Chapter 6 Everything I Didn't Say

Ken

I sat in my car with the engine off and the air thick enough to choke on.

I hadn't driven home. Couldn't. I just parked on some quiet road off Admiralty Way and stared through the windshield like it might give me answers.

None came.

Adanna's face wouldn't leave my head.

That stillness.

That pause.

The way she didn't rush to deny it.

She looked too calm. Too measured. Like someone used to navigating landmines.

I should've trusted her.

No I wanted to trust her.

But there was too much that didn't add up. The way she showed up out of nowhere. The way she looked at me sometimes, like she already knew the end of the story. Like she was waiting for it.

I pressed the heels of my hands to my eyes, hard. I felt sick all over again but this time it wasn't the fever. It was the sinking feeling that maybe I'd let her in too far. That maybe this whole thing the kiss, the studio, the softness had been a setup from the start.

God.

And if it wasn't?

If it was real?

Then I was the one destroying it.

Either way, I was already bleeding.

Adanna

I didn't go home.

Didn't call him either.

Instead, I walked three blocks past my apartment and into the old cyber café tucked behind a closed-down tailoring shop. Nobody came here anymore, which made it perfect.

I slid into a cracked seat, pulled out the flash drive I'd kept hidden since this started, and slotted it into the computer like I'd done a thousand times in the past life I no longer claimed.

I didn't need Ken's permission to dig deeper. I didn't need his trust.

I needed the truth.

And right now, the truth lived in old vendor logs connected to a name that showed up in Obinna's fake collapse file and again, just this morning, tied to the breach at the Lekki site.

Vantage Integrated Services.

A ghost company. A shell.

But I remembered it. From back then.

I typed fast, tracing financial threads, rerouted payments, dead-end addresses and there it was. A link.

Not to Ken.

To someone else.

Julian Dede.

One of Lawrence Ibe's oldest associates. Still quietly pulling strings behind the scenes of Ibe Global. Still laundering money through "construction contracts" no one ever checks twice.

I sat back, heart racing.

This wasn't just about Ken. This was bigger. Older. Rotted to the roots.

I saved everything to the drive and pulled it out.

If Ken thought I was the problem, fine.

Let him.

Because I didn't come here to be understood.

I came here to finish what they started.

I didn't text him. Didn't call ahead.

I just showed up.

By the time he opened the door, he looked like hell shirt wrinkled, tie half-off, eyes bloodshot like he hadn't slept in days. His silence was louder than any greeting.

We just stood there.

And then I held up the flash drive.

"This is who did it."

He stared at it, then at me.

"What is that?"

"Everything I found. The breach. The payments. The connection to Obinna. It wasn't me. It was Julian Dede."

His jaw tightened.

I walked past him into the house.

"You remember Vantage Integrated Services?" I asked, tossing the drive on the kitchen counter.

His face shifted. Recognition. Regret.

I kept going. "It was a shell company. One of the fake vendors used to route funds after Obinna took the fall. Same company just popped up again in your server logs. Only this time, someone used your own security systems to bury it."

I turned around to face him.

"I followed the money. It led to Julian. Not me."

Ken ran a hand through his hair, backing up like my words had weight.

"You really think I didn't want to believe you?" he said, voice low. "You think I wanted it to be you?"

"You looked at me like it was." I snapped. "Like you were waiting for me to slip. Like you expected me to stab you."

"Because I didn't know what was real anymore!" he exploded. "I've had my father lie to me my entire life, Adanna. I didn't want to believe you were part of that too."

I didn't say anything.

We just stood there, breathing hard, not sure what came next.

He leaned on the counter, head bowed.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I shouldn't have doubted you."

Silence stretched between us. Not empty, full. Of everything we'd left unsaid.

He looked up. His voice cracked. "I felt something with you. And it scared the hell out of me. Because if it was real, it meant I could lose it. Or worse... ruin it."

I swallowed, heart squeezing. "Then don't ruin it. Not now."

His hand reached for the flash drive.

"I'm going to him," he said. "Julian. Tonight."

"That's dangerous," I warned. "He's not just some accountant, Ken. He's smart. Connected. If he knows we're onto him"

"I won't give him the chance to hide," he said. His voice was quiet but full of fire. "I need to hear it from him. I need to see the lie in his face."

He walked away toward the hallway, then paused.

"I want you there," he said.

I blinked. "What?"

"I don't know where this ends, Adanna. But if you're in it... be in it."

We stood there, both a little broken. Both holding too much.

But for once, we weren't standing on opposite sides of the fire.

We were in it together.

The night was thick with heat, even with the windows down.

Neither of us said a word at first. Ken just drove. One hand on the wheel, the other draped loosely across his lap, fingers twitching like they were holding in more than nerves. The radio was off. Even the city felt quieter than usual, like Lagos itself knew something was about to snap.

I watched him from the passenger seat. His profile lit up every few seconds by the passing streetlights. Jaw tight. Eyes forward. That same crease between his brows he got when something didn't sit right.

I broke the silence.

"You don't have to do this tonight."

His grip on the wheel tightened. "I do."

I nodded, turning my gaze to the window, watching the blur of shops and pedestrians.

"I hated you for a long time," I said, not really knowing why I said it now. "Not you exactly, but your name. Your family. What they stood for. It ate me up for years."

He glanced at me. Not shocked. Just... waiting.

"And then I met you. And it got harder to hate."

His voice came low. "It was easier when it was just lies, wasn't it?"

"Yeah." I looked at him. "But easier doesn't mean better."

Another stretch of silence. Then he let out a quiet breath.

"I saw your dad once. In court. Just before everything exploded. He looked like he already knew what was coming. Like he knew nobody was going to save him."

My throat tightened.

"I was just a kid," Ken said. "Didn't even understand half of what was happening. But I remember thinking... this isn't right. I didn't know why then. But I knew."

We pulled up to a red light. He looked at me, eyes softer now.

"I should've trusted that feeling."

I swallowed. "It's not too late to start."

He nodded. Looked away again.

The light turned green, but he didn't drive right away. For a second, we just sat there.

Then he spoke, voice rough. "If this goes sideways tonight if he's more dangerous than we think"

"Then we deal with it," I cut in.

He looked at me again, longer this time. Like he was seeing me clearly for the first time.

"I don't know how this ends, Adanna."

"Me neither," I said. "But I'm still here."

He didn't smile. But his fingers brushed mine, briefly, where they rested on the center console.

And that small touch said more than either of us could.

He drove to the office to pick up a file.

Ken's office was dark except for the glow of the monitor. It was late, nearly 10 p.m., but we didn't want to wait till morning. Not when the truth was this close.

"He won't come if he thinks it's about the breach," I said, pacing behind him. "We need something he can't ignore. Something that sounds like an opportunity."

Ken nodded slowly. "He's always wanted control of the Lekki contracts. I'll tell him I'm stepping back from that end of the business. Restructuring."

I raised an eyebrow. "He'll smell the trap if you make it too easy."

"I'm not handing it to him. I'm offering him a seat at the table with a few conditions. Just enough bait to get him in the room."

He pulled up Julian's contact, then paused.

"I'm not calling him," he said. "He doesn't trust me enough for that."

"Then who?" I asked.

He typed quickly. A few moments later, he showed me the screen: Angela Eze.

"She's been managing contracts for our mainland developments. Julian trusts her. She'll call him and say I asked her to coordinate a closed-door handover."

I hesitated. "She in on it?"

"No. But she owes me. And she won't ask too many questions."

I nodded, watching him type the message she'd send. It was simple. Direct. Just enough to stir Julian's greed without raising alarms.

When it was done, he hit send.

And then... we waited.

Minutes passed. Then a reply came in:

"Tell him I'll be there. Tomorrow. 6pm."

Ken let out a slow breath, jaw flexing. "He's coming."

I looked at him. "Do you want backup?"

His eyes met mine, dark and unreadable.

"I want the truth. And I want to look him in the eye when he gives it."

There was a pause, the kind that holds too much weight.

"You don't have to be there," he added, softer.

"I do," I said.

Because I needed to see the man who helped bury my father.

Because I wanted to watch him squirm.

But also... because something in Ken had changed. His silence was sharper now. The old trust between us what little we'd built was cracking under the pressure. I could feel it in the way he looked at me when he thought I wasn't paying attention.

Like he was starting to wonder what else I hadn't told him.

And maybe he wasn't wrong to.