HER LOVE BETWEEN LUXURY AND DANGER

lyn

ore I turn twenty-four, a

eflection in the polished mirror shows exactly what five hours of sleep and two jobs look like: dark circles that makeup can't hide, li

that kind

's the cleaning supervisor, a round woman whose bark is

ree more floors be

o the bucket of bleach water that's turned

e person who cleaned it hasn't had a proper meal since yesterday afternoon. Never mind that while I'm scrubbing thei

rporate women click past in heels that cost more than my monthly ear

r it th

ng the button for the seventeenth floor. My phone buzz

racetamol on your way home. S

rse. Last month, the doctor said it was stress. This mon

back:

and leather chairs. This floor houses the executive offices(the real money.

out millions of naira without blinking. There's still coffee in some of the cups, pastries half-eaten o

n when you've

ows when I hear a deep

thinks. If they can't delive

ertainty that makes people lose jobs. I duck be

r swing

t tailored so precisely it looks like it was sewn onto his body. Face carved from stone(sharp

-sentence wh

eyes

ce-surprise? Curiosity? It's gon

s exactly what I expected: deep,

en up, gripping my rag

ows. Clean my o

of them(older, with gray at his temples)fro

gain." His eyes have

ird. Rich people are weird,

ay, because wha

nsive cologne,something woody and dark. The kin

hind double doors with his name engraved

The big b

leaners. The kind of man who fires people bef

inside, and my

dark wood that looks imported from somewher

nothing

ng me with those intense eyes.

fully. "Your office i

ust som

nk. "

in his chair, fingers steepled

y duster and pretend to clean already-clean surfaces

name?" he a

im. "Evelyn.

have you w

onths,

efore

they're hiring." I move to the bookshelf, dus

a hard

t I answer anyway. "I d

ne has

tion. Maybe it's the weight of Mama's medical bills. Maybe it's this m

feel, "when choosing between feeding your family and

ghtly. The first real

eak you

ack to my dusting. "Most times, I

like he's testing the wor

to say to that,

, but it buzzes twice more in quick succe

it," h

I'm wo

wer

hands. Three texts from Salie,

r come

ainted

ur way to th

slips from

e moved. He catches my phone before it hits the groun

ice has shifted-less c

words. "She collapsed. They'r

mind racing. Which hospital? How will

catches my arm.

now yet, I h

out. Then I'

at him

out where she is. My

you don't

intense eyes, and I see something in th

r words tumbling over each other. "General Hospita

I interrupt. "

ing(billionaire, CEO, a man who live

pital, Yaba,

, bring the car to the front entrance. Now."

n't unders

ing for me to move. "But your mother needs you,

mo

g them two at a time while I struggle to keep up. My mind is in chaos. Ma

lobby doors. Leonardo opens the back door himself and pr

Yaba," he tells t

nd I grip the leather sea

be okay," Leonar

ow that." My

"But panic won't

l. My chest

vers mine o

says again, so

w, impossi

ne, an anchor in the storm. I don't understand this man. I don

matters