Slowly, Nelly sat up. Her pillow was soaked. She was certain she'd been screaming in her sleep as tears streamed down her eyes.
Another nightmare.
She squeezed the duvet to her body and drifted. Exhausted. Stretching her other hand, she grabbed her phone.
3:00 AM.
She'd barely slept. She paused, taking a deep breath, listening to make sure she hadn't woken her friend.
Her mind drifted to the previous night. So much drama, yet for what? She felt distracted... and maybe... she'd enjoyed it.
That's why she'd had the nightmare.
To remind her what was important. Though she never could really forget—how could she?
She'd slapped the playboy again. Nelly doubted she'd see him around anymore. Whatever game he was playing, she didn't want to be part of it.
She tried to close her eyes again, but fear held her back.
Another tear rolled down.
She had a particular comfort in these nightmares. No matter how terrible they seemed, they were the only place she could still see Ken's face—even as it ended covered in blood. She could feel him. Happy. As though he was still with her.
She hated herself for starting to feel that comfort with someone else.
What the hell is wrong with me?
---
Peter Aina walked into the office, a concerned look soon appearing on his face.
Already seated was his colleague, with a serious expression. Beyond that, something looked wrong—without its usual brightness.
"Good morning, Nelly." He doubted she'd noticed him enter. What was she doing?
"I see you're early today." He paused. "Uh, Miss Nelly?"
---
Nelly had an epiphany. It seemed her sleepless night had paid off.
She'd been trying to trace products and connect timelines directly to Ken's research, to no avail. She had very little clue what most of his products looked like—only the brief moments when he'd shown them to her. The only evidence she had were their names and invention dates.
Even that wasn't enough. Anyone could have invented those products.
So she resolved to search for their inventors instead.
Akor did her a favor by recording all inventors of their products. Even if the names weren't familiar, tracking them wouldn't be too difficult.
There was a rule about closing late, but never one about resuming early. That's why she'd arrived around 6:00 AM today—before her bestie had even woken.
"Sorry, I didn't see you there." Nelly startled as she suddenly looked up.
"It's okay. I can see you're busy."
Her colleague wore his usual calm smile.
"Oh, and thank you for last week."
Nelly reeled. It had already been a week. The weekend had flown by so fast she'd barely had time to process anything. Still, she was glad to put all that drama behind her—even though she had an inkling it wasn't over.
"It's fine." She smiled shyly.
The day blurred through. At noon, she headed to the cafeteria.
"What'd you do to make Peter avoid you?" Sarah asked.
"I don't know, Sarah. But I slap pretty hard." Nelly doubted the tall man would tell anyone about being threatened.
"I knew you were this fun. How about we hang out sometime?"
"What are you doing after work today?"
"Nothing."
Nelly smiled. The short girl was fun and knew everyone. A plus side was being the first person visitors saw—a free boon.
They chatted while eating. Soon Chioma joined, and they fell into hearty conversation.
Suddenly, the petite girl asked with curiosity in her eyes, "Did you see a video of our boss trending last week?"
Nelly coughed audibly.
I thought he took care of it. Her jaw tightened. Or did he go back on his word because of the slap? That damned playboy.
"No, I didn't," Sarah chimed in.
"Me neither." Chioma tilted her head. "You have a concerned look on your face."
"No, I don't." Nelly chuckled anxiously. "If you said you didn't see it, Chioma, what gave you the idea?"
Of course, both her colleagues had no idea. They weren't part of the meeting. She was certain no one had seen her leave with Kelvin that day.
"It's that doom blogger. A few other people too." Chioma leaned in. "He claimed a video was trending—of Austin and Kelvin fighting." She paused. "Then he said it was deleted and lied about being AI-generated."
Nelly watched both ladies. They weren't surprised by the altercation. Seems both men have history.
"What did he say they were fighting over?"
"Something about a woman."
Nelly grew pale. Just how much does this blogger know?
"Don't mind that crazy blogger." Sarah suddenly cut in. "You'll soon hear him with another conspiracy theory about how the Ovudus are controlling our country through the media."
"Shh! What are you saying?" The receptionist quickly admonished the petite girl.
Nelly found her reaction strange. Relieved she was out of the media spotlight, something stirred in her.
"What's the name of this blog?"
"NaijaInfo.blog." The petite girl ignored the frown growing on the receptionist's face. "Do you really not know anything?"
"She just came back into the country this year."
"No wonder."
Nelly drifted, the rest of the conversation fading through her ears.
A moment later, she walked hurriedly to her office after their final pleasantries.
Sitting at her chair, she hesitated. An inkling in her mind dragged her to check out the blogger. She imagined for a second he was the one who'd released the video in the first place.
Finally, she typed in the site.
A few minutes passed, and Nelly found herself extremely disappointed. She'd half-expected to find substantial information. But no—what had she expected?
She found the person talking about a video Lucky had removed from the internet.
The OVUDUs—who are they?
The men controlling our country from behind the scenes.
Nigeria is not what it's supposed to be.
Who are these enemies?
The latest: They finally struck again.
Barely 24 hours after it was uploaded, a video showing a demonic billionaire and an evil prince fighting over a woman was deleted online. Physical or diabolical power? They think we're fools.
Nelly almost strained her eyes reading his blog. Whoever it was, he seemed genuinely crazy. She had no idea what method Lucky had used, but she doubted it was diabolical power. Apart from his mischievous smile, the playboy seemed unable to hurt a fly most of the time.
But she knew it was just a facade. She was well aware—more than anyone—when someone wasn't letting their real self or intentions show.
She pinched herself for worrying over something like that and returned to work. Her research.
Unfortunately, all the names she saw were unfamiliar. Most had no record whatsoever. And most products had wrong invention dates.
What the hell?
It was wrong—just like the mistake she'd noticed before. How had this type of blemish gone unnoticed?
Eventually, she gave up. Some information required an access code—only Peter had it.
Staring at her colleague, she wondered what excuse she could give to access those files.
Sighing, she stood and headed for the restroom.
---
Nelly stretched, truly exhausted. Her mind had been working all morning and found nothing. How terrible.
All the names she'd found were abbreviations of full names, leaving her back at square one.
As she opened the door, Peter shot her a curious glance.
Startled, she stared at her watch. She'd only spent thirty minutes. Had he been looking for her?
"I thought you'd already gone."
"Gone where?" She shot him a curious glance.
"To Kelvin's. He called you a few minutes ago."
---
A million thoughts raced through Nelly's mind as she walked to his office. The elevator ride suddenly seemed too long.
What could he want? He'd barely spoken to her since their outing. Not that she expected anything—or did she?
In truth, Nelly would have tried her best to stay out of his way as she concluded her investigation, even though she had a feeling that would be impossible.
Now, standing before his door, she took a deep breath. What did he want?
A moment later, Nelly sat on a chair opposite her cold boss. He handed her a file.
Throughout her train of thought, she'd simply forgotten one small fact.
She still worked for him. Right.
Holding the file, she awaited instruction. Her eyes roamed the A4 paper in her hand. On it was one of Akor's first products, invented by a particular S.A.
Another abbreviation. She sighed.
"Nelly, go through this file. It's the first record of this product. Cross-check it with files in our database to verify if the details are correct." Even as he spoke, his voice maintained its cold tone.
Nelly felt... slightly disappointed. What had she expected? She wasn't sure she knew. Maybe not the coldness in his tone.
"Is that all?" She was suddenly uncomfortable in his presence.
"No. Hold on."
Just then, she heard his elevator chime, followed by heavy steps approaching his door.
Nelly suddenly had a bad premonition.
The door opened, and she felt an unusual presence.
"Kelvin! Long time no see." A husky voice roared, startling Nelly. It wasn't just the manner—it was something about that voice. A memory stirred within her.
She looked at the file in her trembling hand.
S.A. S.A. The abbreviation echoed in her mind.
She knew who it was.
Samuel Adebayo.