CHAPTER THIRTY- FOUR “CONVINCED”

©Opeyemi Akintunde
Inspired by the Greatest Storyteller

Teju’s POV

She did not speak immediately.

Beauty lifted her eyes to mine.

What I saw there was not seduction.

Not arrogance….Not even guilt.

It was something far more disturbing.

Resignation.

“I need you to listen,” she said quietly.

Something in her tone made my chest tighten.

Not a request.

Not manipulation.

A warning.

“I was a witch.”

The words landed like a physical blow.

For a second, I genuinely thought I had misheard.

But she continued.

“And my coming to the hotel… was intentional.”

My heartbeat slowed… then sped up again.

My mind rejected the sentence, tried to reframe it as exaggeration, metaphor, emotional language.

But her face did not allow for interpretation.

She wasn’t dramatizing.

She was confessing.

“I checked you through the ball,” she said, her voice steady but low, “and I knew where you both would lodge.”

A chill ran down my spine.

Not fear exactly.

Recognition.

Like something deep inside me had always known this story was bigger than coincidence.

“I also engaged my senior wizard friend… Daniel… to engage Imade.”

The name detonated inside me.

Daniel.

So it was not random.

Not romantic.

Not fate.

Engineered.

I felt suddenly lightheaded, as if oxygen had thinned.

“What are you saying?” I managed.

She swallowed hard.

“The kingdom of darkness knew.”

Those four words carried a weight that made my stomach knot.

“Knew what?” I asked, though part of me already dreaded the answer.

“That if you and Imade came together… truly came together… and birthed children…”

She paused, as if the words themselves were heavy.

“…those children would be giants on earth.”

The night seemed to go still.

No breeze.

No insects.

Nothing.

“You are both spiritual giants,” she continued softly, “but you have not been aware of it.”

My mouth went dry.

I remembered my mother-in-law’s endless prayers… the vigils… the fasting… the oil… the scriptures she would send without explanation.

At the time, it had felt excessive.

Now…

“Your mother-in-law’s prayers have been preserving you both,” Beauty said.

My heart pounded harder.

“But I marked you.”

Marked.

The word felt ancient.

Violent.

Permanent.

“Unity,” she continued, her voice trembling slightly now, “is the greatest weapon against the invasion of darkness into homes.”

Her eyes filled with tears.

“If homes are divided… the devil penetrates… and ensures God’s will is not fulfilled.”

My knees felt weak.

All at once, the last two years rearranged themselves inside my head.

Imade’s sudden hostility.

Her obsession.

Her emotional instability.

The way logic never reached her.

The way peace evaporated whenever we tried to talk.

The way our marriage felt sabotaged from within… not just strained, but actively undermined.

“You destroyed us,” I said hoarsely.

She shook her head slowly.

“No,” she whispered.

I staggered back a step, running my hand over my face.

Daniel.

Imade.

The honeymoon.

The hotel room.

The relentless division.

The infertility of our marriage… not biological, but spiritual.

Nothing had been allowed to grow.

Nothing.

“Why are you telling me this now?” I asked finally.

Her composure cracked.

“Because I got saved.”

Saved.

Not delivered.

Not tired.

Saved.

“Jesus found me,” she said, her voice breaking fully now. “And He would not let me rest until I confessed.”

Tears spilled down her face.

“I tried to ignore it… tried to pretend it didn’t matter… but the more I prayed, the more your faces kept appearing.”

My chest tightened painfully.

“Especially yours,” she added.

The bell rang again from the main hall… louder now… insistent.

“God showed me what your life has become,” she said through tears.

“And He said… ‘Go and repair what you helped destroy.’”

Repair.

Two years of damage.

Two years of pain.

Two years of loneliness.

Two years of watching the woman I married drift further and further away into someone I could not reach.

“Is it reversible?” I asked quietly, afraid of the answer.

She nodded slowly.

“Yes.”

Hope flickered… fragile, dangerous.

“But not by me.”

The flicker dimmed.

“It will take prayer,” she said. “Repentance. Deliverance. Unity. Forgiveness. Truth.”

Each word sounded like a step on a steep mountain.

“And Imade?” I asked.

Her expression shifted… sorrowful… uncertain.

“She will resist,” Beauty said softly.

“Because what holds her does not want to let go.”

My heart clenched.

“What do I do?” I whispered.

For the first time since this conversation began, her gaze softened.

“Fight for her.”

The words stunned me.

Not run.

Not abandon.

Fight.

“Not as a husband trying to win an argument,” she continued.

“As a man of God reclaiming territory.”

My throat tightened.

“And if I’m too tired?” I asked honestly.

She wiped her tears.

“Then let God fight through you.”

Silence fell between us again… heavy but not empty this time.

Somewhere in the distance, worship intensified… voices rising, drums building, a chorus repeating over and over like a battle cry.

For the first time in two years…

I felt something I had almost forgotten existed.

Not relief.

Not happiness.

War….And hope.

To be continued…

Do you Want to level up your writing skills? Join my 6-Week Online Writing Course and learn the secrets to structured storytelling and high-impact writing 👉🏾 https://selar.com/christiancreatives

www.deepthoughtsintl.org
 Facebook: @Opeyemi Akintunde
 Instagram: @OpeyemiAkintunde
 YouTube: @DeepThoughtsTV
 DEEP THOUGHTS NOVELS
Inspired by the TRUTH REVEALER
Written by Opeyemi Akintunde
 +234-8151103646