The satellite link on the wooden table blinked a steady, rhythmic red. 98%... 99%... "Come on," I whispered, my eyes darting between the screen and the darkened window of the Awka bungalow. Beside me, Alexander was checking the safety on the small pulse-scrambler he had taken from the mansion. He looked like a man who had lost everything but was finally ready to win it all back.
"They're crossing the perimeter," Alexander said, his voice a low, steady growl. He didn't look like the cold CEO I had signed a contract with months ago. He looked like a partner. "We have two minutes, maybe less."
100%. UPLOAD COMPLETE.
I snatched the ledger off the scanner and shoved it into my bag. "It's done. The files are on the encrypted server. Even if Catherine catches us now, she can't stop the truth from reaching the Board of Directors tomorrow morning."
Alexander grabbed my arm, pulling me toward the back exit. "She won't catch us. I didn't spend three years building this empire just to let my aunt tear it down because of a forged signature. You've given me the weapon I needed, and I'm not letting her take you as a trophy."
We slipped out into the thick brush of the Anambra night. The sound of tires crunching on gravel echoed from the front of the house. Catherine's men were here, but they were too late.
"Why did you stay?" Alexander asked as we ducked behind a row of palm trees, the red dust of the earth staining our expensive shoes. "The contract said you could leave if the danger became physical. You could have walked away with your payout weeks ago."
I looked at him in the moonlight. As a guy who had lived his life in the shadows of my mother's secrets, I had never expected to find a light in a billionaire's mansion.
"Because a contract is just paper, Alexander," I said, my voice firm. "But what we found in those files... what Catherine did to your father and my mother... that's personal. I'm not just your 'Hidden Husband' anymore. I'm your witness."
He didn't say anything, but the way he tightened his grip on my hand told me everything. We weren't just two men bound by a legal document. We were two survivors bound by the truth.
"Let's go," Alexander whispered. "We have a board meeting to crash."