Chapter 25: Fractures Deepen
The maid knocked once and pushed the door open. Maya's room smelled of stale air and untouched food trays.
She found the girl on the floor—her body jerking in small convulsions, eyes rolled back.
The maid screamed and ran out.
"Oga Damian!
Madam! Temi!
Please run
Come quick!"
Damian reached the room first. He saw his sister convulsing, foam at the corner of her mouth.
He was shocked,
He held his sister calling her by the name he use to call her
Baby!
Baby!!
What is wrong
He was screaming at the maid
What did she take!!!!
Shouting
Driver get the car ready!!
Immediately!!
He carried Maya
In a bridal style
Running down the stairs
With his father behind him
And his mother
Jude behind him, his face blank for a second—then turning gray.
Temi hovered at the doorway, her silk robe slipping off one shoulder.
No one spoke.
They lifted Maya—light, too light—into the car.
I
Damian drove, horn blaring through the Banana Island gates, straight to their private hospital in Victoria Island. The AC blasted cold. Outside, Lagos heat pressed against the tinted windows.
Later, in the doctor's office.
Other doctors in
White coats. Carry patients Charts. While some were busy monitoring Beeping machines monitors down the hall.
The doctor—an older man with glasses low on his nose—looked at Jude and Damian.
"Low blood sugar. Dehydration. She hasn't eaten properly in days.
A clear case of History of hypoglycemia, yes?
She Missed supplements?
Did Any stress trigger?"
Jude nodded once.
"She has had the condition since she was small. And We have monitor it properly
The doctor tapped his pen.
"Lucky you brought her in when you did. Convulsions like that could have been worse. Brain damage. Or worse."
But luckily
"She's stable now, on a drip. But this isn't just medical."
He looked at them carefully.
I noticed a chart
He looked down the written files in his hand
"Separation anxiety!!!.
Depression spiral.
What is making a Teenagers crack under pressure.
What dropped her sugar this low?"
What happened ,
Is everything okay at home
Damian stared at the floor.
Jude cleared his throat.
"Family matters. We're handling it."
Temi wasn't in the room.
Earlier, Jude had told her—his voice flat:
"Stay away from Maya. You've done enough damage."
She had opened her mouth, closed it again, and walked out.
Maya woke slowly in the private room.
IV in her arm. Crisp in a white sheets.
She stared at the ceiling tiles.
She was weak but bored
She
Counted them.
One.
Two.
She Thought: Becky would laugh at how expensive this place looks.
She smiled to herself
Thought: I broke everything.
She closed her eyes again.
She
Didn't cry.
Just empty.
At Anderson Group headquarters, Imani sat at her desk.
Damian had assigned her three new reports—due by the end of the day. No extensions.
No meeting.
No explanation.
Just the files dumped into her inbox with one line:
"Complete them . No questions."
Colleagues whispered when she passed.
She ignored them.
Buried herself in spreadsheets.
Every accidental glance toward his office door felt like stepping on glass.
Mid-afternoon, Andrea burst into Damian's office.
The door banged open.
Damian looked up from his screen.
Andrea: "What the hell are you doing to that girl
Imani?"
What has that girl done to you!
Damian leaned back.
She is
"Handling work."
That is her job
She is paid to do them
Andrea stepped closer.
"Giving her Cold tasks.
Isolating her. Humiliating her in front of everyone down the floor.
You think no one sees? She's drowning, man."
Damian's voice dropped.
"She's fine."
Andrea laughed—a short, bitter sound.
"Fine? You're breaking her. On purpose. Because of Maya? Because she won't let Becky visit?"
"Abeg, Damian. This isn't you."
Damian stood.
"You don't know what I am."
Andrea cut him off.
"I know you. I've been saving your emotional roller coaster since uni. But this?"
"Threatening her job? Snapping at her like she's the enemy?"
"You know what, brother? I'm done."
"Figure your life out. You're a man still acting like a child."
Damian stepped forward.
Eye cold
The type of expression Andrea hasn't seen before
"Learn your place, mind your business
You are here because I let you,
Don't overstep your boundaries
Andrea.
What are you! Are You her messiah now?"
Captain save the hoe
Maybe there is something that is going on I didn't know
The way you are quick to say something
Whenever it involves Imani
Andrea shook his head.
"I'm your friend."
"Was."
"But this?"
He turned and walked out.
Outside the office, everyone suddenly typed harder and stared at their screens.
Whispers started after he passed.
"Na fight over Imani?"
"See the way dem dey shout."
No one met eyes.
Damian stood alone.
His fist clenched.
For the first time—him and Andrea… because of Imani.
He thought
What so special about her that Andrea is acting like this
Where is this coming from
Hate settled deeper.
Not just anger.
Something colder.
Online, the deepfake cracked.
Someone posted a side-by-side comparison: the original video versus the edited version.
The lip sync glitching
Obviously AI artifact.
The thread exploded.
"Anderson family dirty tricks."
Comments flooded in—now positive toward Becky and Imani.
The comments
"Rich people like to mock the poor."
"They will go any extent to hurt someone.because they can"
"Typical elite thinking everyone is beneath them."
Apologies rolled in.
These was directed towards Becky
"Sorry for the hate I dropped earlier."
"Thought it was real. Chai."
Some still defended the Andersons.
Most didn't.
Blogs picked it up.
"Anderson Charity Exposed as Fraud?"
Ivy's post likes turned into a ratio.
That evening, Imani and Kings sat at their favorite suya spot off Bourdillon.
Smoke thick in the air. Fan spinning slowly.
Meat hissed on the grill.
Kings passed her a stick with extra yaji.
Imani chewed slowly.
"My guy… this man… nawa o."
"He is giving me the Cold shoulder now.to much Tasks piling like say I offend am personally."
"Today? Reports wey no make sense."
The kind isolating I never seen before
"
"Chai. Workplace don turn war zone."
Kings nodded.
"He dey vex because of Maya. But abeg, no be your fault."
"Him mama and that Ivy girl na dem start this rubbish."
Imani sighed.
Long.
"I know."
"But every day… small small… e dey break me.the thing Dey affects my mental health kings"
Her phone rang.
Andrea.
She picked up.
"Imani. Maya dey hospital. She has Low sugar, and dehydration. Her Anxiety is bad."
"She dey ask for Becky."
Do you mind allowing Becky to go see. Her at the hospital
Even if it for a minute or a second
"Please… just think about it."
Imani stayed quiet.
"I go think.am"
She hung up.
Kings raised an eyebrow.
"Wetin happen?"
"Andrea dey beg for Maya. She Dey Hospital since,say she Dey get low sugar
Abegi rich people and their sickness ."
She went back eating her suya
"You go allow Becky?"
Imani thought.
"I go discuss with Aunty Rose first."
"And you."
Later that night in Surulere.
Becky sat in her room, the door slightly open.
She heard Imani and Kings talking softly in the parlor.
Maya.
Hospital.
Drip.
They thought she was asleep.
But she wasn't
Becky sat up.
Went close to the door
Ear dropping on their conversation
After like what felt like a enough information
She went back to her bed
Thought for a while
Bought out her phone
Unblocked Maya on WhatsApp.
Stared at their chat.
She Typed slowly.
"Heard you dey hospital. Are You okay?"
Sent.
No reply
She type in a long message that felt she was pouring her heart out
How she felt that day
How the whole matter has affected her
The way people are staring at her
But she stopped
Deleted the longer message she had started.
Just that.
She waited.
No reply yet.
She put the phone down.
Her chest still tight.
But lighter… small.
Damian sat beside Maya's bed that night.
The drip bag was half empty.
She was slept.
He leaned closer and whispered:
"I will make her suffer."
"For this."
"For you."
His eyes hardened.
The vow was quiet.
But real.