She had saved money for years. She had bought land—3 plots behind the family compound. And she had written a will that put everything in her daughter’s name.
The house, the land, the savings—everything.
But Adai was 5 years old when her mother died.
She could not read a will. She could not hire a lawyer. And her father, Chief Okafor, was not the kind of man who honored a dead wife’s wishes when a living woman was whispering better plans into his ear.
Blessing arrived 6 months after the funeral.
She was tall, light-skinned, sharp-tongued, and she smiled only when other people were watching. She came with her own son, Toba, who was the same age as Adai.
Within 2 months, Chief Okafor married her.
Within 3 months, everything in the house changed.
Toba got the big bedroom. Adai was moved to a small storeroom at the back of the house.
Then the storeroom became too good for her.
Then the kitchen floor.
And then one evening, without warning, Blessing grabbed the girl by the arm, dragged her past every room in the house, pushed her through the back door, and shoved her into the dog kennel in the yard.
She closed the chain-link gate.
She clicked a padlock shut and said 5 words Adai would carry with her for the rest of her life.
“This is where you belong.”
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