MY SISTER IS A GHOST

CHAPTER EIGHT

UNDERNEATH

The real killer was still out there.

Watching.

Waiting.

Hidden in plain sight.

And they had no idea who it was.

The silence that followed Ellen's revelation felt heavier than the storm clouds gathering outside.

Tania stared at her sister.

"You mean the man under the oak tree wasn't the one who killed you?"

Ellen sat on the edge of the bed, her pale fingers clenched tightly around the blanket.

"No."

"Then who was?"

"I don't know."

Farida groaned loudly.

"Wonderful."

Nobody laughed.

Because nothing about this situation was funny anymore.

Ellen closed her eyes.

Fragments of memory continued surfacing.

Broken pieces.

Unfinished scenes.

Faces without names.

Conversations without endings.

Yet one thing had become increasingly clear.

The night she died had not begun at the river.

It had begun months earlier.

Inside CODAX.

Inside ViX.

Inside boardrooms filled with powerful men who hated being told what to do.

---

Three years earlier.

CODAX Headquarters.

Boardroom.

The atmosphere was tense.

Twelve directors sat around the polished conference table.

All men.

All wealthy.

All influential.

And all visibly irritated.

At the head of the table sat Ellen Banky Shaffa-Coker.

Twenty-seven years old.

Widowed.

Silent.

Calm.

Dangerously intelligent.

A woman occupying a seat many believed belonged to a man.

The chairman cleared his throat.

"Mrs. Coker."

Ellen lifted her eyes.

"Yes?"

"We've reviewed the proposal."

"And?"

A brief silence.

"We don't believe it's practical."

Ellen glanced down at the document.

Then back at him.

"It saves the company nearly six hundred million naira annually."

Several directors exchanged looks.

The chairman forced a smile.

"That isn't the issue."

"It appears to be."

Another uncomfortable silence followed.

Everyone in the room knew the truth.

The proposal would save money.

A lot of money.

Which was exactly why some of them hated it.

Because hidden inside those expenses were private benefits.

Luxury accounts.

Unauthorized allowances.

Fake consultancy fees.

Small streams of money that had quietly flowed into certain pockets for years.

Until Ellen arrived.

And started asking questions.

---

When Augustus died, many expected Ellen to fail.

Some expected her to sell the companies.

Others expected her to appoint male executives to run operations.

Instead, she did the opposite.

She took control herself.

And within two years profits increased dramatically.

Debt reduced.

Expansion accelerated.

Waste disappeared.

Investors celebrated.

Executives suffered.

Because Ellen watched everything.

Every signature.

Every contract.

Every transaction.

Nothing escaped her attention.

And the men who had grown comfortable under Augustus suddenly found themselves accountable.

They hated it.

---

Back in the present.

Ellen stared into space.

The memories felt sharper now.

More complete.

Tania watched carefully.

"What are you remembering?"

"The board."

"The board?"

Ellen nodded slowly.

"There were people who wanted me removed."

Farida folded her arms.

"That's normal."

"No."

Ellen's expression darkened.

"This wasn't normal."

The room became silent.

"What happened?"

Ellen looked toward the window.

Rain began falling again.

Softly.

Almost gently.

"I discovered missing money."

Tania frowned.

"How much?"

"A lot."

"Millions?"

Ellen laughed bitterly.

"Billions."

The room froze.

---

Four Months Before Ellen's Death

CODAX Financial Review Meeting

The financial report sat open before her.

Something felt wrong.

The numbers didn't align.

The transactions were legal on paper.

But not in reality.

Someone had built an entire system designed to hide theft.

And they had done it well.

Very well.

Almost well enough to fool her.

Almost.

Ellen reviewed the files again.

Then again.

Then a fourth time.

Eventually she found it.

The pattern.

A network of shell companies.

False contractors.

Fabricated projects.

Money leaving CODAX.

Money disappearing.

Money ending up somewhere else.

She immediately called for an internal audit.

And that decision changed everything.

---

The audit created panic.

Not among employees.

Not among investors.

Among directors.

Within days, resistance emerged.

Meetings became hostile.

Conversations became shorter.

Smiles became forced.

People stopped trusting one another.

And at the center of it all stood Ellen.

The obstacle.

The problem.

The widow who refused to look away.

---

One afternoon she entered a board meeting carrying a stack of documents.

The room immediately quieted.

Everyone knew something was wrong.

Ellen placed the files on the table.

Then calmly addressed the room.

"I found irregularities."

No response.

"I also found theft."

Still silence.

The chairman shifted uncomfortably.

"What exactly are you suggesting?"

Ellen opened the first file.

Then another.

Then another.

The evidence spoke for itself.

Transactions.

Transfers.

Approvals.

Signatures.

Names.

Too many names.

Too many powerful names.

By the time she finished speaking, several faces had turned pale.

The room felt suffocating.

One director finally laughed.

A forced laugh.

An angry laugh.

"A young woman shouldn't accuse senior men without evidence."

Ellen calmly pushed the documents toward him.

"There is evidence."

The laughter died immediately.

---

That evening Augustus warned her.

For the first time in their marriage, he looked afraid.

Truly afraid.

"Ellen."

She looked up from her laptop.

"What?"

"Leave it alone."

The statement surprised her.

"What?"

"The audit."

"No."

"Ellen."

"No."

Augustus sighed heavily.

"They won't forgive this."

"They stole from the company."

"You don't understand."

"Then explain it."

He looked away.

A rare thing.

Almost as rare as Ellen losing her composure.

"There are people involved."

"What people?"

No answer.

And that frightened her.

Because Augustus always had answers.

Always.

---

Present Day

Tania listened carefully.

The room felt colder with every memory.

"Do you think those men killed you?"

Ellen hesitated.

Then nodded.

"I think they wanted me gone."

Farida frowned.

"But why kill Augustus?"

The question lingered.

Dangerous.

Important.

Ellen slowly looked up.

And for the first time since revealing she was dead, genuine anger appeared in her eyes.

Because the answer had finally surfaced.

Not completely.

But enough.

"He tried to protect me."

Silence.

Then another memory struck.

Sudden.

Violent.

Powerful.

Ellen gasped.

The room temperature dropped instantly.

Every light flickered.

Her eyes widened.

Tania rushed forward.

"Ellen?"

But Ellen wasn't looking at her.

She was looking somewhere else.

Somewhere only she could see.

And when she finally spoke, her voice barely rose above a whisper.

"I remember the last thing Augustus said before he died."

Nobody breathed.

Nobody moved.

"What did he say?"

A tear slid down Ellen's face.

Slowly.

Painfully.

Then she whispered the words.

"The enemy is already inside the family."

The room fell silent.

Because suddenly the danger felt closer than ever before.

Not in the river.

Not in the companies.

Not beneath the oak tree.

Inside the family.

And someone they trusted might have been involved all along.