Chapter 35

Nicole slumped on the soft sheets of her bed, her eyes facing the ceiling trying to shake of Leila's words ringing in her ear.

  She knew Raphael would never cheat on her so why was Leila giving her all those shitty talks about her husband.

Did Nicole love Raphael truly with every cell in her? Yes she did. Raphael always thought of himself as a man of darkness but she saw him as the light of her world.

She didn't want to let what Leila said get into her head.
"That was Raphael's past. He was loose with women but he loves me now" Nicole thought to herself.

She couldn't imagine a life without her dear husband by her side.
Fears of what would happen to Raphael in the long run in the course of trying to control his dangerous mafia sank into her cells and Nicole felt her heart beating erratic once more.

  Her eyes trailed to the huge closet door that stood out in their room.
She stood up from the bed and walked towards it.
Twisting the door knob softly, she pushed open the door and headed towards the one place that possessed the most important information of her husband mafia.

The secret safe.
It took time before she could figure out where it was hidden into the wall.
She finally found it and inputed the password, unlocking the safe and bringing out the flash drive.

  Her eyes scrutinised the little flash drive that held tons of information and secrets concerning her husband's job.
He did tell her that if it got into the wrong hands, there would be trouble.

An ominous feeling of dread suddenly gripped her, spreading through her body and taking over her senses with Raphael's words ringing in her mind.

"I don't know why but I just feel scared"

Nicole bit her bottom lip, her curious eyes observing the drive in betwen her fingers. Her thoughts ran wild as she thought of ways to make the contents in the drive more secure.

Anybody who had their hands on it could easily have access to its content without any hassle.

An idea suddenly clicked on to her.
Her eyes glittered and a smile worked its way to her lips.
"Raphael you will be so proud of me when I tell you what I'm about to do"

  Nicole held on to the flash drive and dashed out of the closet, a wide grin already plastered on her face.
She went towards their bedstand lamp and spotted her USB drive. She grabbed it and tucked it into her pocket before walking out of her bedroom.

She approached the library and spotted Leila in it, her eyes on what seemed like spiral binded documents .

Nicole cleared her throat and Leila looked up at her.
"The bitch is back"

"Nicole I never thought you would follow me here"Leila announced with a forced smile.

"I didn't follow you here"Nicole revealed, stepping inside the library.

"I just..."

"What the hell! What are you doing with that flash drive?"Leila shot at Nicole, interrupting her  the moment her gaze locked with the drive in Nicole's hand.

Nicole was startled by Leila's sudden aggressiveness but comported her features. "I want to help my husband that's why I'm with it"

Leila furrowed her brows, watching Nicole move towards the computer section of the library.
"Help him how? Do you even know how important this flash drive is?"Leila scornfully spat, disbelief raging within her at Nicole's response.

Nicole sat down in front of one of the computers and turned on the electronic device, Leila briskly coming towards her.
"I know how important this flash drive is Leila"

"So what do you want to do with it? You aren't even suppose to see it's contents"
Nicole gave no response but took out the flash drive in her pocket.

"What the hell are you doing!?"Leila yelled in fury, stopping Nicole from plugging in the two USB drives into the computer.

Nicole faced her. "I'm going to the copy the information in Raphael's drive and paste it in mine. I am then going to download a security code into the original flash drive, encrypt the code making it impossible for anybody to view it twice..."Nicole stopped herself from talking when she noticed the astounded look on Leila's face.

"And the original information stays in your flash drive. Thereby making it a backup flash drive in case of any emergency. That's incredible Nicole"Leila praised sounding delighted.

Nicole smiled. "Exactly. So if at any point the original flash drive gets into the wrong hands, they will only be able to view it once not twice. And we will have a backup flashdrive"

Leila stared dumbfounded at Nicole.
"I must admit you are pretty smart Nicole"

"Where did you learn this Nicole?"Leila asked as she watched Nicole copy the files in the window explorer.

"I worked in a tech company back in Nigeria. I studied all these back in university" Nicole responded.

What followed was absolute silence as Leila stared in awe of Nicole's technological skills being put to use.

"Finally it's done!"Nicole announced.
She stood up and unplugged the two USB drives from the computer.

Leila stared at her.
"Nicole you know if you loose the spare drive that's not coded, Raphael would be very angry"

"I do. It won't be misplaced don'tworry. I'll store it somewhere safe"
Nicole attempted to walk out but Leila called her back. "Why did you do this though? I know you want to protect your husband but why?"

"I just have this forbidden feeling. I just feel something isn't right especially with Raphael's constant disappearance"Nicole slowly replied.

Leila watched her go and her head tilted to the side.
"I have no idea what you are feeling Nicole but you are right to feel that way. Things will definitely turn extremely sour for you once I lay my hands on that spare flash drive"