The black Mercedes pulled up to the curb of the corporate headquarters exactly thirty minutes before the 10:00 a.m. bell. I stepped out first, adjusting my jacket. The air in Awka was already getting hot, but inside this car, the tension was freezing.
The Ice Queen stepped out beside me. She didn't look like a woman who had spent the night in a hospital chair. She looked like a lioness returning to her den to find scavengers picking at her father's bones.
"Catherine's lawyers are already in the lobby," she whispered, her voice low and dangerous. "They've filed an emergency injunction. They're going to try to bar you from the floor, claiming you're an 'unvetted outsider' who is compromising company security."
I felt a surge of adrenaline. I wasn't that scared guy from the street anymore. I was the man who had the digital keys to every secret Catherine had tried to bury.
"Let them try," I said, reaching into my pocket to feel the encrypted drive. "I've got enough data on this drive to send her lawyers to the same cell she's sitting in."
We walked through the glass revolving doors. Usually, the security guards would bow or nod. Today, they looked away. The atmosphere was thick with betrayal. As we reached the elevators, three men in expensive charcoal suits stepped out, blocking our path.
"Ms. CEO," the lead lawyer said, his voice oily and smug. "By order of the interim board, your guest is not permitted past the lobby. His presence is considered a liability to the ongoing 'Character Audit' regarding your marriage."
The Ice Queen didn't blink. She stepped forward until she was inches away from the lawyer. "This 'guest' is my legal husband. According to my father's bylaws, a spouse has full access to the executive floor during a transition period. If you want to block him, you'll have to sue me for breach of the very charter you're trying to protect."
The lawyer smirked. "A spouse by contract, perhaps. But the Board has received an anonymous tip—and a recorded phone call—suggesting this man was paid five million naira just to stand at the altar. If that's true, the marriage is a felony, and you, Madam CEO, are a fraud."
My heart hammered against my ribs. A recorded call? Had someone been listening when we first discussed the money in the safe house?
I looked at the Ice Queen. For a split second, I saw a flicker of doubt in her eyes. Catherine was playing dirty. She was trying to turn the "Contract" into a crime.
"The only fraud here is the woman paying your fees with stolen money," I interrupted, stepping between the Queen and the lawyers. I pulled out my phone and hit play on a video file I'd hidden in a cloud folder.
It was a recording from the hospital hallway—the moment from Chapter 66 where the Ice Queen and I had kissed. It wasn't a "business" kiss. It was raw, desperate, and undeniably real.
The lawyers went silent.
"Does that look like a five-million-naira transaction to you?" I asked, my voice cold. "Or does it look like a man who will burn this entire building down if you don't get out of our way?"
The Ice Queen looked at me, her eyes wide with surprise. She hadn't known I'd caught that moment on the security feed. A slow, triumphant smile spread across her face.
"You heard my husband," she said, her voice echoing through the lobby. "Get out of our way. We have a company to run."
The elevator doors closed, leaving the lawyers behind. But as the numbers climbed toward the top floor, she turned to me. "That video... where did you get it?"
"I have my ways," I said. "But we have a bigger problem. If Catherine has a recording of our original deal, we have to find out who gave it to her before the board meeting starts at 10:00."
"There's a mole," she whispered. "Someone close to us."
The bell chimed. The top floor. The final battle was about to begin.