Chapter 12: The Leak
533 Words
Explain," the Minister of Tech said. His voice filled my office. "Now, Anon."
The boardroom was empty except me, Khalil, and Kemi. Everyone else fled after Dami's bomb.
I put the Minister on speaker. "Minister, I can explain—"
"You sold 49% of NairaFlow to Khalil Adeyemi?" he cut in. "The man trying to monopolize Nigerian tech? Anon, you were supposed to be the independent voice!"
"I sold him five percent," I said. "Silent. No control."
"Five percent today," the Minister snapped. "Fifty-one tomorrow. Your government contract is frozen pending investigation."
My blood went cold. That contract was 60% of our revenue.
Khalil took the phone. "Minister. Khalil Adeyemi. The contract will be unfrozen in one hour, or I pull my ₦20 billion investment from your 'Digital Nigeria' initiative."
Silence.
"Are you threatening me, Mr. Adeyemi?"
"I'm reminding you who signs your checks," Khalil said. "Zara Oladele is my wife. Anon is my partner. Attack her, you attack me. Choose."
He hung up.
Kemi stared. "Did you just threaten a Minister... for me?"
"For us," Khalil corrected, looking at me. "Partners, remember?"
My phone exploded. News alerts. Twitter. TechCabal.
`ANON UNMASKED: NairaFlow CEO Zara Oladele Secretly Married to Khalil Adeyemi`
`The Shark Owns Anon? Government Contract Frozen`
`#AnonGate Trending #1 in Nigeria`
Dami did it. He leaked everything.
Kemi thrust her laptop at me. "Boss. Look at the stock."
KolaTech: +22%
NairaFlow Private Valuation: -40% estimated
"He's shorting us," Khalil said, eyes on the numbers. "Classic. Leak, crash the price, buy low."
"Can we stop him?" I asked.
Khalil smiled. Shark smile. "We don't stop him, Zara. We bankrupt him."
He dialed. "Tunde? Liquidate position C. Buy every share of KolaTech you can. I want 15% by noon." He hung up.
"You're buying his company?" Kemi whispered.
"I'm buying his life," Khalil said. "You don't touch my wife and live."
He turned to me. "But first, we fix your PR. You're Anon. The people love Anon. So give them Anon."
"How?"
"Tell the truth," he said. "All of it. Before Dami twists it."
He pulled out his phone. Opened i********: Live. 1.2M followers.
"Smile, Mrs. Adeyemi," he said, aiming the camera at us. "We're going live."
Red light. Live. 10K viewers. 20K. 50K.
Khalil: "Lagos. This is Khalil Adeyemi. And this is my wife, Zara Oladele. Also known as Anon."
The comments went insane.
Me: "I hid because I was an orphan with a dying mother and a dream. I married for ₦10 million to pay her bills. I didn't sell out. I survived."
Khalil: "And I married the smartest woman in Nigeria. If you have a problem with that, take it up with me."
He pulled me in. Kissed me. On live. 200K watching.
The comments: `POWER COUPLE` `ANON AND THE SHARK` `DAMI WHO?`
My phone buzzed. Minister: `Contract unfrozen. My apologies, Mrs. Adeyemi.`
Khalil ended the live. 1.1M views in 3 minutes.
"There," he said. "War declared. Now we end it."
Kemi was crying. "Boss... we just went viral."
I looked at Khalil. At the man who burned Lagos down for me in 5 minutes.
"Partners," I said again. Tasting the word.
"Partners," he agreed. "Now, about Dami..."
- Writer
