A DESPERATE DEAL

chapter 6: Amara's first move

Monday. 7 AM.

Ada was already in Damian’s office very early again. 6:50 AM. She had learned if hell started at 7 AM, you get there early and claim your seat.

She made tea this time, for both of them. Two cups, black, no sugar for him, with milk for her. She placed his on his side of the breakfast table.

He wasn’t there.

7:10 AM no Damian. The breakfast tray hadn’t arrived the office was too quiet.

7:15 AM. The door opened.

Not Damian.

Amara.

Tall. 5’11” in heels. Perfect bonestraight hair that touched her waist. Designer dress, red, that cost more than Ada’s mother’s house rent for one year. Face on every magazine cover in Lagos. Skin flawless, makeup flawless, nails flawless. The kind of woman Ada used to see on i********: and think, “People like that don’t exist in real life.”

She existed. And she was standing in Damian’s office looking at Ada like Ada was a cockroach.

She looked at Ada from head to toe, slowly, deliberately, and smiled. But it didn’t reach her eyes. Her eyes were cold, calculating.

“So you’re the wife,” she said. Her voice was sweet, like honey with poison inside. “The famous secret wife I’ve heard so much about you.”

Ada stood up fast her chair scraped. “Good morning ma.”

“Don’t ‘good morning’ me,” Amara said, walking further in, her perfume filling the room - expensive, heavy. She walked straight to Damian’s chair, his big black leather CEO chair, and sat in it. Like she owned it like she owned him. “I’ve been with Damian for two years two good years. We were supposed to get engaged last December in Dubai. He had the ring, Ada. Five carats. Then you showed up out of nowhere with your sad story.”

Ada’s chest hurt. Her hands went cold.

“It’s... it’s a contract,” Ada whispered, because she didn’t know what else to say. “It’s not real.”

“Oh, I know,” Amara laughed. A soft, musical laugh that made Ada’s skin crawl. “He told me last night in bed. He said it's just business, Amara, 12 months. Just to make Grandpa happy before he dies. She means nothing.’”

Last night. In bed.

The words hit Ada like a slap, then another. Last night. While she was at home worrying about her mother, he was with Amara. Of course he was what did she expect?

Amara stood and walked to Ada, slowly, hips swaying. She was so close Ada could see her perfect lashes.

“But here’s the thing, Ada. Can I call you Ada?” She didn’t wait. “Men like Damian get attached. Especially to girls who look poor and desperate and grateful. It makes them feel like a hero and Damian loves feeling like a hero.”

Ada’s hands clenched into fists at her sides. Her nails dug in. “I’m not desperate.

“Not desperate? You married a man you met for 10 minutes for money. What else do you call it? Love?” Amara tilted her head let me give you advice from one woman to another. Take the 50 million and leave. Because if you stay, I will make your life hell. I know people, Ada. I know your mother is in Reddington, I know your house in Surulere. Don’t make me an enemy.”

A threat. Clear, calm, said with a smile.

Ada’s blood ran cold. She opened her mouth to answer, to scream, to tell her to leave

The door opened.

Damian.

He stopped when he saw Amara in his chair, and Ada standing, pale, shaking.

His face changed in one second from tired to thunder.

“What are you doing here, Amara?” His voice was low, dangerous.

Amara turned instantly, her face transformed. Sweet, soft, teary like magic. An actress.

“Morning, baby,” she said, voice small, hurt. “I missed you. You didn’t pick my calls last night. And I... I heard you got married I just wanted to meet your wife to congratulate you.”

Damian’s face went blank CEO ice. “Amara outside. Now we will talk outside.”

“No.” Amara crossed her arms, and a tear slipped down her perfect cheek. “I have a right to know what’s happening, Damian is it true? Are you really married? Did you really marry this girl without telling me? After everything?”

Damian looked at Ada then at Amara. His jaw was tight.

Then he did something Ada never expected.

He walked to Ada, took her hand, laced their fingers together. His hand was warm, big, real. Calloused. His thumb brushed her knuckles.

“Yes,” he said, looking straight at Amara, holding Ada’s hand tighter. “It’s true we got married last week small registry. This is my wife Ada Cole. And you will respect her in my office and everywhere else.”

Ada’s breath caught. Her heart stopped, his hand was holding hers like it meant it. Like she was really his.

Amara’s perfect face cracked. The tears became real now, angry and humiliated.

“You’re lying,” she whispered. “You’re lying to hurt me.”

“I’m not,” Damian said, his voice hard. “And you being in my chair, threatening my wife, is unacceptable leave now before I call security.”

Threatening. He knew he had heard.

Amara looked at Ada one last time. Pure, undiluted hate. The sweet mask was completely gone.

“This isn’t over,” she whispered, so quietly only Ada could hear. Not even close.

Then she grabbed her bag and ran out, heels clicking furiously, slamming the door.

Silence.

Heavy, ringing silence.

Damian let go of Ada’s hand instantly, like she burned him. He stepped back, ran a hand through his hair.

“Sorry about that,” he muttered. He wouldn’t look at her She’s not usually like that.

“It’s fine,” Ada whispered but it wasn’t fine. Her hand still tingled where he held it, her palm still felt his warmth she shoved her hand into her skirt pocket.

“Did she hurt you? Did she say something to you?” he asked, suddenly looking at her, scanning her face.

“No,” Ada lied. She couldn’t tell him about the threat to her mother. Rule 1: No drama.

Damian nodded. He pressed the intercom. “Sarah, breakfast. Now.” He poured coffee himself, black.

They ate. But the air was different, heavy Charged. The contract sat between them, invisible but heavy.

“Rule 9,” Damian said after 10 minutes of silence, not looking up.

Ada looked up, exhausted. “How many rules are there now?”

“Don’t trust Amara,” he said, ignoring her joke. His voice was serious. “She’s vindictive. she was my girlfriend, yes. For two years, on and off but it’s been over for months. Since before I met you she doesn’t accept no.”

Girlfriend. So it was true.

Ada nodded and swallowed her eggs that tasted like nothing. “Okay.”

Then Damian’s phone rang unknown number, loud. He frowned and answered.

“Hello?” He listened. Two seconds his face went completely pale. White as paper. His hand holding the phone shook.

“What? Which hospital? What happened? Is he breathing?”

He hung up. Stood so fast his chair fell back with a crash.

“My grandfather,” he said, his voice breaking for the first time since Ada met him. The billionaire mask completely shattered. He collapsed at home heart attack. They took him to Reddington. He’s asking for you for us.

Ada stood so fast her own chair fell. “What? Let’s go. Now!”

In the car, a different car, his private car, Damian drove himself fast. Too fast, weaving through Lagos traffic, honking, swearing. His hands gripped the wheel so tight his knuckles were white.

“He’s all I have,” Damian said suddenly, eyes on the road, voice raw. “My parents died when I was 12. He raised me. if he dies thinking I’m alone, thinking I have no one

“He won’t,” Ada said without thinking. She reached over and touched his arm, his forearm, warm and tense. “We’ll get there and I’ll be your wife a good one I promise, he will see us together.”

Damian looked at her for one second, then back at the road. His eyes were red.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

At the hospital, the private wing where her own mother was, they ran. Past nurses, past doctors, Damian didn’t stop.

Grandpa Cole was in a private room. Oxygen mask, frail, small in the big bed. 89 years old, skin like paper, but his eyes were sharp like Damian’s.

But when he saw them holding hands, running in together, his face lit up.

“My grandson and his beautiful wife,” he whispered, voice weak but happy.

Damian knelt by the bed instantly, holding his grandfather’s hand. “Grandpa, this is Ada my wife.”

Ada knelt too, on the other side, tears already in her eyes because she could see how much Damian loved this man. “It’s nice to meet you, sir. I’m Ada.”

Grandpa took Ada’s hand with his other hand. His skin was paper thin, cold.

“You’re beautiful,” he whispered to Ada, squeezing weakly. “Take care of my boy, eh? He’s stubborn. He acts like stone but he has a good heart under all that ice. He’s just scared to love after his parents”

Ada’s eyes filled and spilled. “I will, sir I promise.”

Damian looked away, jaw tight, eyes shining. He stood and turned to the window so they wouldn’t see.

As they left after the doctor said Grandpa was stable and needed rest, Grandpa squeezed Ada’s hand one more time and whispered only to her, “Don’t let him push you away Ada. He needs someone to stay.”

In the car back, neither spoke. The AC was cold, but the air was warm with something unspoken.

But when Damian dropped Ada at her house in Surulere, he didn’t just stop and let her out. He parked Looked at her.

“Sunday dinner is still on. Grandpa wants it in his house. Don’t be late. And wear the ring. I’ll send it tonight.”

The ring. The one he bought yesterday 3 carats from BoBo Diamonds. Ada had seen the box.

As Ada got out, her feet aching, her heart aching more, she heard him whisper, so quietly she almost missed it:

“Thank you for today, Mrs. Cole. For real.”

For the first time, Rule 1 felt impossible.

Because she was starting to feel something. Something warm and terrifying and real.

And that was dangerous. Very dangerous