The edge of lost love ❤️‍🔥

Ryan had spent most of his life running—from the narrow streets of Block Seven, from the memories he once shared with a girl who smelled of rain and mango soap, from the version of himself that wasn’t polished enough to fit into the world he now ruled. But on the morning everything began to unravel, he woke up with a strange heaviness in his chest… a feeling he could not yet name. The glass walls of his penthouse caught the early sun, scattering gold across the floor. Lagos glimmered below—restless, loud, ambitious. The same city that had once tried to swallow him now bowed beneath his success. Ryan Adewale, CEO of Apex Meridian Holdings, the quiet corporate beast swallowing smaller companies one by one. He should have felt victorious. Instead, he felt restless. His assistant, Adaora, knocked once and stepped in. “Sir? You’re needed at the board meeting in forty minutes. Also…” She hesitated, flipping through her tablet. “You received an email marked urgent. Anonymous sender. It mentions someone named Cita.” Ryan froze. The name hit him like a fist made of memories — dusty barefoot afternoons, laughter echoing down cracked alleys, a girl with a chipped tooth who always shared her last biscuit with him. Cita. No one in his current life knew that name. He hadn’t spoken it in almost twelve years. “Show me,” he said quietly. Ada handed him the tablet. The email contained only one line: “You forgot her. But someone else never did.” And an address — a slum area not far from where he’d grown up. Ryan’s grip tightened. He kept his expression unreadable, but his mind spiraled. Who sent this? What did they know? Why now? Ada waited for instructions, but he only said, “Clear my schedule after the board meeting.” “Yes, sir.” He needed answers. And he needed to see if it was really her. --- THE PAST NEVER STAYS BURIED Block Seven had not changed much. He saw it from the backseat of his car — the peeling paint, the children chasing tyres, the cracked walls that held too many stories. For the first time in years, Ryan felt… small. He stepped out, ignoring the whispers: “That’s the big man from TV…” “Na him be that? See car!” But his eyes were searching for only one thing. He stopped in front of the small street shop with a faded green umbrella. It sold sweet biscuits and recharge cards — exactly the kind of place she would have worked. A woman in her 40s stood behind the counter, eyeing him with curiosity. “Good afternoon,” Ryan said. “Please… do you know someone named Cita? She used to live in Block Seven.” The woman studied him, her gaze sharp beneath her wrapper-tied headscarf. “You be Ryan?” His heartbeat stumbled. Nobody here should still remember him. “You grew tall,” she said, almost amused. “Block Seven no dey forget its own. As for Cita…” Her face dimmed. “Her life no too easy.” Ryan felt something tighten painfully in his chest. “What happened to her?” The woman sighed. “Cita don suffer. Work here, work there… her mama sick for long. Then one day, something happen. Something bad.” “What?” he demanded. The woman lowered her voice. “She disappear. No trace. People say maybe she run. People say maybe she taken.” Ryan felt the world tilt. Taken? “By who?” he asked. The woman’s eyes flicked nervously down the street. “Some men. Always watching her. Big car. Dark windows. We mind our business for this place.” “And no one looked for her?” he asked, anger flaring unexpectedly. “We poor, oga. We no get power to drag matter with men we no know.” Ryan ran a hand through his hair. This wasn’t just a ghost from his past. This was a threat. “Do you know where she worked last?” he asked. “Yes.” The woman wrote an address on a torn piece of carton. “Small hotel. Not a good place. But she needed money.” Ryan pocketed the note, turning to leave. “Ryan,” the woman called. “Cita… she be good girl. Whatever you do, no let her suffer again.” For a moment, he couldn’t trust himself to speak. “I won’t,” he said softly. Even though he didn’t know if she was dead or alive. --- THE HOTEL WHERE HOPE WENT TO DIE The hotel was worse than he expected — a peeling two-storey building with flickering lights and a broken gate. A place that smelled of sweat, bleach, and desperation. Ryan entered the lobby, drawing stares. A man in a stained shirt, probably the manager, stepped forward. “Yes, oga? You lost?” “I’m looking for a woman named Cita,” Ryan said, voice controlled. Recognition flashed across the manager’s eyes — followed quickly by fear. “We no know her again,” he said too quickly. Ryan stepped closer. “Think carefully.” The manager swallowed. “She work here before, but she leave.” “When?” “Six months ago.” “How did she leave?” The man’s mouth opened, closed. His gaze darted toward a CCTV camera that wasn’t even working. “She left,” he repeated, too rehearsed. Ryan’s instincts screamed. Someone had warned him not to talk. “You’re lying,” Ryan said quietly. The man shuddered. “Oga please… I no fit talk. People dey watch. If I talk—” Ryan reached into his pocket and set a small black card on the counter. The Apex Meridian crest glinted under the fluorescent light. “You just earned protection,” Ryan said. “Talk.” The manager trembled. “She was taken. Three men. Black SUV. They come more than once. Always ask for her. That last night… she cry say she no wan go. They force her. I— I fit do nothing.” Ryan’s blood turned to ice. “Do you know who they were?” “No name. But…” He hesitated again. “But what?” “One of them wear a ring. Heavy gold ring. With a serpent wrapping around it.” Ryan froze. He knew that ring. He’d seen it once—on the hand of Martin Kole, a dangerous man with too much money and too many connections. A man Apex Meridian was currently negotiating a land deal with. A man Ryan already didn’t trust. Why would Kole’s men take Cita? Why her? His pulse hammered. This wasn’t coincidence. This wasn’t random. Someone was sending him a message. Or using her to get to him. --- THE THIN THREAD OF MEMORY On his way back to the car, a memory ambushed him. Cita, age 11, sitting on the broken steps outside his old house. “Ryan,” she had said, swinging her legs, “promise me something.” “What?” “That when you become big and important, you won’t forget me.” He’d laughed then, flicking her forehead. “Why would I forget you? You’re the most annoying person I know.” She’d smiled—bright, stubborn, unshakable. “Good. Because I won’t forget you either.” Ryan pressed a hand to his chest. He had broken a promise he never should have made. But someone else had remembered her. Someone dangerous. And now he would find out why. Even if he had to tear through the city to get her back. --- A MESSAGE FROM THE SHADOWS That night, as the city lights blinked beneath his penthouse, Ryan’s phone vibrated. Unknown number. He answered immediately. A voice distorted through a filter spoke: “You’re late, Ryan.” His blood ran cold. “What do you want?” he demanded. “You’re looking for her,” the voice said. “Good. But looking does not mean finding.” His grip tightened. “Where is she?” A laugh — low, amused, cruel. “You’ll know soon enough. Meanwhile…” A photo message popped up. Ryan opened it. His lungs constricted. It was Cita. A recent picture — her hair longer, tied messily, her clothes rumpled, her eyes wide and scared. Someone’s hand gripped her shoulder. The serpent ring gleamed on the thumb. Ryan felt something inside him snap. The voice spoke again, almost gently: “People like her don’t matter, Ryan. But you… you do. And you’ve been getting in the way.” Ryan’s voice was pure steel. “If you hurt her—” “Oh, we already did.” Click. The call ended. Ryan stood frozen, the phone still pressed to his ear. For the first time in years, fear prickled down his spine. Not fear for himself. Fear… for her. The girl he had once promised never to forget, the girl fate had thrown back into his path at the worst possible moment. And the feeling in his chest, the heaviness he couldn’t name that morning… Now he understood it. He was too late realizing something he should have seen long ago. He was still in love with her. And now he might lose her forever.