When we arrived at the guest house my babe was fast asleep beside me. I felt so bad having to wake her. If she would have let me, I would have picked her up and carried her straight to bed. After checking in we headed straight to our room. Mimi was so tired; she went straight to bed. I on the other hand, sat by the end of the bed, scratching my head.

I needed to think of a plan to trick Julia out of reporting her card or her car stolen. I needed to make her believe that I was somewhere stranded and would be home by tomorrow afternoon. I thought of going to the nearest garage and withdrawing enough cash for Mimi and I first thing in the morning. Then my next move was to find a scrapyard that was willing to buy Julia’s car from me. That way, my baby and I would have enough money to start a new life somewhere, out of Polokwane.

I took a deep breath and switched my phone on. There was a voicemail as well as a text message from Thabo. I didn’t have time for all that now though. I needed to attend to more important things first. A text message to Julia was not going to sound mature enough. Maybe I just needed to call her, to make my lies sound more believable. I slowly snuck out of the room, trying not to wake my babe on my way. In the hall, I dialled Julia and waited in anticipation for her to answer.

“Thapelo, ke eng are you trying to test me?” she answered in a very angry voice.

“Hello love. Why would I do that?” I replied, a little unsure of myself.

“Where the hell are you?” she asked.

“Eish babe! You won’t believe what just happened! I took my boy Thabo to the mall with me, and I…I didn’t…realize…time flew so fast, and the next thing I knew I got a call from my aunt in Gauteng. Babe, she sounded hysterical over the phone. She said that my little sister had been involved in a car accident…I had to drop everything and just drive to Jozi love. I’m on my way there as we speak,” I fumbled through my lie.

“Oh okay, I’m sorry to hear that my love. Please take care of yourself and do call me when you get there,” she responded in a very soft voice.

“I will my baby. I love you. I have to go now. There seems to be traffic officers in front me.”

I hung up immediately, once again very pleased with myself. I couldn’t believe how easily all that had gone. I really did have that woman wrapped around my finger. I took a long breath before heading back to our room. I was so exhausted. I hit the shower first thing then snuggled up beside my baby, a big smile spreading across my face.

In the middle of the night I woke up with a start. At first I thought I was dreaming until Mimi’s screams snapped me out of my sleep-induced haze. Our door had been kicked open and three strong, bald men walked in carrying guns, followed closely by Julia.

The look on Julia’s face when she stormed into the hotel room Mimi and I shared was so serious; it scared the hell out of me. I quickly jumped out of bed and knelt in front of her, begging for forgiveness.

“Babe please! Look, you don’t have to do this. It’s not what it looks like. Let me expla—”

She gave a small nod to one of the guys she was with. A swift kick to my face with his giant combat boot interrupted my pleas.

“Okay. From now on, I’ll do the talking and you will shut up,” she yelled.

Grabbing one of the chairs in the room, she sat down in front me. I tried to keep my head up, but I had a terrible headache and my nose was bleeding like crazy. When I glanced at Mimi I saw two of Julia’s guys standing beside her. She was shaking with fear and I hated myself for placing her in such a dangerous situation.

“Now look lover boy, I might seem like a stupid, arrogant old woman just because I spoil you rotten, but obviously I’m not. That stupid story you cooked about your little sister was the lamest story you’ve ever told me. Didn’t your mother teach you that every cent you extract from my credit card I get a notification about? Or what, you thought I was just going to believe your lies over solid proof? Hmm?”

“Julia, I messed up. I deserve everything that’s coming to me, but please let her go. She doesn’t know anything. I fooled her just like I fooled you,” I pleaded desperately.

“Oh you didn’t fool me lover boy. You fooled yourself. I only wanted to show you a good time, but you took me for a fool. You should think about doing a little background check before you can start playing stupid games. Didn’t your friends warn you about me? I am not someone to be messed with!”

“I’m so sorry! Please forgive me. I’m begging you. I’ve learnt my lesson,” I pleaded with tears forming in my eyes.

“You know…I’ve been having you followed this whole time. I kept giving you chance after chance to prove me wrong, but you just had to keep pushing me against the wall.”

“Mali! Remove that bloody ring from that girl’s finger. That’s my bloody money!” she said to one of her boys. He quickly obeyed, roughly removing the ring from Mimi’s finger. In that moment I felt like he had removed a piece of me from her.

“If there is an afterlife, you jerk ass, I would advise to never again bite the hand that feeds you, or you’ll again get what you deserve. I guess it’s all over now. Where the hell is my card? And my car keys?”

I pointed to my trousers, my heart aching for the love of my life crouched in fear in the corner. “God, please tell me I’m dreaming!” I kept muttering to myself. With every passing second, I hated myself more and more for placing Mimi in such a position. There must be a way out of this. Julia always listened to me; there had to be a way.

“Julia, my love, I’ve learnt my lesson. Please don’t hurt her. She knows nothing. I tricked her into this. I promise if you let us go, I’ll go home with you and I’ll never leave your side again.”

She spat in my face, and then slapped me as hard as she could across my right cheek. Getting up from her perch in front of me she said, “Boys, my work here is done. You know what to do,” then left the room.

I didn’t need to be told what was going to happen after she left. I knew.

“Julia! Babe please…don’t do this to me. This is me. This your love…I’m sorry…I’m so sorry…”

Everything happened so fast after that. Loud gunshots rang out and I never got the chance to see what happened to Mimi. All I can remember was Julia’s men walking past me, then I passed out.

***

Tell us what you think: What do you think Julia’s men did to Mimi and Thapelo?