but never did he have the picture of her that rightly fit what he was seeing.

Mrs. Bradford was a real disciplinarian no doubt, but the motherly love and affection that shone in her eyes as she looked at the daughter of hers that had wandered so far away, was unmistakable.

He could tell she was feeling way more hurt than her daughter who had put herself in the pitiable state she found herself. Standing there and not knowing how to come in, he could only wish the old woman found a place in her heart to forgive her daughter for everything she had done.

“Come here” she told Vivian, opening her arms to welcome her in an embrace. “See what you allowed yourself go though in the hands of that lunat!c. See how he’s made you a lot below slaves of the medieval times” Vivian’s mother complained when she noticed how her daughter winced in pain when she held her in an embrace.

For some time now, she’d known that the brüte hits her at any slight provocation. She also knew that he could barely provide for her, the reason she allowed Vivian come home to eat whenever she desired. As a mother,there were nights she lay on her bed, rolling endlessly, unable to fall asleep as she’d be wondering if her only child has had a thing to eat the whole of that day.

There were times it would seem as if she heard her scream in pain and ask for her to come rescue her. She wept many nights when she thought of what her husband would have done if he wasn’t gone! She knew Vivian was going through a lot.

But never did she imagine that he’d hit her so badly that she’s almost disfigured. She could imagine her daughter crying and begging for help, and having to depend on people’s help and mercy to rescue her from his hands. And judging from the way the man who brought her was looking a her, she could tell she was seeing pity and another feeling in his eyes.

She hugged her a little more and released her to examine her face again. “So Jeremy did all these to you? He planned to ki*ll my only child just because I allowed this f00lery go on for this long?” Mrs Bradford ask nobody in particular

“It’s okay mum. I’m sorry that things turned this way. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you when you said all that you told me back then” Vivian begged her once again. “It’s okay now Vivy, you’re going to be alright” she told her. And then, Vivian suddenly remembered she brought someone with her.

“Mum, please meet Pascal. He lives in same compound with Jeremy and I, and he’s been the only person that had dared to rescue me whenever Jeremy got physical with me. And mum, he had kept and fed Daisy and I for some days now. He had insisted that we stayed back to allow me heal a little before I came here” Vivian explained to her mother.

“Thank you my dear son. What is you name?” she asked Pascal, who curtly introduced himself. Before allowing himself to be ushered to a seat by the woman who was apologizing endlessly for not remembering he was there all along because she was worried about how her daughter looked.

“That is to say you looked worse than this? Are you telling me this happpened over two hours ago?” Mrs Bradford asked her daughter. “It happened five days ago mum” Vivian replied and her mother let out a shriek.

Vivian spent a lot of time consoling the old woman. She assured her Jeremy was going to face the consequences of his actions soon. “Nemesis will surely catch up with him soon” she assured her mother.

They talked for a little while before Pascal excused himself to take his leave. He needed to go shopping for his daughter and do some few things before the day ended, he.told them, and stepped out with Samantha.

While Pascal was driving out earlier, he noticed how Jeremy was looking at him. He had to sneak Vivian and her child into his tinted windowed car when nobody was looking. So he was very sure nobody saw her when she got out of his house, but he could tell Jeremy already had his suspicion about her being in his house.

He had wanted to confront Jeremy, to make him pay for all the misery he’d cost Vivian, but she was too afraid of him to allow her do anything while she was still in his house. If only she knew what he was capable of doing, if only she knew who he was! He let the sleeping dogs lie while Vivian was still in his house.

But that didn’t mean he was going to allow Jeremy go scot free. He was going to make him pay for all his crimes. Although he didn’t have evidences of the heinous crimes he committed against Vivian, she had told him that Jeremy had the habit of filming women while he abused them and always had excess fun from replaying them and laughing like a maniåc when they were in bed.

He was going to have to make a move on Jeremy, but first, he needed to make sure Vivian was okay, and that she and her daughter were safe. He was super glad that the whole happenings were coinciding with the time he was wrapping up the operation that brought him to that town.

Unknown to anyone who looked at him, and assessed him by his looks, Pascal was an undercover agent. He was sent to Nigeria to understudy a cartel, Intel had fingered as being in collaboration with deadly cartel in South Africa.

His Agency had drafted him to that town some five years before, so he had to come to Nigeria with his wife. One to make the mission stay safe, and his cover well concealed.

But the major reason Pascal had to bring his wife along was that he couldn’t stay without his wife. How was he supposed to stay away from his woman for 5 years any ways?

While his mission lasted, he lived in that compound where Jeremy was later brought in to live. He lost his wife while she was giving birth to their only daughter, making him a painfuly lonely and unhappy widower.

When he noticed Jeremy and his way of life, he had watched him from a distance, and hoped he wouldn’t fall into his hands. He was on a mission, and wanted so desperately to focus on that mission, but if he wandered into his paths, he wasn’t going to spare him.

That day as he drove home with his daughter, he told himself, that indeed, the time to tackle Jeremy had come. He had crossed his paths. Yes, he crossed his path when he came wandering around his house, sending Vivian away, when he was yet studying her.

He planned his a$$Ã¥ult carefully. He was going to do something to make Jeremy attack him in the open, giving him the liberty to do what he willed with him, without having his agency seeing him as having derailed from his mission.

When he entered his apartment that day, everywhere was eerily cold. With Vivian and her daughter gone, he couldn’t help but miss his wife again. He sat beside his sleeping daughter, thinking about when she was in the womb, when his wife was pregnant and they always joked about who the baby would prefer to play with, among both of them.

To be continued