3. The Tattoo

The thought of how wealthy they could be played in Laylah's head, as she stared mesmerized at the luxurious venue. She was still lost in her thoughts when Liam leaned closer to her and whispered into her ear. "Let's move to the front, allow me introduce you to my uncle." She heard, snapping out of her thoughts and smiling at him.

Laylah nodded and looked around, but she couldn't find Rose next to her. She followed Liam to where the Mayor was standing with a lady whom Laylah was skeptical could be his wife because she looks young.

Upon getting there, she saw Rose next to them, exchanging pleasantries with guests.

'She was fast, when did she get here?' Laylah thought as they halted close to them.

"Hello! Uncle, meet Laylah. Laylah, my uncle, the Mayor." Liam introduced, and that Instant, the Mayor liked Laylah.

"Is she the lady your mother kept talking about?"

He took her hands. "You are beautiful, Liam must be lucky to have you." He complimented, pecked the back of her hands.

"Thank you. You are not looking bad." She remarked, smiling from ear to ear.

Laylah caught a glimpse of the lady sending daggers at her, but she chose to ignore it.

"Come on, uncle, do you have to do that here?" Liam played along with them for the sake of his mother. Laylah and Rose smiled wholeheartedly. This was all part of their plan to make her marry him, not because he wants her.

"Laylah, this is Hilda, your fiance half-sister. Hilda, this is Laylah, she will be your sister soon." Rose introduced.

'I was right, there's no way she's his wife. She's too young to be referred to as Mrs.' Laylah thought to herself as they exchanged greetings.

"Hello! it's a pleasure to meet you." Hilda pretended to be happy for them.

"Same here. Be good to my brother." She added, and they laughed.

"Let's walk around, there are guests I need to meet." The Mayor insisted, and everyone nodded, following him.

"I never knew you were dating? I mean, you don't like the sight of women. They irks you, and you would never have anything to do with them." Hilda struck up a conversation with Liam.

"I don't think you should know if I'm dating. It's my personal life. I should keep it private."

The both of them don't get along because Hilda blames him for what happened to her mother.

"Oh, my bad. I thought this is a marriage of convenience. You should prove them wrong, you know the rumor about you being impotent." Hilda mocked, with a wink, before she zoomed off.

They never got along with Liam, not after what happened to her brother. Hilda moved out of the house with the claim that Liam won't hesitate to kill her just the way he got rid of her mother and father and pinned it on her brother.

"She's like that when she has some stuff to deal with. Don't take her words to heart." Liam defended her attitude. But Laylah was quick to grab that they don't get along.

They continued to walk here and there greeting invited guests that graced the banquet when Laylah began to feel uncomfortable. She's never been in the midst of wealthy people for this long and didn't know how things worked around them. She leaned closer to Liam and whispered into his ear.

"I will be right back, I need to use the restroom." Liam nodded in understanding.

She smiled at him and turned in the direction of the restroom. Liam turned to look for his assistant, and within minutes, he was standing next to him.

"I want you to look into her, there's something my mother isn't telling me." He ordered, and Jerry nodded.

The relationship between his mother and Laylah is surreal. She's never been this close to a lady, not even shared a conversation for too long. But there's something about Laylah that keeps drawing his mother close to her. She's been talking about her for some months now, and Laylah is the first person she's insisted he gets married to.

Laylah marched into the restroom and heaved a loud sigh of relief, her hands rested on the sink cabinet. She was in the middle of her thought when she heard that voice, the voice from minutes ago.

"Let's get this done tonight, I want them out of my life. I'm tired of waiting, I have waited enough." She heard, and her eyes widened in shock while pondering about what she was talking about.

"Listen, it's today or never. I can't keep waiting. I will do it myself if you can't help me." She added and screamed in anger.

Laylah heard footsteps and moved next to a door until she marched out of the room. When she no longer heard footsteps, she came out, washed her hands, and followed her out. Just as expected, it was Hilda who made the call inside.

Laylah ignored her and walked back to the crowd, smiling as always. She looked for Liam where she had left him, but he wasn't there.

She decided to check for Rose. As she spun around, she spotted her walking out of the hall. Laylah followed behind to catch up with her. She got lost at first until she saw her entering a room and followed.

She marched into the room and saw Liam, his mother, some unfamiliar figures with a body on the floor.

A figure noticed her presence, and spoke up.

"Who are you?" He asked, and everyone's attention diverted to her direction.

"She's with me, there's nothing to worry about." Rose spoke up before Laylah could. Hilda marched into the room alongside the mayor, who had a perplexed expression.

"What happened? Why is he on the floor?"

"He complained of stomach ache and suddenly passed away." Liam responded, and that was when Laylah realized it was a corpse.

"He was fine until this evening, he assisted in decorating the hall for the banquet and suddenly complained of stomach ache, then passed away." Rose added.

Laylah didn't take her eyes off the corpse, she was staring intensely at him until her gaze caught a familiar tattoo on his wrist.

'That tattoo, why does he have it? Is he one of them? Why else would he have the same tattoo?' she thought. Laylah knew she had seen the tattoo somewhere, but she just couldn't recall where or how she had seen it. She looked back at the figure on the floor with knitted brows, trying to recall.

Just then, her dead sister came to her mind, she had the same tattoo on her wrist before she died.

"Let's cover it, we can't allow this to get out to avoid causing an uproar." The mayor's words snapped Laylah back to reality.

"We will make sure we take care of the body, you can leave everything to us." The figure in the room said for the first time since the mayor entered.

"But how are we sure this won't get out when we have an outsider here in the midst of us?" Hilda spoke up, and cast Laylah a furtive stare.

"Hilda, she's not an outsider, she's family. Do not display your attitude, it's too early for that." The Mayor warned, and just walked out of the room. She's always like that when she doesn't like you.

Rose gave her a warning stare, then held Layla hands, and walked out of the room with her.