chapter 1 - The contract
*Chapter 1 –
The Contract*
The gun hit the table with a sound that rattled my bones.
“Sign it.”
Kachi Eze didn’t raise his voice. At twenty-two, a third-year student and head of the Vipers, he was the rumor of this campus made flesh.
I stared at the paper. One page. My name at the bottom.
_Tutor Kachi Eze in Physics 101. Pass rate: forty percent minimum. Duration: one semester._
_Clause Seven: Public appearances as requested._
_Breach equals termination. Of the contract. And you._
My hands shook. ₦182,400. That was the number keeping my mother alive in Gbagada General. That was the number I hadn’t been able to raise in three weeks.
I’m Amara Okoro. Nineteen. First year, Physics, at Lagos Institute of Technology, Nigeria. First in my family to enter university. My scholarship covered tuition, but not hospital bills. Not when Mama’s kidneys failed.
“Or what?” I asked.
“Or she loses her bed,” Kachi said. “Payment clears in thirty minutes if you sign. If you don’t, it doesn’t.”
He was tall, broad, dangerous in the way a storm was dangerous. Hoodie low, jaw tight, eyes that had seen too much. But right now he looked at me like I was his only way out.
“You’re insane,” I whispered.
“I’m efficient,” he said. “Tutor me. Help me pass. I pay your mother’s bill, and no one on this campus touches you.”
“Why me?”
“Because everyone else is afraid of me.” He leaned forward. The gun sat between us like a third person. “And because my father wants me married in thirty days to Aisha Bello. If I’m in a public relationship with LIT’s top student, he can’t force that wedding.”
I picked up the pen. My fingers trembled.
“One condition. You don’t touch me. No threats. No men at my hostel.”
“Deal,” he said.
I signed.
The moment the ink dried, Kachi made a call.
“Payment cleared,” he said. “Check your phone.”
_Hospital: Payment received. Patient secured. Thank you._
Air rushed out of me. Mama was safe. For now.
“Now, about the public part,” Kachi said. “People need to believe we’re dating. Two weeks only. Holding hands in public. Eating together. Nothing more unless you say so. After that, we announce we broke up.”
“You want me to fake date you?”
“I want you safe,” he said. “Two weeks, Amara. Then you’re free.”
I folded the paper and shoved it into my bag.
“When do we start?”
“Tonight. Nine PM. Old Engineering Block, Room Four. Don’t be late, Scholar.”
---
By 8:45 PM I was outside Old Engineering Block. Condemned years ago. Cracked windows, broken doors, whispers of blood spilled here a decade ago.
Room Four glowed at the end of the corridor.
Kachi was already there. Black T-shirt, jeans, a notebook open on the desk. Beside it sat a laptop, a phone, and a pistol.
He saw me look at it.
“Insurance,” he said, sliding it into the drawer.
I sat down.
“Where do we start?”
“Chapter One. Forces and energy.”
“You failed twice because you skipped the basics,” I said. “We start from scratch.”
Kachi leaned back, studying me.
“You’re not afraid of me, are you?”
“I’m afraid of failing my mother,” I said. “You’re just a problem to solve.”
His lips twitched.
“Fine, Scholar. Teach me.”
For an hour I talked. I wrote equations until my wrist ached. Kachi listened. No phone. No interruptions. He asked questions. Simple ones, but he asked.
When he solved a problem on his own, he grinned.
“See? I’m not useless.”
“You’re still annoying,” I said, and couldn’t hide my small smile.
My phone buzzed.
_Hospital: Your mother is stable. Rest well, Ms. Okoro._
I exhaled so hard my shoulders dropped. For the first time in weeks, I could breathe.
Kachi saw it.
“Good news?”
“My mother’s okay,” I said softly.
“Then lesson one is over.”
I packed my bag.
“If anyone approaches you, call this number,” he said, sliding a card across the table. _Tunde. Viper Security._
I left before I could ask what he meant. Because the way he said it made my stomach flip.
---
I was halfway down the corridor when I heard it.
Footsteps. Heavy. Fast. Not mine.
“Viper CEO!”
Six men walked in from the stairwell. All in black. All with the scorpion tattoo coiled around their necks.
The Scorpions.
LIT’s second most feared group, second only to the Vipers.
Vipers run the nights and Scorpions the shadows.
And at the front was a woman. About my height, maybe twenty-three. Sharp eyes, a scar cutting across her left eyebrow, a silver chain glinting at her throat. She wasn’t loud, but the corridor went quiet when she spoke.
Nneka “Venom” Obi. Second-in-command of the Scorpions.
She runs the female wing of the Scorpions.
Her gaze slid past me to Kachi, who had stepped out of Room Four and put himself between me and her.
“Step aside, Kachi,” Venom said. “This doesn’t concern the girl. Yet.”
“It concerns her the moment you bring it to her,” Kachi replied.
Venom sighed, like he was being difficult.
“We want the files. The ones your father’s been hiding. The Scorpions need them. You know what happens if you make us take them.”
“So take them,” Kachi said. “But she stays out of this.”
“You’re not in a position to negotiate,” Venom said.
Before either of them could move, heavy footsteps hit the corridor behind her.
More Scorpions. Six of them. And leading them was a man who made the hallway feel smaller.
Tall, broad, late twenties. Bald head, a jagged scar down his jaw, black vest over a white singlet. The scorpion tattoo on his neck was bigger than the others, older.
Jamal Adams.
Fourth-year dropout. Leader of the Scorpions. The man who’d put two Vipers in the hospital last semester and walked away untouched.
Venom stepped aside as he came forward. That told me everything I needed to know about who was really in charge.
“Well, well,” Jamal said, eyes flicking to me, then back to Kachi. “If it isn’t the Viper CEO hiding in a condemned building. With a girl.”
Kachi didn’t move.
“Jamal. This isn’t your fight.”
“Everything you touch is my fight,” Jamal said. His voice was low, rough, used to being obeyed.
“Venom brought me here for the files. I’m here to make sure you don’t make this messy.”
He looked at me again.
“Who’s this one? Your new project?”
“She’s not yours to talk about,” Kachi said. His voice was quiet. Dangerous.
Jamal smiled slow. He reached behind his back and pulled out a pistol.
Kachi’s hand moved to the drawer, faster than I could track.
Two guns. Two seconds.
“Last chance, Kachi,” Jamal said.
Kachi’s jaw tightened. “You don’t get to touch her.”
Jamal’s finger tightened on the trigger.
*The gunshot cracked through the silence.*
*[End of Chapter 1]*
