inside the the Vulisanii Mukwevho's compound she saw a string of trees running across the caramel walls, several cars parked in between the trees; leaving a wide, clear pathway to the double-storey, as several men or guerilla's in overalls and polo necks roamed around the shadows of the 65-meter-wide yard. Vulisanii walking beside her and stretching his arms and pointing all around them to show her the finest collection which his uncle had collected, including a group of ten Maserati's, Range Rovers and BMW's.
Although as he pointed to the cars she saw some fresh blood on his knuckles before quickly picking more of a bloody scent with her nostrils.
"And the blood on the knuckles, is everything alright?" but her question hung in the air and remained unanswered for a while, leaving her wondering and imagining the bloody cause.
"Just someone I had to remind to stop drinking on the job, someone I thought I could trust," Vulisanii clenched his fist, brought it to his mouth and eventually blew over it, relentlessly.
"Cause If I came at a bad time we can always reschedule this, I don't think I'm even ready to meet your uncle just yet." She breathed in and caught up on the breaths which she's missed.
"That's enough worrying for today Kimm K, now come, there are some people I want to introduce you to..." His order sealed her lips as they stepped inside the lounge which was dimly lit in blue, fairly furnished with fur couches, and stylishly decorated with some stylised, decorative and abstract artworks on the wall. As they walked pasts the circles of white sofa's and continued towards a glass, octagonal table which seemed to be 6 to 7 metres in diameter. where those two boys which she had seen at Constansia Cafe were sitted, amongst other two, all of them seemingly similar in terms of age group, as well as another older guy who had some blood on the corner of his lips. A guy with a goaties and an S-Curl fade cut, which was dyed pink.
"Kimm JM, meet Mastermind and the crew - my brothers-in-arms." The crew just looked at her without stopping their laughs and joke-filled, smiling eyes. "At least show the lady some love guys, don't just sit there!"
"For a second there I thought she was here to replace Mastermind," one of the boys triggered the other's laugh, except for Mastermind himself who gave him a deadly look and a cluck of the tongue.
"Not quite yet, we need all the experience ahead of the Sunday Gig, not forgetting that security will be tight." One of the guys said in a serious tone, "hence despite the mistake that sent two of our gents to heaven, I have no grudges held, just little trust whatsoever."
"Luckily Uncle G had the case thrown out, we can't afford detectives sniffing behind our trails," He picked up an apple from the little round basket at the center of the table and bit a small chuck whilst looking fiercely as Mastermind, whose careless attitude continuously pissed him off.
"All I remember was the guys getting out as my foot remained on the clutch pedal, the car vibrating as my left hand got ready to drop the hand-break - clearly ready to race the Mercedes to the garage once the boys had gotten it...," he said gently but the pitch of his voice began rising, "out of the blue, sirens were invading my ears, my focus evading my brain and gunshots were being fired."
"Then I looked back one soldier was down, the other was nowhere to be found... And that's when I realized that the mission had been compromised." As much as he wanted to tell them that two more were in front and that he were clearly surrounded he just couldn't. Such a bitter truth would have exposed the ploy and unveiled the true conspiracy which had already left him web-stuck to the black widow's web of conspiracies.
His thoughts were slowly overtaking him, until another dude, banged the glass table with the bottom of the fist. "It was as though we were being chased down, being tracked, being watched... I bet it's that Detective Dee Monique lady." He looked sideways to his comrades in a n attempt to drill his realization into their minds as well - trying to pinpoint the truth that would eventually lead Dumisanii to his downfall.
"Definitely, I couldn't agree less, she has Uncle G's twirled around her finger." Vulisanii walked around the table, trying to pick his words carefully. "He's fallen for her too hard and I fear that I don't do something now everything he's worked for will tumble."
"But Vee, is your uncle really the only one with a woman who can't fully be trusted by his side," Mastermind asked and gave Kimm Jayde-Maxworth an assessment gaze that ran down her body, from head to toe, in search of any sign of suspicion. Her long see-through coat tempting him with a hunger to undress her.
"Relax, I was invited here to help Vulisanii take down Dee Monique, being here just provides me with an in-depth analysis into what exactly she does around her," she raked her long fingernails into the hair-fall of her long ponytail, and ran her tongue along her upper lip. "So that when I finally write the explosive piece to expose her, it will be entertainingly mind blowing and hard to resist." Her voice was convincing but everyone else at the table had already tasted Dee Monique's whips from hell.
Mastermind then pushed his chair backwards, his suspicion still running down his face, and walked around the whole table, his eyes glued on her.
"You definitely won't be getting a slice of me any time soon, so you best invest your interests elsewhere," her voice came out sharp and quick, "So is someone going to show me around or what?" Kimm JM looked around the table, before two of the four young men jumped to their feet and allowed her to choose - which she did by letting them both accompany her on the house's tour. Leaving Mastermind with a deadly chance to confess nothing less than the truth.
"A whole freaking journalist bruh, one who dresses to impress and steal answers of the men around her - she too good to be bad."
"Which is why you are going to watch her on my behalf, I can't be dating her and watching her at the same time - our relationship wouldn't last, nor would her feelings for me." Vulisanii reached under the table and grabbed a small blue bag full of money before throwing it to Mastermind. A move which left Mastermind too greed to confess his bitter truth.
"My uncle had prepared this as your compensation for your services as soon as I had fired you, for your big mistake, meaning that you work for me now - since he was technically going to fire you for failing that simple hijack."
"In that case I'm not happy, but I'll stick around at least until after the Zandile Mandalay Wedding gig is behind us," Mastermind opened the bag and stuck his head in it, inhaling the smell of money inside. "But it's Dumisanii Gumede's wedding too, and he also has ties with some of your uncle's associates - his father is the former mayor."
"I know that, House of Gumede was funded by dirty money after all, and is deemed twice as profitable thanks to it being the central money laundering unit for the Gumede's." His tone and facial expression was that of a lecturer. "Plus the real Mr Gumede is a prison warder who sells drugs into the biggest prisons around, thanks to his ties with dirty: politicians, policemen and even investors of House of Gumede itself."
"And Kimm JM told you this?" A pitifully sarcastic voice stepped out of his mouth, slowly.
"Nope! Detective Dee Monique said this, and when I spoke about House of Gumede, Kimm JM was quick to confirm it too." Vulisanii walked towards one circle of couches before switching on the television and grabbing the latest Play Station's controller. "The one benefit to having both a top detective and a journalist, they confirm the other's statements, even if indirectly.
"But what happens if they speak opposing truths, how would you pick out the lier?" Mastermind asked Vulisanii, and left him looking at Kimm Jayde-Maxworth.
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Whereas, at Caith's place, as half-past 12 am approached behind 3 minutes...
Anathii sat listening to the preaching Caith whilst regularly checking his phone, noticing the rising amount of calls he had missed from Zanele Mandalay. Messages from Genna also pouring in despite how he was trying to convince Caith otherwise, but she just wasn't buying it.
"Not sure I can even trust you anymore Anathii, like of all the people, why did I have to be the last one to find out." Caith barked and placed her plate of Mac and Cheese aside, still sitting in the bed against the wall, whilst hugging her legs close enough to place her chin above the surface of her knees. So as to look as pitiful as she could.
"We can get through this, even if we continue what we have from behind the curtains Caithie," He placed his hand on her feet and looked at her with mixed emotions.
"Stop Lying to yourself Anathii, your mom has already signed you off to that rich Gumede family," Caith said harshly before rubbing the side of her neck to ease the flames that her words had left within her throat. "And please stop touching me, I can't stand your presence as it is."
'Can't you see that I'm trying here, showing a little appreciation wouldn't hurt you know." He adjusted the pillow hehind his back and slouched once more, tempted to reach for his vibrating phone - feeling as though he now had the perfect answer for Zanele Mandalay, he was craving for her body and soul once more.
"Let's leave this place, leave your nosy mother behind, plus my old boss has already offered both of us jobs, I sent him your resume already." She sounded convincing, and before she had even finished her sentence she had already barged into his arms before he could stop her. "Do you really think you'll have peace of mind after marrying that spoilt brat, Genna?"
"Babes, I mean Caith, you're my cousin for Christ sake, we can't get married and expect ourselves to have a happily ever after Caithie, our families will abandon us, our conscience will eventually eat us alive," He kissed her on the forehead, regretting the truth he had spilt. Before taking out a note which read...
You came
With dancing eyes
Before
Your infectious smile
Sealed
My lips, with a kiss
And stole
A passionate gift
Using
Your pregnant tongue
To insert
Seeds of intimacy
Down
The bottom
Of my voice
Burning my throat
And vocal cords
As it came
Tumbling down
Like a shooting star
To the centre
Of my heart
Before growing
Like an apple
of lust
In the midst
Of the Garden
Of Eden
"Funny enough it took us that failed hijack for one of us to realize that they were being lied to all along... It's bad enough that I had become suspicious of you and Yonella - to the point of stalking y'all, but to find out about your wedding as soon as I had gotten off the hospital bed?" Her breath's warmness climbed up her face, and spread like guilt. "Was just super duper harsh and heartbreaking to say the least."
"Apologies for that, but do you blame my mother for..?" He was cut shot by her outburst.
"Hell Yeah I do, instead of the two of you to be worrying about me you were busy worrying about Genna," tears welled in her eyes before she burried her face in her palms, and sniffled. "I felt overlooked by your mother, and emotionally undermined by you in that moment," she said and wiggled out of his hug, leaving him bleeding from the cuts of her words.
--------------------------------------------------
Whilst, back home, Aneni-Anesu woke up as soon as the sound of her ringing phone had scuba dived into her ears. Her laptop was closed and sitting on to of her tummy, her body stretched across the couch. The tv's light making her squint her eyes softly, before she sat upright, ready to switch off her phone, make a quick snack and sleep. Yet she was yearning to check out Yonella's inbox.
So, placing her laptop on the table, she walked over to the kitchen where she switched on the lights and headed for the fridge, the cold tiles of the kitchen cooling up her feet even from her fluffy slippers, a cold which was worsened when an additional gasp of refridgerated air of jumped onto her as soon as she opened the refridgerator.
*We can just get a lodge, where will just chill, watch a movie and catch up,* Yonella's message was flooded with heart emoji's, and she really needed someone to talk to after all. Especially about the Caith and Anathii saga which she had just discovered. But as the microwave's sound overcame the kitchen's silence, it still wasn't enough to devoid her ears of the knock which suddenly came from the kitchen door.
"Camping together would be magical, and allow us to bond more as we conquer the small trials and tribulations which it would bring." She said over the video call, before taking out her heated spaghetti and sausages - which had previously proved to be too much to eat - moreover due to the extra since Aunt Emma had cooked were more with Caith and Anathii in mind.
"It would be fun, and funny too, You'd look cute struggling to light up a fire I guess," Yonella had responded with a big smile, just before Aneni-Anesu had excused herself to go and tend to the knock at the door, but gone with the phone in her hand anyways whilst sneaking carefully with precaution.
She could see a figure standing outside, a man in purple overalls and a white polo neck - exactly how Vulisanii had told her that he expected his goons to be dressed. And judging by the time she couldn't bring herself to wonder about exactly what Vulisanii wanted, especially at that time of the morning...
He was smiling and waving in a childish manner, as though he were high on weed, and then just outside her house stood a black beamer that enticingly basked itself in a touch of the moonlight, the back seat's window open as a person she percieved to be Vulisanii gestured her to come out.
"She felt like checking her phone for any messaged reasons behind his visit, but she didn't want to cut her call with Yonella. Hence she looked back and saw no sign of her mother or aunt lurking neither in the kitchen nor the lounge, before opening the door and dawdling towards the black beamer, hoping to spare Vulisanii a minute or two of chat - and even softly yell at him for visiting her at night.
"Woah, wait, where's Vulisanii, she said after suddenly realizing that there was no sign of Vulisanii in the car, the imposter was just another goon in purple overalls, too little too late.
"Grab her, and let's go, the boss is waiting," the guy in the back said as he opened the back door, just before the guy behind her did just that; enduring the pain of her shrugs, kicks and shoulder jabs - before squeezing her into the BMX X5's back seat, in time for the goon behind the wheel to hit the gas and leave skid marks, just next to the house's pavement, which quietly witnessed the last sign and and sound of Aneni-Anesu.
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But her aunt's sharp ears, whose listening skills had been shaped by years of eaves dropping and gossiping, had picked up a scream and woken up. Her husband, Malum' Innocent, was sleeping like a baby yet snoring like an old man. She just slid out her blanket and off the bed and could remember the conversation the last dialogue she had had with Malum' Innocent about Anathii's mother just before he had fallen asleep beside her. When he had been proudly praising Nomsa for the way she had raised her kids, before complaining about how Aneni-Anesu had not even bothered to come over and greet them. Shortly before they had begun wishing that they had kids of their own - seconds before they had looked at each other with eyes that held a bitter, sad truth about Uncle Malum's infertility problem.
Nevertheless she wiped her face, walking bare feet, looked to the left and looked to the right where the lounge and Kitchen's lights were switched on, probably by Aneni-Anesu as per usual, just before walking on the passage's wooden tiles towards the lounge. Only to get there and find no sign of her niece, before heading to the kitchen and seeing a steamy meaty bowl above the kitchen counter, whilst the wildy ajar front door letting in midnight winds just before she had headed towards it, before attempting to close it...
Just before feeling her heart skip a beat upon seeing her beloved nephew's orange, rabbit-shaped slippers. Before grabbing her phone near the window and dialling the cops' number, as she headed to pick up the orange clue. Only to scream for Nomsa and Malum Innocent's help upon picking sight of the long, thick skid marks just outside the yard's small gate.
Meanwhile in the kitchen, next to the steamy bowl she had left, lain a note. A page unmoved, even whilst laying witness to both Nomsa and Malum Innocent who were running past the kitchen towards Aunt Emma's voice. A small note written by Aneni-Anesu an hour prior to her kidnap. A note dedicated against her mother on behalf of her brother.
Is she wrong
for choosing money over love
of her own beloved son
As though shamelessly selling
His soul to the highest bidder
Unaware of his feelings' bitter
And solemnly sworn to please
his mother and fill the sorrowful void
left by her beloved run-away husband
Disallowing him the ability to choose
beyond his choice to lose
Neither his mother or proud of bulls
All because of her obsession and phobia
of running out of funds or power
to bath her beloved warm shower
How the guilt of her crrent deeds
fail to keep her awake at night I wonder
Could there ber something more
Than a pretentiuosly attitude
of a false smile of gratitude used
to keep him an addict of her abuse
Hungry to please his mother
and keep her happier than father
ever could, e'en in his favourte weather.
When Aneni-Anesu had finished it, she had placed the poem in between her laptop before closing it, and signed it with two drops of tears - which had then consumed her. Similarly to what her mother now felt, as she stepped through the front door and unto the cold crime scene where her daughter had been last heard screaming.
Nomsa closed her eyes and felt her cold, scary thoughts consume her, the very thought she had always been scared off - the thought of losing her son or daughter, alas it had just happened; still fresh.
Instantly she began wishing she had also taken Aneni-Anesu too, to the witchdoctor whom she took Anathii to for protection purposes. The same witchdoctor whom she had witnessed bathing Anathii in a dish of bubbly, blue portions and dusts. A deed she had allowed to happen, in belief that she were doing it to protect him from the evils of the world, the temptations of women, but to also have his loyalty towards her multiplied endlessly. The wrongs of a mother's love, but judging by how handsome her son now was - she had no regrets sh had blessed him with that magical bath as a toddler - although the consequences of reaping the benefits of the dark world were stilly yet to review themselves.
Now questions were pumping into her heart, seeing that her handsome son was still around but her beautiful daughter gone, as to whether she had chosen the right child to dip into those powders and portions. Her suspicions were also rising as to whom to blame, Zanele Mandalay, Genna and Lindiwe Gumede, or herself evens?
Anathii hadn't taken Zanele's marital request more seriously after all? Plus what if it were the Gumede's just playing a prank on them? Further thoughts like those led to her mental unrest. Hence, in that moment, she hoped her last question to be true, before bursting into tears, losing enough strength to hold on to her feet, luckily only to fall backwards into Malum Innocent's arms - who just so happened to be there.
------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile back at Caith's, Anathii sat in bed, Caith laying by his chest as he remembered an hour-old memory of their little game... Of how she had returned from the bathroom and launched a consolidation striptease, one that had led to the awkward vibes between them fading, and things escalating in a naked manner to the outskirts of the bed. Rembering it all somehow left a feeling of guilt standing strong on the battlefields of his heart. He had enjoyed it, but felt as though he had unintentionally pressured Caith to remind her of how much they loved each other. Whether that be emotionally or sexually.
The feel of her touches still fresh on his skin, the trail of pain left by her nails still travelling within his mind, alongside the sudden remembrance that his condom with Zanele had broken, and that posed a risk, especially given by the weight that the rumors he had heard in his workplace suddenly had - rumors of Zanele's habit of smashing new interns at AMANDA MANDALAY"S. He knew he, better yet they, had to get tested sooner than yesterday.
Plus now, the sounds of her moans and giggles as he had driven his boat into her cave, still rang fresh in his eardrums. Until she actually squirmed and turned sideways, just as he had felt the door running open - small shafts of light crawling beneath the door. Yet when he'd rubbed his eyes and took a second look, he could not see a thing.
"Haaaa-aah!" he finally expressed with small droplets of fear falling unto his heart upon seeing a dark silhoute running around the walls as though with a sharp object in hand - fast enough to make his heart drop into his stomach, and drop him to the side of the bed - just loud enough to wake up Caith in a hurried manner...
He had fallen on his bum and also landed on his left arm before softly laughing to himself upon thinking that karma had come to get him for making Caith look like a fool. His laughter had echoed upon the walls as he looked, only to see the silhouette figure dissapear behind that echoed sentimental sounds of Anathii's voice. Such echoes still chasing his fallen heartbeat, and sexual memories towards the back of his mind.
Awkward enough, the door was actually slightly ajar, and his hairs were still standing in a defense mechanism stance. It was then when he suddenly remembered the conversation he had had with Caith on their way there. Given by how she had looked desperately convincing as she had tried her best to delude him into seeing the Heaven-On-Earth which would be waiting for them in another province as soon as they would elope and leave their complicated lives behind. "For at least in another province we wouldn't be cousins - we will actually be lovers in the eyes of many," she had said with an sweet, semi-skeptical tone.
She had also argued: "Unlike you I'm willing to fight for the both of us until the very end, come earthquakes or tornadoes, to ensure that no one come between us - whether friends, foes or family.
Yet now her snoring made him relaize that he could actually fall asleep to the sweet sounds of her snores everyday. Caithie was lovely, daring and protective of those she loved and that included him. But such thoughts only left his mind running haywire, and crashed his consciousness, enough to leaves his eyelids shut and his body basking in the heat of the blanket.
It was then when the rainoutside began to roar, just in time for two daunty footseps to walk into the room, long white fingernails dancing in the air as tenuous giggles of Neliswa flew onto the couple's bed. Shortly before creepily caressing him, after moving the blanket above his chest, and even half of his torso aside, soft enough to leave invisible encryptions on his chest... The thoughts of helping Caith realize her dreams making her giggle some more, in the pre-dawn hours of that Saturday morning.