Love By Deception

Hannah ran as fast as she could with all the energy she had, she couldn't slow down, she couldn't stop, she wouldn't even dare to. She felt that the men chasing her were not far behind. They were armed and could have easily shot her dead if they wanted to but they didn't because she was carrying what they wanted.

She would not let them get to her, she had to protect her babies.

It was already dark and there was not a person on the street, everyone had already locked themselves in their homes because of the insecurities of the town.

As she kept on running through the empty street, one of her babies started to cry and she knew that she needed to breastfeed her. She slowed down and looked back and when she didn't find a trace of the men, she heaved a long sigh of relief. They must have lost track of her.

She quickly sat down at a corner to feed her child before she would continue.

As she breastfed her baby, she lifted her head up and saw a house not quite far. It was a small house that was in between two small houses as well but it was only the house that the lights were still on. It could mean that the people inside might be awake. She was not familiar with the street because she had been running all the way from her place, which was several metres away from here. She doesn't even know the name of this street, all she was aware of is that she was still in Lagos. They could catch up to her if she kept running so she needed a place to hide away from them.

She quickly got up from where she sat and turned to the direction of the house. Should she go there? Would they help her? The country was already facing a lot of insecurities and so everyone were being extra careful of others, especially strangers.

She walked over to the house anyways and knocked on the door but no one answered nor came out. She swallowed hard and lifted her hand up and knocked again, hoping someone would come out but still, no one did. She paused for a while to hold her babies properly before she reached up and knocked the door again.

When no one came out, she heaved a long sigh and turned around to leave.

"Who is it?"

She paused in her steps when she heard a feminine voice. She turned around and walked back to the house and she saw a brown skinned young lady who should be in her late 20s.

"Yes? What do you want?" She asked with a frown.

"Hello good evening. I'm sorry to disturb you please but I really need a place to spend the night. There are... There are people chasing me, they want to hurt my babies... please..."

She had not finished talking before the lady shut the door in her face. She bit her bottom lip and heaved a sigh before turning around.

"Of course, they can't just let me in..." She murmured looking at her babies. "It seems mummy has to keep running my darlings." She smiled at her babies.

"You may come in...but...but only because of your babies."

Hannah paused in her steps as she heard the lady's voice and she quickly turned around. She hurried back to the house where she met the lady holding the wooden door as she stood beside it.

"Thank you so much ,thank you so much." Hannah beamed at the lady who opened the door wider for her and she quickly went in. As she entered, she looked to her right and saw a dark skinned young man, definitely in his 30s, staring at her.

She gulped as she saw that the man's expression wasn't a fine one.

"I am sorry for the inconvenience. I must have disturbed." She said to the man with an apologetic face.

The man rolled his eyes, "You should have thought of that before knocking in someone's door at 1 AM."

"Ken!" The lady glared at the man. "Please, she's only staying for the night."

The man sighed, "You should lay your babies down, they are asleep already." The man said in a calmer voice as he pointed to the fast asleep adorable twins in her arms.

Hannah looked down at her arms and smiled. "Thank you very much." She was really grateful that she got to meet such nice people who offered her a place to spend the night.

The house was a small one that had only a sitting room, a bed room and a bathroom, the kitchen was built outside. The tv in the sitting room looked like one from the 1990s while the sofas looked very old. She could tell that they were managing and she felt bad that she had to inconvenience them but what could she do?

"Come with me" The lady said to her and she quickly started to follow her from behind.

The lady led her to a room and turned to her.

"You and your babies can use the bed inside."

Hannah's eyes grow wide at the offer, "But where would you and your husband sleep? I can manage the floor with my babies if I can get a blanket."

"It's fine, don't worry. You can use the bed along with your children, I and my husband will use the sofa." The lady assured her with a smile.

Hannah shook her head, "That's too much, I am only a stranger. Why don't I...."

The lady sighed, "Or would you like to sleep outside instead?" She frowned at her.

Hearing that, Hannah decided to just drop it, after all, it's only for tonight.

"Okay, I will take the bed, thank you very much."

She went into the room and placed her babies on the bed while the lady stood by the door.

"Would you like a cup of water? That's all I can offer you."

Hannah smiled at the kindness of the lady, she never knew such nice people still existed. Other people wouldn't even bother to open the door for her but this lady did and even offered her water to drink. Running for hours, that was just waht needed.

"Yes please, thank you."

"Wait in the sitting room while I bring it to you."

"Okay"

Hannah went over to the sitting room and sat down on the sofa opposite the man. She glanced at his direction and stared at him , she could tell he wasn't happy and it looked like he was only trying to be comfortable when he was not. She understood him very well, not everyone would like a stranger in their home.

Not long after, the lady brought the water and handed it to her.

Hannah smiled at her, "Thank you."

She looked at her with pity, "You must be tired." She paused and sat down beside Hannah and continued, "If I may ask, who were you running from and why were they chasing you?"

Hannah sighed and brought down the cup of water from her lips. She held it in her hands and started talking.

"They were sent to capture me by my ex lover." She paused and smiled sadly before she continued. "Actually, my name is Hannah...I um... I am a fashion designer...I am an orphan and I don't have relatives who considered me as one, so all my life I have learnt to strive for myself and work hard. "

She sighed and continued,

"Well to cut the long story short, I um...I met this man...He um..." Her eyes started to grow watery and she sniffled before she continued. "One day, this man came to my shop and ordered for his clothes to be made. My shop is not that big and most of my customers are middle workers. I was surprised when he came to my shop because he was looked very wealthy. He um... He told me he loved my work and he became my frequent customer..." She heaved long sigh and took a sip from the water before she continued.

"We um... We got closer and caught feelings and well...he asked me out..." She paused and suddenly chuckled. If someone were to tell her that she would be pouring her heart out to a total stranger, she would not believe it. Funny how certina situations could push one to a tight corner.

"-So that's how we started dating. He promised to get married to me and be there for me always... You know how it is, all that love promises and all..." She smiled sadly. -Too bad I believed him...and like a fool, I gave my heart to him and also...... myself....." She paused as tears streamed down her cheeks.

The lady rubbed her back to console her, "I'm sorry. You can stop talking about it."

"No it's fine, I will tell you." Hannah sniffled before she continued, "Long story short, I got pregnant for him. At first I thought of aborting it because I wasn't ready and I don't know if he was either... but then, after hearing the first heartbeat of my babies when I went for checkup, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I decided to tell him about it but...but that was a big mistake..." She bit her lower lips as she nodded continuously. "-He told me he couldn't accept it because he was already married and that his wife was pregnant as well..."

"What a bastard." The lady cursed with a deep frown on her face.

Hannah smiled and shook her head. "-Yeah, you can say that... He well, he said he had no intention of marrying me at all and that he doesn't want anything to jeopardize his reputation or destroy his marriage. I can remember how I cried like an idiot that day and pleaded with him not to leave me but instead, he told me to go away and never show my face in front of him ever and he offered me the sum of 10million to disappear but I refused his money....."

"You did what?!!"

Hannah stopped talking at once when she heard the shouted in a loud voice as he springed up from where he sat staring at Hannah in disbelief. "You rejected the money? Who does that? Were you expecting him to leave his wife for you?"

"Ken stay out of this, don't say anything." The lady frowned at him and turned back to Hannah.

"Finish what you were saying, don't mind Ken."

Hannah smiled at her and nodded, "Yes it was stupid but... I did refuse the money because I wanted nothing to do with him. He was simply trying to buy my silence but what does he take me for? I had no intention on creating a scene or exposing anything in the first place so I don't get what he was scared of..." She shrugged. "- I wouldn't feel comfortable collecting money from him. So....Well, he tampered with my shop and I was left with no source of income."

"Well I didn't complain, I moved away to another place to reside. I had been trying to make ends meet there until I gave birth to my babies. I knew it was going to be hell for me since I gave birth to twins but I didn't complain, my babies had done nothing wrong... But then, out of nowhere, I received a call and it was from him. He told me to give him custody of the children. That was when I realized that he had been watching me for the past months that I had been pregnant. I refused and threatened him to leave me alone or I would find his wife and expose him but... that was a mistake. He started sending men to threaten me so I would release the babies but I refused and reported to the police."

She scoffed and bit her bottom lips bitterly, "How stupid of me to do that... That didn't help of course because he was well connected and was able to shut the police...And then, today, late in the afternoon when I went out to buy something carrying my babies with , I saw a black car parked in front of my house on my return and some armed men all in black. If I had been in the house, they would have taken me away."

"-I knew this time, they haven't come to make peace at all but are here to get the children for good. I quickly turned to escape but it they had already seen me. They quickly entered their car to chase after me and just when I thought I was done for, as they got closer, their car stopped working and they had to chase me on foot. I don't know where I got the energy from but I ran so fast that it was hard for them to get me. I ran into the bush and lost tracked of them for a while but they found me again when I got close to this street. " She breathed out as she finished.

"Weren't you scared they might shoot you?"

"I was though but I knew they wouldn't, they needed the babies alive and any mistake might hurt them."

"You are very strong indeed. These rich people just misuse their power and oppress others, karma will get to them for sure. So what do you intend to do now? What if the men still comes looking for you until tomorrow?"

Hannah smiled at her, "I don't think they would, don't worry about me, I will be fine."

"Enough of the pitiful story now, it's not like we are going to chase you out. We should all sleep." The man said in a bored tone as he shut his eyes to sleep. Hannah only smiled.

"I didn't get your name." She said to the lady.

"Oh, It's Maria and my husband is Ken."

"Thank you so much Maria, I'm really grateful to the both of you."

"It's nothing, go and sleep now."

Hannah nodded and walked into the room.

Maria sighed and laid down on the sofa. She turned to her husband's direction and saw that he had already drifted to sleep.

After a while, there was a knock on the door. Maria squinted her eyes open with a frown on her face as she got up from the sofa to look at the wall clock.

"Who is it again at the time? What's going on this night?" Maria groaned and went back to sleep again.

But then the knock became harder and harder that she had to get up. She angrily walked towards the door but didn't reach for it.

"Who on earth is it?" She asked pissed.

A male voice spoke up, "Sorry for the disturb but I only wanted to ask you something, could you open the door for a moment, it's urgent."

Maria stared at the door in confusion, who could it be and what did he want? She decided to wake her husband up before doing anything.

"Honey, please wake up." She said tapping him hard.

Ken grumbled and slightly opened his eyes.

"What is it?"

"There is someone at the door and it's a man."

"Who is it again?"

"I don't know, it's a man's voice so I didn't open the door. Who knows, he could be an armed robber." She shrugged.

Ken sighed and shook his head at her as he sat up.

"So now you are been cautious? When it was that lady knocking, you never thought it was an armed robber and now that it's a male's voice, you think he is armed."

"This isn't the time to scold me Ken..." Maria frowned. "What do we do?"

Ken shrugged, " We'll simply not answer."

Maria narrowed her eyebrows, " We shouldn't?"

The knock became harder and harder and she sighed frustrated, "He might bring down the door if we don't open."

Ken sighed and turned to the door, "Who are you and why do you think we will open the door for you at this time?"

Another voice spoke up, "Please I understand that you are being cautious because it's dark but we have something to ask and it's urgent, give us some of your time." .

Ken turned to Maria, "I thought it was one man?"

Maria only shrugged in reply.

"You can ask whatever you want from there." Ken said leaning against the door.

They were quiet for a while before speaking up, "Well, did you by chance see any woman with two babies? We have been looking for her for a while because she stole a huge some of money from our boss."

Maria's eyes grew wide in realization, it's them, the men after Hannah. She shook her head in disbelief as she chose not to believe them, she might not know Hannah well but she would not believe what these men said over what a lady with babies told her.

"No we didn't see any woman. Now will you leave us alone?" Ken replied and Maria heaved a sigh of relief.

The men were quiet for a while giving Ken the impression that they were gone.

"It seems they are gone." He sighed.

"Are you sure?" Maria asked still worried.

And just when everything was going fine, Hannah woke up after hearing the different voices in her sleep. She walked into the sitting room with narrowed eyes and curious look.

"Is everything okay? I keep hearing voices."

Maria quickly shush her to avoid being heard but it was too late because the men hadn't left yet, they had heard her and recognized her voice.

" I could hear voices, are you sure there is no one else with you?"

"We said there is no one here, what is your problem? Go away or I will call the police." Maria threatened.

They were mute for a while before saying, "Okay then, if you say so. But just incase you see her, please let us know because we were told to give the sum of 5 million to whoever finds her. We will take our leave now, please let us know."

At the hearing of '5 million' Ken's eyes grew wide as greed over shadowed his thinking.

"Wait..... wait.......wait.......Did you just say 5 million?" Ken asked.

Maria gaped at her husband as she sensed that he is about to do something stupid.

She stook a step closer to him, "Ken........You aren't thinking of opening the door, are you?" She stared at him with pleading eyes.

"So what if I want to open it? Do you know what it means to have 5 million? Do you want to end up in poverty for the rest of your life? Tell me, do you?" Ken asked her as he reached for the door.

" Don't even think of opening the door Ken, over my dead body." Maria glared at him while Ken shook his head and sighed.

Hannah on the other hand stood in confusion and worry. She quickly went over to close the door to the room her babies were just incase.

"Well then." He turned to the door.

"You can break in if you want! After all, with the money, I will be getting a new house." He smiles.

Maria turned to her husband in shock.

"Ken!! Can you be less greedy?"

Within a blink of an eye, the men broke the door down and pointed guns at their heads.

"Where are the babies?!" They both asked in unison.

"I thought who you wanted was the lady? Why asking for the babies?" Ken managed to ask as he shivered on his spot.

"My friend, where are the babies?!" The man growled.

Ken finally realized that the men are the real enemies. He may not be the best man but he did not want to be the cause of harm to the poor babies.

"I will go and bring them but promise to give me the money when I do." He said to them but of course, his plan was different.

"Please no! Don't give them my babies please!" Hannah pleaded crying deeply as she ran over to the door of the room.

"Bring the babies out before we destroy everything in this house!" The men threatened.

As Ken walked towards the door, he tried to signal Maria to move close to the door in the sitting room but she wasn't understanding him. All she could see him as at the moment was a greedy and shameless husband.

Ken sighed and walked past Hannah to open the door to the room where the babies were. He slowly brought them out while Hannah continued to cry running after him.

"So they were even there." One of the men kissed his teeth as he moved forward to carry the baby but Ken moved pass him to where Maria stood and gave her the babies.

The men who were confused by his sudden act stood watching him wondering what he was playing at. They thought him and Maria were in the same side and she was going to give them the babies.

"Run Maria! Run!" Ken screamed at her and without wasting time, she took to her heels. The men's eyes grew wide in realization and one of the men moved to chase after her but Ken grabbed him back and kicked him to the ground which made the gun slipped from his hand.

As they both fought and struggled to reach for it, the other man aimed the gun at Ken's back but he was quick enough to dodge and grab the gun on the ground by stepping hard on the other partner's hand.

He pointed the gun at the man on the ground after getting it.

"Drop the gun or I will shoot him.." He threatened the other man as he pointed the gun at his partner.

The other man clenched his fist and started to lower his gun.

Ken turned to Hannah, "Run Hannah! Go! I've got this!"

Hannah who stood at a corner in tears took a step to move but paused. There's no way she could leave. She couldn't bear leaving Ken alone in such situation. He might have played a part in the trouble they are in right now but she was to be blamed for everything. If she hadn't come to disturb them, this wouldn't have happened, she couldn't leave him all alone.

As the man saw that Ken was distracted, he quickly picked back his gun from the ground but Hannah had seen him picking it up and so she quickly ran to hold him back from behind.

As she struggled to stop the man from shooting, he pushed her away hard and she hit her head on the wall.

She fell hard on the ground covered in a pool of her own blood which gushed out from her head.

Ken's eyes grew wide at the situation and he angrily pulled the trigger which shot the man in the chest. He watched as he slumped on the ground bleeding profusely before he quickly dropped the gun and rushed to Hannah's side, forgetting the other partner who was at his back and

He raised her half way up in his arms, "Why didn't you run?! You should have ran away while you had the chance!"

Hannah opened her mouth to speak but all that came out were whispers. This was all her fault, she had brought problem to this peaceful home.

Just as Ken was trying to lift Hannah up, he suddenly felt a sharp pain pierce through his back and he groaned loudly in pain.

He felt his legs grew weak as he fell to the ground holding his chest as he bled. Tears rolled down his cheek for he knew he was at his death step. He had been shot. He turned his head towards Hannah who was lying beside him trying hard to breathe.

"You could have gone when I told you to. At least, I will be assured Maria has someone by her side." He said to Hannah in a If anyone had told him that he would die on this day, he wouldn't believe it. Should he blame Hannah? It would make more sense and would relief the pain he was feeling but he didn't. If there's anyone or anything to blame, he would blame life itself. It had never been fair to anyone

Tears continued to stream down his cheeks until he breathed his last.

Hannah laid on the cold floor gasping for breath. Tears flowed down her cheeks as many thoughts ran through her head. What would become of her babies now? Would they live? What would happen to Maria now? Would she survive? Would she be able to forgive her when she finds out her husband is dead? If only she hadn't come to ask for their help, this wouldn't have happened. It was all her fault, she caused it.

Why did she have to meet a monster instead of a lover in her lifetime?

XoXo