Chapter 9 Unholy Alliance

Julian paced the marble floor of the private lounge in the Eko Tower, the city sprawling beneath him like a low-burning secret. His hands were in his pockets, but his mind was racing.

He hated how she always seemed a step ahead.

Victoria sat calmly across from him, one leg crossed over the other, sipping her drink like she had all the time in the world. Her confidence was a weapon. One she never needed to unsheathe fully.

"Still thinking it over?" she asked.

Julian didn't answer right away. He'd spent the last forty-eight hours spiraling, Tolu had made contact with Ken, and Adanna's name was in every damn whisper coming out of the Lekki project audit. Something big was moving. Something ugly.

And he was on the outside looking in.

He finally exhaled. "I'm in."

Victoria smiled like she already knew. "Good. Then let's clean up the mess they left behind."

She pulled out a folder and slid it across the table. Inside: financial maps, surveillance logs, a list of potential pressure points. Her version of kindness.

"What's your angle in all this?" Julian asked.

She tilted her head, amused. "Ken Voss never deserved the empire. And Adanna? She's sentimental. People like her don't survive long in our world."

Julian said nothing. He knew the truth this wasn't just about business. Victoria wanted revenge.

And now, so did he.

Later That Night...

Across the island, Ken's phone buzzed.

A headline was lighting up Twitter:

LEKKI SITE FRAUD: IBE GROUP ACCUSED OF COVER-UP AND LAND DOCUMENT FORGERY.

Adanna's breath caught in her throat as she read the leaked internal memo on his screen.

"We didn't leak this," she whispered.

Ken's jaw tightened. "But someone just pulled the trigger."

They looked at each other and in that moment, the quiet between them shattered.

This wasn't over.

It was only just beginning.

I didn't sleep that night.

Not after the leak. Not after I saw Ken's face when the headlines hit.

He didn't say much. Just stared at his phone, that jaw clenched so tight I thought he'd crack something. And I couldn't blame him. Someone out there wanted to blow this thing open and not on our terms.

So I did what I do when the world spins sideways.

I worked.

By 3 a.m., I had two laptops open, my tablet synced, and three burner accounts running deep background scrapes on every site connected to the Lekki deal. The leak didn't come from our end, but it did come from someone with access.

Which meant one thing.

This game had more players than we knew.

I found the origin IP by 4:12 a.m. bounced through four VPNs but sloppy on the fifth. Whoever posted that memo to the whistleblower page used a French-backed node...but the pattern matched one I'd seen before.

Julian.

I sat back, hands trembling.

Of course it was him. He'd gone quiet lately too quiet. But he wouldn't make a move like this unless he had backup. The kind of backup that felt invincible.

The kind that smelled like Ibe blood.

I sent a message to my anonymous source the one who flagged the missing ledger pages from the Lekki files two weeks ago. No response. That alone made my skin crawl.

They always responded.

Until now.

BBC I didn't call.

Not yet.

He was still reeling. And I was still trying to figure out what the hell we were walking into. We'd planned to expose the truth on our terms. But someone else had just lit the match in the dark and now everyone was watching.

Maybe they thought that would scare us off.

They didn't know me.

I closed the laptop, stood, and grabbed my keys.

It was time to knock on a door I'd been avoiding.

Someone in Ibe Group's procurement team owed me a favor and I intended to collect.

Because if we were going down, I was damn sure going to know who was dragging us with them.

Ken

I didn't go home after the meeting. Couldn't.

My phone hadn't stopped vibrating since the leak went live. Board members. Legal. PR. Even my father's old friends were suddenly interested in "checking in." Their tone was polite, but every call felt like a blade at my back.

I sat in the corner of my office, the city outside glowing like it had something to say. I couldn't hear any of it.

My tie was on the floor. My sleeves rolled up. The folder from the Lekki site sat open on my desk like a damn corpse we all knew was there, but nobody wanted to bury.

Someone dropped the match. And now everything was burning.

I kept thinking about Adanna. The way she looked when the memo leaked shocked, but not surprised. Like she expected it, maybe even feared it. But she hadn't run.

That should've calmed me. It didn't.

Because I didn't know what to think of her, my head was spinning, and for the first time, I was too confused taking decision on what I truly wanted, weather to let her in and trust her as the woman my heart beats for or to fear her

And now I couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't just about Lekki.

This was deeper.

Personal.

Targeted.

The knock came fast, two short taps, then the door creaked open.

Tolu.

"Hey," he said, stepping in with that easy calm like he wasn't walking into a war zone. "You look like shit."

"Thanks," I muttered, rubbing my temples. "Good to see you too."

He dropped into the seat across from me. No judgement. No lecture. Just the kind of silence only a friend who's seen your worst can offer.

"We'll get ahead of this," he said after a while. "Julian's the one we should be looking at. He's been circling like a vulture ever since your dad stepped down."

I didn't answer.

Because part of me wanted to believe him. The other part? It was getting harder to believe anyone.

My instincts were screaming.

But I shut them down.

For now.

Because if I started doubting everyone especially the people I trusted most, I'd lose my grip completely.

And I couldn't afford that.

Not yet.

Adanna

The last time I came here, I was still someone else.

Daughter of the man they destroyed. Intern with too much curiosity and not enough armor. I walked through these halls with dreams, not daggers.

Now I moved differently.

Slower. Sharper.

Security waved me through without a blink. I still had clearance under an old system profile I built years ago one of the ghosts they never bothered to purge. Arrogance looks like oversight when you're not the one cleaning up the mess.

The Ibe Group lobby was just as sterile as I remembered glass, chrome, fake smiles. The kind of place where people wear masks even when they're alone.

But I wasn't here to be seen.

I was here for one thing.

Tayo met me on the 10th floor, his back tense, lips pulled thin. He hadn't changed much. Still buttoned up like a man with something to lose. Which, to be fair, he did.

"Adanna," he said, quiet. "You shouldn't have come here."

I smiled without warmth. "You owe me."

He didn't argue.

We stood in silence for a beat before he stepped aside and nodded toward a side conference room. Soundproof. Shielded from cameras. The kind of room built for secrets, not strategy.

Inside, he shut the blinds and leaned against the table like the weight of this moment was finally pressing on his spine.

"You said you had one ask," he muttered. "One favor. And then we're done."

"I remember." I set my bag down, pulled out the flash drive. "I need the backup archives from 2011 to 2013. Internal transfers. Project Marula and the Lekki East acquisition trail."

His eyes widened. "Jesus. You're digging up graves."

I leaned in, voice low. "No, Tayo. I'm digging up killers."

For a second, I saw fear flicker across his face. Not just fear of getting caught. Fear of truth. Because he knew. He was there. Not in the decision room, but close enough to feel the fallout.

He took the drive, turned it over in his hand like it might burn him.

"I'll need time," he said. "Three days."

"You have one."

He stared at me, jaw tight. But he nodded.

"Adanna... If you do this, there's no coming back. They'll bury you."

I didn't flinch.

"I've already been buried," I said. "Now I'm just clawing my way out."