Chapter Thirty-Four

The reception for the wedding came to an end. Following that was the honeymoon, for which Bianca selected the location. Immediately, after that, Bianca suggested that they should pay tribute to Mary. Joe accepted the offer and beckoned on Philip to take them to Mary's house. When they got there, Bianca signalled to Joe and Philip to follow her inside the house, which they did. Bianca's father was surprised at the august visitation. He was happy to see Joe and Bianca together. He showered blessings concerning their new marriage and told them to sit. Bianca rejected the request and told him that she came to announce her marriage to Mary. Joe, her newlywed husband, as a way of paying tribute to her.

"Alright, isn't it better for all of us to do it together," he suggested.

"It would be splendid," she agreed.

"Let's go now, follow me," he beckoned, gesturing with his hand.

They gladly followed, walking out of the building, straight to Mary's tomb. Bianca's eyes welled up with tears. She imagined Mary, with her motherly counsel and words of encouragement. They all reached Mary's tomb, and Bianca's heart had already melted before getting to Mary's tomb.

"Mary," her father called, "we all came to visit you specially, and we also have some good news for you, about which Bianca, your sister, will tell you all by herself."

Bianca stepped forward, licking her lips with her tongue, mustering up courage in order to speak clearly and audibly.

"Mary," she called, "Bianca is here. I want to tell you something fascinating." She stopped talking for a while; silence followed next, and her ears dove a little, eager to hear Mary's voice.

"I decided to marry at my 300 level because I knew you would never want me to marry at this young age, but you loved me marrying when I finished school, so I took your position. I know it wouldn't be easy, carrying a load heavier than my weight, however, I was determined to take your position. And I got married to Joe Kemery."

The wind flushed with a heavy sound as soon as she mentioned Joe Kemery.

"I know you are happy; you already knew him; you knew that Joe and I love each other, and I remember your advice from a long time ago. You once said I should go for a man whom I truly love and who also loves me with all his life, and Joe appeared to be the right person. Thank you for your advice."

They heard the rustling of leaves as she spoke.

"I, along with Joe, Dad, and Philip, our driver, came to give you a gift. It is small, but you just use it to remember us when we depart from here."

Tears trickled from her eyes immediately after she issued the statement. She went back a little and collected the four flowers from Joe, distributing them among themselves. One flower for each individual. She instructed them, on their turn, to deposit the flower on Mary's grave. She moved closer to the grave and placed her flower where the corpse's head would be. Joe followed next; he kept his flower beside his wife's, followed by Philip, who placed his own, and finally, Mary's father, who walked slowly, boldly, and calmly to drop his own flower.

Everybody had completed their assignment. Bianca stepped forward again.

"Mary remembers us with this; we would all come here next year to pay a tribute again, but for now we are going to rest. It has been a hectic week for us here. Goodbye."

Bianca's tears dropped to the floor. She turned back, and then everybody turned back with her.

"Congratulations on your wedding," an unknown voice was heard.

"Hey guys," she called, "did you just hear a voice?"

They all looked at her in astonishment, indicating they didn't hear anything. Bianca smiled.

"You heard something?" Mary's father asked

"Maybe, but I'm not perfectly sure," she said, uncertainly.

"Alright," he chuckled.

"Dad, we are extremely tired, we want to go home and take a rest," said Bianca, already tired.

"I would love for you guys to stay a little in here, but it is almost getting dark, if not."

"Dad, thanks for understanding," she appreciated, "Goodbye, Dad."

Bianca held Joe by his wrist as Joe also said goodbye, then they entered the jeep. Bianca waved to her father, who stood nearby, and also waved to them.

The car roared to life and zoomed out of the compound. Bianca and Joe kept on waving their hands to Bianca's father until the car gradually wheeled away from the compound, and then an escorting police van followed them from behind. When Philip drove the car to the bus stop, popularly known as a garage, another police van escorted them at the front. There wasn't any sign of gridlock on the road; it was free and smooth, but with so many bumps. The two police van sirens blared in the air, speeding on a very high speedometer. They overtook cars on the road, trying to keep the dark atmosphere from settling in. Bianca took her phone, turned it on, and switched on the data connection. The news dropped in. She saw her name, along with Joe's, on her wedding gown. It read: "A suspect has been accused of bigamy, widely known to be Joe and Bianca."

Bianca tapped Joe to look at her phone. Joe looked at it.

"Did you ever sign a marriage certificate with James Brin?"

"I actually did."

"Why?" he said, almost flaring up.

"Calm down. I was forced to sign it."

"How? I don't get it."

"I was kidnapped early this year and almost got raped in the process. What helped me was the signing of the marriage certificate."

"Oh, I remember, but why didn't you tell me about the signing of the marriage certificate?"

"I thought it didn't matter."

"Oh, it isn't your fault though," said Joe, "but damned, I would be seeking a lawyer to represent us; how good will he be to defend the case, since this was a certificate gotten from a court?"

"I thought you were a calm guy."

"A calm guy? To allow my lovely wife to be taken away from me?"

That statement of Joe sparked a memory in Bianca's mind: "Your home wouldn't be discovered."

She tapped Joe on the shoulder to inform him of Brin's statement, but he seemed surprised when he looked at her.

"Oh, it was a mistake." Bianca reacted.

At the end of the long journey, they approached Prince Ville Street. Bianca closed her eyes and mumbled some words, perhaps a prayer. Then she opened her eyes and looked at Joe, who smiled in return. The blissful home was almost reached. Bianca and Joe kissed each other. Upon reaching the gate of the couple's mansion, five brand-new small cars with all the windows tinted were parked in a military style at the front of the gate. Joe stared at the cars suspiciously, and a lot of thoughts raced through his mind. Joe hadn't experienced such a thing since the death of his father. The gate opened, with five hefty men—all wearing protective masks on their faces—pointing guns at Joe's car. Immediately, a guy with all his face covered by a mask walked to the door of the first car and entered inside. The car was about to drive out of its parking spot when the police van that had escorted Joe's car from behind reversed and tried blocking the road. The car sped sideways, scratching the police van a little, and zoomed off with speed. Three policemen jumped out of their respective vans quickly, while the police van at the back reversed and pursued the speeding car, blaring sirens in the air. Dust covered the atmosphere during the process. Then the three policemen shot their guns into the sky. The five hefty guys shot theirs too. Bianca clung to Joe at the sound of the gunshot. The house brought out smoke from inside. Joe was surprised to see it and wondered where all of his workers were.

"Drop your guns now or we are all going to die," a police officer commanded.

The gang shot again in the air, defying all orders.

"If you, too, don't drop your gun, we will shoot everyone dead. We don't care about our lives," they shouted in unison.

Fire erupted from Joe's mansion. Then suddenly, waves of sirens blared from within, and suddenly, eight armed vehicles with armies sped to the gate of Joe's house. They started shooting straight at the five hefty men sporadically. The policemen fell to the floor. Joe ordered Bianca and Philip to lie flat. The five hulking men turned their attention to the approaching armies, aiming their guns at the army vehicles and firing; they also ran for cover along the parked vehicles. While one of the hulking men stood up and fired a shot in the direction of the cops. The bullet landed on a police officer, but the officer skillfully turned, and it landed on his waist. Blood rushed out immediately. The fire went high, burning the house and bringing out ashes.

An army officer shot one of the hefty men who risked his life by shooting the policeman. Two bullets went straight through his forehead, and one flew through his legs. He screamed and fell to the floor. The remaining four successfully entered the same car and shot straight at Bianca's car, while their car reversed with speed and hit Joe's car, giving it a dent but not enough to injure anybody inside. Then the armies blasted the car with bullets. But the bullet couldn't penetrate inside. When the armies noticed it. They commanded Joe and his companion to quickly get out of the car, which they did.

The other police officers took the injured officer into the police van and drove forward to a large extent. Bianca was in full tears, and Joe looked at his beautiful house burning into ashes. Then a soldier screamed at them to run along with the police van. People came outside from their various houses and watched the situation. When Joe and Bianca were with Philip, they were very far from the incident. They watched one of the armies throw a rounded black material that took the shape of a ball. The armies fled the scene and crouched in strategic locations, guns drawn, waiting for any of the gangsters to emerge from the car. The gang came out all of a sudden and shot a bullet straight at a soldier's face. Then the remaining armies shot them back.

Finally, as they were trying to escape, it gave the military men an advantage to kill the four of them.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

All the cars there exploded and caught on fire. Then a police officer shouted.

"There was a fatal accident with a car that tried escaping. The male driver has died, and an injured woman has been discovered in the car, according to the information I have received. She is at our station."

Everybody cheered and jubilated. Immediately, he spoke. A soldier then commanded all of them to go to their various houses. The armies then fired a bullet into the sky, and everyone scrambled, scuttled, and ran to their homes. The police officers called the ambulance and the fire service men immediately.

One hour later, an ambulance car, a water truck, and three army vehicles wheeled to the vicinity of the incident. The fire servicemen poured water into the fire, which burned the cars. They succeeded in quenching the fire. Then a doctor came out of the ambulance car and ordered the stretcher to be brought out. Eight men came out of the ambulance with stretchers. Then they walked straight down to the police van to carry the two injured people on the stretcher into the ambulance. Then everybody else followed the military vehicle that came through.