ENVY 53

Victor and Siji looked at each other speculatively, and then at Pago as though he had developed a pair of horns. Pago was having a fun time.
"Don't worry that Fela and Sike are not here, I am representing the legitimate children. And Siji can as well represent all your bastards, in case you have more than one."
"What in God's name are you talking about?" Siji asked.
"I am saying that this man seated here, beside you, is your father. Our father. We are brothers, you and I. Isn't that interesting? No wonder we have always loved each other so much." He said with a tinge of sarcasm, then continued. "We even shared stuffs remember? Notes, clothes, shoes, and.."  He paused a bit for effect, before saying. "Women." He watched Siji strain against the rope in annoyance and he smiled. "Even though I didn't know then that we were brothers, I felt the connection, and hence,  was always the better brother. I was the one acting brotherly, wanting to share everything I had with you. You shouldn't blame me for what happened with Ese, afterall you had your chance with Stella and didn't take it. I was a true brother."
"Yea, a true brother that set me up to be expelled from school."
"That was because you put me in an impossible situation. But even then I warned you, gave you a brotherly advice, but you would not listen. You see, at times a man just have to do some things to survive, it doesn't mean he is proud of it. But it just have to be done. Our father here will understand. He had done many of such things. Like when he abandoned your mum while she was still pregnant with you, just to save his marriage."
"Pago I really don't understand what you're talking about."
"Don't try denying it Dad. Sam told me everything."
"Sam?" Victor's shoulder slumped.
"Yea, your loyal employee wasn't as loyal as you thought. Well, I wouldn't say that. He was loyal, but his loyalty was tested when he saw the injustice in your actions. He was torn between obeying you and protecting my dead mum's interests. He thought it was wrong of you to be looking for an illegitimate child to pass over everything to after mum helped you build your business empire. And I strongly agree with him.
"That was not why I was looking for...."
"Will you stop lying? You were not going to let me or Fela or Sike take over the company, you were looking for him to hand everything over to. But Sam knew what was right. So he lied to you about not finding your lovely Tumuninu and her mum, then he came to me to tell me about it. Imagine how surprised I was when I discovered that Siji here was my brother."
"Tumininu isn't dead?" Victor could not stop himself, he wanted to know.
"Sam did not lie to you about that. She died giving birth to him. Sorry dad." He said with mock sympathy, then added. "But Sam found her mother, Siji's Ma'ami."
Victor looked at Siji again, this time with some level of interest, longingly. Could this young man be his son, the one he had sired with Tumininu? He started seeing the resemblance that he hitherto had not seen. Siji suddenly  became uneasy with the way the older man was looking at him with eyes full of emotions. It was all crazy to him. He and Pago could not be brothers.
"I don't know what you both are talking about, but I'm sure your Sam had gotten the wrong person. I can't be brothers with this crook. Besides, I know my father....I....I know his name and it is not Victor, it's Segun."
"Was that what your grandmother told you?" Victor asked. When Siji would not answer, he said. "You see, your grandma had issues pronouncing English names, so Tumininu thought it wise to give her the Yoruba version of my name. She used to call me Olusegun."
"This reunion is so touching, but I am afraid there are more serious things to be done." Pago was saying but the men were not listening to him, there were both deep in thoughts.
"Sam why?" Victor asked no one in particular after a short while.
"You won't have to worry about Sam anymore, too bad the old sissy got jittery and wanted to spill the beans. The Authorities would have found his body by now."
"You killed Sam?" Victor asked in shock
Pago nodded solemnly. "I didn't want to, it was not part of my plans. But like I said, at times a man gotta do what he gotta do."
"You bastard." Victor growled.
"Aren't we mixing things up in here? That's the bastard seated beside you."
"How do you intend getting out of your crimes?" Siji asked.
"Oh! I have a plan. I will share it with both of you if you'd for a moment keep your mouths shut."
"But why Pago?" Victor asked. "Why do you have to get Rose involved in all these. If you have some scores to settle with both of us here. There are better ways to do it than kidnapping your own daughter."
"My daughter?" He smiled derisively. "Rose isn't mine."
The bombshell hit Victor so hard that he became short of what to say. "But...but...but...."
"I know, the genotype test and all. They actually didn't lie, but I had always known something was wrong somewhere. I admit the tests results got me confused at the beginning and I had to actually carry out several of them myself to be sure and they all came out the same. The thing is, I had a vasectomy a long time ago, shortly after I entered the University, so there was no way I could have fathered a child."
"Jesus!" Victor breathed out.
"You remember Charity Dad? From high school? The Reverend's daughter who claimed I knocked her up?" He asked, then continued without waiting for a reply. "I promised myself then that no woman would ever come that close to affecting my life. So when the genotype results came, I was shocked. I had to go back to check if a mistake had been made during my operation, and it was confirmed that everything was intact. I actually thought a miracle had happened and since marriage and fatherhood suited my plans then, I was glad for the miracle. Not until I found out about Siji did I know what really happened. Siji and Ese were lovers in school. So Rose is not my daughter, but she is still your granddaughter, your bastard granddaughter." He said laughing, then he said to Siji. "Congratulations bro. So you finally did it with Ese? I never knew. You had me totally fooled."
"Damn you." Siji hissed. He did not know if he should be glad or saddened by what he had just heard. He had lost out in the formative years of his daughter, no thanks to Pago.
"Waoh! I understand bro, so I am not going to take it personal. It's too much revelation for a man to handle. Even for the intelligent Siji. But don't worry. I'll soon take you out of your obvious mysteries, both of you. You are taking the revelations to your graves. You both are not gonna leave here alive.

                              ☆☆☆

Rose stayed curled up under the stairs and listened to the adults talk their adults' talk. She felt guilty that she was eavesdropping. Her mummy had warned her severally not to eavesdrop on adults, but what could she do? It was not like she was doing it intentionally. It was not her fault that they were talking so loud, it was not her fault that she was under the stairs either. Her crazy daddy had brought her to this house. She thought of leaving the stairs and rushing back to the room were she had been. But no sooner had the idea came, than she ditched it, for fear that her crazy daddy would see her and tie her up too. She had no other choice than to stay where she was and hear all what they were saying. She could not understand all what they were saying anyway, they were talking adults' talk and one does not understand adults' talk unless one is an adult. But the little she could understand from their discussion was confusing her. How can Daddy and Uncle Siji be brothers? They don't even know each other. She could still understand if Uncle Kalu and Daddy were brothers, atleast they are close and Daddy had never tied him up like this. She could understand why Daddy tied Grandpa up, they never really liked each other. Now who is Tumininu and Ma'ami and Sam and all those other people, and why is Grandpa saying Daddy killed Sam? Had Daddy actually kidnapped her? And the talk about bastards. Who is the bastard among the three of them? Is it Grandpa or Daddy or Uncle Siji? She knew 'bastard' was a bad word. Hadn't her aunty in school punished Sunny for calling Rachael a bastard? She decided that Daddy must be the bastard, since he was the one tying people up and hitting them with guns. Now Daddy just spoke a big word. Vasectomy? Whatever that is? Where is her Mummy? If Mummy were around she would have asked her of the meaning. She mentally noted the word, she would ask Mummy later. She caught her breath as she heard Daddy say. "Rose is not my daughter." She automatically stopped listening, in shock. She also stopped thinking, all she kept on repeating in her mind was "Rose is not my daughter."
About the Author

 Soji Adeola Ayanleke was born about 3 decades ago in Kano.
He studied Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, he speaks Yoruba and Hausa fluently and he is trying to learn Igbo and Spanish. His hobbies are reading, writing and playing some indoor games.