Just for you

Chapter thirteen

Joanna & Favour’s pov

The impact of her body against his felt like a collision that knocked the remaining breath from his lungs. Favour’s arms instinctively wrapped around Joanna, pulling her flush against his chest with a desperate, gripping strength. He buried his face into the crook of her neck, breathing in the faint, familiar scent of her hair mixed with the cold night air, and reached back to push the heavy hotel door shut, sealing them away from the wreckage outside.

Joanna was trembling violently, gripping his shirt as tears spilled hot and silent onto his collar. All the defiance she had weaponized against Jonathan evaporated, leaving behind nothing but raw, bleeding exhaustion.

"Joanna..." Favour whispered, gently cupping her face in his hands. His thumbs brushed away the fresh tears streaking down her pale cheeks, his heart breaking at the dark shadows under her eyes. "What happened? You're shaking."

"I burned it all down," she whispered, her voice fragile yet clear. "Jonathan... he tried to stop me. He told me if I walked out that door to see you, I shouldn't bother coming back."

Favour’s hands stilled. The blood drained from his face as the gravity of her words hit him. He knew what that house meant to her, remembered all too well how she had been shipped off to Nigeria at seventeen. For Jonathan to issue that ultimatum meant Joanna had sacrificed her home, her family, and her safety net.

"Joanna, why would you do that?" Favour breathed, horrified. "You have nowhere else to go."

"I have you," she replied instantly, her smaller hands wrapping over his wrists. "I didn't care, Favour. He asked me if I wanted to be sent away again, and I realized being away from you is the punishment. I wasn't going to let him make my choices anymore."

Leveled by the magnitude of what she had thrown away for him, Favour pulled her back into his chest, holding her tight. "I'm so sorry," he whispered fiercely into the quiet room. "I'm so sorry for all of it. But I've got you. I am never letting you go again."

Favour looked down at her, the reality of her standing there shattering the very last of his restraint. He leaned in, meeting her lips in a kiss that wasn't gentle—it was urgent, built on seven years of starvation and the terrifying weight of everything they had destroyed to finally be together. Joanna’s hands tangled into his hair, pulling him closer as they backed slowly toward the bed.

When they finally tumbled onto the mattress, the world outside ceased to exist. They moved together with a fierce, consuming passion, wrapped in the thick white duvet, losing themselves entirely in the undeniable gravity of a love that had survived years of distance.

Afterward, the tempest slowly gave way to a heavy, exhausted quiet. They lay side by side on their backs under the duvet, staring up at the shadowed ceiling as their breathing synchronized.

Joanna shifted under the covers, turning onto her side to face him. She reached out, sliding her palm gently against the side of his face, her eyes searching his tired profile in the low light.

"What happened?" Joanna asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "Why were you in this room, Favour? What happened tonight before I called?"

Favour didn't turn to face her. His gaze remained fixed on the ceiling, his jaw set in a hard, rigid line.

"I'm going to divorce Maya," he said, his voice flat, yet heavy with an absolute certainty.

Joanna’s hand froze against his cheek.

"I never loved her," Favour continued, the confession spilling out like something buried deep for far too long. "I never loved Maya to begin with. I did all of it... I tried to build a life with her just so I could force myself to forget you. But it was always you, Joanna. It was only ever you."

The room seemed to shrink around them. Joanna sat there, completely stunned, the sheer magnitude of his confession echoing off the walls. Without a word, she climbed gently on top of him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and burying her face against his chest. Favour’s breath hitched, his hands rising to embrace her tightly as they held each other in the dim light.

Maya’s pov

I sat curled up on the edge of the bedroom window sill, resting my forehead against the cold glass as I stared aimlessly out into the dark driveway. The room felt unnaturally vast and hollow without Favour in it. Every shadow seemed to replay the nightmare of earlier tonight.

His voice kept echoing in my mind, a jagged blade tearing through the silence. “I love Joanna!.Hurting he is killing me!” The raw, desperate scream haunted me—far worse than the betrayal itself. I closed my eyes, picturing the heavy thud of the first aid kit slipping from my hand and spilling across the cold floor, a pathetic attempt to care for a man whose heart was bleeding for another woman. Yet, despite the humiliation, despite the crushing ache in my chest, my own words refused to die: I’m not leaving you.

Sitting there in the dark, watching the time slip away, was slowly eating me alive. I couldn't just stay in this empty house and suffocate on my own thoughts.

My hands trembled as I reached for my phone on the nightstand and dialed his number. I pressed the receiver tight against my ear, holding my breath. One ring. Two rings. Then nothing—just the flat, automated recording telling me the call couldn't be completed. I tried again, but the line went dead instantly. He had turned his phone off.

A sharp wave of panic surged through my chest.

I sprang up from the window sill, moving on pure impulse and adrenaline. I hurriedly threw on a heavy sweater and dragged on a pair of jeans, ignoring my pale, hollow reflection in the glass as I grabbed my coat and car keys off the dresser.

If Favour wasn't answering, and if he was truly spiraling over his past with Joanna, there was only one place I knew to start looking for answers. I took the stairs two at a time, slammed the front door behind me, and drove straight into the night toward Jonathan’s house.

The drive was a blur of flashing streetlights and my white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. By the time I pulled into the familiar driveway, my headlights cutting through the pitch-black yard, my chest was heaving with a suffocating mix of panic and unbridled fury. I slammed my car door shut and marched straight up the paved walkway.

I didn't pause on the porch. I pressed my thumb firmly against the doorbell, holding it down in one long, harsh ring that echoed through the quiet house, before pounding three hard times against the heavy wooden door.

Moments later, the lock clicked, and the door swung open. Melody stood on the other side, her brow furrowed in confusion, clearly caught off guard by my late-night arrival.

"Maya?" Melody began, her eyes widening as she took in my disheveled state. "What's—"

I didn't let her finish. I didn't offer a greeting, a nod, or a single second of politeness. Barging straight past her into the warm foyer, I brought the cold night air inside with me, my eyes wildly scanning the quiet hallway like a predator searching for its target.

"Where is Joanna?" I demanded, my voice cutting through the house, sharp and laced with toxic venom.

Melody blinked, startled, instinctively taking a step back as she closed the front door behind us. "Maya, wait, calm down. What are you—"

"I said where is she?!" I snapped, my chest rising and falling rapidly as my hands shook uncontrollably in my coat pockets. I turned on Melody, my eyes dark with a desperate, razor-sharp rage. "Tell her to come down here right now. Call her out! Because clearly, there isn't an ounce of decency left between her and Favour anymore!"

The sharp sound of heavy footsteps echoed from the direction of the kitchen before I even saw him. Jonathan walked out into the hallway, a half-empty glass of water in his hand, looking completely unbothered by the storm I had brought into his foyer.

He didn't look surprised or alarmed. He just stood there, his tall frame blocking the hallway, eyes fixing on me with a cold, condescending detachment that made my blood run hot.

"Lower your voice, Maya," Jonathan said, his voice terrifyingly calm, cutting right through my trembling breath.

"I'm not lowering anything!" I screamed, my voice cracking under the unbearable pressure in my chest. "Where is she, Jonathan? Where is Joanna?!"

Jonathan took a slow, deliberate sip from his glass, utterly unfazed by my rage. He set it down on the console table beside him with a dull click, turning his full, stern gaze onto me.

"Joanna isn't here," he said plainly. Then, his eyes narrowed, and a cruel, sharp edge crept into his tone. "And frankly, Maya, instead of bursting into my house yelling for a girl who isn't even in this building, maybe you should be asking yourself why you couldn't hold your husband properly."

The words hit me like a physical slap, knocking the air straight out of my lungs. I stumbled back half a step, staring at him in absolute shock.

"What did you just say to me?" I whispered, my voice shaking uncontrollably.

"You heard me," Jonathan replied, crossing his arms over his broad chest. He didn't offer a shred of sympathy, his expression hardened into cold judgment. "A two-year marriage is on the verge of breaking up, collapsing into dust, just because of a visit that hasn't even lasted a month? You've had him for two years, Maya. And yet, the second Joanna steps foot back into this country, your entire household falls apart. Is that really on her, or is that on you?"

I stood there in the stifling silence of the foyer, my jaw clenched so hard my teeth ached as I fought with everything in me to keep the hot, humiliating tears from spilling over my cheeks. Jonathan’s words burned like acid against open wounds, tearing into the deepest insecurities I had spent months trying to bury.

"Maya, please..." Melody stepped between us, her voice soft and carefully measured as she placed a comforting hand in the air. "This isn't helping. All of this demands to be solved appropriately, not like this. Let me try reaching out to Favour and Joanna right now—"

"Solved appropriately?" I burst out, my voice cracking into a bitter, hysterical laugh as I whipped around to face her. "Are you really trying to solve anything, Melody, or are you just sitting here trying to play the nice guy?!"

Melody recoiled slightly, her lips parting in shock, but I couldn't stop the torrent of poison pouring out of my chest.

"Look at what is actually happening!" I screamed, gesturing wildly toward the dark windows behind them. "Favour and Joanna are somewhere out there together right now! A married man and a young woman, off together in the middle of the night! My husband is ignoring my calls, your sister has disappeared, and yet you and your family sit back in this house acting as if everything is fine? Is no one in this home bothered by the sheer, shameless indecency of what they are doing?!"

I turned slowly back to Jonathan. A single, cold tear finally escaped, tracking down my burning cheek, but the fire behind my eyes had gone completely icy. The shock was gone. The hurt had transformed into something sharp, cruel, and dangerous.

I raised my hand, pointing my trembling finger directly into his face, so close I could see the sudden flicker of annoyance in his eyes.

"You had better keep your loose sister out of my husband's sight," I spat out, every word soaked in pure venom, my voice dropping into a deadly, low whisper that carried across the quiet foyer. "You keep her away from Favour, Jonathan, or so help me God, I will do it for you."

I didn't give him a single second to respond. I didn't care about his cold glares, Melody's shocked gasps, or the bitter ruins of whatever dignity I had left. I turned sharply on my heel, marched straight out into the freezing night, and slammed their front door shut behind me so hard the entire frame shook.