TWENTY SIX: Domino effect

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Ever since she was young, Sofia had always dreamed of marrying rich. As the years went by, however, that dream seemed to slip further from her grasp — until she met Travis. Meeting him was a dream come true. The tall, well-built mixed-race man stole her heart at hello. Not only did he love her, he spoiled her rotten.

Her dream of walking down the aisle in a Cinderella ball gown with a ten-metre train; a show-stopping ten-tiered, seven-foot gold wedding cake bedazzled with diamonds and elaborate floral displays – all witnessed by A-list celebrities and personalities – was finally within reach.

When she suggested a destination wedding and he readily agreed, she fell even more in love with him. Or perhaps it was his money. Who knows. The best part was that he would shoulder every bill – not that she had expected anything less.

To Sofia, a destination wedding was a declaration of status and wealth.

When she heard that renowned designers would be showcasing their finest works at the World Wedding Expo in Dubai, she booked her flight to the UAE without hesitation.

Travis insisted she travel with Betty, as he was too tied up with work to accompany her. Sofia didn’t mind – he had more than compensated for his absence by crediting her accounts with enough money to live like a queen.

The two spent their weeks in the UAE shopping to their hearts’ content, wining and dining at the finest restaurants, and sleeping in the most luxurious hotels money could buy.

After the expo, they travelled to Abu Dhabi for a week. Their next destination was Phuket, Thailand, where they planned to scout potential islands for Sofia’s dream destination wedding and honeymoon.

The wedding date had yet to be set – Travis had wanted to wait until after Yolanda gave birth and the new parents had already tied the knot – but Sofia wanted everything ready in advance.

The weeks she spent in the UAE were the best days of her life.

Living the life she had always dreamed of, the last thing she expected was to be arrested at the airport on charges of drug possession. Ignorant of the strict narcotics laws in that country, the arrogant young woman met her interrogators with a haughty, dismissive attitude.

She only understood the gravity of their situation when the cuffs went on.

Unaware of what was unfolding back home, she waited eagerly to hear from Travis, certain he would come to her rescue. Her calls to his lines went unanswered. His office kept putting her on hold. It was only days later – after finally reaching her mother – that she learned everything that had been happening at home.

By then, her accounts had been blocked. Soon after, not even her calls to Travis’ office went through.

When her desperate parents went to his offices, they found the building vacant. His company’s website no longer existed. The diamond mining company he had boasted of was non-existent. It was as though he had never existed at all.

It was at this time that Sofia discovered she was carrying Travis’ child.

Unable to afford an experienced criminal defence attorney, they relied on court-appointed counsel. They pleaded not guilty. After several months of non-stop court sessions, both women were found guilty. Each was sentenced to over twenty years and levied with fines exceeding seventy thousand UAE dirhams. Upon completing their sentences, they would be deported back to Zambia.

When the verdict was read, Sofia collapsed to her knees, sobbing like a child. Betty received the news in silence, her face unreadable.

Back home, upon hearing the verdict, Sofia’s mother – Mrs. Grace Bweupe – collapsed from shock. She was later diagnosed with a partial stroke.

Betty’s parents, simple farmers and respected elders in their rural church community, could no longer hold their heads high as they once had. Neighbours, friends, and family alike taunted them for the shame that had befallen the daughter they had been so proud of.

Collins Bweupe was charged alongside Davies for the death of Joseph Chomba Senior and the attempted murder of Luthanda. Together they received a combined sentence of seventy years, with the possibility of parole.

The dominoes had begun to fall – and they would not stop.

The news was too much for Grace. Already dependent on a dialysis machine and partially paralysed from her stroke, she collapsed upon hearing her husband’s sentence – coming so soon after her daughter’s incarceration.

It was the last time she would walk among the living.

Fiona and Travis made certain that both Davies and Collins knew exactly who was behind their incarceration – and the ruin that had become their lives.

When Collins realised Travis’ true identity, and understood that his own greed had condemned his daughter to decades behind bars, he was inconsolable. That very night, he took his own life. He was found hanging from the burglar bars of the tiny bathroom window, his prison garb fashioned into a noose.

The news of her father’s suicide, arriving days after her mother’s death, sent the pregnant Sofia into early labour. She gave birth to a premature baby girl. With no means of reaching Travis and no resources of her own, she negotiated with her late father’s relatives — offering the few properties her parents had left behind in exchange for taking the child in.

And so, at six months old, Venus was placed in the care of Ingrid and Christopher Bwembya – Collins Bweupe’s maternal cousins.

How Venus’ life would unfold in their hands is a story for another day.

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Meanwhile, Travis made sure Davies’ life behind bars was a living hell. For every tear his sister had ever shed, he made the man pay tenfold. A few months into his sentence, the once pompous and lively con man was a shadow of his former self.

A couple of years later, he lost his life in a ‘prison riot.’

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© Ponda