*** VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED***
This chapter mentions abuse and Trafficking
DURU'S HOME
After typing the text she planned to send her mother-in-law, on her phone, Kaira threw the phone aside as she packed two suitcases, one containing her necessities and the other filled with legal documents she'd collected over the weeks—just in case. She walked out of the house, not turning back once. The relief was immediate but laced with guilt and exhaustion. She pulled out her phone and hit send
'Mama, I can't stay here anymore. I can't stand Duru and Amara. I have tried to be reasonable with her, but it seems she wants to see me blow my top off. I have tried to do my part to be a good wife, but it seems that nobody wants me here. So I am leaving and moving back to my mother's. When my husband has got his shit together and still wants the marriage moving forward, then let him come for me. As for me, I really do not have the energy to deal with his drunken antics all the time, and Amara is really using that as an advantage to do whatever she likes. Like I said, I am not her maid. I am sorry, mama, to be texting this to you; I am afraid that if I speak with you, I will change my mind, so please forgive me for going through this way. Goodbye.'
Mama Duru rushed into the house, her heart pounding a frantic rhythm against her ribs. She was frantic. The unusual quiet amplified her anxiety. She fumbled under the flower pot in the front, pulling out the spare keys.
The house was eerily silent. A wave of dread washed over her. She quickened her steps, practically flying up the stairs, driven by a terrible premonition. She reached the master bedroom door and, without knocking or thinking, shoved it open.
The horror in front of her was enough to tear her eyes out.
Amara was wearing just a black lace bra and tiny silk pants, her head thrown back, moaning loudly as she dry-humped her brother, Duru, who was shirtless and wearing only skanky boxer briefs, utterly drunk and unresponsive on the bed. His member was swollen against the thin fabric of his boxers.
"Oh my God, this child has killed me!''
Mama Duru screamed, the sound echoing in the room.
Amara instantly stopped, scrambling off Duru and grabbing the duvet to cover herself, her eyes wide with shock and fear.
Mama Duru, fueled by a mixture of shock and rage, rushed over to her, hitting her wildly with open palms.
"What do you think you are doing? That's your brother! Your brother!"
She yelled, tears streaming down her face as she struggled to catch her breath.
Amara dodged the blows, circling the bed.
"Mama, please! I was only trying to make him feel better. Besides, you and I know he is not my biological brother!"
The justification was like a physical blow. Mama Duru stumbled back.
"You, evil child! How dare you say that! After everything I have done for you, and this is how you repay me?"
Her strength failed her, she fell to the ground, heartbroken, lamenting loudly.
"Oh, please, Mama, stop being dramatic,"
Amara retorted, her voice hardening. She clutched the duvet tighter.
"This whole thing is your fault anyway! If you had allowed me to be with Duru from the start, none of this would have happened! If you had just allowed us to be together!"
"What have I not done for you to have a comfortable life, huh? Why don't you understand that Duru is your brother? Your brother! Do you know what people would say when they hear this? Are you really hellbent on destroying our family?"
Mama Duru cried from the floor.
"I don't care what people say! All I know is that I love Duru, and I have always wanted to be with him."
Amara shouted back, her voice laced with years of suppressed resentment.
"But no, you had to go against me and let him be with that Bitch Amy! When I was finally happy that she was out of the picture for good, you couldn't help yourself but to go and bring that bitch Kaira into the picture and ship me off to get molested by your fucking friend's disgusting husband!"
"I didn't mean for that to happen"
Mama Duru whispered, her lament turning into quiet despair.
"Well, whether you meant it or not, it did happen. And you forced me away from the only person who mattered!"
"But he is your brother! It wouldn't have worked out in any case,"
Mama Duru insisted, tears still flowing.
"And how would you know that when you didn't even give us a chance?" Amara challenged.
For a long moment, the only sound in the room was their ragged breathing. Mama Duru finally wiped her tears, her face hardening into an expression of resolute finality.
"Your brother had always looked up to you as a sister he could depend on. But you held such immoral feelings for him. Not only did you have those feelings, but you acted on them when he was vulnerable, and you do not feel any remorse for what you have done"
she stated, her voice steady and chilling.
"Do you understand that what you have done is rape? Amara, I have raised you for the thirty-three years of your life and always doted on you. I never saw this day coming. To say I am disappointed is an understatement. I am not going to pursue this legally, but you will quietly pack your things and leave. If you insist on being stubborn, don't blame me for being cruel."
She pulled out her phone and called a number.
"Are you here? Okay, come in. The door is open. Take the stairs and enter the second door to your left."
She dropped the phone and turned to Amara.
"Get dressed and get out."
There were no emotions on her face, but Amara did not move. Her voice came in strong, laced with defiance.
"I am not moving an inch from this place, and to be clear, I don't care what you do."
Mama Duru didn't answer. Instead, four large men, built like brick walls, burst into the room. Amara clutched the duvet closer, fear finally replacing defiance.
"Madam"
One of the men said, his eyes darting quickly around the room, avoiding the bed.
Mama Duru ignored Amara's protest, pointing to the bed where Duru lay skunk drunk unaware of what was happening around him.
"Dress him up and bring him out."
She turned and walked out.
Amara followed her, yelling
"Where are you taking him to!?"
Mama Duru said nothing and continued walking. Amara turned back, rushing upstairs to stop the men, but they shoved her aside. They quickly pulled a shirt and pants over Duru's unconscious body, lifted him like a sack of rice, and carried him out. Amara was left alone, watching her world collapse.
THE POLICE STATION
It was late at night, and Inspector Morka was alone at the station. His hands were shaking as he looked at the information he held. This was a massive scandal that, if exposed, was sure to send catastrophic ripples across the entire country. He hadn't expected his informants to deliver so quickly and with such devastating detail.
He quietly gathered his belongings and sneaked out, driving straight to Ade's house.
ADE'S HOUSE
Morka parked his car, punched in the code to his partner's house, and let himself in. It was sparsely decorated. He stepped around clothes on the floor and half-eaten plates of food filled the kitchen counter. He found Ade on the bed, snoring softly, papers scattered around him.
Morka scanned the room. Some papers were pictures of paintings half-out of a package. Two finished paintings were laid on the bed. He picked one up: a shocking piece depicting two teenage girls who were naked and gagged with ropes, their hands and legs bound. They were kneeling, their bodies thrust forward, eyes unfocused and streaming tears. Behind them, a man held a whip. Morka pulled the painting closer. The man wore a pig mask over his head and had a tattoo of a headless horse on the left side of his chest.
"What the hell…"
He thought, the paintings, he realized, were telling a story when he looked at the others: a narrative of love, setup, and death. He saw documents that detailed the confession of someone betraying their best friend, leading to his death right before his wedding. Intrigued, he sat on the bed, accidentally landing on Ade's legs.
Ade woke with a start, ready to fight, until he recognised Morka.
"You scared me"
He said groggily, before slipping out of the bed wearing only his short briefs. He walked to the toilet, then the kitchen. He was running on barely two hours of sleep and needed a strong dose of caffeine.
"Do you want anything?" Ade yelled from the kitchen.
Morka walked out with the pictures and papers and placed them on the small dining table.
"I'll have whatever you're having. Seems like something big, bigger than we thought, is going down."
Ade scooped coffee into two mugs, adding milk, their preferred blend, and brought the cups to the table. He sat opposite Morka, who eyed him as he took a long, relaxing sip.
"When was the last time you had a proper sleep?"
Morka asked, concerned by the dark circles under Ade's eyes.
"I don't even know. The days are passing by so quickly that I can't even keep up"
Ade yawned.
"I need to be done with this case soon and report to the Chief to get reinstated.''
He sat up
Speaking of, why are you here so early in the morning? It's still dark outside."
Morka shook his head.
"Tsk Tsk Tsk, it's ten at night. Anyway, I got something shocking today. Have you ever heard of the Klarity Foundation?"
Ade nodded almost immediately.
"A mysterious person sent me a text about this Klarity Foundation. I've been looking into it and found that they were in the news several months ago for a bunch of bad things. Seemed like a political opposition hit job."
"Yes, exactly! But this foundation is a cover. Something far more sinister is going on there."
"What do you mean?" Ade asked, leaning closer.
Morka fished into his bag and handed Ade several files. Ade took them, flipping through his eyes growing wider with every passing second.
"How did you—how did you get these?" he asked, genuinely shocked.
"Let's just say I have my sources"
Morka said proudly, but his expression turned serious.
"Isn't that him, the next potential president, Governor Buike Robinson?"
Morka pointed at the names on the documents.
"I'm afraid, my dear friend, that with this one, we will have to take our hands off the case. Do you see the names on that list?"
Ade cursed under his breath as he kept reading. "So many important people. The Minister of Justice, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Doctor Ife, the Ministers of Health, Education, Treasury, and so on. So many important dignitaries holding the country were on that list. They are the hidden members of the Klarity Foundation."
Morka pulled out a photograph and showed Ade. It was a picture of several men in different animal masks, sexually assaulting women who were gagged and tied with ropes, all while drinking and laughing.
''It seems like every once in a year, they hold meetings and do all sorts of depraved things like this.''
Morka said
Ade's fingers tightened around his mug.
"Jesus Christ."
Morka pointed at one of the masked figures.
"You see the masks those psycopaths are wearing?"
The scene looked jarringly familiar. Ade immediately went to his room, grabbed his phone, and opened the video that had been sent to him previously—the video of those twin girls with a man holding a whip and wearing a pig mask. He showed Morka.
"Watch this."
Morka instantly grabbed the phone, looking between the video and the pictures. Morka's stomach twisted.
"Where did you get this?"
Ade sighed.
''After we went to the Bem family home... remember how uneasy I felt because something didn't add up?"
Morka nodded, remembering the events of that day clearly
"Well, a few days later, I started receiving text messages with tips on the case from a strange number—a burner phone. The tip led me to the accident scene footage. Remember the plate number I asked you to run? It was from that number. Then, the day I asked you to look into Doctor Ife's account, they sent me another message; this time, it was an invite to a gallery called Spectrum, with videos and files, and the word Klarity. That video was what they sent. When I went to Spectrum, my phone was taken from me so I couldn't take any pictures or videos, but oh boy, these paintings were on display.''
He pointed to the paintings Morka had been looking at previously
''They sent me these paintings, which are a replica of the ones displayed there. I have this hunch that whoever sent me those tips must have been the one behind this art exhibition or working with the artist. The paintings were displayed, telling the entire story of a man who was killed for committing treason, and how his killer carried on living their life"
Ade pointed to the paintings on the bed.
"Everything in the paintings was exactly like you see in the video, aside from the faces of the girls being altered. Don't they look familiar to you?"
Morka picked up the video and the paintings, putting them side by side. What Ade said was correct. He looked at the video, and a lightbulb went off.
"These girls look familiar in the video...''
He squinted his eyes, bending his head to one side, trying to think and then
Wait dont don't these girls look like the Governor's twin daughters, right?"
Ade nodded, confirming his fear.
"That's not the most shocking part. Do you see the man in the pig mask behind them? Look at his left chest."
Morka did as he was told. He paused the video and zoomed in on the smartphone screen.
"A headless horse?"
He quickly grabbed the painting on the bed. The image was small, but something there definitely resembled the headless horse.
He looked up at Ade, his face pale.
"What is this?"
"I am not entirely sure what is going on here, but Governor Buike was at the gallery. Someone 'accidentally' spilt some water on him. The water soaked his shirt, and I saw the exact same tattoo on his left chest."
Morka literally froze, looking at the picture, then the painting, and then at Ade.
"Whoever was sending me these things definitely planned for me to see it"
Ade concluded.
"So you are telling me that Governor Buike was doing that to his own ki—"
Morka couldn't finish his statement. He immediately shot to his feet, stumbling toward the bathroom. A few seconds later, the sound of retching echoed through the small apartment.
Ade didn't move. He carried on looking through the information that Morka brought. A name kept repeating itself in the documents, referred to only as 'THE RECRUITER.'
He pulled out his phone and typed a message to the mysterious number.
'I know you have helped me a lot with this case. I am still curious to know who you are and why you are sending me these things. I have no idea what your motive is, but seeing how all you are sending is concerning a presidential candidate, I am not willing to overlook it. If I can ask for your help: I have just received some documents, and a name appears concurrently: 'The Recruiter.' Is there any way you can find out the identity of this person, please?'
He waited, but there was no reply. He would still Investigate but seems whoever this person was, they had more connections to get information quicker than he would.
Morka walked back, wiping his mouth. He pointed to two files. The files contained pictures of a house and transactions detailing the sales of human organs. There was a list of about a hundred donors and their matches. Ade recognized two names: Jessy and Jaden Bems.
"Did you read through this document before coming here?" Ade asked.
"I skimmed through, but it was a lot of information. I couldn't read through it all and also knew you'd want to see this ASAP so I just came over."
Morka pushed the two files to him.
"Everyone one the list has the picture of their match except for these two. Recognise them?"
Morka rubbed his stomach as he sat down, looking at the files.
"These are—"
"Mrs. Bems' twins" Ade finished grimly.
"Wait a minute, they died six months after their mom passed away,"
Morka pointed out.
"Their father didn't think they were his and didn't even know they were dead, so who signed for their organs to be donated?"
"Exactly! Since a family member did not sign, how were they able to collect their organs without permission?"
Ade's voice was dangerously low.
"They should have still approached Mr. Bems to sign, but there is nothing like that in this document or in any of these other documents. Besides, others have their match beside them, and they are all members of the government. Look, this one's heart went to the Minister of Education's son. The rest of her organs were sent to senators and other rich people who were suffering from bad organs. They are all rich, influential people. Isn't this Blood marketing?"
Morka nodded, the full horror dawning on him.
"These bastards!"
He banged his hands loudly on the table, startling Ade.
"They even… To those kids… Those scums!"
He banged his hands again, unable to contain his anger.
'' They just The RECRUITER and The PIG, next to their names no pictures. Do you think they may have received the organs?"
Ade asked, and Morka hummed in agreement
"I have a theory. I feel like there's more to this blood market thing. Morka, can you please take these names to the missing people's department tomorrow and inquire if any of them are missing people with no or broken families? Find out if this pattern runs through them. We may be able to get our answers from there."
Morka nodded, already taking pictures of the lists with his phone, a task that would take more than half the night. This investigation keeps unearthing nasty surprises for them.