Michael stood firm, his gaze stayed on Ayo unblinking, and Ayo returned it with the same intensity. Ayo hands were hoisted mid air and Michael's was clenched in a tight fist. The rain was falling in drizzles now, it drummed against the zincs and wetted their body as it hit them at places. Michael had since removed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, his eyes weren't the gentle brown ones that had always caught Chioma's attention, it had a fierce look to it.

Ayo made the first move, he ran towards Michael with the intention to push him down to the floor, but Michael moved to the side quickly. Ayo had ran with such force, the effect of missing Michael was him falling down on his knees, Michael used that opportunity, twisting around, he used his elbows to hit Ayo hard on his back, sending him straight to the floor.

He settled on his waist turning him around to deliver punches to his face, but Ayo had grabbed sand in his hands, sending it to Michael's eyes, it landed on Michael's face, some of it entering his eyes, the rest going to his hair. Using Michael's blinded situation, Ayo used this opportunity to gain advantage, pushing Michael off him and getting on top.

He punched Michael in the face, the blow landing on his jaw. The force of the blow twisted Michael's face to the side, Michael who was still trying to regain his sight groaned in pain. Another blow came after that, and then another. The sand in Michael's eyes were stinging, he blinked severally while receiving the punches and soon some of the sand slided inside his eyes, this made it easier for him to see.

He raised both his hands and crossed them over his face, protecting it from the punches, then with great force he pushed Ayo off him and kicked him hard in his groin. The impact sent Ayo to the floor, he cursed out loud in pain, the kick Michael had sent to his balls really hit him.

Michael jumped on him and together, they rolled around like wild cats, the dirty mud staining their clothes and body, they stopped rolling when they got to a wall and this time Michael was on top. As he punched Ayo in the face, he noticed Ayo was reaching out for something, Michael glanced to the side and noticed a knife, just an arms length away from them to the side and Ayo was reaching for it.

"What happened to fighting like a man?!" Michael questioned angrily, he used his feet to kick the knife further away, Ayo using this opportunity pushed Michael away from him, scrambling on his knees to get the knife, but Michael didn't plan for that to happen.

He was already getting tired of the fight and Chioma was on his mind. He grabbed Ayo by the arm, turning him around to face him, he delivered a heavy blow to his Solar plexus, a sweet spot just under the chest, this sent Ayo to the ground, out cold. Michael smiled, Ayo was going to be gone for awhile.

He stood up from the floor and was about to look around for his gun when he heard the cocking of a gun beside him, he turned around to see Angela pointing his own gun straight to his chest.

~~~~~~~~

Chioma awoke to the feeling of her body being shaken and in addition to the pain she was receiving at the side of her head was what brought her back. She found herself looking at Michael's face, he had a bad cut in his jaw and his hair was mixed with dirty mud. "Michael," She called weakly.

"Hey," He said and shifted closer to her, his arms was tied so he couldn't hold her, but still he was able to get close enough. He buried his head in her hair. "I thought I had lost you."

She smiled and moved closer to him, even with the mud over his body, she was just glad to see him alive. "I'm not dying anytime soon Michael, we will get through this." Michael pulled back and stared into her eyes, he nodded.

"Why, isn't this just adorable-" Chioma and Michael turned their head to the side to see Angela standing by the door entrance "The two detectives are in love!" She gave a small laugh. "Then you must understand my love for Alex right?"

"You are a crazy bitch," Chioma said surprisingly calm.

"I know." Angela said with a smile. "Anyways you both will be dead very soon, so I will be nice, say your goodbyes."

"Why?" Alex finally spoke up, Angela had removed the rag from their mouth minutes ago, when Chioma was out.

"Why what darling?" She stood up and walked over to him. Chioma used this moment to reach for the small knife hidden in her jeans, Angela probably didn't see it earlier. She intended to use the knife and cut through the ropes.

"Why kill Evelyn?" Alex asked quietly. Chioma had gotten the knife now, she nudged Michael by the elbow and mouthed for him to cover for her.

"Oh honey, don't be stupid, you know how I hate questions with obvious answers." She stopped before him striking his cheeks with her fingers, Funmi who was beside Alex shook in part fear and shock of their current situation. "But, since it's you I will make an exception. I killed her to have you. Does that answer your question honey?"

Alex didn't say anything, different emotions were passing through his face, Angela had been one of his really close friends and he would never have expected this in a million years. He decided the best option was to keep quiet, talking might anger Angela to do something crazy, like maybe hurt Funmi. Angela leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the nose, her eyes on Funmi while she did this. She pulled back and shot Alex a smile, Alex who looked like he wanted to punch her in the face.

Michael seeing that Angela was done talking, knew he needed to create a diversion so she won't notice Chioma who was already using the sharp knife to cut through the ropes. He started laughing out really loud.

"What's funny?!" Angela demanded moving away from Alex and walked over towards Michael and Chioma.

"Isn't it obvious?" Michael said mockingly. "Your stupidity."

Angela looked taken aback for a moment before she regained herself. "You really shouldn't be talking to me in that way detective. One bullet is all it takes to end your life," She said angrily through gritted teeth, her hands holding the guns in her hands tightly.

"Whatever!" He faked a yawn. "So, if you're going to kill us, do you plan on telling us how you went about with the murder of Evelyn, and everything related."

"Well, now you've said something sensible detective. I would really love to tell the story." She walked back towards her chair by the entrance and took a sit. "Well, let's start from the beginning. It all started when I fell in love with Alex Edward, handsome and tall he was." she said looking at Alex and sent him a wink.

"Alex was in love with me, but he didn't know that, it was up to me to prove that to him and I was planning on doing just that when he brought Evelyn in. You see, I knew Evelyn had brought charms from her village to blind Alex's eye, because come on-" She scoffed, rolling her eyes. "There was no way Alex would ever choose her over me."

"Soon, I noticed the two of them had turned into love birds and the next thing I was hearing was engagement rubbish, I thought it was going to be just stupid rumours, imagine my surprise when Alex confirmed it himself. That was exactly when I made up my mind to kill Evelyn."

"And what did Funmi have in this, why did you try to frame her?" Chioma asked, she was done with freeing her hands and had passes the knife Michael to do his. She held her hand behind her back so Angela wouldn't find out.

"Oh nothing, Funmi wasn't really supposes to be in it at all, I know she was in love with Alex, but it didn't matter as long as Alex didn't pay any attention to her. I needed a place to crash for a while, she accepted me in and we lived together for a while, her grandmother's artifacts just happened to have a special item that could aid in killing Evelyn. So yes, I did everything, and I was also the one behind your car incident detective," She said to Chioma, a big smile on her face, she seemed proud of her achievements.

"You. Are. Such. A. Bitch." Chioma said each word slowly her eyes trained on Angela, all she wanted to do at that moment was punch Angela in her face, she wanted to punch her till she saw red, she just wanted to see red dancing over Angela.

"I know darling," Angela said, she stood and stretched her body. "Well, the time has come for me to kill."

"Do you really think you're going to get away with this?" Chioma asked as Angela walked over to her. She was waiting patiently for Angela to reach a certain point, she could reach out and knock her to the ground.

"Yes, that's not something I would question," She said with a shrug, she stopped walking and looked at the four of them. "Now, who do I kill first?" She looked at Alex. "Wipe that look from your face honey, I do not plan on killing you, just this three," She said referring to Funmi, Michael and Chioma, the only other people in the room.

"Ooh! I know what I will do!" She jumped a bit in excitement. "Let's do 'Eeeny Meeny Manny mo'. Oh, this is so exciting." She gave a laugh. Chioma was then really sure that Angela was high, she knew she was crazy, but Angela may have even  gone more crazy than Harley Quinn. She was dangerous and Chioma needed to act carefully and quickly before she or someone else ended up dead.

She pointed her hands at Michael and closed her eyes. "Eeeny Meeny Manny..." She started reciting, her hands moving to another after each word.

This was the right time, Chioma stood up quickly and ran into Angela, who wasn't expecting it at all. Together they both tumbled to the hard floor. The gun flew from Angela's hand to the side of the room. Michael rope was stronger and even more tighter. She had even wound the rope a bit around his fingers, so he was finding it really hard to cut his rope.

Chioma sat just below Angela's ribcage, throwing punches with a left and with her right she gave scratches and pulled out few strands of Angela's hair. Angela tried to attack back but Chioma had her pinned to the ground. Now she threw just punches, all she wanted to do at that moment was bring pain to Angela. The punches grew harder and came faster, blood were pulling out of Angela's mouth and nose as each punch moved her face left and right.

Michael finally freed himself from the ropes. He stood up quickly and walked over to Chioma. "Chioma it's enough now, she's out."

"No, she isn't!" Chioma said through gritted teeths, her eyes still trained on Angela. Michael seeing that she wasn't planning on stopping soon, till maybe when Angela was dead. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her off, Chioma protested wanting to go back to her fight.

"Hey, hey, look at me," Michael said, holding her face in his palms. Chioma stared into his eyes. "She's out, we won, OK? We won." He said as he caressed her face.

"OK." She nodded and then pulled him in for a hug. She held on to him tight, relaxing in the comfort his body gave, calming herself. "We won," she said.

"Can we go?" Funmi asked quietly. Chioma and Michael pulled back immediately, they had gotten lost in their moment and forgot about other people in the room with them.

Michael went to help Alex, while Chioma went to Funmi. After untying them, Michael picked his gun from where it had landed earlier. Just as they where about to step out of the room, they heard footsteps approaching.

Michael used his hand and signalled to the three others in the room to go behind him. Chioma bent down and picked two big stones in the room, she handed one to Funmi and the other to Alex. The four stood waiting, they were ready for whoever was coming. The only sounds, were the raindrops against the zinc above and the footsteps approaching. Michael held his breathe waiting for whoever was now at the other side of the room to enter inside.

"Do not move an inch!" A very familiar voice said.

Michael raised an eyebrow, he knew that voice. "Vivian?" He called.

"Michael?" The voice asked, and in walked Vivian into the room along with two other police officers behind her. Michael laughed and Chioma sighed in relief on seeing Vivian's face.

"Well, you guys look terrible," Vivian said after giving them a look over.

~~~~~~~~~~

Soon, the police had led Angela and her goons to the big black police van, their hands cuffed. When Chioma saw the face of the "nurse" she doubled over in laughter, Janet had feaces moulded to her face and hair.

The Ambulance were tending to Alex and Funmi, while Michael was talking with a police officer. Vivian walked over to Chioma with a smile on her face. "I told you that you both would make good partners," She said stopping just few feets before Chioma.

"Well, we were very close to losing our lives, but yeah, I guess Michael and I do make a great pair," She said as her eyes flew to Michael.

"Uhn uh," Vivian said watching Chioma eyes trained on Michael. Michael feeling someone's gaze on him, turned around and gave her a smile.

       *********************

That's it for this chapter. Joy and Lily I tried this time abi? 😂😂

Vote and drop a comment, thanks.

Next chapter would be the last one, I don't want the book to end too, but the storyline ends in the next chapter. I would try my best to make it worth it.

Stay safe 💞