The Plan
1102 Words
Ify’s POV
"Five years ago. I was twenty. My brother was twelve." The words came out automatically, the same ones I'd said a hundred times to teachers, social workers, and relatives who didn't want to help. "It was just us after that."
Chuks leaned back slightly, studying me with new eyes. "That explains a lot."
"Explains what?"
"The way you carry yourself. Like you're carrying the world on your shoulders"
I didn't know how to respond to that, so I looked away. Out the window, the Lagos skyline stretched toward the ocean, a jumble of glass towers and rusted rooftops. Somewhere out there was my apartment. My brother. My tiny, fragile, ordinary life.
"So what happens now?" I asked.
"Now you let me protect you."
"Protect me how? By locking me in some safe house while I lose all my jobs and my brother misses his exams?"
"No." He stood up and walked to the window, his silhouette sharp against the morning light. "By keeping you close. There's an event this weekend. The annual Remi Foundation Gala. Half of Lagos high society will be there, including Marcus Adebayo."
My heart stuttered. "You want me to go to a party with the man who wants to kill you?"
"I want you to be seen. Publicly. With me." He turned to face me. "Right now, you're a loose end, Adebayo can eliminate you quietly. But if you become publicly associated with the Remi pack, if people see you at my side, you become a political problem for him. Killing you would be an act of war."
I stood up too, my legs unsteady. "You want to use me as a chess piece."
"I want to keep you alive."
"There has to be another way."
"There isn't." He crossed the room slowly, stopping just close enough that I had to tilt my head up to meet his eyes. "I know this isn't fair. I know you didn't ask for any of this. But the world you've been pulled into doesn't care about fairness. It cares about power, territory, and blood. And right now, the only thing standing between you and a very bloody end is me."
I wanted to argue. I wanted to scream at him that this wasn't my fight, that I was just a caterer trying to put her brother through school, that I didn't belong in his world of pack politics and arranged marriages and men who turned into wolves.
But the words wouldn't come. Because he was right. Fair didn't matter. Only survival mattered.
"Fine," I said. "I'll go to your gala. But I have conditions."
His eyebrows rose slightly. "Conditions?"
"First, you triple the security on my brother. I want updates every hour. If I call and don't get an answer within five minutes, I'm gone."
"Done."
"Second, this arrangement is temporary. Once Adebayo is no longer a threat, I go back to my life. No strings attached. No pack obligations. I'm not becoming a werewolf or joining your world or whatever else you might be planning."
Something flickered in his expression, too fast to read. "I never planned to turn you."
"Good. Third..." I hesitated. "Third, I need money."
Chuks didn't blink. "How much?"
"My brother's school fees. They're due next month, and I'm behind on payments. If I'm going to be playing bodyguard-and-billionaire games with you, I can't work my regular jobs. Which means I can't pay his fees." I lifted my chin, daring him to judge me. "So if you want my cooperation, that's the price."
Chuks studied me for a long moment. Then he walked to his desk, pulled out a cheque book, and wrote something. He crossed the room and handed it to me.
I looked at the amount. My knees nearly buckled.
"This is... this is five times what his fees cost."
"It's also backdated to cover the next two years. Plus a little extra for living expenses." His voice was calm, as if he hadn't just solved every financial problem I'd had for half a decade. "Your brother's education shouldn't suffer because of my world."
I folded the cheque carefully and tucked it into my pocket. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet." His expression hardened. "The gala is in four days. Between now and then, you need to learn the basics of werewolf politics. Who the major families are. What to say and what not to say. One wrong word to the wrong person, and this whole plan falls apart."
"I'm a fast learner."
"I hope so." He moved toward the door, then paused with his hand on the handle. "There's one more thing you should know. About Sandra."
My stomach tightened at the name. "What about her?"
"Sandra's family, the Okafors, have been allied with the Remi pack for three generations. The marriage arrangement between us was made when we were children. It's not something I can easily break." He looked at me over his shoulder. "Sandra is possessive. She sees threats where they don't exist. And she's already noticed that I'm paying attention to you."
"I'm not a threat to her."
"I know that. You know that. But Sandra won't care. She'll try to make your life difficult. She might even try to hurt you. I'll do everything I can to stop that, but I can't be everywhere at once." His gaze softened slightly. "So be careful. Not just of Adebayo. Of everyone."
He opened the door and stepped aside, letting me walk out first. As I passed him, my shoulder brushed his arm, and a jolt of electricity shot through me. I felt the heat of his skin even through our clothes.
I hurried down the hallway toward the elevator, my mind spinning with everything he had told me. Pack politics. Murderous rivals. A jealous almost-fiancée. And somewhere in the middle of it all, me. Ify Benard. The caterer who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The elevator doors opened, and I stepped inside. Before they closed, I looked back at Chuks. He was still standing in the hallway, watching me. His face was unreadable, but his eyes burned with something I couldn't name.
The doors slid shut.
I leaned against the elevator wall and pressed my hand against my pocket, feeling the cheque crinkle beneath my fingers. I had just made a deal with a wolf. Now I had to survive long enough to collect.
Four days until the gala. Four days until I walked into a room full of predators and pretended to belong there.
I had never been more terrified in my life.
- Writer
