Black Sparkle Romance (9 page)

Just how many other secrets was he keeping from her?

The roar of applause as the M.C.’s voice announced Lauren’s name startled Mira away from her thoughts. “We’ll talk later,” Lauren said and disappeared through the curtains.

Ajoke watched silently as the loaders hauled the cartons of the new edition of
Black Sparkle
magazine into the storeroom beside the hall. Anyone watching her would have thought that she was admiring the men’s dexterity, but she was lost in thought, her mind buzzing with an idea. Dressed in a clingy, eye-catching turquoise dress. Her eyes were cat-like, roving around the dimly lit hotel surroundings, and twice she peeked over her shoulder at the open door leading to the backstage area. Her gaze came to rest on the two women chatting beside the red curtains and she sneered involuntarily. She let out a short breath and turned her attention back to the loaders. They seemed to be done with their task – she saw one of them shut the lid of the truck. Perfect.

Taking a deep breath, she strode purposefully towards the backstage door and caught up with one of the men before he got to it. “Excuse me,” she called out, “sorry, but you can’t go in there. It’s for staff only.”

The man nodded. “No problem … I just wanted to return the storeroom key to that Madam.” He pointed towards Mira, who was now standing alone, her back towards them.

She turned back to the man. “Ah, don’t worry. Give me the key. I’ll give it to her.”

He handed her the key. Ajoke waited for the truck to
leave and when it finally roared out of sight she hurried to her car, retrieved a jerrycan and rushed towards the storeroom. She opened it, placed the jerrycan carefully beside it, and then left the door ajar. Her heart thudding a loud tattoo against her chest, she let out a shaky breath and started for the backstage door.

It was showtime.

Still reeling from Lauren’s revelation, Mira stood beside the curtains. The drone of Lauren’s voice as she began her speech echoed like the sound of an aeroplane’s propellers. She suddenly had a strong urge to leave, to find Dominic. Damn the magazine launch – she needed an explanation. She was hurt and confused and she wanted to see him; she had to get to the bottom of his mistrust of her. She dialled his number, the phone clasped to her ear in a fierce grip. But she got no answer, just the network provider’s computer-simulated voice telling her the number was unreachable and she should try again later. Great. She hung up and decided to go inside for the event. They would talk about this later. Besides, backstage was virtually empty: everyone had gone in.

Letting out a breath, she turned – and ran straight into Ajoke. Her heart skipped a beat. “Ajoke,” she gasped, her hand splayed on her chest. “You scared me. What are you doing here?”

Ajoke’s brow creased with an apologetic look. “Sorry.
I was just on my way to the hall when I saw someone lurking around the storeroom where the magazines are kept. I know I shouldn’t be paranoid but …” She sighed. “It didn’t feel right. I had to tell someone.”

Mira smiled. “Do you want us to check it out … just to be sure?”

“We worked hard on the shoot; I wouldn’t want anything to mess it up.”

“Alright,” Mira said as she steered her towards the door. “Let’s go.”

They went out into the chilly night, the hotel surroundings deserted and quiet. No-one was in sight, and they walked to the corner where the storeroom was located, their heels clinking softly on the pavement. They found the door open and Mira frowned. “I was certain the loaders locked this door. Why is it open?”

“See?” Ajoke said. “Someone was here! Oh my God … what if they’ve stolen the magazines? We have to go in and make sure!”

Although heart constricted at the thought, Mira hesitated. “But…” then she sighed. Whatever … it wasn’t like anything terrible would have happened anyway. Probably an obsessed fan had broken in to get a copy. She pushed the door further and walked in.

A heavy blow hit her on the back of the head. Stunned, she keeled over and fell to the ground with a dull thud.

Ajoke’s eyes darted both ways as Mira crumpled to the floor, the large stick she had used to hit her still in her hands. Satisfied that no one had seen her, she dropped her weapon and quickly bent over the girl, checking for a pulse. She felt a faint throb in Mira’s neck. Good. She had been terrified she might kill Mira with the vehemence of the animosity she felt for her, but thankfully she had only knocked her unconscious. Holding up Mira’s arms, she dragged her into the storeroom and shut the door.

Mira woke up to the pain ringing through her head like a fire alarm. The room was dimly lit by a bright moonbeam, and the air was stuffy with mould and dust.
What happened?
Dizzy, Mira waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, her brain cloudy with confusion and panic. She tried getting to her feet, but she was blinded by terrible pain that sent pink flashes through her eyes. Moaning, she fell back. Her left leg did not feel as though it belonged to her body. She looked down at it and saw that her ankle was starting to swell. She must have twisted it badly when she fell. Panicky, she looked around and saw Ajoke; the girl was leaning against a table, smoking a cigarette. “Get up,” she commanded.

Mira couldn’t mask her confusion. “Ajoke, w-what’s going on?” she winced. “Please could you help me up … my leg hurts.”

Ajoke’s face contorted with fury. “I don’t take orders
from you, you bitch!” And she slapped Mira in the face. The sound was deafening, and Mira could taste the tang of blood in her mouth as she fell back. But then she remembered. They were in the storeroom. Ajoke had mentioned something about someone in the storeroom and … and that was all she could recall.

“Ajoke! What’s your problem?”

“You,” Ajoke said with a shrug. “You are my problem; with your pretty face, your curves, your big doe eyes.” She wiped her wrist across her nose. “Miss Goody Two Shoes … you think you can take him away?” She exhaled a puff of smoke and snarled. “Forget it.”

Mira eyed her. “Take who away?”

“Please!” Ajoke screamed, her face twisted with rage. “Don’t play innocent with me … you know who I’m talking about, you moron! Dominic!”

“I don’t know what—”

“Just
who
do you think you are? You think you can waltz in and take him, abi?” Ajoke said, watching the cigarette smoke twirl in the air. “Dominic may be weak and you may be a pleasant distraction, but nobody takes him from me. He belongs to me!”

Mira drew back. “But you are not in a relationship with him.”

“We almost were before you showed up! When his girlfriend left, I was there for him. I helped him out of his depression. I saved him.” She paused to take a deep drag on the cigarette. “I was his guardian angel, getting him
out of the pits of hell. And then you came along. I noticed how excited he was about you, that light that came into his eyes whenever he saw you. I did all I could to get him back, but I failed.”

“So the phone call about your leaking roof … that was all a sham.”

She smiled slyly. “Don’t judge me. When you’re in love you tend to do stupid things.” Her hands tightened into fists. “I longed to harm you; to smother your face with a pillow or just bash your skull in. But I didn’t because I knew that would kill my Dominic. He’d lose his mind … that’s the effect you have on him.”

Mira tutted. “I suspected you had feelings for him. There was so much tension between you two …”

“That’s because we had sex, you daft heifer!” Ajoke spat at her. “We shared something, and you stole it from us! But not any more … I’m taking back what is mine! Besides, did you know his mother is the famous jeweller Helen Heinz and she’s coming back to Nigeria soon? And that’s not the best part. She’ll make Dominic the head of the franchise she’ll create here! My Dominic will be one of the richest men in the country!” Anger clouded Ajoke’s face. “I care about his finances and his future and I don’t want you in it! You’re just like those girls he dated; those pretentious gold-diggers, so the faster we get you out of the picture the better.” She pulled out the jerrycan of petrol from underneath the table, walked over to the cartons and began dousing them with the
liquid. The stench of petrol filled the air and Mira’s eyes widened.

This was getting uglier than she had imagined possible.

Ajoke raised her upper lip with a sinister sneer, and terror seized Mira’s heart. “Ajoke, please don’t do this! We are friends, remember?” She crawled towards the other woman but Ajoke shrank away from her.

“We are not friends!” Ajoke screeched. “I only talked with you because of Dominic and I wished I could cut my tongue out every time!”

“Think about it!” Mira was practically screaming now. “What would you tell everyone happened to me?”

“That you were in the storeroom when the fire started. You’d be at the wrong place at the wrong time, Mira … as always.” She held up a lighter. “Burn in hell, whore.” And she threw the lighter onto the cartons and hurried out of the room, locking the door behind her.

“No!” Mira screamed, then looked over her shoulder with horror as the cartons of magazines were engulfed in flames, yellowish-orange tongues rapidly consuming the cartons and curtains. Bewilderment clouded her thoughts, and she screamed until she doubled over, coughing. The flames were spreading fast, undeterred. That was when her survival instinct kicked in – nobody could hear her; she could either shout herself hoarse and burn to death or try to save herself. Muttering a prayer, she dragged herself towards the door. She was reaching for the handle when the door burst open. Fear gripped her – was Ajoke back to finish what she had started?

But the voice that came through was girlie and slightly nasal, the voice of an adolescent. She looked up and through the smoke she saw that it was a teenager – the girl looked no more than 17. “Hold onto my shoulder!” the girl yelled over the crackling sound of the fire. “Don’t be afraid … I’ll get you out of here, OK?”

Mira stared at the young girl who had appeared out of nowhere. Was she dreaming or was this an angel? “W-who … who are you?” she stammered.

“That’s not important … we have to get out of here!” The storeroom was almost completely swallowed up in flames now, fierce and hot. Thick smoke filled the room and their sinuses. Leaning on the girl’s shoulder, Mira sighed with relief as they stumbled through the doorway and into the cold night.

They were safe.

Dominic and Rufus had just pulled into the parking lot when they noticed smoke coming from a window at the corner of the building. Rufus was the first to see the flames. “Fire!” he yelled, pointing. “Fire … oh my God!”

Just then Dominic saw the two figures stumbling away from the burning building. “Go and alert the management!” he shouted at Rufus, who took off running towards the reception. Dominic ran towards the figures, his mind set on catching the perpetrators. That’s what
they had to be; with an event like
Black Sparkle
’s launch going on and a sudden fire at the scene, he knew this was no accident. But as he drew closer he recognised one of the figures. “Mira?” he gasped, coming to a stop.

She looked up at him; her face was dirty with sweat and soot, as was that of the young lady she held onto. An ugly bruise covered a part of her hairline, and her ankle was badly swollen. “Dominic …” she said feebly.

He rushed towards them.

The smoke was wafting out thick and acrid from the side of the hotel building when the emergency units arrived. It wasn’t a huge fire, but it was enough to attract the attention of the neighbourhood – the entrance to the hotel was swarming with people. An ambulance and fire truck were present, and a Rapid Response police truck had pulled up a few metres away. Firemen struggled to put out the flames while the guests gazed at the spectacle with apprehensive faces. Mira was seated next to an ambulance, where a nurse was attending to her sprained ankle. She was surrounded by Dominic, Sade, T.J., Adeleye and Lade. Zaram, the teenager who had saved her, was sitting in the ambulance with her mother. Lauren was busy talking to the police. The small group watched with solemn faces as the smoke filled the air.

Adeleye broke the ice. “This is a disaster. The hall was chaos; people were running helter-skelter after the fire alarms started blaring. Some of them were injured in the stampede.” He sighed. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

“Me neither,” Lade said. “All the magazines are gone. Good thing we didn’t bring all the copies to the launch … what would we have done?”

“I’m just grateful you’re OK, Mira,” Sade said, placing a hand gently on Mira’s shoulder. “What if Dominic hadn’t saved you?” she shuddered. “I don’t want to
imagine what would have happened.”

“She’d have been toast, that’s what would have happened,” T.J. said. “You’re a hero, Dominic.”

“Well, I …”

“Dominic didn’t save me, Zaram did,” Mira said flatly. “I was lucky she came when she did, or else I would have …” Her voice broke and she lowered her head.

Dominic nodded. “Yes, that’s true. Rufus and I drove in to find them stumbling out of the storeroom. We just alerted the management to the fire.”

“What on earth were you doing in the storeroom all alone, Mira?” Rufus said, turning to her.

“And what started that damn fire?” Adeleye wanted to know.

“I can smell petrol,” T.J. said, sniffling the air. “If we were where I work at the airport, I wouldn’t give it much thought, but this is a hotel, for Pete’s sake.”

“Sounds like this fire was intentional,” Dominic said. He turned to Mira, who was sitting quietly with her head lowered. “Can you remember what happened, sweetie?”

She didn’t answer. Her eyes were brimming with tears as she gazed at her soot-stained hands. She let out a raspy sigh. “I’m too tired to talk right now,” she whispered.

Sade hugged her. “It’s OK, Mira Diva … rest easy OK?” She looked warningly at the others. “I don’t think we should do this now—”

She was interrupted by a sudden commotion in front of the van; a woman was loudly ordering a policeman to let her through. They all turned in the direction of the voice.

“It’s Ajoke – she’s finally here,” Rufus said.

Mira’s heart skipped a beat and she averted her eyes. Ajoke ran to Dominic, throwing her arms around him. “Dominic!” she cried. “I heard what happened! Oh my God, I am so sorry about Mira – I heard she was in that storeroom and died in the fire! That’s terrible!” She blinked into his confused eyes. “How are you holding up?”

“I-I’m fine but … who told you Mira is dead?”

“People in the crowd are saying someone died. They didn’t see a body but they heard someone was in the storeroom when the fire began,” she tutted. “That poor Mira … she was such a nice girl, you know. What a tragedy—”

“Jesu Olorun maje!” T.J. shouted. “Please, who is this clown?”

“Mira isn’t dead, Ajoke,” Dominic said. “Yes, she was in the storeroom but she was rescued in time.”

All the blood drained from Ajoke’s face. “S-she’s … she’s alive?”

“Yes, she’s sitting right there!” He pointed. “Why would you even think she was dead?”

“Because she wanted to kill me,” Mira said, looking directly at Ajoke. “Didn’t you try to kill me, you evil bitch?”

Everyone gasped. “Is that a joke?” Adeleye asked.

“She tried to kill me!” she cried, tears running down her cheeks. “She lured me into the storeroom, hit me over
the head and set the room ablaze. I wanted to tell you all but I knew nobody would believe me. If Zaram hadn’t been outside the storeroom at the time I would have …” She looked around for some support, but all she got were confused faces with doubtful looks. “You have to believe me!”

Ajoke gasped, her forehead shiny with sweat. “How can you say such a thing, Mira?” she cried, feigning a hurt look. “Everyone saw me drive in … I didn’t reach the scene until after the fire had started.” She turned to Dominic, her eyes tearful. “Dominic, how can she say such horrible things about me? You know me … you know what I’m really like. How can you stand here and listen to her say such things about me?”

He looked distressed. “I don’t …” he began.

“Mira is right,” Zaram suddenly cut in, and all eyes turned to the teenager. She pointed to Ajoke. “That woman tried to kill her. I-I was outside the storeroom when they went into it, but they didn’t see me because I was crouching behind the bushes. She hit Mira with a stick and I saw her leaving the room just as the fire started.”

Ajoke let out a hoarse laugh. “And, why should we believe this little
twat
?”

“Because she’s telling the truth,” Mira said. Then she spotted something and her mouth curved in a smirk. “And remember, this is a big hotel, Ajoke. There are surveillance cameras everywhere.” She pointed at a
camera stationed on a building opposite the burning storeroom. “I bet that camera has everything on its tape to prove you’re guilty of attempted murder. You’re going down, Ajoke. You’d better believe it.”

Ajoke stared at her for a long time, her face expressionless. Then without warning she raised her hand and hit Mira across the face. “You stupid bitch!” she yelled, as Mira fell to the floor. Lade, Sade, T.J. and Adeleye rushed to help her up, while Dominic and Rufus angrily grabbed hold of Ajoke.

“What is wrong with you, Ajoke?” Rufus demanded in a gruff voice. “Are you insane?”

Ajoke, choking with tears, glared at Dominic. “Can’t you see she’s lying, Dominic? She’s a lying scheming bitch, and you will never be happy with her! Don’t you
understand?
”

Dominic shrank away from her. “I think I do now.” He looked over at Rufus.  “Don’t let her go anywhere,” he said. The latter nodded solemnly, tightening his grip.

Then without a word he turned and walked towards the police officers standing a metre away from them.

After Ajoke’s arrest, the police stopped the interrogation. The firemen successfully extinguished the blaze and people began to disperse, exhausted from the excitement of the evening. Sade and T.J. went to get the car while Adeleye and Lade went to the bar for cold drink. Lauren
went to settle the damages with the management and Rufus left the hotel. Dominic placed his arm around Mira, warm and reassuring, and they walked in to the hall. Mira couldn’t hold back the tears as she looked at the hall that had once been beautifully designed for the event. Now it was a shambles, the walls blackened with soot, the concrete floor wet with puddles.
I didn’t plan for this. I didn’t plan to have the launch interrupted by a fire! What happened to the plan?
She watched helplessly as the paparazzi snapped away, each wanting to get the best picture. She imagined the headlines on the front pages of the gossip rags the next day and her heart fell. The media were always on the prowl for news, and with a fire outbreak during a launch attended by all the celebrities in Lagos, they would be singing Hallelujah praises.

And all this was your fault, Mira
, Her Rational Mind blamed her.

Sadly, she agreed. Although she wanted to blame Ajoke’s psychotic obsession, she couldn’t fix all the blame on her.
I played a part in this too. I should have been cautious. That day at La Greta, I shouldn’t have ignored the attraction between them – Ajoke’s weird comments, the way she looked at him, the way she looked at me.
She recalled a certain photo shoot where she had seen Ajoke zoning out whilst gazing at Dominic with a strange look on her face. At the time she had been puzzled by it, but then she had been distracted and had forgotten about it.

The cool breeze blew a torn cover of the new magazine
near her feet. She picked it up; it was slightly singed at the edges. She stared at the glossy cover. Ifeoma Ogendu stood between two sloping palm trees, her hands planted on her hips, with a radiant smile on her face. Her hair billowed in the wind, and the blue and gold dress looked magnificent.
We did a great job. The whole crew did a great job.

The voice came back again:
Yes, you made this happen, Mira. You showed how talented and hard-working you are, but what was the end result? A fire outbreak, that’s what. An event that turned into mayhem, with a mass of stampeding people, a magazine burned before its debut at the newsstands – because you let your emotions rule your head. Bring back the old Mira Adaora Dike, the focused woman with set goals.

Bring her back, and everything will be alright.

Dominic took the cover from her shaky hands as they walked out of the hall. “You shouldn’t look at this … it’ll just make you feel worse,” he said. She shook with a sob and he kissed her softly on the forehead. “I’m so sorry, Mira. This was supposed to be your big night.”

“Everything just seems surreal. One minute I am excited about the launch, the next I am almost getting roasted in an inferno. I still can’t believe it.”

He sighed. “I wish I could take it all back.”

She stewed on that for a moment, and then looked up at him. “Do you really?”

His eyes narrowed. “Of course … why would you think otherwise?”

“Because I know about everything, Dominic, and if you really feel apologetic about it you should have told me a long time ago.”

He stared at her for a heartbeat, then his shoulders slumped and he buried his face in his hands. “It was just one night,” he said, his voice heavy with despair. “I-If I had known she had feelings for me … I swear I wouldn’t have done it.”

“But you did,” she said. “I really don’t care about your past shenanigans with her, but the fact that I almost lost my life because of such a trivial act makes me sick.” In the distance she saw the girls driving towards them.
It’s now or never, Mira
, her Rational Mind said to her. Taking in a deep breath, she said softly. “I can’t put my life in danger because of your secrets, Dominic, I just can’t.”

He noticed the tone in her voice. “Mira, please, not here. Not with all that has happened. Let’s find somewhere—”

“No, here’s fine. I’ll be quick. We can’t be together, Dominic. I’m sorry.”

His face was pained. “Don’t do this. Please.”

“I don’t see a future between us. This was no more than sexual attraction that developed due to our work together, and it meant nothing. The time we spent together, the sex … all of it meant nothing.” The words felt starchy in her throat as they tumbled over each other. “It’s over. Goodnight.” The car arrived before he could reply, and she slumped into the backseat and shut the door on him, forever. She couldn’t do this any more.

She had had enough misery for one day.