CHAPTER TWO: “Gone
437 Words
POV: Chuka Okoye
He didn’t run. Not at first.
When Chuka left the hotel room that morning, the sun was already high. The whole place was buzzing with excitement—camera crews, shouting stylists, makeup artists running with bags. He smiled at people, nodded at his cousins, even hugged one of his aunties.
He looked calm.
But inside, he was losing it.
Because Adanna had said something last night that shook him to his core:
> “If you go through with this wedding, everything you’ve buried will come to light.”
She had proof. Emails. Recordings. Documents he thought were destroyed. And she’d threatened to show them to the press if he tried to pull anything.
He wanted to believe she was bluffing.
Until she said one name he never thought he’d hear again—
Nora.
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Chuka’s hands shook now as he sat in the back of a dusty keke, hoodie over his head. Phone turned off. Face down. Watching the city blur by.
He kept thinking about the last time he saw Adanna—hours ago, in her dressing room.
She wasn’t smiling.
She wasn’t excited.
She was staring at him like she already knew something bad was coming.
> “You don’t love me,” she’d said. “You just love how I make you look.”
And maybe she was right.
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He got out near a small church two streets down from the venue. It was quiet. Empty. He needed to breathe.
He pulled out a crumpled note from his pocket—the one Adanna left in his suit jacket.
> "By the time you read this, you’ll already know what I did. What you did. What we all deserve."
He stared at the words like they were fire.
What she did?
His mind raced. Did she go public with the blackmail? Did she run? Or…
No.
No way.
Not Adanna. She wasn’t the type to—
Then his phone buzzed.
Unknown Number:
> She’s dead. And you’re the one they’re looking for.
Chuka froze.
His heart dropped into his stomach.
He looked around—like someone was watching him. People walked past like nothing was wrong. Birds chirped. Life moved on.
But his world had just shattered.
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He slid his phone into his pocket and ran his hand over his face.
He couldn’t go back. Not yet. Not until he figured out what was happening. Someone was setting him up. He could feel it.
Was it Adanna?
Was it Lola?
Was it his father?
Too many enemies.
Too many secrets.
And now?
Too much blood.
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To be continued…
- Writer
