Chapter 2: The Price of a Bride
1820 Words
The Secret Hub was hidden in plain sight.
From the outside, the three-storey building looked like another forgotten relic swallowed by Mushin's endless decay. Cracked walls clung stubbornly to faded blue paint. Rust streaked down broken window frames, while weeds pushed through fractured concrete as though reclaiming what man had abandoned years ago.
No one gave the building a second glance.
That was exactly how its owner wanted it.
Inside, however, it was a different world.
The air hummed with electricity. Rows of custom-built CPUs blinked with tiny blue lights. Thick fibre-optic cables snaked across the floor and disappeared into reinforced walls. Backup batteries lined one corner, while a noisy industrial cooling fan fought a losing battle against Lagos' unforgiving heat.
The room smelled of dust, hot electronics and instant noodles.
To outsiders, it would have looked like a cybercriminal's paradise.
To Teniola...
...it was home.
The reinforced steel door burst open with a loud bang.
"I'm in!"
Her voice echoed through the room as she hurried inside, breathing hard from running nearly five streets without stopping.
Without removing her backpack, she dropped into the nearest chair and pulled out her weather-beaten laptop.
"Easy!" a voice called lazily from the corner.
"You go scatter everything one day."
Segun sat with one leg hanging over the armrest of a battered swivel chair. A half-finished cannabis roll rested between his fingers while one eye remained fixed on the football match playing silently on a small television mounted to the wall.
He didn't even bother looking at her.
"You still never learn?" he asked. "Boss don warn you tire say make you stop this your superhero entrance."
Teniola ignored him.
Her fingers were already flying across the keyboard.
Within seconds, her laptop synchronized with the Hub's private server.
The largest monitor on the wall flickered.
Then another.
A photograph slowly appeared.
Chief Gabriel Otunba.
Even through a screen, wealth radiated from the elderly billionaire.
He wore spotless white agbada embroidered with gold thread. Thick coral beads circled his neck, while an expensive wristwatch peeked beneath his flowing sleeve. His smile carried the confidence of a man who believed money could solve every problem.
Maybe because it usually did.
Segun finally noticed the picture.
He frowned.
"Who be this old cargo?"
Teniola didn't answer.
She enlarged the image.
Another file appeared beside it.
Personal profile.
Business holdings.
Private companies.
Offshore accounts.
Family members.
Security schedule.
Segun slowly lowered the cannabis roll.
"Omo..."
Now she had his attention.
He stood up.
"You don hack this man?"
Still no answer.
Instead, Teniola continued typing until another encrypted folder opened.
Segun walked over.
He leaned closer.
His playful smile disappeared.
"Teni..."
His voice grew quieter.
"...who exactly be this man?"
For the first time since entering the room, Teniola looked up.
Her expression was unreadable.
"My husband."
Silence.
Segun blinked.
Then he laughed.
Not a small laugh.
A full-bodied laugh that echoed around the room.
"Wetin?"
He slapped his thigh.
"No, no, no..."
He pointed at the screen.
"This grandfather?"
He laughed harder.
"You don dey watch too many Nollywood films."
Teniola remained expressionless.
Segun's laughter gradually faded.
His smile disappeared.
"You dey serious?"
She nodded once.
The room became strangely quiet.
"What kind joke be this?"
"It isn't."
Segun searched her face, hoping to find even the slightest hint of mischief.
He found none.
"What happened?"
Before Teniola could answer, another door opened.
Emeka walked in carrying two takeaway cups of coffee.
Unlike Segun, he never rushed.
Everything about him was controlled.
Measured.
He paused after noticing the tension hanging in the room.
"I leave una for ten minutes..."
He placed one cup on the table.
"...everywhere don quiet."
Segun pointed at the monitor.
"Oga..."
He scratched his head.
"Abeg ask this girl wetin she mean."
Emeka turned toward the screen.
His eyes settled on Chief Otunba's photograph.
Then he looked back at Teniola.
"New client?"
She shook her head.
"No."
"Target?"
Another shake.
Emeka frowned.
"So who is he?"
Teniola folded her arms across her chest.
"My fiancé."
The coffee cup slipped slightly in Emeka's hand.
"What?"
"My husband-to-be."
This time nobody laughed.
Emeka stared at her for several seconds before slowly pulling up a chair.
"Explain."
She remained standing.
For a long moment, she simply looked at the billionaire smiling from the monitor.
Hatred burned quietly inside her eyes.
"When I was still in my mother's belly..."
Her voice was calm.
Too calm.
"...my father made a promise."
Segun exchanged a confused glance with Emeka.
"He and Chief Otunba were close friends."
She swallowed.
"So close that when both businesses were growing, they made an agreement."
Neither man interrupted.
" since the scan had proved I was a girl child ..."
She paused.
"...he would give my hand in marriage to the chief ..."
Another pause.
"..in exchange for a huge amount of money to raise his business ."
Segun frowned.
"Wetin?"
"the chief agreed."
She smiled bitterly.
"A lot of money."
The smile disappeared.
"That money became my bride price."
Silence swallowed the room.
Even the cooling fan suddenly sounded louder.
Emeka leaned back slowly.
"So..."
"...all these years..."
"You've been promised to him."
Teniola nodded.
"I didn't even know until after my father died."
She laughed once.
It wasn't a happy laugh.
"It turns out my uncles remembered every agreement involving money."
She looked back at Chief Otunba's photograph.
"They threw my mother and me out."
"They stole everything."
"But somehow..."
"...they never forgot that I already belonged to somebody."
Segun's face hardened.
"Damn."
"He has been waiting."
She nodded again.
"I turned twenty-two last month."
Nobody spoke.
"He has started asking questions."
The room suddenly felt smaller.
Hotter.
Heavier.
Then Teniola smiled.
This time...
...the smile frightened both men.
"So..."
She tapped Chief Otunba's smiling face on the screen.
"...I decided to pay my future husband a visit."
Emeka folded his arms and studied her for a long moment.
"I know that smile."
Teniola raised an eyebrow.
"You do?"
"It means you've already planned something."
She smiled wider.
"Maybe."
"No," Emeka replied. "Definitely."
Segun dragged another chair closer and sat astride it.
"Oya, enough suspense. Wetin dey your head?"
Teniola walked back to the monitors and tapped the screen. Several encrypted folders appeared, each neatly labelled.
"Chief Gabriel Otunba."
She opened another folder.
His business empire spread across the display.
Hotels.
Construction companies.
Oil investments.
Technology firms.
Private accounts.
Political donations.
Foreign assets.
Segun let out a low whistle.
"Omo... this old man get money pass some states."
"He has more than money," Teniola replied quietly.
"He has influence."
Another file opened.
Security schedules.
Travel records.
Personal assistants.
Private residences.
"He controls people."
She zoomed in on another document.
"And people like him believe one thing."
"What?"
"That money can buy anything."
Her eyes darkened.
"Even people."
The room fell silent again.
Emeka finally spoke.
"So what's the plan?"
Teniola rested both palms on the table.
"My uncles have already started calling."
Neither man looked surprised.
"They've suddenly remembered they're my family."
She laughed bitterly.
"For twenty years, they couldn't remember my birthday."
"But now..."
"...they remember I'm someone's bride."
Segun hissed under his breath.
"Wicked people."
"They've accepted the marriage."
She looked at both men.
"They don't care what I want."
"They just want the balance of the agreement."
Emeka frowned.
"Balance?"
She nodded.
"The money Chief Otunba promised after the wedding."
Segun's eyes widened.
"So dem never finish payment?"
"No."
"How much?"
"I don't know."
"But judging from his wealth..."
She shrugged.
"...it won't be small."
Segun rubbed both hands together.
"Omo..."
Emeka shot him a warning look.
"Relax."
"I'm just saying."
He leaned back.
"So..."
"You'll refuse the marriage?"
Teniola slowly shook her head.
"No."
Both men stared at her.
"What?"
"I'll accept."
Segun almost fell off his chair.
"Accept?"
"You?"
"The same Teni wey dey insult old men every market day?"
She grinned.
"Exactly."
Emeka narrowed his eyes.
"You've lost me."
"I'll marry him."
She paused deliberately.
"On paper."
Another silence.
Then—
Understanding flashed across Emeka's face.
"You want access."
She snapped her fingers.
"Bingo."
Segun looked between them.
"I still no understand."
"If I'm outside his empire..."
Teniola said,
"...I'm just another poor girl."
"But once I become Mrs. Otunba..."
She looked back at the billionaire's photograph.
"...every door opens."
Segun's mouth slowly fell open.
"Omo..."
She continued.
"I'll have access to his businesses."
"His homes."
"His staff."
"His computers."
"His trust."
"And once he trusts me..."
She smiled again.
"...I'll empty everything."
The words landed like stones.
Even Segun looked unsettled.
"You mean..."
"I'll take back far more than what was stolen from my family."
Emeka remained quiet.
His mind was already calculating risks.
"Do you know who this man is?"
"Yes."
"He has politicians eating from his hands."
"I know."
"He has police commissioners on speed dial."
"I know."
"If anyone steals one naira from him..."
"...they disappear."
"I know."
"And you're still willing to do this?"
Teniola looked him straight in the eyes.
"When my father died..."
"My mother begged those same people for justice."
"No one came."
"When we couldn't pay rent..."
"No one came."
"When we survived on garri for weeks..."
She smiled without humour.
"No one came."
"So why should I be afraid now?"
Neither man answered.
She wasn't asking a question.
She was reminding herself.
Emeka walked toward the monitor.
For nearly a minute he studied Chief Otunba's smiling face.
Finally he sighed.
"I've worked enough years on these streets to know one thing."
He turned around.
"When someone has nothing left to lose..."
"...that's when they're most dangerous."
Teniola nodded.
"Exactly."
Segun stood.
"Then make we help you become dangerous."
He stretched out his fist.
Teniola looked at it.
Then at Emeka.
The older man smiled faintly before extending his own fist.
"This won't just be another hustle."
He said quietly.
"If we enter this matter..."
"...there's no turning back."
"I know."
"You fit die."
"I know."
"We all fit die."
"I know."
She placed her fist against theirs.
"But if we succeed..."
Her voice dropped to almost a whisper.
"...nobody will ever control my life again."
The three fists remained together for several seconds.
Not as friends.
As family.
As partners.
As people bound by one impossible mission.
Emeka broke the silence.
"Then it starts today."
"No."
Teniola looked once more at Chief Otunba's photograph.
"It started the day he paid for a little girl he had never met."
She closed the file.
The billionaire's smiling face vanished into darkness.
Only one line remained glowing on the monitor.
TARGET LOCKED.
Teniola stared at those words with heart filled with heaviness
A loud vibration interrupted the room.
Teniola frowned.
Unknown Number.
She answered.
A deep voice spoke calmly.
"Good afternoon."
"Am I speaking with Miss Teniola Opaleye?"
She exchanged a glance with Emeka.
"...Who's asking?"
"Chief Gabriel Otunba is waiting in your house."
The line went dead.
- Writer
