“It’s not my fault,” Samson said quickly. “There was a company issue. Restructuring.”
Gabriella stood pacing like a lioness. “So what are we going to do now? Rent in this place is not small. My hair alone is not small!”
Samson rubbed his face. “I will get another job. I’m a top engineer.”
Gabriella scoffed. “Top engineer that got sent home like a boy.”
Samson looked at her. “Please, not today.”
Gabriella leaned closer. “You know what? I have been warning you. Since your mother started coming around, everything has been going bad.”
Samson frowned. “My mother? How is that possible?”
Gabriella’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t know that old woman carries village problem. Since she came last month, you lost a contract. Then your office started issues. Now you’ve lost your job. Coincidence?”
Samson shook his head. “Don’t say that.”
But Gabriella didn’t stop.
Day by day, she poisoned his mind softly—like a slow drip.
“Your mother is a burden. She wants to control you. She thinks you owe her. If you don’t handle her, she will ruin this marriage.”
Samson began to believe it.
Not fully.
But enough.
And that’s how Madam Janet became the enemy in her own son’s house.
On the morning of the kick, Madam Janet came to Lagos because she had heard rumors.
A neighbor from the village had come back from Lagos and said, “Mama Janet, your son is not looking fine. Oh, people say he lost job.”
Madam Janet couldn’t sleep after that. So she borrowed small transport money, tied her wrapper, held her old bag, and entered a bus to Lagos.
She arrived at their modern bungalow area somewhere around the edge of Lekki, where the roads were neat and the houses had tall gates.
When she got there, she didn’t knock like a stranger.
