For several seconds, Lila couldn't speak.
The house where her father had supposedly died had become nothing more than a painful memory. Her mother had told her it was demolished after the accident because she couldn't bear to see the place where her husband had taken his last breath.
Lila had believed her.
Now, she wasn't sure what to believe anymore.
"Where is the house?" she asked.
Daniel hesitated.
"On the outskirts of Lagos. Your father bought the land years before he met mine. After his death, our father acquired the property."
Adrian frowned. "Why would he keep it?"
"Because whatever he was searching for, he never found it."
Lila stood abruptly.
"Then we're going there."
Adrian caught her hand before she could reach the door.
"Not tonight."
She turned to him, her eyes blazing.
"My father might have been murdered, Adrian. My mother is telling me not to trust your family, and your brother is standing here explaining that his father has been hiding something about my father's death. How exactly do you expect me to sit down and wait?"
"I don't expect you to wait forever. I expect you to think clearly before walking into a situation we don't understand."
She pulled her hand away.
"You're asking me to be calm about the possibility that everyone lied to me about my father?"
"No." His voice softened. "I'm asking you to let me go with you."
Something in her expression shifted.
For a moment, she saw the man who had once stood in the rain outside her apartment, waiting without demanding forgiveness.
But this time, the secret was bigger than their relationship.
She didn't know whether she could trust his family.
She wasn't even sure she could trust him completely.
"Fine," she whispered. "But if we discover that your father had anything to do with my father's death, I won't protect you from the truth."
Adrian held her gaze.
"I wouldn't ask you to."
---
They left before sunrise.
Daniel drove while Adrian sat beside him. Lila remained in the back seat, clutching her phone and staring through the window.
She had called her mother six times.
There had been no answer.
When they finally arrived, the road narrowed into a neglected path surrounded by tall grass. An old iron gate stood at the end, partly hidden by overgrown vines.
Beyond it stood a house.
It was smaller than Lila remembered, but unmistakably familiar.
The faded cream walls. The cracked veranda. The mango tree beside the fence.
Her childhood.
Her father.
Everything she had been told was gone stood before her.
Lila stepped out of the car on trembling legs.
"I remember that tree," she whispered. "My father used to lift me onto his shoulders so I could pick the mangoes."
Adrian came to stand beside her but didn't touch her.
She appreciated that.
For once, she needed to feel whatever was coming without being distracted by anyone's comfort.
Daniel forced the gate open.
It groaned loudly.
They approached the front door, where a rusted padlock hung from the handle.
Daniel examined it.
"Someone has been here recently."
Adrian looked down.
Fresh footprints marked the dusty ground.
Lila's stomach tightened.
"Who?"
Nobody answered.
Then they heard it.
A sound from inside the house.
A chair scraping across the floor.
Adrian immediately moved in front of Lila.
"Stay behind me."
Before Daniel could stop him, Adrian pushed the door.
It opened slowly.
The living room was dark, covered in dust, with old furniture beneath faded sheets.
But someone had disturbed the dust.
A cup sat on the table.
Still half-full of water.
Lila covered her mouth.
"Someone is living here."
A shadow moved at the end of the corridor.
"Who's there?" Daniel shouted.
Silence.
Then a woman's voice answered from the darkness.
"Lila?"
Lila froze.
She knew that voice.
She had heard it every day throughout her childhood.
It was the voice of the woman who had just warned her not to trust the Adebayo family.
Her mother stepped into the light.
And in her trembling hand was a small black recorder.
"Your father didn't die in an accident," she whispered. "And the man responsible is someone you already know."