The Billionaire's Dirty Secret - S01 E04

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The Billionaire's Dirty Secret - S01 E04

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 4

Episode 4: The Billionaire's Dirty Secret

Tunde spent many days inside the giant house. Every day was like a long school lesson. But it was not a fun lesson. It was a lesson on how to stop being Tunde. He had to learn how to be Chief Williams. The men in the black suits were very strict. They did not let him rest. The man with the small scar near his eye was the leader. He would stand in front of Tunde for hours. He would tell Tunde to stand up straight. He would tell Tunde to puff out his chest. He told Tunde that a king does not look at his feet. A king looks at the world like he owns every bit of it. Tunde tried his best. He practiced walking across the soft rugs. He had to walk slowly and with power. He had to make sure his steps were heavy and steady. If he walked too fast, the man with the scar would shout at him. If he looked shy, the man would shake his head. Tunde felt like a puppet on a string. He was being pulled and moved by people he did not trust.

The hardest part was the voice. Tunde had a voice that was soft and a bit high. It was the voice of a man who spent his time asking for help. But Chief Williams had a voice like thunder. His voice was deep and very powerful. Tunde had to practice speaking from deep inside his chest. He would stand in front of a big gold mirror and say the same words over and over again. He would say, I am the Chief. He would say, This is my house. At first, he sounded very funny. He sounded like a small boy trying to act like his father. The men in the suits would laugh a cold, mean laugh. But Tunde did not give up. He knew that if he did not learn, he would never leave this place. After many days, his voice began to change. It became lower. It became stronger. When he spoke, the air in the room seemed to shake. He was starting to sound like a man who had millions of naira in the bank.

Tunde tried to stay away from the family as much as he could. He did not want to see the first wife with the cold eyes. He did not want to hear the second wife talking about her diamonds and her shoes. They made him feel very nervous. He felt like they were always watching him. He felt like they were waiting for him to make a big mistake. But there was one person he could not stop thinking about. That person was the youngest wife, Amina. Amina was different from the others. She did not shout. She did not ask for money. She was the only person in that big, cold house who spoke to him with a gentle voice. One morning, he had seen her in the garden. She was looking at a small red flower. She looked so sad that Tunde wanted to go to her. He wanted to tell her that everything would be okay. But he knew he could not. He had to stay in his role. He had to stay away. Still, her kind face was always in his mind. He wondered why such a nice person was married to a man who had so many secrets.

One afternoon, the sun was very hot outside. Tunde was feeling very trapped. He felt like the walls of the mansion were closing in on him. He needed a place to hide. He needed a place where the men in suits and the angry wives could not find him. He walked through the long hallways. He passed many doors and many beautiful paintings. He found himself in the Chief’s private study. This was a very big room filled with many books. There was a large desk made of dark wood. There were big chairs that looked very comfortable. On the wall, there was a very large painting of Chief Williams. In the painting, the Chief looked very proud. He was wearing a gold crown and a beautiful robe. Tunde looked at the painting for a long time. He looked at the face that was exactly like his own. It was very strange to look at a picture and see himself dressed as a king.

Tunde walked closer to the painting. He noticed something strange. The frame of the painting looked a bit crooked. He reached out his hand and touched the edge of the heavy wood. To his surprise, the painting moved. It swung open like a door. Behind the painting, there was a small, hidden door. It was made of dark metal and had a very small handle. Tunde felt his heart start to race. His hands were shaking again. He knew he should probably turn around and run away. He knew that looking into the Chief’s secrets was very dangerous. But he could not stop himself. He was too curious. He wanted to know the truth. He turned the handle. It was very cold to the touch. The door opened with a very quiet creak. Tunde stepped inside.

The room behind the painting was very dark. It was also very dusty. It smelled like old paper and something else that Tunde did not recognize. It was a very small room, not like the other grand rooms in the house. There were no gold clocks here. There were no silk curtains. It was just a cold, square space. Tunde walked in slowly. He had to squint his eyes to see in the dim light. He saw a few boxes on the floor. He saw a small table. But then, he saw something that made his blood run cold. On the floor, in the corner of the room, there was a white shirt. It was a very expensive shirt, just like the ones Tunde had been wearing. But this shirt was not clean. It was covered in dark, dry spots. Tunde knew what those spots were. It was blood. There was a lot of it. The shirt looked like it had been part of a terrible fight.

Tunde felt his breath catch in his throat. He reached down with a trembling hand and picked up the shirt. It felt stiff because of the dried blood. He held it up to the light. His eyes went wide with fear. He realized something very important in that moment. The real Chief Williams had not just disappeared. He had not just gone on a trip. Something terrible had happened to him. Someone had hurt him very badly. Maybe the real Chief was not coming back at all. Tunde felt like he was standing on the edge of a deep, dark hole. He realized that the men in the suits were hiding a very big crime. He realized that he was not just a replacement. He was a cover for a dirty secret. He wanted to drop the shirt and run out of the house. He wanted to go back to his dusty road and his hunger. Hunger was better than this. Hunger was safe.

Just as he was about to turn and leave the dusty room, he stopped. He heard a sound. It was a sound that made his hair stand up on his arms. It was the sound of a footstep. It was a heavy footstep. It was right behind him in the dark. Tunde did not move. He was too scared to even breathe. He could feel the cold air of the hidden room around him. He could feel the bloody shirt in his hands. He knew that someone had followed him. He knew that someone was watching him. He knew that he had found something he was never supposed to see. The footstep came again. It was closer now. Tunde closed his eyes and prayed. He wondered if his life was about to end right there in that dark, secret room.

Tunde stood very still. He did not want to move a muscle. He felt like his heart was going to jump out of his chest. The silence in the small room was very heavy. It felt like the dust was pressing down on him. He thought about the men in the black suits. He thought about the man with the scar. Was it him? Was it the man with the scar who was standing behind him? Tunde remembered the cold way the man looked at him. He remembered the warning the man had given him. He had said that secrets are dangerous. Now, Tunde had found the most dangerous secret of all. He was holding the proof in his hands. The white shirt was a witness to something bad. It was a witness to a crime that was hidden behind gold and silk. Tunde wanted to scream, but no sound came out of his mouth. He was like a statue made of ice.

He waited for a hand to grab his shoulder. He waited for a voice to tell him that he had seen too much. He thought about his mother back in the village. He thought about how she would never know what happened to him. He thought about the road in Lagos. He thought about the busy market and the sound of the rain. All those things felt so far away now. They felt like they belonged to a different world. In this world, there was only darkness and blood and heavy footsteps. The air in the hidden room felt like it was running out. Tunde felt dizzy. He felt like he was falling even though he was standing still. He wondered if the real Chief Williams had stood in this same spot. He wondered if the Chief had felt the same fear. The man behind him did not speak. The man just stood there.

Tunde could hear the man's breath. It was slow and steady. It was the breath of someone who was not afraid. It was the breath of someone who had done this before. Tunde felt a tear roll down his cheek. He was a poor man who just wanted a meal. Now he was a man who knew too much. He knew that the golden cage was about to get even smaller. He knew that the month of pretending was going to be the most dangerous time of his life. If he survived the next minute, he would have to be even more careful. He would have to be the best actor in the world. He would have to hide his fear behind the powerful voice he had practiced. He would have to look the wives in the eye and pretend that he did not know about the blood.

He would have to look at Amina and pretend that his heart was not breaking for her and for himself. The footstep came one more time. It was so close that Tunde could feel the heat of the person behind him. He gripped the bloody shirt tighter. He did not know what would happen when he turned around. He did not know if he would ever see the sun again. But he knew one thing. The story of Chief Williams was much darker than he ever imagined. The billionaire had a dirty secret, and now Tunde was a part of it. He was part of the lie. He was part of the danger. He was the man in the mirror, but the mirror was starting to crack. He waited. He waited for the end or the beginning of something even worse.

The shadows in the corner seemed to move. The dust danced in the tiny bit of light. Everything was waiting. The whole house was waiting. The secret was out, but only for Tunde. And a secret that only one person knows is the most heavy thing in the world to carry. He felt the weight of it in his soul. He felt the weight of it in his hands. He was Tunde, the beggar. He was Chief Williams, the billionaire. He was a man with a bloody shirt in a dark room. He was a prisoner who had found the key to a door he should have kept locked. The footstep stopped. There was a long silence. Tunde held his breath. He waited for the voice. He waited for the hand. He waited for the truth to come out of the dark. The hidden room felt like a grave. A grave for the real Chief. A grave for Tunde's old life. A grave for the truth. He closed his eyes and waited.

Who do you think is standing behind Tunde in the dark room?

What should Tunde do with the bloody shirt he found?

Do you think the man with the scar killed the real Chief Williams?

If Amina finds out the truth, will she help Tunde or will she tell the other wives?