I am extremely exhausted, but there is something comforting about being safe and hiding from the world. We need to get morena in front of a camera and make sure that he addresses his people. Zithulele is slowly but surely slipping into a depression without Letlali by his side, so we really need to hurry this up. Uncle Q is the one who is keeping us updated with what is happening every thirty minutes. We know that Linda and Kabelo were burned to death by an angry mob of people. This is even more reason why we will have to stay in hiding until someone does something. We also heard that Gwen committed suicide and now Ona and Khotso are in a funk that they cannot be there for Maboko. I’m in a funk that I cannot be there for Teboho. Life is happening without us and we are unable to be there for the people that we love. We also know that Maboko will want to have Gwen buried in Tholoana Kingdom, so we need to make this place safe again.  

I have finally downloaded the software that will help me hack into law enforcement systems. The army taught me a lot about surviving in high pressure situations. The software took forever to download because I needed to switch connections often so that I wouldn’t be tracked. But I have also managed to hide my IP address in case they have someone who is more brilliant than I am in hacking systems, I don’t want them to trace the IP address back to me. The entire house is still asleep. I am on my laptop trying my best to get us out of here. I miss my life. I’m worried about Nothile and I just want everyone to go back to the normal way of living. Aunt Nosi and Queen Kea make sure that we have food flowing all the time. 

“Makoti”, Uncle Shaka creeps up on me. 

“Uncle Shaka, hi”, I say. 

“What are you up to there?” He says as he sits next to me and looks at my laptop screen. 

“I’m trying to get us out of here.” I say. 

“I see. Mohato and I have a plan. We are meeting later today with Zithulele and the twins to put it in motion and expedite immediately.”

I nod my head. 

People start waking up and coming downstairs. Ona sits next to me after he has hugged me. He tried to kiss me and be romantic, but Uncle Shaka pulled a “Hai wena!”    

“So, babe, I’ve been thinking”, I say to Ona as we drink some coffee. Uncle Shaka is still sitting next to us. I think he is extremely curious about what is happening on my laptop. Ona brought us coffee, so we are drinking coffee before I continue with what I was busy with.

Ona looks at me.

“When all of this is over and we get out of here, I’m taking Mohale to Mohase with me for some time. We need the air and Mohale needs the stability again. My mom is dealing with the divorce as well and I just feel as if I need to be there for her a little bit more.” I say.

He takes a deep breath.

“Is it because of what’s happening right now?” He asks me.

“No, babe. I just think that my mother also needs me by her side while she goes through this drama with my dad. I’m an only child, Ona. Everything there is to experience through a child, my parents experience through me. No one else is going to support them the way that children support their parents, except for me. With all the riots going on, I don’t know where my father is. I was only able to get my mother out of Tholoana Kingdom. I couldn’t get to my dad. I’m worried and stressed out that something could have happened to him and I don’t know. Love, I know that I’m a married woman now. My parents know it too. But they need me too, right now. Please let me do this.” I explain.

He nods his head.

“Okay baby. We will make it work. If it is possible, please take Nothile with you. She must be extremely stressed out with everything that’s happening. She needs the air more than all of us.” He says.

“I can do that. Plus, I agree with you. Nothile just dived into the deep end in this family. I’m worried because she’s pregnant as well.” 

“Khotso is worried too. I’m worried for them. This is no way to enjoy a pregnancy at all.” He says.

He then smirks at me and says, “Now that Mohale is almost two, we should think about giving him a sibling. 

What?!

“That look thing of yours again”, he says.

He is forever complaining about my look. I don’t understand what look this is.

I look away.

“Babe, keng?” He asks me. 

“You are the only person that will think about making babies at a time this stressful”, Uncle Shaka comes to my rescue and says.

Ona laughs. I just shake my head. 

“I’ll just have to assign our trusted guards on you and Nothile when you head to Mohase.” Ona says. 

“I don’t trust these guards. I can do a better job at looking after myself, Nothile and my son. Until we can prove that none of them were involved in getting us into this mess, I don’t need them around me.” 

“Regodise, you are married to me – the heir to the throne. You are the next queen. Our son is a prince. When we are wanted or in trouble, all they need to do is hit one of you. Your life is different now, babe. I need to be sure that you are safe at all times. Please don’t fight me on this”, he says.

“Fine”, I say. 

He puts his cup of coffee aside. Uncle Shaka now stands up and leaves. Shame man. He just wanted to work. Ona came for intimacy. 

“Come here”, he says.

I put my cup of coffee aside, get up from my chair and sit on his lap. He kisses my forehead then he says, “I don’t want anything happening to you or our son. I’d rather die than have anything happen to you guys”.

I look at him. He is so serious. 

“Nothing is going to happen to us. And we don’t want anything to happen to you. I love our family with all my heart, and I’ll do anything for us. You need to also promise me that you are going to take care of yourself. I don’t want to bury you, Onaleruna.” 

“With a wife like you, I don’t foresee you burying me. I’m actually scared that I might be the one who buries you. You are too brave, Regodise. You are smart and sharp… your survival skills are out of this world. But your bravery scares me.” 

He holds me tighter. 

“Well, you still owe me a white wedding. So I’m just making sure that we survive long enough to get that going”, I say.

He bursts into laughter. Mohale laughs too – it must be his dad’s infectious laugh. I didn’t even see Nothile behind us with Mohale in her arms. 

She gives me my baby, says good morning and disappears. I have a very handsome son. Mohale and I are both sitting on top of Ona’s lap.  

“He needs a sibling”, Ona says. 

“And I want my wedding”, I say. 

Ona laughs again.

“I’m serious! No second baby until I’ve had my white wedding”, I say. Why does he think I’m joking? 

“You know, I thought this was a joke. Do you really want another wedding?” Him. 

I nod.

“When?” He asks me.

“Maybe it can be an anniversary celebration. So, when we turn three years”, I say. 

“That’s in six months”, he says.

“More than enough time”, I say.

He chuckles and agrees.

We kiss to seal the deal.

“Yo!” We hear Khotso coming downstairs.

“Yo!” Mohale yells back. He and his other dad greet each other like that. 

“Where are you little man?” Khotso yells from somewhere in the house. 

“Yo!” Mohale. 

I climb off Ona’s lap and get back to working on my laptop. Ona heads wherever Khotso is with Mohale. I lock my laptop then join them in the TV area. Zithulele is here with them looking extremely depressed. Nothile is trying to console him and she’s good at it. I’m just trying to get us out of here and I will. I think we all have a bit of cabin fever at this point.

“Yo!” I greet Khotso.

“Yo!” Mohale says.

Khotso laughs.

“You good?” He asks me.

“Exhausted. You?” Me.

“I’m hanging in there. Nothile is a bit – “, Khotso says, but cannot finish. 

“We will get out of here, I’m trying my best”, I say.

 “I know. I wish I could make this easier for her.”

“Just be there for her. That’s all she needs.”

“Plus, Legoa is also going through it.” 

We all ponder on what Zithulele is going through. 

Queen Kea walks into the room and looks at us.

“Dumelang“, Mofomahadi greets us.

“Hello”, we all say.

Mohale is unexplainably excited to see his grandmother, whom he calls mama. I’m mommy. 

“Come to mama! Itla nana”, Mofomahadi says as she stretches her arms out to Mohale. Mohale dives off Khotso and is in his mama’s arms in no time, laughing and and and…

I love his relationship with the Mohales. I can’t help but wonder if he will ever be this happy with my parents. He knows them and he can spend time with them. But he is never this happy with them and he usually cries after spending way too much time with them. With the Mohales, he could go an entire year without seeing me and he will be fine with them. 

“How soon are you leaving when we get out of here?” Ona asks me.

“Leave?” Mofomahadi. 

“Yeah. Dise and Mohale are headed to Mohase when we get out of here.” Ona explains.

“But I thought you start your job at the government offices as soon as possible now that Mohale is settled in crèche”, she says.

I forgot about that. I have a light bulb moment and they all see it. But I also get emotional about this because the longer I put this visit off, the more I’m going to not look forward to my parents’ phone calls and feel like a really bad daughter.

“Can she start when she comes back?” Ona enquires on my behalf.

“There’s a lot going on that we need her for. She was supposed to start next year, but you can see how pressed we are to stop these riots and aid the situation before our entire economy and system collapses. We really need all hands on deck.” Mofomahadi explains.

I pull myself together and say, “it is okay, we’ll go to Mohase another time.”

Ona can tell that I’m not okay.

“Is everything okay?” Khotso asks me.

I nod my head.

…

Nothile is sitting with me while I’m sitting and working on my laptop. The men are in a meeting in the one room that they have turned into a study. Aunt Nosi and Queen Kea are somewhere in the house with Mohale. The guards are still hidden in their wendy houses. We have seen people walk around the area because we are hiding in plain sight. That’s why we do not want any guards actively patrolling and drawing suspicion to the house. 

I’m listening to an audio book that I have put to play in the background. Nothile seems to be enjoying it.  I don’t want to be disturbed because I want to make sure that we get out of here as soon as possible.  

“Do you ever miss Fikile?” She randomly asks me.

Uhm…

“Not really. We never had the best of relationships. She had a loyalty to Ona’s ex that just made things extremely weird between us.” I say.

She chuckles. I don’t know how I feel about this conversation. 

“You should let Khotso and I babysit for a weekend then you and Ona just go and treat yourselves a bit”, she says.

Hai guys! What’s happening? Khotso – I trust with my child. He’s Mohale’s father just as Ona is. Sperm couldn’t make them any closer. Nothile, I’m not so sure if I trust around my child. I just need some more time to also evaluate how Mohale is around her. Also, I need a guarantee that she is the one because Khotso is not just sleeping with her and if he has impregnated another woman as well – as Ona suspects – Nothile might want to calm down a little bit. 

“He’s as good as my son just as my children would be as good as yours. These brothers are close and I know that they share everything – including kids – but they just don’t share wives sexually. Other than that, Khotso is your second husband and Ona is my second fiancé.”

I know all this, trust me I do. But when she says it, it sounds very disturbing. 

But I release a light laugh. 

She chuckles too.

“I think it would mean a lot to them if we got along”, she says. But we do get along. What’s wrong with Nothile today?

“I don’t have a problem with you, Nothile. I’d actually say that we have quite a decent relationship.” I tell her.

“Yeah, but there is no loyalty, you know”. 

Nothile better not annoy me with Fikile tendencies. 

“I know that you are more loyal to Khotso than you are to me and I just feel that you and I should look out for each other the way Fikile and Thato did”, I always forget that she is not a mafikizolo in these streets. She grew up around these guys and their girlfriends and she’s seen it all. But here she is, falling hard too quickly and thinking that I’m her ticket to securing her place with Khotso. Maybe she knows about the pregnancy that Ona and I are suspecting as well and she wants me to sing her song and convince the brothers to get rid of the other potential baby-mama.  

“Ona was single for a very long time before he met Thato. We saw Fikile taking it upon herself to look after him and keep girlfriends away. It was both beautiful and annoying to watch. Then Ona met Thato. Everybody struggled with her because she is an acquired taste. Even Fikile didn’t like her at first. Eventually, Fikile and Thato got along and became really close. They had a loyalty to each other and they could trust each other in a beautiful and yet annoying way. Ona cheated all the time, but we knew that they’d fight and fix things and Fikile would make sure that the girls Ona cheated with felt small and used. But when Ona met you…” 

This girl has Fikile-control issues. That’s her problem just as this was also Fikile’s problem. She wants to make this her family that she controls and make everyone feel as if they need to be loyal to her and thus control Khotso into only sticking with her. This is the type that will get black magic to make sure that Khotso looks at no other woman but her. If it were up to her, even I would need her permission to be part of this family.

“Everybody literally witnessed Ona fall out of love with Thato and long for you more each day, even when Thato was right there in his arms. Fikile always said that she felt like Ona was cheating on her too. Not even Fikile could convince Ona to forget about you and focus on Thato. Ona used to listen to Fikile. That changed when he met you. And when you got pregnant, we all knew it was over for Thato. So yes, Fikile struggled to be welcoming of you because she thought if she did that, she’d be betraying Thato. I want us to have that. I want to look out for you and you look out for me. We are in a relationship with men who are just hot property. We need each other and it will be good for them if you welcome me as I also welcome you.”

Welcome me? I don’t need her welcome. This conversation is actually annoying me. If memory serves me well, I am Mrs Mohale between the two of us and I am the next queen.

“I think your problem is that you think you own this family and you think that we all need your permission to be with the men that we love – it was also Fikile’s problem and look at how that worked out for her. I can’t help you with that. You don’t own Ona, you don’t even own Khotso. I don’t own Ona. Today I’m his wife and I love him. Today we are a family and I’ll do what I can to appreciate it as it is today. But if all this ends tomorrow, I’d need to accept it and move on. We don’t own people and we certainly don’t own families we were not born in. I came into this family through a cow. I can’t be calling shots about who should do what with who. You are not even married to Khotso and already think that you can develop policies and procedures on how everyone must live their lives? What are you going to be like when Khotso actually marries you?”

She is staring at me and desiring to swear at me.

“I’m not going to apologise for loving Ona and I’m certainly not going to apologise or feel bad for being loved by him. You need to deal with your issues and remember that your highest position in this family that you’ll ever attain is being their makoti. You don’t run shit here just like I don’t run shit here. I’m just Ona’s wife and I am loyal to him above all else. It would work to your advantage if you remembered that.” I conclude then I put up the volume of my audio book and leave her to be while I continue to work on my laptop.

It is 5am when I notice that I have a text message from my wife. We have been working in here since yesterday. We leave to go eat then come back and work. We were working through the night and I’m just tired. We have to find the snitch and solve it. We have exhausted all the possible options and we cannot access our cops on the inside (who are on our payroll) because our every move is monitored.

Anyway, my wife’s text… 

It’s a picture…

Of her… 

In white lingerie…

Posing with a glass of champagne!

Caption: “Already planning our white wedding night“.

Why am I sitting in this meeting again? I feel like I’m on those Miami business trips where we are not allowed to bring our wives to. The reason for that is stipulated as, and I quote, “We don’t just run normal businesses. Our normal businesses have elements of crime and danger. But damn, I wanna be home right now.”

I ask to step outside then FaceTime my beautiful wife. 

She answers and she’s dressed in one of her lingerie night dresses. Mohale is fast asleep next to her. This hurts me because they are just a few rooms away from me. I want to be next to them. I have a sexy wife. I have an absolutely beautiful wife. It is important that this is known. This lingerie dress of hers was sewn by mother-sexy herself. She’s hot! I’ve never seen her wear those pyjamas that women wear that look like they are dressed up for some knitting party. She’s always sexy when we go to bed and I love it.

“Hey baby”.

“Mrs Mohale. Why are you torturing me like this?”

“Nna? Torture you?” She giggles as she says this.

“You look hot.”

“You’ll be receiving one every morning and one every night that we are here. When the pictures run out, we should be out of here – that’s my deadline. We want you back in our bed when we go to sleep at night and when we wake up in the morning.” She says.

I chuckle. “What am I going to do with you?”

She laughs.

“How’s everything going on your side in getting us out of here?” I ask her.

“I’m getting there, baby.” She tells me.

“You are doing great, baby. I trust you. I believe in you.” 

She smiles at me.

“Let me wake up and get ready so I can get us out of here.” She says.

“Okay baby. Send me pictures of both of you.” 

She laughs and says, “When did you become this corny?” 

I just laugh.

“I love you”, she says.

“I love you, baby.” 

We hang up.

…

Uncle Q is now dialled into a call with us. We all briefly leave the room to give Legoa a moment to speak to his wife. She is being accommodated by Uncle Q and we owe Legoa for his loyalty. We don’t know where his brothers are, but he is and that counts to us. 

When Legoa and his wife are done talking, we proceed with our meeting. Aunt Pearl peeps in to tell him something and we see them on camera. She’s a very beautiful woman and very strong too. She is good for him. I hear that she is very good at cleaning dirty money. I like women who don’t behave like shocked drama queens with a high moral ground to stand on when they come to terms with the fact that they have to be part of who they married. The less shocked we all are, the better we can manage the situation.

“Good morning”, Mrs H greets us through the camera. We have strict instructions to call her Pearl or Mrs H.

“Good morning. You look very beautiful this morning”, Uncle Shaka says. I always forget that he is Zulu, so him and uncle Q click so well. And when they converse, featuring Mrs H, it becomes KZN united.

“I’m treated very well – it’s a natural glow”, Mrs H says as she blushes and we all laugh. Uncle Q is so ruthless, how does he make a woman smile this much? Wow! But I want my wife to say this about me. I want her to have a natural glow because of me regardless of what I do on the streets.

“I’ll give you guys some space. Have a good day. “, Mrs H. 

She kisses uncle Q then leaves.

“Uncle Q, as a newly wed, I need your skills.” I say.

Everyone laughs. That wasn’t meant to be a joke. I’m serious.

“You are almost three years in marriage, that’s not a newlywed. You form part of the people who will be advising Khotso when he finally marries Nothile”, uncle Q says. 

We all laugh again. 

Khotso blushes, but he laughs as well. 

We finally start with our meeting. 

It takes a while and we are just talking about Miami, the riots in Tholoana Kingdom and how they are impacting our operations. But they’ll also help in covering some stuff – like some of the businesses we want out of the way in Tholoana Kingdom. They’ll probably be set alight and the community will do the work for us. But there’s a bigger issue here. There’s an intelligence task team that has been brought in to bring down the church. Our connects in army and police force have let us know, but unfortunately they’ve been excluded from the investigation so they are not clued up on the plans of action. We have to work around those. But we also need to find a way to make the riots work to our advantage and get the hell out of this place.

My phone rings and it’s my wife.

“Please excuse me. It’s Dise. I have to take this”, I say as I stand up and leave Uncle Q’s office. 

They laugh at me first then say, “Who would have ever thought that this would be Ona?” Uncle Shaka says.

Mxm!

“Hey baby”, I answer.

“Love, can you talk?” She sounds a bit – 

“What’s wrong? Is it Mohale?” 

“No, Mohale’s fine. Listen baby, I came across documents and information… “. 

“Where are you, Regodise? Who’s next to you?” 

“I’m in the restroom and I made sure that no one is listening. We can talk.” 

“Okay…”

” I managed to crack the special unit task force’s system. We are going to lose everything!”

“You managed to what?” Who’s this woman that I married? 

I open the door of where we are sitting and put my phone on speaker. I put it at the centre of the table.

“How did you hack the system?” 

“Really, Ona? There are strategies to execute us and you are worried about how I got that information?”

“No baby, it’s just that we have been struggling to get that information.” 

Everyone looks at each other.

“Listen, we need to act fast. Does Nothile know anything about the church?” She asks. 

“Yes. She knows a bit from what Legoa told her, but her knowledge isn’t as deep as we think. I’ve tested the water”, Khotso says.

“You need to get her out of Tholoana Kingdom. They are going to capture her first and the strategy is that they will expose the entire operation to her and get her to disclose what she may have witnessed. I don’t know if she’s witnessed anything, but we don’t know what she will do with the information that they will show her. ” She says this with a straight tone. Legoa also seems worried. 

“She’s a weak link because she is the easiest to trace. She has the simplest life of all of us and it’s a matter of time before they locate her and thus, locate us.” 

“We need to break into that office”, Uncle Q says.

“Ona, you have me on speaker?” Regodise.

“Makoti, this is very important information. We all need to know these things that you are sharing”, morena says.

“Well, the security around their information room is tight. No one goes in and out of there without access and without being accompanied by the head of research. And one of your inside people are talking, they’ve turned.” She says.

I’m honestly blown away. 

“Who?” Uncle Q asks.

“I have to go. We’ve been on the line for too long. Anything longer than a minute can be picked up and traced. I’ll phone you again later.” 

She hangs up before we can get more information out of her.

“Call makoti to get into this study with us”, morena says.

“I doubt she wants that”, I say. I also don’t want my wife doing such dangerous things with us. Come on now.

“She has crucial information – information we need to determine our next steps.” Morena says.

My mom phones morena. Morena puts her on speaker.

“Babe”, morena answers the phone.

“I’ve just got a message that we’ve been located.” 

Khotso is on his feet now. He is stressing. 

Regodise phones me again. 

Everyone looks at me. 

“Baby?” 

“we need to go. They’ve located us. The good news is that all their task teams are coming here to arrest us because they don’t know how many of us are here and how armed we are. If we leave now, we can make it across the border with none of them looking out for us. Let’s go!” 

“Come to KZN. I’ll have men waiting to help you cross the border and get here.” Uncle Q says. 

We are all now on our feet and we are pacing away. 

We help to get everything into this Quantum. Uncle Shaka is the one driving us now. We leave instantly. I’m sitting next to Regodise and Mohale. 

“Baby?” Me.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.” Me.

“I want a white wedding.” She says.

Khotso and I burst into laughter.

I need to have quite a conversation with Regodise.

…

It is 9pm when our Quantum drives into Uncle Q’s house. We all climb out of the car and find Moringa waiting for Legoa. She runs to him and hugs him. It hits me when I see Gcina that Khotso is the lucky bastard who has both his women here with him. This is going to be LIT!

Dise just looks at me and I just know that she is thinking what I am thinking.

“Are you okay?” I ask Regodise and I kiss her.

She nods her head. 

I hold her hand and pull her towards the house and the room that we will be sleeping in. 

I close the door. 

Regodise throws herself on the bed. I put Mohale down on the bed and he is already being busy. 

“Maybe we should get his playpen. It’s in the boot. And I need to change his diaper.” Dise says.

I go outside and start unpacking bags from the Quantum. I see Khotso walking towards me. He looks stressed. 

“Nothile is upset and Gcina is already threatening to kill me.” 

I know I shouldn’t laugh, but this shit was always going to catch up with him. He looks too spooked for a Casanova.

“We’ll fix it. We’ll fix this.” I reassure him still laughing.

“Please thank Dise for me. I’ll also thank her in the morning. She really pulled through for all of us.” He says.

“So, love, I need to understand how you were able to be super woman in all of this”, I say. Mohale has taken his evening bath and has eaten. He is in his playpen, but we know it will be bedtime soon.

“So, you know that I studied through the army, right?” She begins.

I nod my head. 

“I was great in the army, apparently one of the best. So, I was sent to various countries to train with various teams, including intelligence. I learned a lot and they helped me to figure things out. When I told your mother about my military background, information about the church suddenly became accessible to me. I think she did that on purpose. She knew I wouldn’t just look at what’s happening and do nothing. So, I acted and I needed to protect the family.” 

“You did great, baby. And thank you. For everything.”

“I don’t want to be part of the church, Ona. But, I do want to help and make sure that you don’t get arrested. Mohale needs you. I need you. There are things that I know. There are things that I got exposed to regarding the investigations on the church because investigations took place everywhere that the church operates. But I don’t want to be a criminal, Ona.” 

I look at her. 

“You are going to make sure that I don’t join the church, right?” She says.

“I love you. And I’m going to be the best man that I can be with you and towards you. You are the sexiest woman on earth right now. Come here…” 

As we kiss, a knock interrupts us. 

Great! 

“Ona!” Morena yells. 

“I’m coming”, I yell back.

I go open the door. He is here with Uncle Q and uncle Shaka. 

They walk into our allocated bedroom. 

“I’ll give you some space”, Dise says as she climbs off the bed.

“We actually need you here, makoti. Can I take Mohale to Kea rather?” Morena.

She looks at me. 

“Please, Regodise.” Uncle Shaka.

She agrees.

…

Today, my husband might die. And I’m extremely unsettled. If they don’t get ahead of the mission that is designed to destroy the church, the mission will destroy the church and everyone who keeps the church running, leaving the entire church membership arrested for the rest of their lives. 

My experience has come in handy in helping them possibly get ahead of the mission. But I’m scared. There’s always someone smarter out there and I’m woman enough to admit that. 

“If they find you, they could kill you”, I tell Ona and Khotso. They are getting ready together. They are doing the break in with Zithulele. 

“I need you guys to come back. Mohale needs both of you to come back. Nothile needs you to come back. Gcina needs you to come back”, they laugh when I say this. I cannot bring myself to laughing. I am too stressed.  

I breathe.

“Promise me that you will come back. Both of you!” I say. 

Khotso nods his head and Ona kisses forehead. 

Morena, Shaka and Qaphela walk into this office that I’ll be monitoring everything from. 

“You ready?” Morena enquires. 

Ona’s mom and Nosi walk in. The men all look at them.

“Fikile is looking after the kids. We are staying here with Regodise”, Ona’s mom says.

“Babe –

“We not asking”, Nosi.

The men look at me. I hope they are not expecting me to ask their wives to leave. I just proceed with final instructions. 

“Each of the access cards are only valid to work for thirty minutes, so this is literally an in and out. As soon as you park there, I will know and I will activate the cards. You have to be quick.” I say. 

The map is open on the desk so I start illustrating on the map where they must enter and how to avoid cameras. 

“As soon as you enter this – the information room – you place this magnet on the server until I tell you to take it off. It’s probably a few seconds. Then, you sprint out of there. Simple!” 

Everyone is nodding their heads. 

I give them a file. “These are the people part of the special team task force. They’ll be in this room having a meeting. I don’t need to know what you are going to do with this information. But after the information room, you should only have fifteen minutes at most to get out of that building”, I say.

They look at each other. 

I’ll stay on the laptop. Keep your ear-pieces on and I’ll speak to you through the pieces. You’ll know if anything changes. I’ll be your big brother. Don’t get arrested and don’t get killed.” I say. 

Ona kisses me. 

… 

Ona, Khotso, Zithulele and Phendulile have made it out of the building successfully. Morena and Uncle Shaka wanted to torture people before just executing them. Thanks to Uncle Qaphela’s fear of prison and the promise made to his wife about never going back to prison, he came, shot people and was able to make sure that everyone was out of the building within the stipulated thirty minutes. Now, they are on their way back to the lodge and I personally am very relieved that my husband is about to get away with murder. 

… 

Fikile and I are chilling by the pool with Mohale. The men came back from their mission and have been locked up in a meeting room ever since. Fikile and I are currently not best friends, but we have established one thing: we will show up for each other. 

I’m in the pool with Mohale. I have him on my hip. Then as we play, I dip him in the water then bring him up and he loves it. He laughs so much that he makes me laugh. Then I put him on my hip and I walk across the pool with him. He is in love.

Fikile seems miles away and deep in thought. She is watching Mohale and I in the water, chuckling to herself then dozing off into space again. 

“Dumelang“, Aunt Nosi says as she, Ona’s mom and Aunt Pearl sit by the pool and dip their legs in the pool. They come bringing snacks and drinks… and Mohale’s bottle. 

“Hello”, I greet them with a smile. I’m mostly excited about my son discovering water and thoroughly enjoying it. 

Ona’s mom takes off her beach dress and joins us in the water in her bikini. This lady is HOT! Aunt Pearl also joins us in her hot bikini. 

What is this? How are these women this HOT at their age? I suddenly feel insecure. I am still losing my baby fat from Mohale. I’m looking better than I did a few months ago, but I don’t look like these women.

“Whats your secret?” I ask.

“To what?” Aunt Pearl.

“Im struggling to get back into proper shape after Mohale. How do you all look like that?” 

The ladies laugh aloud.

Fikile is still…WEIRD!

“Well, make sure you give birth to all your kids before you hit 35. Then invest in gym and fat-freezing”, Aunt Pearl says. 

I should have known. 

We are all laughing and talking and enjoying the evening swim. 

Ona’s mom gets out of the water, dries herself up then looks at Fikile and says, “Let’s take a walk”. 

Fikile looks up at her, stands up and they take their walk. I wonder. 

“How’s married life and mom life with Ona the rebel?” Aunt Nosi asks me as I wrap Mohale in a towel and try to dry myself. 

We laugh aloud. Ona does have reputations like that. 

“I must say that he has calmed down A LOT since he became a husband and a father. Good job, girl.” Aunt Nosi continues. 

“He’s my person. We have our issues, but I don’t put a limit on what I’d do for him.” I say. 

The ladies nod their heads, but their faces have turned into something extremely sincere. 

“I love him. A lot. As much as Mohale wasn’t exactly planned, I’m glad he arrived and cemented what we had but couldn’t cement in the past year of us being on and off”, I say. 

“Thats so beautiful. He is very lucky to have you.” Aunt Pearl says.

“Uncle Q is your one by far”, i say you her. 

She smiles and blushes.

“I gave up on him when he needed me to be his only hope. I regret hurting him like that. We found each other again much later again, but I do feel that I need to love him so much more and embrace him, making up for when I chose not to even if it were my only choice at the time.” Aunt Pearl says.

“Maybe you need to forgive yourself now, Pearl. It’s time. He has forgiven you. He adores you. He wants the two of you to take advantage of the time that you have been given and the second chance you are now marinating in. Take advantage of that.” Aunt Nosi says. 

“I wish it were that simple and easy. Sometimes I lie awake at night and watch him sleeping… knowing that I’m the only woman he has ever truly loved and given himself too, and I just – my ex-husband couldn’t even appreciate me the way that Qaphela did. No man has ever been worth it. He never even tried to look for another woman to find worth. I failed him.” She looks like she wants to cry now. 

“I think you are being too hard on yourself. The situation could have gone either way. What if you did wait for me and were his ride or die. Then you lived with the bare minimum and had your daughter live on the bare minimum? Then he comes out and you resent him for all the years that you wasted waiting on him?” Aunt Nosi. 

I’m feeding my son his bottle now and am listening to these women talk. Will this be me a few years from now? Or when Ona takes on a second wife? I know Ona would never pass on that kind of opportunity. I always thought my sister-wife would be Thato. But now that she’s dead, I’m confident that there could even five million of them, I’ll always be Ona’s ace! 

We see the men walk out of their office. The look tired and defeated. Ona’s mother and Fiks are still not back from their walk. They don’t even come to us. They just walk straight to their chalets. This is going to be a long night. 

It’s been a long day. Anything could have happened to us, but my wife was a real trooper. Dare I say it, she has been more resourceful than many of the people in very senior positions in the church. 

Morena wants Regodise within the church. I don’t think it’s a good idea. I really don’t. Plus, I don’t see Regodise agreeing to it. She made it very clear that she doesn’t want to be a criminal. But morena is pope and he gets what he wants when he wants it. Not everyone who is in the church got initiated in by choice. 

I’m thinking of speaking to my mother to convince morena to leave my wife alone. Actually, that’s exactly what I’ll do.

My wife and son walk into our room. I smile at them. I really have a beautiful wife guys – this needs to be known. My son smiles at me and my entire evening is made. 

“Hey baby”, my beautiful wife greets me and kisses me. 

“Hey gorgeous”, I say and grab her waist to land on me. She falls onto me and Mohale jumps out of his mother’s arms and onto my chest. 

One day this little man is going to be too big to maneuver like this between everyone. But I really want to be a good father to him and if I’m being honest with myself, I don’t want him to be groomed for the throne. Khotso and I agreed that I would take over from morena and his son would take over from me. But my son would support his as Khotso supports me. 

“Are you okay?” Dise asks me. 

“I’m just counting my blessings – you and our son are just…” 

“Whats going on, love?” 

“I just love you, baby. I’m thankful for you and I thank you for being who and what you are to me. Thank you for saving us as well – for thinking fast and being instrumental in everything we’ve just done”, I tell her. 

She pulls a face then says, “There’s information that I withheld because I wanted to tell you and maybe just – 

“What is it?” I say. 

“This wasn’t the last attack”, she says. 

I look at her. 

“The person who is directing crucial law enforcement teams your way is still very much operational and that person is extremely resourceful.” She says. 

I sit up and look at her. 

“Ona, I don’t want anyone’s death on my hands – especially your family’s –

“My family? Regodise, please just tell me. I’m serious.” I’m losing my patience right now. 

She pulls out the laptop that we’ve been using to get through today- the one with an untraceable ID. She opens it and types on it a few times. Then she shows me the screen. I give Mohale to her. 

I cannot believe my eyes! 

“Thats the source working with law enforcement. The information provided to law enforcement comes from an IP address linked to this person. Maybe someone hacked the laptop and sent information from it, I don’t know. But I looked for where the information was coming from so we could understand the source of the problem. That’s where it led me”. She says. 

Kefentse Thandolwethu Mohale. 

“If I take this to morena – 

“I know. That’s why I couldn’t expose this information in front of everyone.” 

“Dise, I don’t want to have my sister killed.” I tell her. 

“I know, baby. And she’s a new mother and all that. Babe, if you take over from morena, you know these types of decisions will be yours to make and whatever you decide, there will be lifechanging consequences. You need to make a decision on what consequences you are prepared to live with”, she tells me. 

Dise hugs me. She clearly saw that I needed the hug. We kiss. Mohale slaps me. He’s lucky he doesn’t know what he’s doing. 

I walk into Khotso’s room and find Nothile passed out on top of his lap. I use my head to signal that he must step outside so we can talk. 

I walk towards the pool area and I still have this laptop open and in my hands. Khotso is next to me now. 

“Regodise found the source that morena has been looking for”, I say. 

Khotso looks at me to elaborate.

I show him the laptop screen. He just stares at the laptop screen and has his hand over his mouth. His reaction is exactly like mine when Dise showed me this. 

“She says she didn’t want to bring this up in front of morena, Uncle Shaka and Uncle Q. She wanted us to make the call.” I tell him. 

“Eh monna! What are we going to do? If we don’t tell morena and he finds out that we knew, he’s going to kill us with Kefe! Kefe is dying regardless.” Khotso tells me. 

“You don’t think I know that? But I don’t want to be the reason our sister is killed.” I tell him. 

“I don’t want that either. Ona, there is a line. If we cross the line and start killing family, we become just like him. What Kefe did is fucked up and I guess she has no loyalty towards morena, but this is the real test for us now. If we cross a line and have Kefe killed, there’s no turning back.” He says. 

“What did Kefentse do?” We hear a voice – our mother’s voice – and when we turn around, morena is next to her. 

Khotso and I are somehow unsure of what to do. 

“Give me the laptop”, morena says. 

“Morena – 

“GIVE IT TO ME!” Morena says. 

Uncle Shaka grabs it from me then he and Uncle Q look at it. I don’t even know where they came from. 

“Why am I looking at details of Kefentse Thandolwethu Mohale?” Uncle Shaka. 

Khotso and I face downwards. 

“Don’t make us ask again”, morena.

“Regodise managed to track down the person who has been selling us out and working with law enforcement to shut us down”, Khotso. 

“You mean the people we’ve been cracking our heads trying to find all day, Regodise found and has been sitting with this information- 

“Wait a minute… she brought the information to me because Kefe is family. She didn’t know what to do with the information and she brought it to me, her husband.” 

“That’s not how the church operates”. Morena.

“My wife is not part of the church!” 

“I told you that she’s an asset –

“My wife is not part of the church and she never will be!” 

Silence.

“What are you going to do to Kefentse?” My mom asks morena. 

Morena looks at her. 

“I asked you a question, Mohato. What are you going to do to my daughter?” 

“The same daughter that has just conspired against our sons to have them killed or arrested! She’s important now? More important than our sons’ freedom and lives? If she succeeded with whatever she was doing, Mohale wouldn’t have a father anymore. Regodise wouldn’t have a husband and we wouldn’t have our sons anymore. Regodise knew that and she did what she needed to do to protect her family. What are you going to do, Kearabetsoe, to protect our family?” 

My mom screams and punches morena. We try to pull her back and she just screams, “Don’t touch my daughter, Mohato! Don’t you dare touch my daughter!” 

Morena pulls her by the hand and we see him shut the door behind him after he has thrown my mother into the room. 

I want to follow them, but Uncle Shaka holds me back. 

“He better not touch my mother!” I say. 

“He wouldn’t do that. Come on.” Uncle Q.

“Your wife on the other hand –

“Regodise is not joining the church. You have Kefentse, leave Regodise alone.” I say then walk off to go back to my wife. Khotso walks back to his room too. My father must be turning in his grave because of who we have become – we even killing our siblings now? Morena won! He succeeded. He took Reahile’s sons and turned them into his sons shamelessly.

…

Khotso’s and Ona’s cars – Fortuner vehicles that belong to the church but they drive often – park in front of the house first. They climb out of their cars and walk into the house. It’s a beautiful house, I must say. Apparently, it belonged to their deceased father. Kefentse lives here now. Next, I park the Fortuner that I am driving and head into the house, using a different entrance into the house. This is my way of scouting that there are no bodyguards are police around here protecting her.  

“What are you doing here?” I find Kefentse asking her brothers who have helped themselves to whatever food was being cooked here. Kefentse is in a night dress, a very sexy one. This girl is actually hot. You can tell that she just woke up, but she looks sexy and beautiful. I would definitely have her just for one night – but as a snack. There is something very unattractive in her aura. 

“Legoa, would you like a plate?” Ona offers me a plate. 

“Sho”, I say. 

I walk to the stove and dish up some fancy pasta dish that I see here. 

“What are you doing here? You are trespassing!” Kefentse says. 

“Our names are also in this title deed. Reahile Mohale was our father too”, Khotso says. 

Kefentse knows that she’s dying tonight. She knows. And when pope walks in with Queen Kea, all is confirmed for her and we can literally see her heart collapsing. Queen Kea is crying. She’s been crying since we left Uncle Q’s house. 

“So, this is what it has come to, Rabi?” Kefentse says to the queen. 

“What did you do, Kefentse?” 

“What my father would have wanted you to do. What my grandmother Nthatisi died doing. What you betrayed my father by not doing! I thought you loved him.” 

“You know that I loved Reahile!” 

“Then why are you not helping me instead of sleeping next to this animal every night?” 

“Because he’s my husband, Kefentse. I love him and I am loyal to him. I did everything that I could to make sure that you don’t lose his identity inside of you. But you just had to –

“Pule and I are not Ona and Khotso. We are not. No matter what you did, Mohato would have always seen sons in him that he would have never seen in Pule. He never saw a daughter in me neither. It was always going to be like this. The whole mission of you getting pregnant by another Mohale brother was always so that he could raise kids with you because he couldn’t make his own.” 

WTF?! Mohale shoots blanks?! This family’s drama is beginning to confuse me. Just when I thought I understood why we couldn’t call the queen a whore after sleeping with two brothers – 

“He can’t make his own kids. The elders get a Mohale brother to impregnate you for him. The kids are his. My dad died because he didn’t want this animal raising his kids. You let that happen, Rabi! You did! Now Khotso and Ona are his. The only imperfect picture in this little family of yours has always been Pule and I. Now, you are your thugs are about to put an end to that.” 

This family is MESSED UP!  

We hear a gun shot. 

We just know that Kefentse called back up. Before we go and handle what’s happening outside, we need to make sure that the internal problem is resolved. It is Khotso who pumps bullets into her – savagely so! 

Then we run outside. Bishop has bodies lying all around him. Gcina’s body is one of those bodies. 

“Gcina?!” Pope enquires. 

“She arrived here with the cops.” Bishop explains through his sobs…

As his wife lays shot in his arms. 

We all just sit on the floor, next to the body. She’s not dead yet. We do need to get her to a hospital. But everyone is scouting for us. 

Regodise comes running out with a first-aid kit – a HUGE one. 

When did these women get here? 

Tlali is running next to her. 

They take about an hour doing something to Aunt Nosi. She’s still alive because she is making noises that indicate that she is in pain. All those who can pray are praying. All those who can cry are crying. All those who have been given tasks to do by Dise are busy. Some doctor arrives after some time – a trusted friend of Dise’s. This friend also works on Aunt Nosi. 

After a while, the doctor puts Aunt Nosi on a drip then helps us put her in the car. She’s in pain, but she’s out of danger. She’s now sedated and we drive to a house in Mpumalanga together as pope puts men on Uncle Q and Aunt Pearl. We all know that Uncle Q is coming for blood. We all know. Either those two have to die or they will serve the church to law enforcement on a silver platter.