The way Nessa slammed the car door when she entered made Chris to flinch and jolt.

“Why are you so angry?” He asked the moment she sat beside him but instead of answering she rolled her eyes at him.

“I have everything under control Nessa, you don’t have to worry”

She scoffed, “the moment father finds out that you lied to him all those years ago Chris, even before Nick finds out, you will be doomed”

Chris flared as he hit his hand on the steering, “I know all of that Nessa and I know what the consequences will be so if you won’t help me to clear the mess once and for all, just get out of the car”

Nessa finally sighed, “look Chris” she began slowly,

“the fight is against Nick but we have to be very careful with father too, if he finds out what you did years ago, he won’t be happy about it”

“I know Nessa, we will talk when I get home. You don’t have to follow me to the airport ”

“Right” she answered and climbed out of the car, she didn’t move until the car drove out of the compound.

As she turned to go inside, she came face to face with her father and Nessa froze.

“Dad?”

“Are you both lying to me?” Gregory asked in an authoritative voice and Nessa was stunned for a moment, she didn’t know the answer to give to her father.

“What do you mean dad?”

“Did you tell me the real truth about what happened twelve years ago?”Gregory asked again, tapping his walking stick on the ground lightly.

“There is nothing to hide dad, we told you everything. Excuse me” she said and quickly found her way into the house amidst the suspicious stares of her dad.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Gregory took his phone and dialed a number, after two rings the person from the other end answered.

“Boss”

“I want you to find out more about that issue twelve years ago ceaser and I want results before the end of the day”

“Okay boss” ceaser replied from the other end and the line went dead.

“You better not be lying to me Chris” he muttered to himself as he began to walk towards his porch.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Dressed in a pair of white shorts and T-shirt, April was coming down the stairs and that was when Nick entered the house looking downcast.

“You haven’t slept?” He asked looking towards the wall clock, the time was after ten already.

“I was worried about you and I couldn’t sleep” April answered sitting on the sofa, “why are you so late?” She asked further, resting her head on her left hand.

“I just needed to cool off,” Nick answered, sitting beside her, “I was too angry,” he added.

“Did you find out anything about the girl in the picture?”

“As usual, I think Chris is hiding something. He looked very nervous when I was talking”

He unbuttoned his suit and kept it on the space close to him and his white shirt was still looking crisp and well tucked in, “where is fedora?”

“Sleeping, I gave her some drugs so she slept off”

“Thank you for taking care of her”

April smiled, “she is family after all” she replied and smiled at him, “I have some good news though” she added after a while and It finally piqued his interest.

“What?”

“Chris’s wife and kid just entered the country today”

A look of surprise appeared on his face,

“Chris is married?” He couldn’t believe his ears. The last time he checked, the forty five year old man was single.

“He got married four years ago to his high school sweetheart but they were already having a kid by then. The Furgesson found out about it four years ago too and it seems she has a lot of influence on the Furgesson family. They always include her in the family decisions and she particularly don’t have a good relationship with her father in law”

“Hmm, interesting. How did you know all of this?”

April smiled before sitting up, “if you ask me that question one more time, I will really slap you”

Nick laughed heartily, “just kidding” then his face became serious, “I think I should meet up with her and maybe I can find out something from her”

“She is also ruthless Nick, I think she has something on the Furgessons too, seeing how she controls everyone and at times Gregory himself, I got to know this from one of the guards today. He couldn’t refuse a few dollars”

“Nice, I will meet up with her soon”

“I will figure out a way to set up a meeting with her and I have also done my assignment on Hando steel, the next big name for the Furgesson”

“Okay”Nick replied and stood up from where ha was sitting, “I will check all of that tomorrow, I have an important call to make so why don’t you get some rest and we will talk about this in the morning”

“Not yet, my favorite series is about to be aired, I can’t miss it” she answered smiling.

“Take care” he said before walking towards the stairs.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The sound of the doorbell made one of the maids to quickly open the door while Nick was climbing down his large staircase with a pair of joggers and shirt.

It was one of his bodyguards that was knocking.

“Why are you knocking so hard?can’t you communicate through our medium?” Nick asked standing face to face with him as his eyes darkened, his wife and sister were still sleeping and he was ringing the doorbell so loudly.

“I tried boss but no one answered”

Then it dawned on Nick, he was not having his own with him.

“What is the matter?”

“Someone is here to see you boss, he says he is Chris Furgesson. We didn’t allow him to enter”

“Why would Chris come here?”april asked from behind them before walking towards them, she woke up due to the sound of the doorbell.

“We should find out then”

“Right” she smirked before following Nick out of the house, the guard followed suit. He was always scared of this husband and wife.

Truthfully, Chris's car was parked outside the gate when they came out and he gestured to his men at the gate to let him in.

The two ox then stood on the Porch waiting for Chris to come and meet them, wasting their time to walk up to him was a big no.

“Why are you here?”Nick asked immediately. Chris walked up to them,he didn’t even want to make him feel comfortable at all.

“I am here to talk to you”Chris replied, his eyes glancing at April and back to Nick who had both his hands tucked into his pants pocket.

“What about?” It was April who asked the question.

“I am here to talk to my brother” Chris hissed, he had a

“who was this meddling bitch”look on his face.

“You will not speak to my wife in that tone, Chris Furgesson. Whatever you want to say, say it in her presence or get lost”

His voice held so much authority and power that Chris was dumbfounded for a moment, when did his little brother get so bold?

“We are a team against you Chris, you can’t boss anyone around” April chipped in and her husband smiled at her, he loved her guts.

Sighing, Chris massaged the space between his brows. He didn’t know how to get the words out of his mouth when he needed to cover his tracks perfectly well, he didn’t want Nick to suspect him even In the slightest.

“The lady in that photo was not Nessa,” he finally said.

“I know” Nick answered nonchalantly.

“That is your mother’s sister” he finally said and Nick shot up his head like a snake.

“What?”

“Yes, she is your mother’s sister and she died that same year the photo was taken due to an accident”

“What year was that?” April asked, she didn’t trust this man even a bit.

“1988”

1988?I was seven by then Chris, why didn’t I know this?”Nick inquired again, his gaze on Chris was cold and deadly.

“The trauma was too much for you Nick and you lost your memory in the process, that was when father and mother adopted you, our families use to be close”

“Why should I believe you Chris?”

“Because it is the fucking truth man, I won’t lie to you about this” he answered in desperation which made April to bust into laughter.

“I am sure Gregory doesn’t even know you are here Nick, what exactly are you hiding?I now have reasons to believe that you are hiding something even from your family”

Beads of sweat began to form on his face as April talked, how could he tell anyone about his horrible truth. It was only Nessa that was there that day and only she knew the truth aside from his wife. How could his ugly past rear its head now?

“Believe me or not, I have told you the truth so let’s stop this war already. Come back to the house Nick and let us be a family again”

This time around, his voice sounded so calm but deep in his mind, he hated the two of them standing in front of him. The fact that he had to lower his status just to come here and perfect his alibi made his blood boil.

Nick took a few steps forward and stopped directly in front of him, “your coming here was a waste of time my dear brother” he removed some invisible dust from his suit before talking again, “everything you have said here I know there are lies but i will have you know that I am working on it and when I find out who that lady in that picture is, I will come for whoever has a hand in what happened to her, I promise. I suggest you should leave before I release my dogs on you, I don’t want to appear on the headlines that a Furgesson murdered his own brother”

Chris was vexed, he felt like ripping Nick's eyes out of its socket, without saying anything he turned around and left but the next words of Nick made him halt.

“Tell your wife that your adopted brother is greeting and we will get to meet one of these days”

The words were to make Chris scared and that happened because his heart began to thump fast.

“How do you know I am married? He turned back and asked.

April smiled,she loved the look of defeat on his face,

“You got married to your high school sweetheart four years ago Chris because she had a baby for you and she has something on you making all of you to dance to her tunes. Your father wasn’t particularly happy when he found out your secret but they were all bound to accept her anyways, she already had a ten year old daughter for you”

“Nasty nasty Chris, you hid your secrets so well from the beginning but you were still caught” Nick said, his voice containing a sense of ridicule.

“Leave my family out of this” he hissed.

“Your wife may be willing to tell on you if I use the right channel”

“You will never succeed Nick '' Chris fumed and hurriedly walked away, if only he saw the deathly look on Nick's face.

“Set a meeting with his wife” he ordered, his face creased into a frown.

“She likes me, I can set up a private meeting for you” Fedora spoke from behind them, she heard the whole conversation and she felt like stabbing her brother for his foolishness.

“That will be good”

“Father is still mad at Chris for hiding this all those years but I don’t think he shares a very big romantic relationship with her, they don’t seem to get along well”

She added.

“She may be our jackpot” Nick replied before making his way into the house, leaving the two women to themselves.