40. Unlikely friendship

Shirleen woke up to the sound of her mother's voice singing to her a lullaby she thought she had forgotten a long time ago. Her mind slowly caught up to her regaining consciousness which unfortunately reminded her that her mother has been long dead. She opened her eyes slowly only to see Angela and Stacey talking softly at one end of the room. "Are you discussing my demise when I am powerless to stop you," she asked jokingly trying to test out her voice. Both women turned to look at her on the bed. "I had the weirdest dream. I dreamt I became queen of the criminal underworld and I was finally a step away from being able to avenge my mother," Shirleen said softly.

"I hate to break this to you," Angela said moving towards the bed. "But that did happen." Shirleen's memories finally caught up with her mind and she looked at Angela in surprise. "What are you doing at the queen's capital?" Shirleen asked with a frown.

"I am here to see the outgoing queen. Believe it or not we were once considered friends," Angela said amused taking a seat next to her bed. "You are now the new queen."

"How long have I been asleep?" Shirleen asked.

"Seven days so far," Angela replied nonchalantly as if she couldn't care one way or another,

"Have you seen the queen?" Shirleen asked.

"Not yet I am told she needs to recover from her injuries before I get to see her. Good move saving that style for the last possible moment by the way," When Shirleen didn't say a word instead her eyes got a cloudy distant feeling Angela sighed loudly. "I am guessing the reason why you slept for seven days was because of the trauma of killing people. Killing a person is never easy, it is messy and memorable. But in our line of work you do not get a chance to regret and as for you all you wanted was to survive. I was raised by a man who thought nothing of another's life and so I got used to his way of thinking. The first time he sent me out for an assassination was when I turned eight. I had to use poison then and I knew failure was not an option. My first kill and I puked and cried my guts out. He punished me so badly for that sense of remorse. I felt that the next time I couldn't bring myself to indulge in any emotion because either of them would have left me broken and useless to my father. I am sorry for putting you through this but you need to be strong if you are to remain queen. There is a reason why you have a personal assassination squad at your command, key word being assassination." Angela watched as the young woman on the bed silently cried. Shirleen finally understood the responsibility that lay on her shoulders. She became aware that criminal lords from around the world will seek her, some seeking arbitration methods instead of outright war to avoid the glare of the law. Sometimes she would have the power of life and death to criminal lords or dealers who were potential threats to their criminal empires. Her position was basically a legitimacy position for the criminal underworld. Even the crime world needed checks and balances or they would have resulted to war and most of them either jailed or dead. They needed rules of engagements because they considered themselves businessmen in a world that considered them unlawful. Stacey interrupted them handing a bottle of champagne to Angela. Angela looked at the young girl on the bed still so confused about the power she has acquired by just being called queen and said softly, "Now all you have to do is rest and when you wake up, go around the castle and visit all the departments because you need to know what is going on in your house. Concentrate more on the information and investigative department it will prove more useful if you want to blackmail or bribe someone. You will need to find people you trust and surround yourself with them." Angela stood and took the wine, "Its time I visited Aileen."

Before she made it to the door Shirleen asked her, "What do you gain in me becoming queen? Angela Asenwa does nothing that isn't advantageous to her."

Angela smiled deviously, "I just gained unimaginable power through you. Now rest you have a lot to do."

***

"Immediately she won I knew you would make your way here," Aileen said sitting up. Angela smiled her lopsided grin and sat on the hospital bed Aileen was occupying handing her a glass of champagne.

"You were always too clever," Angela said her smile gentle and affectionate at the same time touching her glass of champagne to hers.

"And you were always too aggressive," Aileen teased back a smile on her face. "And don't worry about my shoulders my doctor thinks I will heal extremely well. She aimed between the tissues so there is no permanent damage. You taught her very well."

"I hear that retiring queens get a retiring benefit of a hundred million dollars?" Angela said.

"Yeah," Aileen replied. "We are very well compensated. What do you have in mind?"

"Come to Kenya," Angela said. "I hear your brother is out of control and soon the new queen will be forced to send her assassins to wipe him out. Going back home will be suicidal. He will make sure he gets information from you and that will make you a target for the queen's assassins." Angela turned to look at the flame haired woman, "Kenya will be safe. You will have protection of the five families, the elite and a queen from the region. You can buy a beach house and as I remember you were partial to them."

Aileen laughed, "I will think about it. Kenyan beaches do sound nice." Aileen sighed, "I would relish the peace that would come when I move there."

"With the new queen no one would want to cause chaos in Kenya," Angela agreed.

Aileen watched her friend for a few minutes before she spoke, "You taught her very well considering she is just your stepdaughter," Aileen said watching Angela's expression.

"I had no choice her boyfriend is the heir to the most powerful criminal family in Kenya and Africa as a continent. The five families in Kenya might be the most powerful in Africa but his family ranks first." Angela twirled the contents in her glass, "Since I don't have children I might as well choose her. She will be my road to being the second most powerful crime family in Africa. I plan to be able to control most of Africa's underworld in time at par with the Dragon family. I just needed an opening and she has created a large one."

"I know what you want to know," Aileen said and Angela raised an amused brow. "No queen can have access to the information stored in the vaults unless it is absolutely necessary. All information about different crime families collected over the years are sealed and put in the vault. The vault can only be accessed by using the queens left eye and left handprint. Another random person is chosen and his or her right eye and right handprint are in put into the system. Without both people the vault cannot be open. Of course, there are other measures put in but these are the most important. The queen cannot open any file she so wishes unless she thinks it is important to protect the criminal underworld. Don't worry she won't be able to access your file." Angela breathed in a sigh of relief and Aileen smiled at her.

"You know my secret don't you Aileen?" Angela asked softly.

"Will you kill me if I said yes?" Aileen asked.

"No," Angela said, "You are the only other person in this world I know who would never use that against me because I also know your secret. We keep each other's secrets and ensure the whole world remains ignorant."

"Yes we do," Aileen replied looking off into the far distance thinking of her own. "Angela when we thought of keeping our secrets did we anticipate the pain and torture it would cause us?"

"No, we didn't," Angela said looking at the drink in her hand.

"Do you regret it?" Aileen asked softly.

"Every day, but we can't change it. We protect our secrets at all costs just like we swore," Angela replied reaching for Aileen's hand telling her without words that they had made their choice and they had to live by them.

Aileen smiled, "Looks like I am moving to Kenya."

"Good because I already bought you a villa with a private beach, white sands and clear blue water. I bought it immediately you lost to my heir," Angela said her voice filled with teasing laughter. Aileen burst out laughing.