The basement was silent after the power cut. I leaned against the cold wall, clutching my mother's old locket. Alexander was still catching his breath beside me.
"You mentioned your mother earlier," Alexander said, his voice a low rasp in the dark. "You said this safe house belonged to her. Why did she keep it a secret from everyone—even the Board?"
I opened the locket. Inside was a tiny, folded piece of paper. "My mother wasn't just a housewife, Alexander. She was the original auditor for your father's company. She found out that Aunt Catherine was funneling money into offshore accounts long before the merger."
Alexander turned to me, his eyes wide. "So the contract... you didn't just sign it for the money. You signed it because you knew Catherine would try to destroy any evidence my mother left behind."
"She didn't just leave evidence," I whispered. "She left the 'Golden Key'—the digital password to the company's original founding documents. If we find that, Catherine loses everything. The mansion, the shares, the power... it all goes back to the rightful heirs."
"To us," Alexander said softly.
The weight of the secret felt different now. It wasn't about medicine or magic; it was about justice for my mother and a future for the life we were accidentally building together.
"We need to find her old office in Onitsha," I said, standing up. "That's where the final piece of the puzzle is hidden."