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Episode 47

Jide couldn’t believe his ears. He shook his head slightly to clear it. Had Anita just admitted to trying to kill him?“And so?” Jide repeated. “What the heck do you mean by ‘and so’? Are you saying you actually did this?”Anita rolled her eyes and examined her blood-red nails. “Please, spare me all this drama. Did you actually think I was just going to sit back and let all that happened between us go unpunished?”Jide remembered the gleaming pieces of glass in the food that had been delivered to his office and his pulse thundered. Was Anita really that vicious?“My God, Anita! So you can go to such lengths to hurt me and you’re not even apologetic about it?”Jide’s ex-mistress eyed him slowly, one corner of her mouth raised in a sneer. “Apologetic for what? It would have been good riddance to bad rubbish abeg.”Jide shook his head, dazed. “So it really was you all this while. Tampering with my brakes and all
”“For the umpteenth time, I did not touch your brakes!” Anita cut in impatiently, standing up from the edge of the desk and returning to her chair. “I don’t have that much energy to invest in your silly existence. And news flash, it wasn’t even me that sent those pictures of us together to your wife.”She smiled at the look of confusion on Jide’s face. “Yes, dear Jide. I know I let you think all this while thatI sent them, just to make you feel terrible, but since your sheep of a wife has forgiven you anyway and is still ‘loving’ you, there’s no fun in keeping up the pretence. Some scumbag reporter was trying to blackmail me for money. He had been following me around and threatened to send the pictures to your wife and my family, to embarrass me. I just laughed the idiot off.” She grinned wolfishly. “Anita Bankole does what she pleases. Even my family knows that. It was an empty threat. And I would have warned you, but you had the gall to break up with me, so I let you suffer for your betrayal.”Anita settled into her chair and locked her fingers together, smiling over the tips of her sharp nails. “Bottom line Jide, I really am not interested in spending a lot of energy on you.”Jide gave a small disbelieving laugh.“You’re unbelievable. You know you’re crazy, right? One moment you say you don’t have the energy to spend, then the next you try to kill me. You’re insane.”Anita’s eyes narrowed. “Kill you? I already told you I didn’t touch your stupid car
”“I’m talking about this, Anita!” Jide snapped, spreading his blazer so she could see his oil-stained shirt.Anita raised a brow. “Okaaayy. You’re going to need to make actual sense, Jide. Unless you’re claiming that i sent some imaginary assassin to throw food at you and kill your fashion sense..?”Jide placed his arms on his waist and took a deep breath. Arguing wasn’t getting them anywhere. He was sure Anita’s secretary was avidly eavesdropping on their conversation, but that was the least of his problems. His immediate concern was understanding why Anita was being so nonchalant about his attempted murder. Was she that unconcerned about the consequences of her actions, or was she just simply insane?“Adulterated food was delivered to my office earlier today.” Jide gritted out after a few moments. “Filled withground pieces of glass. To put it mildly, it would have been hard to digest.”Anita’s eyes widened. “Oh wow, someone really doesn’t like you.” She paused as the accusation in Jide’s eyes sunk in. “Wait. You think I did that? Oh c’mon dude!”“You admitted you tried to have me killed
”“I admitted I tried to have you TERMINATED.” Anita cut in. “I was talking about work.”Jide stared at her, nonplussed.“When you barged in here, you askedme if I tried to get you terminated and I said yes. And I’m not afraid to admit I tried to pull a few strings to get you sacked, but apparently you’re too well liked.” Anita’s lips tightened. “Men and their empty promises. Now that I need a favour, all the bosses are hemming and hawing.”Jide remembered the phone call from his boss earlier in the day. Armed with Anita’s confession, he now realized that the man had been using the conversation to remind himself of Jide’s usefulness to the company. Jide heaved a sigh of relief, glad that he had answered all the man’s questions smartly. He hadbeen right to think it was a job interview of sorts.“I’m a cold b—h, Jide, but I’m not a murderer.” Anita said petulantly. “Get out of my office.”Jide looked at Anita, seeing her with new eyes. “You’re not a cold b—h. You’re actually hurting.”Anita scowled. “What?”But Jide could see past the harsh front Anita always put up. He looked at her and saw a woman who was used to getting what she wanted, butcouldn’t get what she needed. He remembered the desperation with which she had tried to force him on dates, the way she tried to make himcuddle her after their lovemaking sessions and how hard she had triedto hold on to him. Anita wanted to betruly loved, and not just desired by men for her money or her body. Jide felt shame fill his chest. He knew he was no different from all the men who had only been with Anita out of lust. They had made her what she was. A bitter woman, beautiful on the outside, but broken inside.“I’m sorry, Anita.” Jide said sombrely. “I should never have started anything with you, knowing fully well I was eventually going to jump ship. You deserve a man who truly loves you for who you really are. A man who will look beyond the physical and get to know you without any strings attached. I hope you’ll find someone like that. I truly do.”Anita looked away, but not quick enough. Jide had seen the sheen of unshed tears in her eyes. Her fake eyelashes fluttered rapidly as she blinked the tears away. “Get out of my office. Please.”When Jide closed the office door softly behind him, he was still shaken by his new perspective on Anita. But he had bigger problems to face.
Who had really tried to kill him?


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