The next morning, reporters crowded the mansion gates.
News travels fast in Lagos.
Billionaire’s mother arrested.
Attempted murder scandal.
Cameras flashed. Security kept them back.
Inside the courthouse, Madame Hannah walked between officers. She still held herself elegantly, but her eyes looked smaller now. Cornered.
Jerry and Mirabel entered together.
Whispers followed them.
Some sympathetic.
Some curious.
Some cruel.
Madame Hannah turned when she saw them.
For a brief moment, her expression softened.
“My son…”
Jerry did not move.
The judge entered.
The case began.
The recordings echoed through the courtroom, each word heavier than the last. Madam Hannah’s shoulders slowly sagged. Her defense weakened. Hours later, the judge spoke.
“Madame Hannah Okafor, you are hereby sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment for attempted murder and conspiracy.”
Gasps rippled through the room.
Madame Hannah’s composure finally broke. Tears streamed down her face as officers led her toward the prison van.
She turned desperately toward Jerry.
“I only wanted to protect you!”
Jerry stood still.
He could not answer.
The van door closed.
It drove away.
Jerry watched until it disappeared.
Then he turned to Mirabel.
She slipped her hand into his.
Somehow, life was still moving forward.
But inside Jerry’s heart, another question had begun to grow.
If his mother could hide darkness for so long, what other secrets had been living quietly inside his family?
Was this truly the end?
Or only the beginning?
The prison van disappeared at the end of the road. Jerry kept standing there long after everyone else had left. Long after the journalists had packed up. Long after the noise had faded.
Justice had been served.
But peace had not arrived.
Mirabel touched his arm gently.