Chapter 8 The Space Between

I hadn't seen Tolu in months. Not since the funeral, when we stood side by side without saying a damn word. That's how we were tight, even when we were quiet. But seeing him walk into my office that afternoon? That wasn't silence. That was a storm coming.

He didn't knock. Didn't greet. Just walked in like he used to when we were kids except this time, his face looked older. Tired. Like he was dragging something heavy behind his ribs.

"T," I said, caught somewhere between relief and dread. "You're supposed to be in Abuja."

He didn't smile. Just stood there, arms crossed, scanning the room like he didn't trust the air.

"I flew in this morning," he said. "Didn't come for the view."

He sat without asking, leaned forward, elbows on his knees. I knew that posture. Tolu didn't posture unless something was eating him alive.

"It's about her," he said.

My chest tightened.

He didn't need to say the name.

"Adanna," I said anyway, because hearing it out loud made it harder to pretend.

Tolu nodded. "She's not who you think she is, Ken. She's here for blood. Yours."

I almost laughed. "You don't even know her."

"You've been off, man. Different. Since she came around. I know you feel it too that tension, that pull. But she's not here for love. She's here for blood."

I stared past him, jaw clenched. Part of me wanted to tell him to shut the hell up. Another part... wasn't so sure he was wrong.

But I still remembered the way she touched me that night.

The way she looked when she thought I was asleep.

The way she flinched when I said my father's name.

None of it felt like a lie. But lies don't always feel like lies when they're told well.

"I may not know her but I know revenge," he said, quiet but sharp. "And I know that look in her eyes. I've seen it before. It's the same one I had when they took my brother."

I flinched.

He didn't miss it.

"She's been asking questions," he said. "Digging in old files, poking into stuff that hasn't been touched in a decade. And you think that's random? That she just happened to fall into your life again?"

He dropped something on my desk. A small USB. Just sat there, waiting.

"I had someone trace her network activity. Some of it came from inside the Ibe Group. Internal files, Ken. Buried stuff. Your dad's deals. Obinna Umeh's case."

I stared at it. Then at him.

"She didn't just come here to find answers," he said. "She came here to burn them."

I leaned back, trying to breathe through the weight crawling up my chest.

"You think she's working with Julian?" I asked, voice low.

Tolu shook his head. "No. I think she's working alone. That makes her more dangerous."

I didn't want to believe him.

But he was my brother. Not by blood, but by fire.

And fire knows fire.

"She's playing you," he said. "And it's working."

I didn't respond. I couldn't.

Because part of me deep down, under all the need and guilt and something I wasn't ready to name already knew.

Tolu stood, headed for the door.

He paused just before leaving.

"You love her," he said.

It wasn't a question.

I didn't answer.

He left anyway.

And I just sat there in the quiet, staring at that USB like it might bite.

I stood up, got into my car and drove off.

I found her at her studio.

She didn't hear me come in at first had her back to the door, music low, brushes clinking in a jar like it was just another normal afternoon. But nothing felt normal anymore.

Not with Tolu's voice still in my head.

She turned, surprised. "Ken?"

I didn't say anything. Just stood there, hands in my pockets, heart a mess of knots I couldn't untangle.

Her smile faltered. "You okay?"

I stepped in. The air between us tightened. She always had that effect, pulled gravity around her like she didn't even mean to.

"I talked to Tolu," I said.

Her whole body stilled. Barely a blink.

"He flew in this morning. Said some things."

She didn't ask what. Didn't need to.

"You've been digging through my father's files?" I asked, quieter this time. "Stuff no one's touched in years. Why?"

She opened her mouth, closed it. Swallowed like she was trying to push words back down.

"I"

"Don't lie to me, Adanna."

"I'm not."

"Then say something."

She stepped closer, slowly, like I might break. "I wasn't trying to hurt you."

I let out a bitter laugh. "That's not a denial."

She looked away, jaw tight. "You think this is easy for me?"

"I don't know what to think," I said. "Tolu handed me a USB full of internal logs. Traces of you in places you weren't supposed to be. Old bribes. Obinna's case."

Her eyes flashed. "So you believe him?"

"I believe something's going on," I snapped. "And I'm standing here trying not to believe it's you."

Silence. Just our breathing. And the damn hum of the ceiling fan above.

"I didn't plan for this," she finally said. "I didn't plan to meet you again. To feel any of this."

"That's not an answer."

She came closer, until we were toe-to-toe. "Then ask the real question, Ken. What is it you want to know?"

I looked at her. Her face, the quiet fury in her eyes, the way her hands trembled even as she stood tall.

"Are you here to destroy me?" I asked, voice low. "Was that the plan?"

Her eyes didn't flinch. "It was."

The air between us cracked.

"But then I saw you," she added. "Not your father. Not the name. You. And I didn't know what to do with that."

Something in my chest gave way. Not breaking. Just... shifting.

"So what now?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I don't know."

I reached out just brushed her hand. She didn't pull away.

We stood there, quiet, the kind of quiet that only comes when everything's about to change.

I didn't trust her.

But God help me, I still wanted her.

And I had no idea which would kill me first.