Chapter 7: The Broken King
706 Words
POV:Sam(The Assistant)
I had spent the last twelve hours scouring the city of Lagos. I checked the cheap motels, the bus parks, and the crowded shelters. Every time I asked a former business associate about "Elias, the CEO," they laughed in my face.
"That man is gone," they told me, adjusting their silk ties. "He’s a ghost now. Why are you looking for a dead man?"
But I knew Elias. He wasn't the type to hide in a hole or beg for crumbs. He was a builder. If he had nothing, he would go where the raw work was.
I pulled my old car up to a massive construction site near the market just as the sun was setting. The air was thick with the smell of wet cement, diesel, and heavy sweat. I saw a group of laborers sitting on the red earth, sharing a single loaf of agege bread. They were covered in grey dust, their faces etched with exhaustion.
And then, I saw him.
Elias was standing apart from the others. His designer shirt—the one I had helped him pick out for a billion-naira board meeting last month—was shredded at the shoulders. His hands, which usually held gold pens and signed international contracts, were raw, bleeding, and stained with dry concrete. He was walking with a heavy limp, his head bowed against the weight of his own shadow.
My heart shattered. This was the man who once moved global markets with a single phone call. Now, he was walking toward the hospital with a few crumpled notes clutched in his hand like they were diamonds.
I followed him at a distance, back to the hospital. I watched him enter the lobby. The security guards, who used to bow and open the doors when his SUV pulled up, now pushed him aside like trash.
"Move along, laborer!" one guard shouted, shoving his shoulder. "The back entrance is for people like you! Use the service stairs!"
Elias didn't even argue. He didn't tell them who he was. He just lowered his head and kept walking. He didn't see me. He didn't see anything except the red light of the ICU where his daughter lay.
I stood in the shadows of the hallway and watched him approach the nurse's station. I heard the nurse's cold, sharp voice telling him the bill had increased. I saw him tremble. I saw the moment he realized that even after a whole day of breaking his back under the sun, it still wasn't enough to keep his daughter safe.
He didn't scream. He didn't get angry. He just walked to the glass window of Room 402 and sank to the floor. He leaned his head against the cold white wall and closed his eyes. In that moment, he didn't look like a CEO. He looked like a man who was carrying the weight of the entire world on his shoulders.
I took a deep breath and smoothed down my shirt. I didn't have much left either—Chief Otunba had fired me the moment I refused to help him steal Elias’s remaining land titles—but I had my loyalty.
I walked over to the vending machine and bought a bottle of cold water and a hot meat pie. Then, I walked toward the man sitting in the dust.
"Sir," I said softly. My voice was trembling.
Elias jumped, his eyes snapping open. For a second, I saw the old fire of the "Lion of Lagos" in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a deep, painful shame. He tried to hide his bloodied, concrete-stained hands behind his back.
"Sam..." he whispered. He looked like he wanted to disappear into the floor. "You shouldn't see me like this."
I didn't say a word. I just sat down on the dirty hospital floor right next to him, ignoring the dust that ruined my trousers. I opened the water and handed it to him.
"I’ve seen you win, Elias," I said, looking him straight in the eyes. "Now I’m here to watch you fight. Eat. We aren't done yet."
- Writer
