'Accusing an innocent woman.'

"Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured."

-Mark Twain.

Maverick.

"You've been silent for a while now," his mother said.

He nodded. "Because I honestly don't know what to say, Mom. I can't say I don't believe it; the evidence is too clear. But if someone ever told me that she was capable of such, I would never have accepted it. That's how life is though, the people you least expect are the ones who will stab you in the back."

All the while, Mobolaji kept her gaze on him, he couldn't read his mother's mind to know what she was thinking either. In that aspect, he took after her.

She sighed, pulling the throw pillow to her laps. "Are you done?" She questioned.

"Yeah."

"Do you want to know my opinion?"

Maverick nodded in affirmative.

"Okay. First of all, I know Leticia very well- she's like an open book. And from years of observing and training the girl, she would never do such a thing-"

"Mom! Are-"

"Ehn ehn, don't interrupt me Maverick." She held her hand up, stopping him from saying anything further. When she saw that he kept mum, she crossed her legs giving him a stern look.

Maverick knew he could not argue with his mother, so he let her continue her speech, even though she was not making any sense.

"I know you think I'm not making any sense, but let me tell you something, Mide. I know my children, their abilities and faults; and I consider Leticia as my own child. I get that logically, she's the culprit, but did you also reason that she could have been framed?"

He scoffed. "You think I did not reflect on that, mom? I did. However, I came to the conclusion that there was no way she was framed. Let's face it mom; you and I know that Leticia is highly intelligent. There was every possibility that the woman had been drafting that plan right from time and-"

"Just listen to yourself. How old was she when you got married? What would a nineteen-year-old-"

"Mom don't even go there. Who says criminal have age limits? So what if she was nineteen? Are you telling me that there are no teenage millionaires? What about Michelle? When did she become an A-list actress? Was she not just seventeen? Tell me what would stop Leticia from wanting to be wealthy because she was nineteen years old, not to talk of presently that she's twenty-three?" His voice was rising by the minute, nostrils flaring and the fair skin of his face was flushed.

Mobolaji heaved a tired sigh. Truly, she had seen all the evidence, but she had a strong intuition that everything was beyond what they could see. Leticia was too innocent a child to do such.

She took deep breaths. After managing to control her voice from rising further, as she knew how hot-headed Maverick could be, and that arguing would take them nowhere, she started, "Okay, I get your point Mide."

Maverick's tensed form relaxed as he saw that his mother too had calmed down. He hated to argue with her, but the topic of discussion was heightening his frustration.

"I care about this company as much as you do. However, I wouldn't want you to jeopardize your married life for it. Leticia is your wife, and you should have an iota of trust for her."

"You mean the darned wife you forced on me?"

"Maverick! I would not tolerate you disrespecting me like that!" She rose to her feet, shooting lasers at him through her deathly glare.

"Why? I'm only being honest." He gave a careless shrug. "Mom, if you came to preach about trusting Leticia and stuff, then drop it. Honestly, there's nothing to show that Leticia is innocent. Let's even keep this money matter aside. Did you hear that she was trying to cheat on me with Oscar Chukwuma? And he reported to me when we discovered that she was behind the missing funds. Now, that's beside my point. Do you know what happened to Oscar a day later? He had an 'accident', one where everything was burnt to ashes except a piece of his cloth, and there is no news about his body. What makes it more interesting is that shortly before the accident, Leticia met up with him, then some minutes later, she was caught on Cruiseville's CCTV, running from unseen forces. What do you have to say that would make me believe that she did not have a hand in the accident?"

"Jesus! Maverick what are you saying?" The woman was horrified at the allegations. Leticia could not hurt a fly, not to talk of killing a human being. "No no no, something is wrong somewhere. I am convinced that this is not normal. Leticia? The one I know oh, kill somebody? It's not possible. Instead of believing this whole crap, find someone else to investigate this matter."

"There is no need. The police are certain that she's the number one suspect. Who else has a motive to kill Oscar apart from her? Now that I think about it, I'm glad I sent her away. Who knows? She might even come for me later."

"Ah! Olorun maje! (May God forbid bad thing). Maverick, It's like something is wrong with you. So now that you sent her out, where is she? I have always warned you about this your rubbish anger, you never listened. If you didn't send her away, we would have been able to get to the bottom of this matter. Leticia has nowhere to go. Maybe she was even kidnapped or something..."

Mobolaji trailed off with a sigh. Everything she was saying seemed like it was hitting a brick wall and falling to the ground.

"I didn't train my child to be this heartless."

She shook her head dejectedly, wishing he could see reasons with her, which was next to impossible.

"I'm not heartless, mom. If there is anyone that is heartless, it is your dear Leticia. Honestly, I had been feeling so guilty since the day everything came to light, I thought; maybe if I wasn't so negligent then she wouldn't have done what she did. But now that I think about it, it was never my fault," Maverick retorted.

"Fine. Do whatever you want, but I'll continue to tell you that Leticia is not the culprit you're looking for. You'd better investigate this matter further before you bring a curse upon yourself by accusing an innocent woman."

When she was done with her speech, she rose from the chair, giving him one last glance before shaking her head and disappearing down the hallway.

Maverick sighed, he knew how difficult his mother could be, not to speak of how much she adored Leticia.

It was going to be hard to convince her that her favorite girl was the culprit, but it needed to be done anyways.

With jumbled thoughts, Maverick strode away from the living room. There was enough work to be done.

Hey guys! Happy Sunday 😋
Forgive my absence throughout last week, I was going through some emotional issues, but I'm okay now.

And guess what? I finally resolved my technical issues 💃💃
So I'll try to be more consistent now.

Chapter is short, I know, I know, I'll try to make it longer in the next chapter 🤗 And please help me suggest a song for the chapter as nothing as coming to my head. Thank you 😘😘😘

Happy new week ahead💃 and stay safe pleeeaaassseeee. Thank you once again 😘

Your girl, Chubiley😋😉