My fiancé and my best friend took everything from me… but they didn’t know I would be back.

PART 2:

One day, I

 will tell you everything. But not today , not as long as I can’t protect you. I  had no choice. If Moussa ever found out  that a child from that night existed,  he would finish what he started. I had  to make her invisible to keep her alive . Ya Allah, who could abandon such a  beautiful angel? I am leaving for Dubai . A cousin of my late mother works in

 finance there. I am going to learn  everything. Business, law, strategy. I  will return one day under another name.  And that day, Bra Ibra, Moussafal will  regret thinking the sea was deep enough  to swallow the truth. The sea never  keeps anything, little one. It gave you  back.

 It will give everything back in  its own time. H H Hyasi did not exist  before that day on the cliff. Awadio,  she no longer existed. The latest  report confirms what we suspected. The

 F group has been struggling for two  years. Over-indebtedness, hidden  layoffs, a reputation starting to  crumble despite appearances. This is  the moment, Rokaya; if you want to act,  it’s now. I’ve been waiting 22 years  for this moment, dear. Prepare  everything, I’m heading back to Dakar.  What do you mean the bank wants to  re-evaluate our collateral? We’ve  always paid on time; find a solution.

 I  don’t want any bad press right now. Not  with the IPO coming in two months. Oh.  Still in such a hurry for this famous  internship at the FAL group. You have  to start somewhere, Auntie; one day  I’ll have my own office, you’ll see.  Auntie, I had an interview today with

 the financial department. They liked my  analysis of the group’s accounts. I  think I have a real chance of being  hired. H Your mother, whoever she was  and wherever she is, would be proud of  you, my child. I can feel it in my  bones. 22 years. Time erases nothing,  Moussa, it sharpens it.

 Dear, stop here . Awadialo died here. Rochayasi will  now bring justice for her. Ms. Sy? Mr.  Fal is waiting for you in the boardroom . Ms. Sy, Capital has made quite a  splash in Dubai these last few months.

 What brings an investor of your caliber  all the way to Dakar?  Senegal, Mr. Fal, is home for me in a  way, and I like to invest where I see  untapped potential.  The FAL Group is the most solid company  in the country.  That is precisely what I have come to  verify. Mr. Fal, here is the analysis  you requested on the quarterly  variances.

 It is very rigorous. Too rigorous,  perhaps, for what management wants to  hear. I prefer the truth of the numbers  to what management wants to hear. Sir?  He didn’t recognize you. 22 years, a  new name, a new life—that was enough.  He never goes looking for a ghost he  thinks he buried, dear. That is his  greatest weakness.

 And Binetta? Binetta is different. She  might still have a conscience somewhere . We’ll see what’s left of it. Still  dwelling on the past. It’s nothing,  Moussa.  Awadialo died 22 years ago. Binetta,  it’s time you finally accepted that. We  have built something great on these  foundations.

 Don’t ruin everything out  of sentimentality. And that is why I  recommend a full independent audit of  the foreign subsidiaries before any IPO . Little one, you’ve been an intern for  three months. Leave the strategic  decisions to those who know. On the  contrary, that is exactly the kind of  rigor lacking in this room. Miss  Nifatou, Ms. Defatou, keep it up.

 Rokaya, the dates match. The  neighborhood, the age—everything  matches. I think you found her. Say  nothing, dear, not yet. If Moussa  suspects for even a second who she  really is, she will be in danger. I  must first finish what I started. This  is where she lived. The house hasn’t  changed.

 I watched her grow up through  the reports I paid to receive every  year. Her report cards, her year-end  photos. I knew her life better than my  own breath, but I never had the right  to touch her. 22 years that this file  has been dormant, and no one ever found  the girl’s body. Reopen it discreetly.  You are formidable in business, Ms. Sy.

 It commands respect.  I learned from my failures, Mr. Fal.  They forge you much better than  successes do.  I would like to know more about your  background. Where exactly do you come  from? from a place I left behind a long  time ago, like you I suppose. That look , it’s impossible. For 22 years I’ve  carried this silence like a stone. Awa,

 if you’re out there somewhere, forgive  me. I didn’t have the courage to choose  what was right that day. Dafatou, that  analysis you did, keep a personal copy  in a safe place. Don’t leave it only in  the group’s system.  Why, Mr. Palais, is there a problem?  Let’s just say that some people here  prefer that certain numbers remain  invisible. Be careful.

 My daughter,  you’re back. I knew the mother would  bring you back one day, in one form or  another. I found her again, Baibra,  everything. She is brilliant. She is… she is everything I hoped she would  become.  And now, are you going to keep her in  the dark for much longer?  Until I can ensure she will never be in  danger because of the truth.

 A little  more patience. Bra. Mr. Fal, could you  explain the exact origin of the  founding shares of the Affol group? In  my research, I found no clear trace of  an initial buyout in due form.  The group was inherited from my  predecessor upon his passing under  perfectly legal conditions. Madame, why  this question?  Simple due diligence.

 One never signs  anything without knowing the whole  story. Mr. Falion…Commissioner, that  night, I saw Miss Awa go out onto the  terrace in the middle of an argument  with Mr. F and Miss Binetta. No one  ever asked for my testimony back then.  Why didn’t you say anything at the time ? I was convinced it wasn’t my business , Commissioner, with an envelope, if  you see what I mean.

 Madame S, forgive  my indiscretion, but your face terribly  reminds me of someone I knew a long  time ago. Faces often look alike,  Madame Falle. That is the nature of  regrets. They make us see ghosts  everywhere. I can no longer live with  this silence. Awa, if it is you, I must  know. And if it’s not you, I still must  tell the truth one day before it is too  late. You look very tired, my daughter.

 This work is consuming you.  I discovered things, Auntie. Things  that I don’t like in the group’s  accounts. I don’t know what to do with  them.  Be careful, N Fatou. The world of the  rich doesn’t like it when you look too  closely under the rug. I learned that  the little intern, Neatou, is digging  into accounts that aren’t her concern.

 Fire her before she causes real  problems. Moussa, she only did her job,  and she did it well. Firing her now  would draw attention, not the opposite.  So keep a close eye on her. I don’t  want any leaks before the IPO. We have  enough to take him down legally.  Inheritance fraud, perjury, and  potentially complicity in your father’s  death.

 A slow poisoning rather than a  simple heart attack, according to this  new retroactive toxicology report I had  prepared.  He killed my father. He tried to kill  me. He stole 22 years of my daughter’s  life from me. This isn’t about justice  anymore, dear, it’s a debt. Justice and  debt can be settled together if you are  patient a little longer.

 the fo almost  a confession. We need to identify who  sent this and reopen the case in the  open this time. In two weeks, you’ll  legally hold enough debt to force an  extraordinary board meeting. You can  demand his resignation or worse.  Two weeks. Perfect. That’s exactly  how much time I need to finish  everything.

 Someone is digging into my  business, Binetta. The banks, the  police, that intern who asks too many  questions. If I find out you have  anything to do with this.  And what if I did, Moussa? 22 years  I’ve carried what you forced me to do . 22 years of silence to protect a man  who never felt a shred of remorse. Be  careful, Binetta, you know what it  costs to betray me.

 And look for the  secrets to be found if we knew. Fatou,  my child, there is something I should  have told you a long time ago. Aunt,  what is this?  Your real mother left you at my door 22  years ago with this letter and this  jewelry. I never knew who she was, but  I believe, my child, that the danger  you feel today might be linked to the  past I hid from you out of love.

 Roaya,  Moussa had your daughter followed. He  doesn’t know who she is to you, but  he sees her as a threat because of her  accounting discoveries. We have to act  now, not in two weeks. Then we move the  plan up to tonight. Miss, get in  quickly! You’re in danger, I’m  taking you to a safe place on Ms. C’s  orders. Ms.

 S! Why would an investor  want to protect me?  I don’t know, miss, but get in,  please. Fatou, you are safe here. I  know you discovered irregularities in  the FAL group’s accounts. Those  irregularities are much more serious  and much older than you imagine. Who  are you really, Ms. S? Why has  everything you’ve been doing for  weeks seemed to revolve around me and  this company? Soon you’ll know  everything, I promise you.

 But tonight,  trust me. Don’t go home and don’t  return to the F Group until I give you  the sign. You sent someone after an  innocent child, Moussa, how low will  you go?  That innocent child threatens  everything we’ve built. Everything.  Binetta, do you want us to go back to  nothing? My god, that girl, the age she  is.

 Moussa, how old is Fatou exactly?  22 years of bought silence, it ends now . It is Ladies and gentlemen, as the  holder of the majority of this  group’s debt, I demand the immediate  suspension of Mr. Moussafal from his  duties pending the findings of an  independent judicial audit.  This is a setup. This woman has no  authority to  I have all the authority in the world,  Mr. Fal, much more than you realize.

 Moussafal, you are under arrest for  attempted murder, inheritance fraud,  and suspected poisoning of El  Diallo. It’s a lie. Awadi Dialo ran  away. She never came back. There is no  proof.  No proof, Moussa, look at me closely.  Look at me finally. Awa Awa, I am so  sorry, every day, every night for 22  years. You watched me fall, Binetta.

 You stayed silent for 22 years, while  my daughter grew up without me, while  my father was buried without the truth  being told. But it was you today who  sent the evidence to the commissioner.  I know. Cher confirmed it to me this  morning. That will never make up for  what I’ve done. No, but it’s a  start.

 Thunderclap in Dakar: the CEO of  the Falle Group, Moussafal, arrested  for attempted murder and fraud as a  mysterious investor is revealed to be  Awa Dialo. Missing for 22 years. It’s  over, Cher. It’s finally over. The  hardest part is still ahead of you.  Raya Awa, you must talk to your  daughter now. This woman, ma’am, if it  is her, right? Is she the one who left  me at your door? I cannot answer you

 with certainty, my child, but I believe  your heart already knows the answer. I  didn’t want to kill her. Well, I Things  got out of hand that night. As for her  father, it was Binetta who insisted we  speed things up before he discovered  the embezzlement. You will try to  exonerate yourself before the judge,  Mr. Fal.

 Here, I am only gathering the  truth. And if she hates me, Cher? What  if she never forgives me for abandoning  her?  You didn’t abandon her. You saved her;  there’s a difference, and I believe  deep down, she will feel that. Is it  true? Are you my mother? Yes, Fatou, I  am your mother. My name was Awa Diallo,  and I left you that night not because I  didn’t love you, but because I loved  you too much to keep you in danger.

 22  years, ma’am—Mom—22 years without a  word, without a sign. I know it will  never be enough to fill that void, but  I haven’t spent a single day without  thinking of you. Without watching over  you from afar, even when you couldn’t  know it. I saw Moussa Fal push Awa  Diallo off the top of this cliff with  my own eyes, and I did nothing.

 Did you  think the sea would keep your secret,  Mr. Fal? Look at me. It didn’t keep it.  The hearing is suspended. The verdict  will be delivered after the break.  Starting today, this company returns to  its original name, the Diallo Group.  And for the first time in 22 years, it  will be led with the transparency and  integrity it deserved from the start.

 This is where I found your mother  half-dead, rejected by the sea as if it  refused to let her go. The sea already  knew back then that you would find each  other one day. Thank you for saving her , Baïbra. Without you, none of this  would exist. You raised my daughter  with a love I couldn’t give her myself.

 I could never thank you enough. She  will always remain my daughter too, in  a way. The heart knows no limits like  that. Awa! I don’t completely forgive  you, Binetta. I don’t think I ever will  fully, but I see that you chose in the  end to tell the truth, even when it  cost you everything.

 That will never  make up for what I took from you. Awa,  22 years with your daughter, 22 years  with your father, I know. But you can  still choose who you become from now on . That is all I can offer you. For  attempted premeditated murder,  aggravated estate fraud, and complicity  in the poisoning of Hajo, the court  sentences Mr.

 Moussa Fal to 25 years of  criminal imprisonment. It’s here that  everything ended 22 years ago, and  it’s here today that everything truly  begins again. So, this is no longer a  place of falling, Mom; it’s a place  of returning. They say in Dakar, the  sea never forgets what is entrusted to  it. That night, it had taken a broken  girl.

 22 years later, she returned a  whole woman and a family finally  reunited.