Page 262 of Invisible Bars
“But yeah, when Giselle reached out, saying you wanted to see us… well, they… we all saw it as fate."
I turned to face her directly, my curiosity piqued.
"How long before that dinner did you all know about it?" I inquired, eager to uncover more.
"Well," she began, her eyes drifting as she recalled the events, "your mother-in-law got in touch with us about a week and a half ago. She said you were finally open to meeting us. She took care of everything—flights, accommodations, the works. We flew out of Nigeria on a private jet. When we landed, she had a nice car waiting for us and booked us into a luxurious hotel. It was my first time ever leaving the country.”
I sat back, processing everything.
"How long will y’all be here?”
"Just four more days," she answered, her tone somber as she absently picked at a thread hanging from her sleeve. “I don’t know how we’re going to make it too much longer… financial wise. We barely have money these days for anything.”
Her words hit me harder than I expected.
Maybe it was because I was—technically—a billionaire now. Maybe it was because not too long ago, I was that same girl hiding her pain behind forced smiles and praying for a way out. Hearing my sister speak that kind of struggle aloud made my chest tighten. She didn’t say it for pity. She said it like it was just a fact.
I looked down at my hands and didn’t speak on it—not yet. Because sometimes, guilt wears silence best—referring to my parents. And I didn’t want to offer money before offering understanding.
“But I don’t want to go back,” Chiamaka revealed, which took me by surprise. “Nigeria is... boring. At least it is to me now after being there for eighteen years. I’m ready for something new… more exciting,” she further explained.
I let out a light scoff, raising an eyebrow.
“You say that now, but w-wait until excitement shows up in a blacked-out SUV with tinted windows and no warning label or return policy and a delayed explanation.”
I rolled my eyes with a crooked smile, thinking back to the night I was taken from the peace I called home—and never returned.
"Dramatic much?" she teased, chuckling softly.
I released a dry laugh. "T-that wasn’t drama; it was my GPS completely rerouting my life without warning."
Her playful smile vanished slightly. "Surely that’s not how you ended up meeting your husband?"
I tilted my head, my fingers lightly tapping against my thigh as I pondered my response.
"Let’s just say… he didn’t just slide into my DMs; he dropped me right into a whirlwind of c-chaos."
Chiamaka squinted at me, intrigued. "What does that even mean?"
I shrugged, a sly smirk creeping onto my face. "Exactly."
Chiamaka leaned in, voice hushed. “Naji… was it… safe?”
I gave her a look, an expression of bemusement on my face, that saiddefine safe,then shrugged. “It is now.”
She sat back. “That sounds like a whole Netflix series waiting to happen.”
I chuckled softly, shaking my head. “Trust me, y-you don’t even know the half of it—the trailer alone would leave you on the edge of your seat.”
I told a jagged little piece of truth—wrapped it in riddles and sarcasm—just enough to satisfy her curiosity without actually giving her the ‘real’. It was more than I usually shared. And maybe that was enough—for now.
“So, is there someone special in your life?”
My voice wobbled around a tic, but the words were clear enough.
Chiamaka's eyes sparkled with mischief before she erupted into a fit of laughter, then immediately blushed.
“There’s this boy.”
