chapter 8

Africans have a last minute habit that till today figuring it is like a torture, they love last minute things in everything, be it shopping, travelling maybe it’s our signature. Christmas is over and parents are flooded in shops to buy books, school uniforms and other things for their children.

Back in the Kikoy family house, Sam seems to be busy with work before they head out for Julian’s shopping, Sam seems to be growing old so fast while his Mistress seems not to be aging at all, till today he still works hard to please her and their son.

Due to the challenges related to the economic situation, his company is not doing so well, Sam has been over spending money just to keep Julie happy for the years they’ve been together after Bel’s death.

New year is around the corner, Kayla had invited the Jenna family to join them for their end of the year celebration which Kayla introduced since her rebirth, it brought the community together, whether poor or rich, the would slaughter many cows, goats, chicken, etc. they cooked variety of food, everyone played their part, Men would roast meat while women cooked, children, teens and elderly would be in-charge of organizing other things and decorations.

The celebration attracted neighbouring communities and Kayla used this chance to invite some of her business partners to be part of it. Jenna’s family were up for the new challenge, Kayla thought they’d turn the offer down but they agreed, so she arranged for the trio to be picked up so that they could at least spend a day in Maasai land before the new year party.

The two families were so happy to unite again, Kayla was happier than all of them, she knew Jenna’s character from before and would not agree to something like this considering they haven’t known each other for long. Jenna liked Kayla in an instant after they spent Christmas together, spending the whole day with her made her develop liking towards Kayla and because of that, she wanted to know more about Kayla, so this was the opportunity to know her better.

On 30^th of December, the family of three arrived in Kajiado, they were all excited, Kayla had arranged everything and was looking forward to reunite with her family, they enjoyed the day and were spoilt by Kayla, Bellah

“Is this your home?” Jenna asked, yes, Kayla replied back with a smile, then continued to explain, this is my home, when my papa died, I was the only heiress to his wealthy since I’m the only child, so I took over the responsibility of running his businesses, before I wasn’t sure I’d manage considering I didn’t have good education back ground, but so far I’ve done it and even better than my own papa, I’ve created Jobs to Villagers and we live like one happy family here.

I’ll give you a tour of my company tomorrow, we hold end of the year part and you’re my guest, Bellah and Erica will be okey in the hands of grandma and grandpa.

The family of 6 enjoyed their dinner and called it a day, each went to their respective rooms. Jenna’s mind on the other hand, was still busy in thoughts, Kayla had everything in life, but she lives a simple life, she doesn’t show off, only have few servants around in her big house. Jenna was so impressed and liked her even more.

“God doesn’t give you what isn’t right for you,” Jenna told herself. “After Bel, I never thought God would bring a wonderful person in our lives considering her social status compared to us, even if we worked a thousand years, we can’t be close to reaching her level.” Jenna smiled and decided to get some beauty sleep since she has an early day with Kayla.

At the dawn, Kayla was already up preparing breakfast for all of them at 8a.m the table was already set, her guests were woken up by the sweet smell that came from the kitchen, they all came downstairs and sat on the dining to have breakfast. You might think that they’re one big family and have known each other for years. For Kayla, it was one big family and for Jenna’s family, they felt happy and honoured to be part for a humble family whom God has brought into their lives.

After breakfast the two women left for the company while Bellah, Erica and the old couple stayed behind to clean up the dining and after Bellah and Erica offered to do the dishes but Kayla’s grandma told her that they have a dish washer and Kayla doesn’t allow them to do the dishes.

The four of them went out for a walk in the village and spent part of the day touring different places and bought many gifts to bring them back with them to the city. The young ones were treated to unforgettable experience.

Kayla had reached the company and was giving Jenna a tour, the two looked like sisters, laughing and enjoying each other’s company. “ I feel like Bel is here with me right this moment, being with you, makes me think of her all the time, I see her in you, we were like sisters and did everything together.” I’m sorry for your loss, I wish we can be like sisters too, I know I can’t replace Bel in your heart, but I’d be honoured to have you as my sister too, I can’t tell but I have a feeling that our journey to friendship will last our lifetime.” Kayla turned to Jenna as she spoke. Jenna stopped and held Kayla’s hands and replied back, “I hope so too.”

The party started at 10 a.m. the two women were eye catching for all male employees and those women present were envious of them, especially Kayla, before they used to gossip about her that she only inherited her father’s company but now after everything she has done and even surpassed her father, everyone have nothing but respect for her and she treats them really well, have revised most company policies and all her employees are happy with their benefits.

The two women look like models, they’re slim and tall, they have perfect bodies, their chocolate skins were glowing and both had beautiful smiles, to some, they were both goddess, unfortunately it was a dream that was beyond their dreams. Kayla was their boss, who pays their salaries, and no one would dare to cross the line, which might result into them being jobless.

Even though she treated them like equals, but they could never dare to go overboard which will be like a dog biting its owner’s hand that feeds it. The party started, and as the CEO she was the one to start the celebration, people expected a long speech from their beautiful CEO but she only had few words to say.

“Morning every one, I’m happy to see each and everyone of you, thanks for the hard work you’ve put into this company and I hope as we start a new year, we’ll continue with the same spirit, like I’ve always said in the past, we are all family here, that’s why I host this party each years and you get to know your colleagues from other branches too, Happy new year everyone! Let the party begin,” Kayla ended her speech, but while walking over to her friend, a voice came from behind, “you didn’t introduce the beautiful Angel that accompanied you today,” one of the male employee voiced out.

“This beautiful Angel here is my good neighbour in the city and my new found sister, her name is Jenna.” Kayla and the rest of the employees were clapping and finally welcomed Jenna to their family.

Kayla smiled, walked over to Jenna and dragged her on the stage for her to say few words so that she can please the excited souls with her voice, she didn’t want to let down her employees.” Jenna was stunned and she felt very much at home. They enjoyed the day but had to leave around 4p.m. to join the rest of the family to prepare for their New Year eve party for the community.

The old couple, Bellah and Erica had just arrived too from shopping for their evening attires and were looking forward to the party. The two families had tea together then prepared to set out to the venue where the party was being held, the place was part of Kayla’s land and has set aside it for the celebrations.

The party took off at 6p.m and everyone was dressed in Maasai attires even the invited guests, people even elders respected Kayla, because of the efforts she made to unite the Maasai communities and outsiders together, she opened the doors and opportunities to everyone who needed it.

There were so many dancing groups that entertain them, small plays performed by small boys and girls and afterwards a feast started. The celebrations go till past midnight and ones they have crossed over to the New Year, everyone can leave anytime they feel like. Jenna, Bellah and Erica were so happy, they have never seen something life this, the people were countless, each face was filled with happiness.

Bellah walked over to Kayla and gave her a hug the told her that she was best gift in their life and will forever be grateful, especially for giving them a chance to experiencing this kind of life. Kayla was touched by her daughter’s words, she hugged her so tightly and replied back, “you all are a blessing to me too, I thought I knew what it meant to have a family before, but now I do. Thank you for giving me the chance to be part of your wonderful family.”

They all headed home, since it was already late. When they arrived at Kayla home, it seemed like no one was ready to go to bed so they all headed to the living room, Kayla and Jenna went to the kitchen to prepare tea for everyone.  They talked till 3 a.m. in the morning when the decided to go to bed.

Kayla woke up early as usual to start preparing breakfast for everyone, late on her grandmother joined her, she didn’t like it when she saw her overworking herself. “ I noticed sadness in Jenna’s eyes, I think it’s time you work on what we had discussed when we got back after Christmas,” old woman turned and told her grandchild, “ I saw it too grandma, and I think you’re right, only Jenna’s parents would be able to fill the emptiness in her heart, Kevin and I are gone and there is nothing she can do about it, I don’t want her to turn out like me in my past life,” Kayla replied back.

Grandmother and her grandchild both settled on the same conclusion of uniting Jenna and her family. The proceeded to set the dinning table and when everything was set they called out for everyone to have breakfast.

After breakfast they all went out to the farm, Kayla was not only a beautiful woman but also a good businesswoman and a farmer too. The day went so fast and it was already in the evening, they harvested many vegetables and fruits from the farm to carry back with them to the city. The Jenna family have to get their things ready to head back to the City the following day, Jenna has to resume work and both Bellah and Erica are reporting back to School on 3^rd of January.

They felt so sad that they had to leave but they can’t abuse the host’s kindness. They had dinner together and all headed to bed since they had an early day. Kayla’s heart ached; her family was leaving again but she had to be strong no matter what. “Thank you for your hospitality, we had a great time here and please keep in touch, whenever you’re in the city don’t go back to being a strange neighbour again,” the spoke as she walked over to Kayla to give her a hug and the old couples too. 

They all said their goodbyes, Kayla brought out milk and eggs she had packed for them and insisted they can’t refuse anything or else it will mean they don’t consider her as a friend as they said, they didn’t refute. Kayla and her grandparents watched the car drove off and finally disappeared in the distance.

Back in the Kikoy family home, Sam was still unsettled, it seems like he didn’t have a good start for the new year, the thought of him being poor again didn’t give him much peace, all he ever wanted is to become a king on the thrown and the only person who was capable of making him the King was gone and forgotten.

He had a trophy wife that he also needed to maintain her lifestyle, he felt his world was getting smaller by each day and yet he hasn’t reached the pinnacle of his dream. That thought frustrated him more and made him loose his temper, his emotions became unstable and would yell at his servants without a reason.

One day he was stressed out and after work he didn’t go back home but decided to go for a drink, he picked a table at the corner where he had a good view of everyone coming in and going out of the joint, he wanted to relieve stress, since he was alone he couldn’t help but eardrop on the neighbours next to him, one man was telling a woman how a person can kill and get away clean, as the story continue Sam was very attentive, someone would think that he was deep in thoughts.

Sam finally finished his drink, paid and left, on his way home, he kept replaying back what he overheard in the bar, evil ideas kept on crossing his mind, then he thought of Bellah’s shares, he knew he can’t sell them at the time being but he can sell his shares and keep Bellah’s shares since she was the major shareholder after Bel split them from him.

When he got home, he went straight to bed without talking to either his wife or son, he needed to think before he made decisions, so he pondered on the many ideas that were flowing through his mind. Sam had been working hard, but things didn’t seem to go so well, instead of his company prospering, things seemed to be going wrong every now and then, to top up his demanding and nagging wife who was living lavishly without putting any efforts. He sat in Bed and for once he missed Bel, his inspiration was his late wife and whenever he was stuck, Bel was willing to help him out solve whatever problem the company had.

In his half sober mind, Sam felt emptiness in his heart, he realized how mean he was to his late, he never made an effort to appreciate everything that Bel sacrificed for him, he’s even living in Bel’s house and after her death he didn’t do anything to take care of his daughter Bellah.

This time round, his conscious didn’t allow him to get any sleep, he toast around and decided not to sleep at all, walked out of the bedroom and went to the study, he locked himself up and went through some of the things he had kept away and got his old family picture, he sat on the floor and starred at the picture for a very time. “What did I do, I caused so much pain to the only people who loved me, I was never a good husband or father, is God punishing me or Karma is finally catching up with me.”

These thoughts really angered him so much that he started breaking things in the study and crying like a baby, he woke up everyone in the house, all ran towards the study but no one could enter because he had locked himself inside. After a while he stopped crying and sat on the carpet, closed his eyes, as he was calming himself down.

His sub-conscious came back again, “Sam, do you know how pitiful you are? A well-respected CEO on the carpet crying like a baby, don’t you think it’s too late for regrets, how will you apologize to Bel? When was the last time you saw your daughter or even call her? You had so many chances to be by the people who loved you, but you decided to stay with your mistress when they needed you the most.” The inner voice was not giving Sam any peace.

After listening to his inner voice for a while, he composed himself, opened the study room and went upstairs to have a bath and head to work, Julie and everyone in the house were just looking at each other, the study was in a mess but they didn’t think Sam would give them an explanation to what has just happened.

He left and headed to the office, Sam has never been to the office so early, everyone in the company was surprised. Before entering his office, he told her secretary that nobody should disturb him and to cancel any meeting for that day.

Sam wanted to think, he needed to find a solution for the problems the company was facing. He sat down in his chair and made a call to Julie to go ahead and shop for their son’s things that the school had requested. Julie didn’t refute and agreed.

Sam made another call to the family lawyer Mr. Zak to come over to his office, he trusted him and he liked his underworld way he dealt with things, he was a lawyer with bad reputation but since he’s never been caught red handed it just seemed like rumours, Sam told him about the story he heard while at the bar and wanted to confirm if that was possible in this life, Mr. Zak gave him a cheeky smile and calmly nodded his head with a yes following.

“Out of curiosity, whom do you want to deal with that is blocking your way to stardom? Mr. Zak asked, Sam turned and looked and Zak in seriousness, can you do it if I told you? You’ve always been good to me and my family for many years and I owe part of my success to you.  How about we meet up for dinner and discuss everything in detail, walls can hear us,” Zak rose up straighten his suit and walked out of Sam’s office.

This is the first time Sam was doing something out of his character, even though he came from a poor family, his hands were clean but now because of greedy and the thought of loosing everything he’s worked so hard to achieve, he didn’t mind making his hands dirty. He eyes were icy cold you’d think he’s been possessed by the devil himself and even when his secretary walked in she almost dropped the documents in her hands, she was surprised, she has never seen him like that, it’s like it was someone else, she apologized and turned to leave.

“What did you want?” Sam asked in a cold voice, the secretary was lost for words, she couldn’t reply back, she just placed the documents on the table and walked out as quickly as her legs could manage. Sam grabbed the documents and started looking at them one after another. He came across the company lawyer’s memo to all shareholders, he needed to have an urgent meeting.

This man had not crossed his mind and was not part of his plan but seeing this memo, it gave him more ideas on how to handle his problems, Sam’s glimmer of hope was back, his cold face disappeared. Now he was looking forward to dinner with his lawyer.

Sam was to meet Zak in a club on Ngong road, actually the club was owned by Zak but it was under someone’s name but that’s where Zak operated his underworld activities and all the people there we his people.

There meeting was at 7 p.m. and Sam was right on time, they sat in the lounge for a while before proceeding to a private room to discuss the issues at hand. The room was like another private lounge within the club. The talked for a while, Sam told Zak about what he wanted, before he just wanted Bel’s lawyer Richard to disappear but now he wanted the company lawyer to disappear too because he knew about Bellah’s shares in the company.

Zak was excited and thought that Sam’s idea was good, he laughter out loud that Sam was shocked, “why are you laughing?” Sam asked with a serious face, “I never thought that he could go to that extend but here we are. I’m so proud of you Sam, finally you figured out that in this life when you want something sometimes you need taint your name to reach at the pinnacle of your dreams. I like your new year resolutions.” Zak clapped and raised a glass of whiskey they were having to toss for their plan.

Even though Sam came up with the idea, it didn’t mean he was fine with it but somehow, he felt like he didn’t have a way out, we all know there is always another way of dealing with things, but Sam’s narrow mind didn’t explore much, he needed everything done as fast as possible.

After, their discussion ended Sam left the club and headed home around 10p.m. back in the club Zak was already working on the plan to kill two birds with one stone and without raising any suspicions. He enjoyed his weekend, while Sam was tensed the whole weekend.

Two days later, breaking news, TWO CITY LAWYERS BURNT TO DEATH when Sam saw that while  having breakfast he broke into a cold sweat, he didn’t think Zak would be that fast, he tried to figure out how these two people ended up together. When he snapped out of his wild thought, he felt a chill cold all over his body, he got scared of Zak, but it was too late to turn back.

Sam met with Zak after two more days of trying to compose himself, there was no meeting for shareholders because the company was mourning for the loss of their lawyer. He only wanted to know how Zak did it, he gave him a mischievous smile and told him that it was best if he didn’t know, all his worries should be over, the two lawyers and him are the ones who knew about the company shares. Zak was wrong, he totally forgot that there was extra two copies that none of them knew where it was.

When Kayla watched the news, she intuitively knew it was Sam’s doing, but then again, when did Sam become a killer. Kayla had someone in Sam’s company who informed her about everything that was going on, she knew the company was going through a lot and was under so much pressure but she didn’t think Sam would go to an extend of killing.

Maybe I’m imagining things, Kayla talked to her inner self, she didn’t want to voice it out for her grandparents to hear, she didn’t want to imagine that the man she sacrificed everything for him for 10 years in her previous life was a killer.

Sam’s greedy had taken over his conscious, he didn’t care whether his actions were  good and evil, all he wanted was to make his company continue running and maintain his high social class status in the society even after Bel’s death, he was willing to do the impossible, he didn’t want people to talk behind his back.

Lawyer Richard was laid to rest at his ancestral home in Busia while the company lawyer was buried in the city cemetery not far from where Bel was buried. Investigations were done to solve the mystery behind the fire that burnt down people’s businesses and left two people dead, but Zak was flawless and didn’t leave any clue, the government concluded it was an electrical problem that started the fire and the two lawyers were trapped without a way out.

Zak was appointed the Company Lawyer/Secretary, with him around he’s able to help Sam out with his plans. When Kayla heard that shares were being sold, she still wanted to protect her child so she arranged for her lawyers to visit Sam’s Company (Sambel Corporations) to discuss the sale of the shares, Kayla’s company was doing so well and everyone wanted to work with it. The transaction was done and now Kayla was part of the shareholders. The boost for capital enabled Sam to sort out many pending issues and the company resumed its normal operations; they were able to complete all the contracts to their clients.