Precious Deceit

Episode 3 (The Note)

They worked for twenty more minutes. Ethan asked short questions. Nadia gave short answers. No wasted words between them.

"Pull the T.O. shipments first," he said. "Then Marcus. Quietly. No noise."

"Understood."

"You report to me. Not to Marcus. Not to anyone else in this building."

"I hear you, sir."

He stood. She stood too. That was the meeting, over just like that, no soft landing, no small talk.

✦

Nadia stepped out of the office and shut the door soft behind her.

A man stood by the water dispenser near the lift lobby. Tall, easy smile, suit jacket open, tie loose like he had already survived one meeting too many that morning.

"You must be the new one," he said. "Nadia, right?"

"Yes."

"Debo Alade. I run logistics and partnerships here." He put out his hand. "You're the one giving Marcus sleepless nights, I hear."

Nadia almost laughed. "News moves fast in this building."

"Faster than the lift." He smiled wider. "Don't mind anybody, eh. If you ever get confused about anything, work-wise, just come and meet me. Twenty-ninth floor. My door is always open."

"Thank you. That means a lot."

"I mean it o. This place can swallow new people whole if nobody guides them small."

"I'll remember that." Something in Nadia's chest loosened, just slightly. "Thank you, Mr. Alade."

"Just Debo." He was already moving past her, knocking twice on Ethan's door as he went. "Good luck with Marcus."

She smiled at that, small but real, and walked on.

✦

Debo knocked and let himself into Ethan's office without waiting for an answer, the way only a handful of people in that building could.

"You look busy," Ethan said, not looking up.

"I am about to make you busier." Debo dropped into the chair Nadia had just left. "I want us to meet with Baraka Resources."

Ethan looked up now. "The mining company in Kwara?"

"That one."

"No." Ethan went back to his screen. "We don't know them well enough."

"Ethan." Debo leaned forward. "Hear me out first, before you kill it."

"I'm listening. Talk fast."

"Baraka just secured full mining rights over a new tourmaline and emerald deposit. Biggest one found in this country in maybe ten years. And they have no buyer locked in yet."

"So? Every mining company wants a buyer. That's not a reason."

"Here's the reason." Debo's voice dropped, serious now. "If we sign with Baraka first, we buy straight from the ground. No middleman. No agent inflating numbers before the stone even reaches us. You've had trouble with valuations lately, no be so?"

Ethan's eyes narrowed. "How do you know about that."

"I don't know the details. I know enough. Everybody who needs to know, knows something is not right somewhere in that chain." Debo shrugged. "This deal cuts one full layer out of the chain. Direct from mine to us. Less hands. Less room for somebody to cheat."

Ethan sat back. He said nothing for a moment, turning it over the way he turned every number over before he trusted it.

"Set up the meeting," he said finally. "But I want the paperwork first. All of it. Before we sit with anybody."

"Already sent to your email." Debo stood, grinning. "I know you too well, my guy."

"Get out of my office."

"Love you too." Debo left laughing.

✦

Nadia's desk sat under a small mountain of paper. Shipment logs. Old invoices. Printed emails with names circled in red pen.

Her officemate, Blessing Etim, looked over the stack more than once and shook her head. "Nadia, this life you are living. You will kill yourself for this company o."

"Almost there," Nadia muttered, eyes on her screen, not looking up.

Her phone buzzed on the desk. She almost ignored it. Then she saw the name. Bimpe. Her younger sister.

She picked up fast. "Bimpe, wetin happen?"

Her sister's voice came through shaky, fast, words tumbling over each other. Something about their mother. Something about the hospital. Something about needing Nadia there now, not later, now.

"I'm coming," Nadia said. "I'm coming right now. Just breathe small. I'm coming."

She dropped the phone. Her hands were already moving, grabbing her bag, shutting down her laptop.

"Blessing." Her voice came out tighter than she meant it to. "I have to go. Family emergency."

"Go, go now," Blessing said, already standing to help her gather her things.

Nadia grabbed a sticky note from her desk and scribbled fast, hand shaking slightly.

"Give this to Mr. Voss. Please. He's with Mr. Alade right now, I can't just barge in there. Tell him I'll explain tomorrow."

Blessing took the note. "I will make sure he gets it. Go. Your mother needs you."

Nadia was already at the door.

✦

She moved fast through the corridor, past the water dispenser, past the lift lobby, bag half open, one strap sliding down her shoulder.

Victoria stepped out of her office just as Nadia passed. She was holding a folder she did not need, for a colleague who was not there, an excuse built in half a second the way only practiced people build one.

Their eyes met for a moment.

Victoria said nothing. She only watched, one eyebrow lifting slightly, as Nadia disappeared into the lift.

Interesting, Victoria thought, already turning back toward her office. Where is madam rushing to, in the middle of a work day.

She filed it away, the way she filed everything that might be useful later.

In the book, Victoria's thought ("Interesting… Where is madam