Chapter 15: Forever is a long time
"Do you have a legal plan to get Kane away from me?" Naya asked.
"I do. I will put a call to Aaliyah Macks, she is the best criminal attorney in New York City and she will put together a great legal team of divorce lawyers and property lawyers. At the long run, it would be in the best interest of Kane to give you a divorce. And Naya, everything is going to be just fine" Jason reassured her.
"Friends?" Naya stretched her hand for a shake.
Jason smiled warmly at her and took the hand, squeezing gently.
"Friends"
It was a start of a beautiful platonic friendship, Jason hoped as he said the word friends.
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"Hello Chike" Naya spared him a smile
Chike looked happy with himself. Things had been awkward between the two of them ever since Naya kissed him a few days ago. He avoided talking to her unless it was absolutely necessary and Naya preferred it that way. She was getting tired of the awkward conversation they made whenever they were around each other and so, distance from each other was exactly what was needed.
"Hey Naya, how are you doing?" Chike smiled kindly at her.
"You are in a good mood today, what is going on?" Naya asked and narrowed her eyes.
"I am always in a good mood....I am a cheerful guy; you know" Chike told her and took a sit beside her.
"I know...just that things have been kind of awkward between us and frankly, it is...." Naya was interrupted before she could finish the sentence.
"Exhausting" Chike finished for her.
"Exactly! It is really exhausting trying to avoid you" Naya said and took a deep breath.
"Kissing your best friend's girl is never easy but we can blame it on the alcohol" Chike said and nodded slowly like he was making a point but Naya didn't get the point.
"But we weren't drunk" Naya sounded confused.
"Work with me here! Nobody knows that we weren't drunk. And people blame stuff on alcohol all the time, anyway" Chike made a funny face at her and she smiled.
"Its official....we were drunk. Thanks Chike. Now tell me why you look so happy this evening"
"I found your husband. He is a police officer in Manhattan..." Chike told her the good news or not as he watched the smile drain out of her face.
"Narcotic division....I know where my husband is, Chike. That was never in doubt, I just didn't want him to know where I am" Naya told him
"But I thought you told Jason that you had no idea where Kane was. I had to go through hoops to get information about his whereabouts, Naya" Chike couldn't believe she lied to them.
He watched her closely and noticed that she was afraid. Even the mention of Kane's name scared her and he understood. But if he was going to help her, he needed to be sure that she would be honest with him. In his opinion, people die because one party wasn't completely honest or hide information that was helpful from the rest of the crew.
"I am sorry. I have been running for years and its working. He can't hurt me if he can't find me but if we alert him about a divorce, then he will surely know where I am" Naya felt her heart beat increase. She rubbed her chest in a circular motion. Maybe it would levitate the pain she felt there.
"You can't run forever. no one can, Naya" Chike leaned back on the chair and stared at the open space in front of him.
"No....but I can wait till he is dead. I mean in his chosen line of work, it happens. He might just go to work and some thug might miraculously shoot him to death" Naya's eyes contained a hint of hope.
Chike smiled, he had never been a fan of looking a problem in the face and hoping it would go away on its own. He preferred facing it head on.
"Naya, you are important to Jason and that means you are important to me. I just want to help but if you want to keep running, be my guest. I am leaving Malawi anyway" Chike stood up to leave.
Now that he was fully healed from his stab injury and According to Jenny, the man he was afraid that he will come after Jason was now in Ghana, he needed to move on and apprehend him before he completely disappears. Chike was willing to spare a few weeks to help Naya on behalf of Jason but he wasn't going to waste his time trying to convince her when he had bad people to look for.
Chike was half way to the main building when Naya spoke.
"Okay, Chike. I am ready to stop him but you better have a plan other than a bunch of lawyers" Naya said and stood up to face him.
"How about we start with bankrupting him" Chike had a mysterious smile.