The Velvet Trap

te. The kind that lingers after a storm,

I didn't know

ed hoodie I'd pulled over my dress last night, the faint hum of

s ho

gh

home. Cleaned

too long. The blanket had slipped off during the night, and

't hea

hought maybe he

r open just a little, I saw him. Sitting up in bed, bac

atchi

Not good, but not

d," he sai

observation. Like he was still

he roads were bad. Didn't feel lik

ig

said anythin

d, made coffee, grabbed my keys, gone. But instea

ery movement

much from last

said. "Not all.

ere burning up.

do, pro

, despite myself. "A little les

ied quickly. That quiet crept back in

," he said suddenly.

well.

me, really look. "Why

ay my hands had started wringing t

aid honestly. "Habi

iet for a

almost missed it: "

fr

e got too close. The moments I le

ns anymore," I whispered. "With

sure. "I meant it. The way I touched you. T

thing in my ch

use I wanted to believe him. And

of damp hair from his forehead. My fingers

d go," I

didn't

n't st

el and what we're afraid to say. Neither of us ready to le

n me when the sound bro

t. B

. On the

over befo

te nu

y movement, like a man who already knew what

nswe

speak

he way his jaw tightened. A slow, creeping tensi

hing. Just liste

said, bare

that followe

ck it down. I

up. Didn

ppened?"

e came l

cess to restricted accounts moved money, scrubbed reco

. "Vanish

a footage. It's like they knew e

dropped in

, his expressio

s designed by y

it, yeah. Back when I wa

ld've gotten in without tripping t

the blueprint," I

d at eac

t soft anymore. It was loa

ike the sickness had taken a

to go,"

odd

ming wi

e. He didn't t

This was about who still held the matches and who

its slow, punishing rise over the city. Humid air pressed down

e entrance like someone had called in a private army. Ken fl

looked

nerv

stop. A man in a wrinkled shirt paced in the hallway, muttering cu

ed, the second w

jumped, nearly dr

dormant offshore accounts, laundered ₦80 million through a dummy vendor, then s

at's impossible. We tri

ed, lips pressed

ed, eyes scanning the scr

d feel his

this one held weight. Caution. A hint

they go through

tly ones connected to Ibe Global's pre-2015 acqui

le

move. Did

d toward me then,

expressi

en know to look there?" he mu

e ans

ll tracing external access, but whoever it

ally turned to look

ers fad

s network," he

e, calm. "Fiv

to hide file

es

them again... witho

Is that a question

answer r

said e

. For a second, the noise in the room disappeare

said finally. "But I

r. "Then say it.

ed. Just

at was

back like the distance would give him clar

ver left, I

the only one who s

said n

e silence d