Ruth:From Farm To Queen

Chapter 4: The Gold Necklace Trap

Ruth was still sitting in David's study, her hands shaking from Vanessa's threat, when Mrs. Itohan rushed in without knocking, her face full of panic.

"Ruth! Ruth! Come quick! Your mother is at the gate! She is shouting that you stole her money! She came with two boys!"

Ruth's blood ran cold. Mama Nosa.

David frowned. "Your mother? I thought you said..."

"She is my stepmother sir. She... she is the one that..." Ruth could not complete the sentence.

David stood up. "Let's go."

At the main gate, the scene was a disgrace. Mama Nosa was in her old wrapper, her hair scattered, shouting at the top of her voice, gathering crowd from Etete Road.

"RUTH! RUTH! Come out there! You thief! You don steal my 5k and run comot house! You think say you go fit run go follow big man? I go kill you today! Bring my pikin come out!"

The two village boys with her were banging the gate.

The gateman was confused, pointing his gun in the air.

Ruth came out, tears already falling. "Mama, I did not steal anything! That money was dash! Oga dash me!"

"Which Oga dash you 5k? You be ashawo! You don dey sleep with men for market!" Mama Nosa shouted, and then she saw David standing behind Ruth in his expensive polo. Her tone changed instantly like a chameleon.

"Oga! Oga! Good afternoon sir! Oga thank you sir! Na my pikin be this! I don suffer for am since her papa die! I dey try train am, but she stubborn! She run comot house today without telling me! I come to carry her go back!"

David looked at the woman and then at Ruth's face. Ruth was shaking like a leaf. He knew instantly who was lying. He had investigated Ruth's background that morning. His security team told him everything - how Mama Nosa used Ruth as a house girl.

"Madam, this girl is now under my employment. She is 22, she is an adult. She can decide where she wants to stay. And that 5k you are shouting about, I gave it to her. It was not stolen," David said calmly but firmly.

Mama Nosa was not ready to give up. She knelt down dramatically on the floor, wailing.

"Oga no! Don't say that! If you take her, who will help me for farm? I get diabetes! I get hypertension! This pikin na my only hope! Oga, if you want her, you must pay me! You must pay me her bride price! 500,000 naira!"

Ruth was shocked. Bride price? She was being sold?

Mrs. Itohan whispered to David, "Oga, this woman is not well. She wants to sell the girl."

David's face became hard. "Madam, stand up. I will not pay any bride price. I am not marrying her. I am employing her. She will work and she will send you money from her salary if she wants to. But she will not go back to being your slave. Now leave this compound before I call the police."

Mama Nosa saw that her plan was failing. She stood up, her eyes full of wickedness. She pointed at Ruth.

"Ruth, you go hear am! You go suffer for this house! I don curse you! You go work there, you go die for there!"

She left with the two boys, cursing all the way down Etete Road.

Ruth collapsed on the floor, crying heavily. All the trauma of three years came out.

David bent down and helped her up. In front of all the security and staff, he held her gently.

"You are safe now. No one will hurt you again. I promise."

From an upstairs window, Vanessa was watching everything. She was on the phone with someone.

"She has a stepmother that is greedy? Perfect. I have a plan. I lost my gold necklace worth 800,000 naira. I will put it inside that village girl's bag. Then we will call police. Let's see if Oga David will still want a thief as his personal assistant."

That night, Ruth finally slept on a real bed for the first time in three years. She did not know that under her pillow, Vanessa had already sneaked into the boys quarters while she was at the gate, and dropped a shining gold necklace with diamond inside her old faded bag.

At 2am, a loud alarm blew inside the mansion.

"THIEF! THIEF! MY GOLD NECKLACE IS MISSING! SEARCH EVERYBODY'S ROOM!"

Vanessa's voice woke up the whole mansion.

David, in his pajamas, rushed out. "What is happening?"

"My gold necklace! My 800k necklace that my father bought me from Dubai! It is missing from my dressing table! Someone in this house stole it! I am sure it is that village girl! She has never seen such thing before! Search her room!"

Two security men went straight to Ruth's room.

Ruth was woken from sleep, confused, wearing her old night wear.

"What... what is happening?"

They opened her faded bag. And there, shining inside, was the gold necklace.

Everyone gasped.

Ruth's eyes widened. "I... I have never seen this before! I did not..."

Vanessa screamed with fake tears. "Thief! I told you! I told you she is a thief! Oga David, you see? This is the girl you want to make your assistant? A common thief!"

David looked at the necklace in the bag, then at Ruth's face. Ruth was crying, shaking her head.

"I did not steal it ma! I swear with my late mother!"

David picked the necklace. He looked at it carefully. Then he looked at Vanessa. Something in his heart told him this was a setup. He knew Vanessa too well.

"Everyone out," he said quietly.

"Oga but..."

"I said everyone out! Including you Vanessa!"

When everyone left, David looked at Ruth who was on the floor crying.

"Ruth, look at me. Did you take it? Tell me the truth and I will still protect you."

Ruth looked up with tears. "Sir, God in heaven knows, I have never seen that necklace before in my life. I would rather die than steal."

David believed her. He knew that look. It was the same look his late mother had when she was accused wrongly.

He helped her up.

"Okay. I believe you. Don't worry. Tomorrow morning, we will watch the CCTV. This house has cameras everywhere, even in the corridors. If someone entered your room, we will see it."

Ruth did not know about CCTV. But Vanessa, who was listening from outside the door, heard it and her blood ran cold. She had forgotten about the cameras in the boys quarters corridor.

Her trap was about to catch herself.