Chapter 10 Gentle Pressure

I waited until night.

Not because of fear I've passed that line but because the dark is honest. There's no pretending when everything's quiet, when the world isn't watching. Just you, the truth, and whatever it leaves behind.

The flash drive sat on my table like it had a pulse.

I hadn't touched it all day. Not because I didn't want to but because some part of me still hoped there was nothing on it. That maybe I was wrong. That maybe Ken... wasn't what I feared he could become.

But the truth doesn't care about what you hope.

I plugged it in.

The files were buried deep, but Tayo knew what he was doing. He left a single folder marked "Construction Logs – Marula Phase I." Innocent enough. But inside, everything was rotten.

Fake permits.

Shell contractors.

Wiring fund trails from company accounts to offshore banks.

And then... I saw the signatures.

Not Lawrence's. I expected him. I wanted to see him. But there was someone else, too someone still active.

Someone who sat in every board meeting. Someone who smiled at Ken like a loyal uncle.

Desmond Ibe.

My blood ran cold.

He signed the project clearance. He signed the payout authorizations. He was in it deep.

All this time, Ken had been looking the wrong way. So had I. Lawrence might've laid the foundation, but Desmond was the one still building on blood.

My fingers tightened around the mouse.

I found one more file. Encrypted. Sloppy. Almost like someone tried to delete it and changed their mind halfway through.

It was a voice memo.

Just thirty-four seconds.

I hit play.

"We move forward with Marula Lawrence said clear the names. I already sent the transfer. Obinna's the fall. The girl's just noise. She'll break eventually."

My heart stilled.

The girl.

That was me.

I stood, the chair scraping back behind me, sudden nausea rising. I gripped the edge of the table to stay upright.

They knew. They always knew.

I was never invisible.

I was never safe.

All this time, I thought I was playing a game of shadows, but the spotlight had been on me since the beginning. I wasn't sneaking through the dark. I was walking a stage and they were waiting to see when I'd fall.

Not anymore.

I closed the laptop.

Tomorrow, I'd tell Ken everything. Whether he believed me or not. Whether it shattered us or lit something bigger on fire.

But tonight, I let it settle. Let the rage fold itself neatly into my chest.

I was no one's fall anymore.

Desmond waited until the boardroom was nearly empty, letting the others trickle out with their usual polite smiles and veiled tensions. He didn't rush. Never did. Instead, he stood by the glass window, watching the Lagos skyline blink to life in the dusky evening.

Ken was halfway out the door when Desmond said, "Stay a moment."

No command in his voice. Just suggestion. But it landed heavy, like stone.

Ken hesitated, then stepped back inside.

Desmond turned, all warm tone and fatherly expression. "You've been doing well. I see it. Lawrence would've been proud."

Ken didn't respond.

Desmond smiled gently. "But you're... distracted lately."

That smile lingered too long.

"Things change fast at the top, Ken. Trust doesn't come easy. And when it does, you protect it. Guard it with everything you've got." He stepped forward slowly. "Especially from those who only came here to hurt you."

There it was that quiet sting under his words.

"I don't want to overstep," Desmond said, adjusting the cuff of his suit. "But I've seen it before. That look in someone's eyes when revenge becomes obsession. It never ends well."

He didn't say Adanna's name. He didn't have to.

Desmond placed a hand on Ken's shoulder. "Family is messy. Business, even messier. But at least you know where I stand."

Ken gave nothing away. Just nodded once.

Satisfied, Desmond's face softened again almost sincere. "Don't wait too long to decide who's with you, Ken. You wait too long, and you'll find out by how they leave."

He let go and walked out, calm, polished, measured. Like nothing had been said at all.

But the weight of it lingered.

I didn't move for a while after Desmond left.

Just stood there, still tasting the weight of his words. They weren't threats. Not directly. That's not how he plays. He uses silk and silence and always leaves you wondering if maybe he's just trying to protect you.

I knew better.

That was a warning.

And maybe the worst part was he wasn't wrong.

I was distracted. I was torn. And I hated that it showed.

Everything with Adanna had started bleeding into everything else. Her silence. Her closeness. The way she looked at me when she thought I wasn't watching. Like she was carrying something heavier than she could hold, and she didn't know whether to drop it or hand it to me.

God knows I wanted to hold it.

But now... now I was wondering if Desmond saw something I didn't.

Was I slipping? Or was I being played?

Again.

I walked back into my office and locked the door. Sat down hard and stared at nothing for a long time.

I kept trying to remind myself who I was. Ibe blood. Legacy. Discipline. I'd been built to hold empires on my back.

But these days?

I felt like I was holding a fuse.

And no matter how much I tried to hold still... something was going to blow.