The 10 Million Naira Wife

Chapter 13:Hostile Takeover

12:00 PM. KolaTech Headquarters.

Dami's phone rang. Unknown number. He answered, sweating. "Who's this?"

"Your new majority shareholder," Khalil said.

I sat across from Khalil in his penthouse, watching him work. Tunde, his CFO, had three laptops open. Numbers flashed green.

"That's impossible," Dami choked. "You'd need—"

"15% as of 11:59 AM," Khalil cut in. "Cost me ₦4.2 billion. Pocket change. I now have a board seat, Kolawole. Should I come to your office?"

I heard Dami's chair scrape. "You can't do this. This is illegal!"

"Illegal?" Khalil laughed. Cold. "You leaked my wife's private medical history. You doxxed Anon. You manipulated the market. Shall I have my lawyers explain 'illegal' to you, or would you prefer prison?"

Silence. Then, "What do you want?"

"Sell me the rest," Khalil said. "All 85%. Right now. Market price before I crashed it. Or by 3 PM, KolaTech is worth zero and you're bankrupt."

"You wouldn't—"

"I bought your company in one hour, Dami. Try me."

I watched Khalil. This wasn't the man who held me at LUTH. This was The Shark. The man Lagos feared. And he was hunting for me.

"Zara," he said, covering the phone. "Do you want me to spare him?"

The old me would've said yes. Mercy. Forgive.

The Anon who built an empire from nothing said, "Does he deserve it?"

Khalil smiled at that. Real smile. "No."

He uncovered the phone. "Clock's ticking, Kolawole. 2 hours, 59 minutes."

He hung up.

Kemi burst into the penthouse. "BOSS! MINISTER IS ON LINE 1! HE'S APOLOGIZING!"

I took the phone. "Minister?"

"Zara— Mrs. Adeyemi," he stammered. "There's been a terrible misunderstanding. The contract is not only unfrozen, we're doubling the value. ₦2 billion, three years. And we'd like Anon to keynote the Digital Nigeria Summit."

Yesterday I was begging for ₦73 million.

Today they were giving me billions.

"On one condition," I said, looking at Khalil. "My partner attends with me. As my plus-one."

"Of course! Mr. Adeyemi is always—"

"Not as Adeyemi," I said. "As Anon's husband."

The Minister choked. "Published... as your husband?"

"The world knows," I said. "Might as well make it official."

I hung up.

Khalil was staring at me. "You just used a government minister to claim me. Publicly."

"Partners," I said, walking to him. "That means equal. You burn Lagos for me. I burn my anonymity for you."

He pulled me to his lap. His hands on my waist. Possessive. "Careful, Zara. You keep talking like that, I might forget this is a contract."

My phone buzzed. Dami: `I accept. Name your price.`

Khalil read it over my shoulder. "Good boy."

He typed back: `You keep 5%. You report to my wife. And if you ever say 'Anon' again without permission, I take that too.`

Sent.

Kemi whispered, "Boss... did you just make Khalil Adeyemi acquire your ex's company... as a wedding gift?"

I looked at The Shark holding me. At the empire at my feet. At Mama's treatment fully funded.

"No," I said. "I just watched my husband go to war for me."

"And win," Khalil finished, lips at my neck.

My phone buzzed again. Stary app notification: `Your story 'The 10 Million Naira Wife' is trending #3 in Nigeria`

I showed Khalil.

"See?" he said. "Told you we were partners."

"Partners," I agreed. "Now, about that 30,000 words..."