Freddie Entangled

By Kiru Taye

Violence marked Freddie Edun's early years. Coming to work for the Essiens saved him from the angry young man he was and gave him focus. Now he's walking the path of success, and partnership in Banks Security business is within reach. He just has to seal this deal with a potential client first. Until he meets the client's wife, and the deal risks taking a nose dive.

Kike Ogun married young to a man who dazzled her with his bogus charm. She’s lived like a caged bird for many years, but with a looming milestone birthday on the horizon, she is determined to walk a new path of self-love. If she could just ignore the electrifying and forbidden attraction she feels towards a younger man from the first moment they meet.

With a devious ex who refuses to let go, she’s going to need help—Freddie’s protection—to stay alive long enough to celebrate her upcoming birthday. And she’s going to have to give in to her dark passion for him and finally unleash the natural woman inside. If it's only sex, then what's love got to do it?

This story unravels in two instalments—this is the first part.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Love Africa Press
• Release date: Mar 31, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370274734

Kiru Taye

As a lover of romance novels, Kiru wanted to read stories about Africans falling in love. When she couldn’t find those books, she decided to write the stories she wanted to read.Kiru writes passionate romance and sensual erotica stories featuring African characters whether on the continent or in the Diaspora. When she's not writing you can find her either immersed in a good book or catching up with friends and family. She currently lives in the South of England with her husband and three children.Kiru is a founding member of Romance Writers of West Africa. In 2011, her debut romance novella, His Treasure, won the Book of the Year at the Love Romances Café Awards. She is the 2015 Romance Writer of the Year at the Nigerian Writers Awards.

Book preview

Freddie Entangled

The Essien Series, Book 6

By

Kiru Taye

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Freddie Entangled

Smashwords Edition

ISBN: 9781370274734

Copyright© 2017 Kiru Taye

Editor: Zee Monodee

Cover Artist: Love Bites and Silk

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be used

or reproduced electronically or in print without written

permission, except in the case of brief quotations

embodied in reviews.

KT Press

www.kirutaye.com

BOOKS BY KIRU TAYE

Essien Series

Keeping Secrets

Making Scandal

Riding Rebel

Kola

A Very Essien Christmas

Challenge Series

Valentine

Engaged

Worthy

Captive

Passion Shields Series

Scars

Secrets

Scores

Seven Sinful Secrets Anthology

Men of Valor Series

His Treasure,

His Strength,

and His Princess

(now available in one box set) – Men of Valor 1-3 box set

Her Protector

Sacred Amulet Series

Outcast

Bound Series

Bound to Fate

Bound to Ransom

Bound to Passion

Blurb

Violence marked Freddie Edun's early years. Coming to work for the Essiens saved him from the angry young man he was and gave him focus. Now he's walking the path of success, and partnership in Banks Security business is within reach. He just has to seal this deal with a potential customer first. Until he meets the client's wife, and the deal risks taking a nose dive.

Kike Ogun married young to a man who dazzled her with his bogus charm. She’s lived like a caged bird for many years, but with a looming milestone birthday on the horizon, she is determined to walk a new path of self-love. If she could just ignore the electrifying and forbidden attraction she feels towards a younger man from the first moment they meet.

With a devious husband who refuses to let go, she’s going to need help—Freddie’s protection—to stay alive long enough to celebrate her upcoming birthday. And she’s going to have to give in to her dark passion for him and finally unleash the natural woman inside. If it's only sex, then what's love got to do it?

This story unravels in two instalments—this is the first part.

The second part, Freddie Untangled, is coming May 2017

Dedication

To Buchi Emecheta:

Your stories broke my heart and inspired me at the same time. I will never forget.

Chapter One

The woman took steady steps across the bedroom floor, a Japanese design, 13cm-utility knife with a sturdy black handle gripped tight in her right hand. At the foot of the large wooden frame bed, she stopped and stared at the figure sprawled across the paisley cotton sheets. The middle-aged man lay on his back, his mouth slightly open, the sound of his snores a patterned background noise. With two steps, she reached his side of the bed. She stretched out her left hand to shake him while she held the right hand at her back. He needed to be awake for what came next.

He stirred, turned to his side, but didn’t wake up.

"Segun," she called out, prodding him harder.

He lay on his back and opened his eyes, his expression confused. Lily? What is it?

"It’s judgement day." She lifted her right hand, making the small light from the bedside lamp catch on the surgical sharpness of the stainless knife in her hand as it arched downwards.

And cut! Joel Ali, the film director, announced, halting all action on set.

Kike Ogun lowered the hand holding the knife and shook out her shoulders, glad to have completed the scene without a hitch. She’d been immersed in the role of an abused woman who kills her husband over the past two weeks.

Let’s take a five minutes break and then I want to go over the scene one final time, Joel continued.

Oh? Kike could protest. They’d already acted the episode five times with tiny mistakes. This last take had been without any errors.

But Joel existed as a perfectionist, his reputation widely acknowledged. If something wasn’t right, they would do it a thousand times until the scene played out exactly as he wanted it.

Instead of complaining, she plastered a smile on her face and sashayed over to the corner where the production team reserved a seat for her. Experienced, she breathed professionalism, having worked in Nollywood, the Nigerian movie industry, for close to twenty years. She liked working with Joel for his excellence, not to mention that Rebel Studios, spearheaded by Tony Essien, had the best movie production team in Nigeria.

The make-up lady appeared before Kike and started doing her thing. Kike pulled the phone out of her bag to find it buzzing. She always put the phone to vibrate instead of ring while on set. She hated when other people’s phones interrupted the flow, and she would never want to cause disruptions.

She unlocked the screen and found she’d already missed three calls—one from her husband, Lekan, and two from Ranti, Kike’s distant cousin who lived with them and helped out in the house.

Her chest tingled. Conversations with Lekan proved mostly unpleasant these days, and she didn’t want him spoiling her mood in the middle of a busy day. So she called Ranti back first. The girl probably needed a reminder of Kike’s instructions for what to do after school.

Mummy, Ranti answered with what sounded like a sob.

Ranti, what’s the problem? Kike asked as she raised her index finger for the make-up lady to give her a minute.

"Mi o ri Yomi," the girl replied with a sniff. When upset, she always slipped into speaking Yoruba.

Chills spread goose bumps along Kike’s arms. She couldn’t have heard right. What do you mean, you can’t find Yomi? Are you not at the same school?

Ranti and Yomi attended the same school premises, although eleven-year-old Yomi learned in the junior section while sixteen-year-old Ranti studied in the senior. They went to school and came home together. Yomi’s classes finished an hour earlier, and he sometimes had after school clubs, to keep him occupied while he waited for Ranti.

He wasn’t where we usually meet up. I’ve searched for him, and I can’t find him, Ranti replied.

Kike’s heart jolted in her chest. She should not panic. Deep breaths. Are you sure you’ve looked everywhere? Where he does club?

Yes, Mummy, I looked. He’s not there.

Somewhere in the background, the director called time. Places, people.

Kike’s stomach rolled. Her son could be missing. She couldn’t concentrate until Ranti found Yomi. Logic dictated he had to be on the school premises. Where else would he go?

She had to take matters into her hand.

Go and ask the teachers. Maybe someone has seen him. I’m coming over there now. So when you find him, just wait for me, Kike said as she got off the chair.

Her hands shook as she ended the call and made a beeline for Joel, just as everyone else in the scene got into place.

Joel, she called out to get his attention. Her voice came out low, and she had a lump in her throat. She swallowed several times to dislodge it.

He glanced over his shoulder at her.

Kike, we’re— he cut himself off and turned fully to face her. He must have seen something in her face as he asked, What’s the matter?

She swallowed again, afraid that voicing the dread weighing on her chest would make it a reality. It’s... my son. Yomi. He’s missing.

How? What happened?

I don’t know. But I have to go. I have to find my son. I’m sorry.

Of course. This is an emergency. Go. I hope you find him.

Thank you. She’d never been a no-show for a shoot, not even due to illness. She remained grateful to Joel for allowing this disruption to the production schedule.

Five minutes later, she sat in the car driving across town. Luckily, the location for the shoot, a hotel in Victoria Island, occupied the same part of the city where the school was located.

Her heart raced as she kept glancing at her phone, placed on the passenger seat beside her tote. The tingling in her chest continued as if she suffered heartburn. It would be worse if anything happened to Yomi. Then, her heart would break. Her beautiful, treasured boy…

After everything she’d suffered before having him—the tears, heartache, scorn, and stress heaped on her by others. Not to mention the fear, hope, and more stress from undergoing fertility treatments.

When Yomi had arrived, he’d brought sunshine into a near-miserable existence, even though most people hadn’t known of her suffering. Nobody outside of her closest family and friends had seen beyond the image of the glamorous actress.

She’d wanted it that way. Still kept it so. Didn’t want anyone to know that the glitter only glossed over the pain in her heart and her soul.

Yomi was the only salve to her hurt. Nothing could happen to him. Nothing.

She couldn’t imagine life without her precious son.

The wheels screeched as the car jerked to a stop in the parking lot. Kike wasn’t parked properly. But at this point, she didn’t care. Since Ranti hadn’t called her back, she assumed the girl hadn’t found Yomi.

She grabbed her bag, tossed the phone inside, shut the door, and hurried across the car park, heading to the admin building. The school looked almost deserted. In the distance, children played on the sports field. She paused and pulled her sunshades off, raising the other hand to block the glare of the sun. It looked like they’d just finished a game of cricket, as they wore smudgy whites and carried bats. She didn’t see Yomi or Ranti in that group.

Swivelling, she carried on to the office building. Her phone rang before she got to the entrance of the building, and she scrambled to pull it out of the bag.

Ranti, did you find him? she asked as soon as she pressed to answer the call.

Yes, Mummy, Ranti replied.

She could make out noise in the background as if people were having conversations around her. She couldn’t see any other groups aside from the one on the sports field. Is he okay?

Yes, he’s okay. But something happened.

Her heart slammed against her ribs. What happened? In short, where are you? I’m on the school premises, just outside the Admin Office.

That’s where we are.

Okay. I’m coming. Kike ended the call, rushed up the small steps, and tugged at the door to the reception area.

Breath whooshed out of her, and her muscles weakened in relief when she saw Yomi sitting on a bench in the corner.

Mummy! he exclaimed as soon as he spotted her and ran across the lobby.

She opened her arms and welcomed him into her embrace, closing her eyes briefly. Yomi, are you okay? What happened to you?

She tilted his head back to look at his face, her hand clasping his chin.

A smile curled the lips on his cute face, the bone structure making him look like his father while his skin and eyes bore caramel tones that matched hers. He appeared as she would expect after a long day in school. Shirt not properly tucked into the trousers, and tie loosened but not off. A greyish scuff mark marred the sleeve of the white shirt. But there were no injuries she could spot on his body.

I’m okay, he replied, his tone not as cheerful as it usually would be when he saw her. I saw Aunty Miriam. She gave me her tablet, and I was playing Jurassic World on it. That was before I saw Nike and her dad.

Something prickled at the back of Kike’s neck. Who is Aunty Miriam? Is she a teacher?

No, he replied. She’s not a teacher. She is from church.

Every hair on Kike’s body stood erect, and her body stiffened. Cold sweat prickled her skin. She tightened her grip on Yomi.

Church? Her question came out almost as a whisper.

Yes. I see her in church. She’s always friendly to me. His tone sounded unconcerned as if the woman came as a regular feature in his life.

A cold finger trailed down Kike’s spine. She blinked several times before turning her gaze to Ranti who now stood behind Yomi. Do you know this Aunty Miriam?

No. Ranti raised her shoulders and let them fall. I didn’t see the lady, and I don’t remember any Aunty Miriam from church.

Kike lifted a shaking right hand to brush the hair off her face as she sucked in a deep breath. It remained possible that Ranti didn’t know the woman. She didn’t attend the same Sunday school group as Yomi. Still, who was this Miriam of a woman, and what did she want with Yomi?

Excuse me, Mrs. Ogun.

Kike lifted her head at the sound of her name. A man stood by the reception counter. His hands sat on the shoulders of a girl about the same age as Yomi and dressed in the white shirt, plum blazer, and black pleated skirt of the school uniform. Both the man and girl looked vaguely familiar.

The girl seemed to be the Nike her son had referred to earlier, and the man must be the girl’s father.

Since he’d addressed her by name, perhaps he expected her to know his name in return. She couldn't recall it, and a slight twinge of heat blossomed in her cheeks. Her brain had been scrambled by all the information she’d absorbed recently about Yomi and the mysterious church member.

Sorry, you’re Nike’s father? She hoped she hadn’t mistaken the girl for another and that the man wasn’t offended she didn’t recall his name. She had already been branded the ‘Ice Queen of Nollywood’ by haters and critics alike. It would be just another incident to harden opinions towards her.

He smiled at her. Yes. I’m Mr. Banks. I saw Yomi in the car park when I came to pick Nike up from After School Club. I saw the woman with him. When Nike and I arrived, she seemed to be directing him to her car which was parked two places from mine. Nike started chatting with Yomi. The woman seemed impatient to get him in the car. Something seemed off to me, so I smiled and asked if she was a relative. She returned the smile, saying she was a family friend and that his dad had asked her to pick him up from school—

No. Kike shook her head as her heart gathered an even faster rhythm. If this didn’t stop, she’d start hyperventilating soon. My husband wouldn’t ask anyone else to pick my son.

Yomi mentioned that he had to wait for Ranti, Mr. Banks replied with a nod at Yomi. The woman didn’t wait after that. She got into the car, and it drove off. There was a man in the vehicle with her.

Realisation dawned on her then, and her knees grew weak.

Oh my goodness! That woman would have abducted Yomi. Kike palmed her face as her body shook. Mr.