Chapter Twenty- one: Babe!!!!! There's trouble.
The same afternoon. In the living room.
Tammy lay curled on the couch, head pressed against the armrest, her thumb absentmindedly scrolling through the same thread of hateful comments and news headlines over and over again. Her eyes were red and puffy, but not from crying—just exhaustion. Mentally, emotionally, and now physically. The past few days had taken every ounce of her strength, and she still couldn't understand what she was even fighting anymore. Her mind was a maze with no exit. First it was this and before she's able to take care of this, that decides to come. Can't she just breathe?! She keeps scrolling as her eyes follow the news.
FAKE MARRIAGE? CEO SCANDAL BREWS
Sources close to Adebayo family question sudden wedding
Mysterious bride's past raises questions—was she planted?
She dropped the phone on her chest, chest rising and falling. Her heart hadn't stopped racing since that morning. Her father's stare, her mother's silence, her sister's smug glance at the door when she was leaving. The way she couldn't even breathe during that visit.
She hadn't told anyone, but she'd thrown up the moment she got home.
Jeremy hadn't said a word to her since the awkward dinner two nights ago. Not a text. Not a call. Not a knock on her door. The nanny avoided her gaze. The house felt like a pressure cooker, each minute stretching tighter. Her body ached from tension. She didn't know what was coming—but it felt big.
She was just starting to doze off when the front door slammed open.
"BABE!"
Tammy sat up, disoriented. Anjii stormed in, nearly tripping over her heels as she banged into the living room like a tornado, dropping her bags on the floor and kicking her heels off her feet as she ran to the chair.
"Jesus, Anjii—"
"He's coming for you! Jeremy's coming for you!" Anjii screamed, pointing at her with wide eyes, chest heaving like she'd just run a marathon.
Tammy blinked, still not fully awake. "Wait… what?"
Anjii collapsed onto the couch beside her, gripping her by the shoulders. "I went to Zion's place—don't ask why. I was just waiting for him to come out of the shower. Next thing I know, I hear them talking. Zion. Jeremy. Wale was there. Girl, they think you did everything. The pictures. The leak. The drugs. All of it."
Tammy's heart stopped.
"What?" she croaked, her voice barely audible.
"They think you're some undercover fraud," Anjii continued, now pacing the room. "Jeremy said—he literally said, if he walks in tomorrow and you lie one more time, he's done. Like, done done. He doesn't care what anyone thinks. Babe, you have to say something now. Tonight!"
Tammy clutched the blanket tighter around her. Her entire body had gone cold.
"They think I did it?" she whispered.
"Yes!" Anjii threw her hands up. "Zion literally said you played it too well, we were too blind to see. Like what the actual fuck?! What are we going to do?!"
Tammy's mouth parted. Her throat was dry. No water, no words.
Jeremy thought she set him up?
She shook her head slowly, like if she just kept denying it, the words would make more sense. "That's not possible. He saw me. He knows me. We live in the same house. We have been sleeping in the same room. I think he loves me he…he can't have…"
"Apparently that's not enough," Anjii said bitterly. "They said something about closing the chapter. That tomorrow it ends."
"Ends?" Tammy whispered again.
Everything felt like it was unraveling.
First her family. Now Jeremy. Her whole world had become a lie—and now the only people who could clear her name thought she was the mastermind behind it all.
"I didn't do anything," she said, eyes glazed over. "I swear to God, I didn't…"
Anjii dropped back onto the couch beside her, gripping her hand. "I know. But we need to figure out who did."
Tammy's phone vibrated. Another message from one of those gossip blogs: "Mr. Adebayo's grandmother, Madam Adeola, reportedly concerned about the lack of intimacy in the CEO's recent marriage. A close source says a live-in nanny witnessed the couple 'sleeping in the same bed' unexpectedly and reported it. Insiders say this may be why Madam Adeola has suddenly begun speaking favorably about Tammy."
Tammy stared at the screen. So even that wasn't private anymore.
And the fact that they were sleeping in the same bed—even if it was just once, by accident, or out of cold silence—was being used to spin a new narrative.
She passed the phone to Anjii.
Anjii blinked, reading fast. "Bro…"
Tammy's voice was barely a whisper. "They're rewriting my story before I've even finished living it."
A beat of silence.
Then Anjii turned to her. "We need to hack something. Tonight."
Tammy stared at her for a long second.
Then she nodded. "Get my laptop."
Anjii nodded and ran up to Tammy's normal room grabbing her laptop and running back to the couch handing it over to Tammy who took it and started typing fast.
At the side of the palor where neither Anjii nor Tammy could see and a blind spot for the security cameras, a maiden slipped into the shadows.
Tammy typed away as Anjii calls for a maid who brings snacks and some other stuff. She brings her laptop from her bag and starts typing away too.
They both type away in silence occasionally stopping to eat or take a sip of water. Meanwhile, back at Zion's, he comes out of the bathroom and sees the guys still discussing. He asks them what they've gotten from their discussion and they tell him that Jeremy plans on arresting Tammy the next day. He sighs and goes into his room to dress.