Page 33 of Possessing the Prince

At the same time, I cannot underestimate the local villagers. Many of the locals believe in the sanctity of the fetish priest and his disgusting practice of holding women to atone for community sins. That's what they have been taught for generations to believe. They would kill for those beliefs. I do not want to have to prove to some young man with a family that I will kill him and all that belong to him for Abena Owusu. It is not lost to me that any man or woman from the surrounding village could be a relative. I know nothing of my mother’s side or Ewe heritage. That’s why I did not come immediately as my heart wanted to. I could have extracted Abena with just Adom. But the body count would have been high due to the explosives I would inevitably have to use. At least that’s what Kofi eventually got me to understand. He wanted Abena safe and he wanted Ashanti-Ewe relations left intact.

I hate that Abena had to wait this long, but my intelligence told me it would be at least seventy-two hours before she was in any real danger. I hope for the priest’s sake that is true. I’ve killed his guards with no discretion. My order to the team is to kill on sight anyone standing beside the priest when we reach his shrine, but to leave him be. I will not be responsible for killing a presumed holy man unless it is absolutely necessary. That would start a tribal war the likes of which the Ashanti and Ewe haven’t seen since the 18th century. But if he has laid one hand on my wife, all bets are off.

Once we blast through the concrete doors, my men start rounding up any female slaves they see to send them to our recovery and care team waiting outside the shrine. In all, this entire operation to extract Abena and set these women free took a small battalion of 150 soldiers, three psychologists, and Dr. Maya Annan.

Maya insisted on helping with the rehabilitation of the women. Adom could not stop her, so of course he is here, too. Kofi realized he could not risk a tribal war, so he stayed behind and supplied resources. If he were here, his status alone would raise the profile of the operation. Plus his wife Ella said no. I know that was the reason that held the most weight.

When I finally lay eyes on Abena, she moves toward me, but some man reaches out and grabs her. The large man yanks her arm and I raise my AR-15 rifle. But before I can shoot, Adom shoots the man in both kneecaps. He’s a good shot.

I glare at Adom just as he lowers his rifle. “Adom, he had Abena in his hands. What if you missed and a stray bullet hit her?”

Adom shrugs. “I never miss.”

Asshole.

Abena breaks free as the fool falls to the ground screaming in agony. He had a gun, but hesitated, and now he is on the ground screaming like a jackass with no knees. I live by the creed that if you have a gun, you better cock it. He would never have gotten a clean shot, but the point remains. No matter: He will die soon, although I do rather like his screams of agony. The way Abena is grinning as she walks toward me, I can tell she likes them, too. I look her over and she looks a little beat up. Her eye is black, and her jaw is slightly swollen. Other than that, she is as beautiful as always, even in the white rag they have her wearing. When I see her injuries, I immediately think of who put them there.

When I look down at the fool bleeding out from his knees, I literally shake with rage. He better not have touched her, or I swear I will send him to the medic just so I can kill him slowly, again and again. When Abena reaches me, she snatches away any future fun we might have had with the maggot. She simply orders, “Kill him.”

That’s all I need to hear. I place a bullet right between his crying eyes.Bitch.Only after I kill him do I ask her why. She wraps her arms around me and answers quickly. “He kidnapped me and hurt me.”

The heat of anger rises in my throat. “Why didn’t you let me torture him for touching you?”

She shakes her head. “Because vengeance is beneath you, Prince. But justice…” She caresses my face with her hand and whispers in my ear. “…that becomes you. Justice was done.” Her eyes go wide and I see a panic there. I grab her wrists.

“What is it, M’akomam’ t?fe?”

“There’s a young girl named Yayi. She was friendly to me. We must free her and the other girls. We have to help them, Senya.”

I kiss her face and smile. “No worries, love: Every woman and girl has been liberated. We did that first. Well, my second unit did. If she was on this property, she is safe and with our care and recovery team.”

She looks up at me with tears in her eyes. “You brought a care and recovery team?”

“Yes, led by Maya. I will tell you about it later. First, I must deal with this priest.”

I kiss her forehead and place her behind me. I take stock of the room and see that no one is left but the priest, Adom, my head assassin Zayd, and myself. Every guard has been neutralized. That didn’t take long at all. When I approach the priest, he does not flinch even while Adom’s gun is trained on him. I appreciate a man with no fear. But I hate any man that exploits the vulnerable. He speaks first.

“You must be the husband Abena spoke of.” He talks like we are two acquaintances meeting for the first time, not like two men on opposite sides of a potential holy war.

“Yes, I am. My name is Prince Senya T’ogbe.”

He nods. “I know who you are, T’ogbe. You are the Ashanti king’s brother and newly crowned prince of the Ashanti. But that is not all of who you are, is it? It seems you have turned your back on your people.” He pauses to gesture his arms around at the carnage. “Killing your Ewe brothers. Men who may share some of the same blood running through your veins. Or have you forgotten now that you are draped with Ashanti gold?”

He wants a reaction, but I will not give him the satisfaction. I’ve spent the greater part of my life dealing with my mixed heritage and being brought up in uncomfortable situations. Now that Abena is safely with me, I have no need to regard anything this man says with anything but open disdain before dismissal.

“No man here is my brother, no matter his lineage. I am Ewe, not a sexual predator. The two are not and never have been one in the same. I do not share ties with men that kidnap, exploit, and enslave women. You, priest, are giving our blood a bad name. I think your ways are antiquated and criminal. I’m leaving you alone and taking every woman to freedom and hopefully a reconciliation with their family.”

The priest laughs and takes a seat on his makeshift throne. “You think the women you have taken have any family beyond this shrine? You are mistaken. Many of these girls were given to me willingly by their families. Even the ones that were not, now they have my mark. No family will accept them back into the fold for fear of retribution from the Gods. The women will be back within the week, and their priest will be here waiting for them. No one escapes their destiny. And those that do, meet an evil fate…just as your mother Afefa did.”

The sound of my mother’s name coming from the degenerate’s mouth snaps my control and I am two seconds from beating him to a pulp. I want to grab him by his throat and watch life slowly drain from him. But I feel Abena's soft hands rub my back and I take deep breaths. Once I am thinking straight again, I realize I actually want to hear what this jackal has to say. What does he know about my mother? The meanings of Chief Owusu’s words when I confronted him about his treatment of Abena flood back:Your mother was well acquainted with the fetish priests.

I slowly walk to the priest hand in hand with Abena. Adom and Zayd flank us as we move. Adom is facing away from me, covering my back, while Zayd is my set of second eyes on the priest. I put nothing past him or what is hiding in these temple walls. When I reach him, I take an action that I know will loosen his lips. I keep my rifle, but I sit before him and Abena joins me. His seat is little more than a very low stool. With my height, we are eye level.

“Tell me about my mother,” I order. He smirks but nods.

“I will, but first I want to ensure I will leave here alive and that any further business I make on behalf of the Gods’ will not be interrupted.”

“Hell No!” Abena shrieks. “We’re not going to turn our back on your sex trafficking ring! You’re going down.”

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