Keywords: Once Upon A Forever, Prologue, Free Web Novel, Nigerian Story, Reincarnation, Doomed Love, Fated Love, Mark, Slice of Life.
Mark
Mark’s face twisted, a vein pulsing in his temple as he stared at the door. The last threads of his composure finally snapped.
Ayo, one of the six guards stationed in the office, stepped forward.
“Sir… what’s the plan?”
Mark turned on him. “Plan?”
“Mr. David still won’t hurt you. There are other ways—”
Mark glared, then burst into a sharp, manic laugh.
Ayo flinched, swallowing the final scrap of hope he had offered.
“He was never supposed to drive that car so soon,” Mark muttered, sinking back into his chair. “Damn it.”
He dragged a hand over his face. “Why is that bastard so untouchable?”
No one answered.
“I should have inherited everything,” Mark went on. “Since when does a father skip his own son and give everything to his grandson?”
He stood and began pacing. “What method haven’t I tried to get rid of him?”
Ayo stiffened by the window. “Sir… maybe—”
Mark turned, hope flickering.
The office door swung open.
Mark froze. For one sickening second, he thought David had come to finish him.
Instead, Queen walked in.
No guards. No entourage. Just her.
Her heels clicked against the marble, slicing through the tension. The air seemed to shrink around her.
Mark stared. “What the hell are you—”
The slap cut him off.
Ayo’s head snapped to the side. His cheek flushed red.
“How dare you not inform me that he tampered with my son’s car?” Queen said calmly, wiping her palm with a handkerchief.
“I was going to tell you, ma,” Ayo said shakily. “I didn’t think he’d drive it so soon.”
“You will return to my side after this.”
“Witch!” Mark shouted. “Are you deaf?”
Queen looked at him. Said nothing. The silence crushed.
“David promised your father not to kill you,” she said at last. “I didn’t.”
Mark snarled. “Who do you think you are? You outsider—”
*Slap.*
His eyes widened.
“You slapped me.”
Queen did not answer.
Mark raised his hand to strike her back.
Ayo lunged, grabbing his wrist.
“Ayo?” Mark stared.
Ayo shoved his hand away and stepped in front of Queen.
“Traitor,” Mark hissed.
Queen smiled.
“Kill them!” Mark roared. “All of you!”
The other five guards rushed forward.
“You bitch! Even if you die here, David will thank me!” Mark continued. “Kill her!”
But they did not run toward Queen.
They went for Mark.
They seized him, slammed him down, fists and boots crashing into his body.
“Beat him until he is clinging between life and death,” she said, voice flat.
Mark barely had time to understand before pain erased everything else.
Hands pinned him. Someone punched him in the gut. Blood sprayed from his mouth.
“Stop,” Queen said.
Two guards hauled him upright.
“What is this?” Mark gasped. “How—why—”
“Too loud.”
A fist crushed into his ribs.
“This is only one of my hands,” Queen said. “Since the first time you tried to kill my son, I’ve been replacing your people.”
Mark looked around at the men who were supposed to protect him.
Despair finally reached him.
“Chuwudi… even you?”
Chuwudi did not answer. There was nothing left to say.
“He still has a mouth,” Queen said.
They descended on him again.
Pain. Bone. Breath tearing out of him.
Queen crouched in front of him and grabbed his face, forcing his eyes to meet hers.
“Outsider,” she said softly. “Let me tell you something, Mark. After you made your brother infertile, I got pregnant with your father’s child. David is your father’s son.”
“You monster,” Mark spat through blood. “I’ll kill you—”
She shoved his head aside.
“You were never anything but a pawn.”
Mark stared at her, seeing her for the first time.
“God will punish you.”
“A god who let you live this long has no authority over me.”
Mark tried to talk.
“He can still talk,” Queen observed.
The guards descended on him again.
“Beat him until he is clinging between life and death,” she’d said, like she was asking for tea.
Finally, Mark’s world collapsed into sound and flashes of agony. He tried to curse, to command, to promise vengeance, but his words drowned under the weight of their fists.
Now he lay broken.
“Let him be,” Queen said.
The guards stepped back.
“We could have lived like a family,” Queen said. “After all, I’m technically your stepmother. But you just had to touch my bottom line. You keep provoking me.”
Mark said nothing.
“I never expected that David would actually keep his promise to that old man. Since he is unwilling to kill you, I should warn you that I am willing.”
“You… you better kill me—I’ll never let your son go.”
Queen seemed taken aback. She froze, as if remembering a traumatic memory.
Then she snapped out of it, shaking her head as if forbidding a scary and troublesome thought.
“The last person who said that to me still screams in my dreams.”
She laughed, and kept laughing, like a maniac, as she turned and walked out.
The guards followed, and just like that, the assault had come to an end.
Mark lay there, twitching, staring at the door.
“David… will pay for this.”
And even he wasn’t sure anymore if he believed it.