Chapter Sixteen – Cold Hands, Warmer Lies
Tammy stood in front of the bathroom mirror, staring at her reflection like it held answers. Her fingers curled around the edge of the porcelain sink, her breathing shallow.
Tayo. Her own sister.
And Tony. Jeremy's so-called business partner.
They weren't even working together, yet somehow managed to plan their separate betrayals on the exact same night.
Jeremy had called it "coincidence laced with design," and the phrase hadn't left her mind since.
She turned off the tap and wiped her hands slowly, then stepped out into the bedroom she now shared with Jeremy because he was always walking into her room and they'd talk till midnight before he leaves. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, scrolling through something on his phone, a glass of whiskey untouched on the nightstand beside him.
"You still mad?" she asked gently.
He didn't look up. "I'm not mad. I'm thinking."
Tammy moved closer, folding her arms. "You've been 'thinking' since yesterday."
"I have a lot to think about," he replied coldly. "My business is bleeding from the inside. My partner drugged me. I got married to a stranger. That stranger turned out to be my wife. Now my wife's sister turns out to be the pawn of some mastermind working with a third person we haven't identified."
Tammy sat on the couch across from him, tucking one leg under the other. "You make it sound like I orchestrated all of that."
His eyes finally met hers. Cold. Beautiful. Brutal. "Did you?"
Her heart cracked just a little. "Wow. Just Wow Jeremiah."
Jeremy stood, walked to the window, and let the Lagos skyline distract him. The silence sat thick between them.
Tammy spoke again, softer this time. "You know I didn't."
He exhaled slowly, back still turned. "Knowing and trusting aren't always the same thing."
That stung. She didn't answer.
When he finally turned around, his eyes held the kind of tired only someone used to betrayal could carry. "There's a third player, Tammy. Someone pulling Tayo's strings. Someone powerful enough to clean up after Tony, and smart enough to hide their fingerprints. You think I have time to gamble with who I can trust?"
She blinked back the burn in her eyes. "You don't have to gamble. I'm not the enemy. I'm just a regular person. I don't have the power or influence to pull stuff like that."
He didn't respond.
Instead, he walked over, grabbed the glass of whiskey, and drank it in one go. Then—without warning—he crouched in front of her, eyes locked onto hers.
"If I ever find out that you're lying to me…"
She didn't flinch. "Then what?"
He didn't finish the sentence. He didn't need to. The silence did the talking.
But he did something strange then—his fingers brushed her knee, almost like muscle memory. Soft. Hesitant. Then gone.
He stood and walked to the door. "Zion is tracking financial records. He says the third person might be using offshore accounts. We're meeting with him tomorrow."
Tammy stood too. "Jeremy…"
He stopped at the door, head turned halfway.
"Whatever this is between us… we can't survive if you treat me like a threat every time you're scared."
He didn't respond. Just opened the door and walked out.
—
Downstairs, in the back of a blacked-out SUV, Zion was scrolling through encrypted messages while Wale sat beside him, munching chin chin like they weren't tracking what could be the biggest conspiracy of the year.
Wale glanced over. "You really think that third player is tied to Jeremy's past?"
Zion didn't look up. "No. I think they're tied to Tammy's."
Wale frowned. "But she's clean. I ran her history. Broke student, part-time coder, barely even had a full resume."
"Exactly," Zion said. "Too clean. Like someone wiped the mess before it could start."
—
Across the city, Tayo Coker was in a dimly lit hotel room, lipstick smudged, laptop open. A voice crackled through the speaker—distorted, synthetic.
"You're slipping," the voice said. "Your sister was supposed to be broken, not married into the Adebayo Empire."
Tayo clenched her jaw. "I'm fixing it."
"You'd better," the voice snapped. "Or you'll be next."
Tayo swallowed. "Understood."
The screen went black.
She slammed the laptop shut, stood up, and looked at herself in the mirror. Same face as Tammy. Same blood. But nothing alike.
She smirked. "Let's see how long you last, big sis."