The morning light hit the water like a mirro...bright, endless, and almost cruel.
I stood there, staring at the spot where the black car had been. The faint mark of the glass wolf was already fading as the waves crashed against the dock.
He was alive...
Darian was alive....
The thought sat heavy in my chest, like something between hope and heartbreak.
For days I'd told myself he was gone, that the bullet, the blood, the silence had taken him for good. But now... now I didn't know what to feel.
Anger? Relief? Fear?
Maybe all of it....
I touched the wound on my arm...it stung, but the pain felt distant. My body was tired, but my mind wouldn't stop moving.
Every lie, every whisper, every time Darian said, "Trust me," replayed in my head like an echo I couldn't escape.
Why didn't he tell me the truth?
Why pretend to love me if I was just a mission?
The wind picked up again, sharp and cold. I pulled my jacket tighter and looked back at the burning warehouse.
Smoke curled into the sky like a signal.
The world would wake up soon. The Syndicate's secrets were out.
But that didn't mean I was safe.
Not yet....
I had no home.... No friends....No one I could trust....
Except the ghost who wouldn't stay dead.
By noon, I made it to Surulere, quiet streets, empty corners, and people who didn't ask questions.
I found a small lodge that didn't require ID and paid in cash.
The woman at the counter didn't even look up when I slid the money over. She just handed me a key and said, "Room 12."
The room smelled like dust and cheap soap, but it was safe enough for now.
I locked the door twice, dropped my bag, and sat on the bed.
The television was already on. The screen flashed with news headlines that made my heart race.
"Breaking: Leaked documents expose powerful political network linked to global corruption ring."
"The files, believed to be from a secret group known as The Syndicate, were uploaded from an unknown Lagos source early this morning."
"Dozens of top officials are under investigation...some already missing."
I covered my mouth, whispering, "It worked."
The truth was out....
My father's voice... Darian's mission.
Everything they risked had finally mattered.
But instead of peace, I felt something else...emptiness.
Because in that moment, I realized it wasn't over...
It was just beginning...
I turned up the volume. The reporter continued..
"Authorities are searching for a woman believed to be involved in the leak...Adanna Okon, daughter of late tech pioneer Dr. Chike Okon. Sources say she may be armed and dangerous."
My blood ran cold....
They'd turned me into the villain....
I stood up, panic rising.
"They flipped the story," I whispered. "They made it my fault."
My reflection in the cracked mirror looked wild, tired, desperate.
The same eyes that once glowed with wedding excitement now held nothing but fire.
I grabbed my phone...still wet from the rain and checked the screen.
It buzzed once.
Unknown number....
A message....
If you want answers, follow the wolf.
Attached was a location pin.
Apapa again but not the port this time. The old ferry station.
My chest tightened.
Every part of me said it was a trap...
But my heart… it said something else.
It said Darian.
By the time I got to Apapa, the sun was sinking behind the clouds again...
The ferry station had been closed for years...abandoned since the explosion in 2019.
The air smelled of salt and rust.
Graffiti covered the walls, some of it faded, some fresh.
And there it was...
Spray-painted on the gate...a glass wolf symbol.
I swallowed hard and stepped inside.
The station was quiet except for the waves slapping against the pillars below.
My footsteps echoed on the cracked tiles.
Every sound felt too loud.
Then..
A low hum....
A projector light flicked on from the shadows....
I turned sharply.
The wall lit up, showing a video feed.
Static. Then a voice...
Darian's voice....
"If you're here, Ada, then you've survived."
My heart thudded. "Darian…" I whispered.
"You were never meant to see the file in my office. Not that night. It wasn't supposed to happen that way."
His face appeared now...recorded, not live.
Dark circles under his eyes. Bruised knuckles.
He looked like a man who'd already lost too much.
"They gave me one task to get close to you. Gain your trust. Make you believe I was yours."
"But what they didn't know… was that I already was."
I covered my mouth, tears filling my eyes.
"When your father reached out to me, I was done. Tired. I wanted out of the Syndicate. He offered me a way out but it meant playing their game one last time."
He paused.... Looked away...
"You were never supposed to be part of it, Ada. But the moment I met you… I couldn't stop. You were real in a world full of lies."
The camera flickered again, cutting briefly to another angle, him holding something.
A silver ring...
My ring...
"They told me to use the wedding as a cover. But I meant every word I said to you that night."
I felt my throat tighten. I could almost hear him whispering it again..."You're my peace, Ada."
Then his tone changed.
"They're coming for you. The leak won't stop them. It'll only make them desperate. You need to finish what your father started."
Static.....
The sound of gunfire faintly in the background of the recording.
He flinched, turned toward the noise, then looked back at the camera.
"If you want the truth, if you want to know who killed your father....find the woman named Imani. She was your father's partner. And my handler."
My eyes widened... Handler?
Imani, the woman who signed the Syndicate contracts in my father's files.
"She's in Lekki now, hiding under a new name. You'll know her when you see her. She wears the same pendant your father gave you as a child."
He looked straight into the camera then eyes raw, voice soft.
"And Ada… if you find me before they do, don't forgive me. Just understand me."
The screen went black...
I stood there, shaking, my breath fogging in the cold air.
For a long moment, I didn't move.
I couldn't.
It was like hearing from a ghost that refused to die then a faint noise behind me broke the silence, footsteps.
Slow...Careful....Real.
I turned fast, pulling out the small pistol I'd taken from the warehouse.
"Don't move!"
A figure stepped from the shadows....hooded, tall, hands raised.
"Easy," the voice said.
Familiar...
My heart skipped. "Darian?"
The hood dropped.
Not Darian...
A woman....
Her eyes sharp, calm. Older, but beautiful in a cold way.
"Imani," I breathed.
"So he told you about me," she said with a smirk. "Then he really must care."
I tightened my grip. "He said you killed my father."
She laughed softly. "Killed? No, dear. Your father killed himself trying to protect something that never should've existed."
"What are you talking about?"
She stepped closer. "Genesis, Eden, all of it...your father's work wasn't meant to expose the Syndicate. It was meant to replace it."
I frowned. "That's a lie."
She tilted her head. "Is it? Why do you think he hid it from you? Why do you think Darian never told you the full story?"
I didn't answer. My heart was racing, mind spinning.
Imani sighed, lowering her hands slightly. "The truth, Adanna, is that everyone lied. Your father. Darian. Even me. But the one thing they all agreed on… was that you were the key."
"Key to what?"
"To control what comes next."
Before I could reply, the faint sound of engines cut through the air outside.
Black SUVs. Headlights cutting through the fog.
Imani's eyes flicked toward the gate. "They found us."
"Who?
She looked back at me. "The new Syndicate. The ones who rose after your upload this morning."
I felt the ground shift under me.
"Then we run," I said.
But she shook her head. "No, Adanna. You run. I finish what I started."
Before I could stop her, she pulled a small detonator from her jacket.
"Imani...."
She smiled sadly. "Tell Darian I repaid my debt."
The explosion hit before I could move..
heat, smoke, and metal flying.
I was thrown back, hit the ground hard, the world spinning.
When I opened my eyes, fire was eating the station.
Imani was gone.
I crawled out through the side door, coughing, clutching my chest.
The cars were gone too...driven off or blown away.
I staggered down the dock, half blind, half numb.
And that's when I saw it again.
The glass wolf....
Not on a car this time..on a wall, half-burned, glowing faintly in the smoke.
And under it, in small, careful handwriting....
"She wasn't your enemy. Follow the ashes."
My breath caught....
Darian had been here...
Watching again.... Helping again...
Always just out of reach...
I didn't go back to the lodge...
Didn't sleep. Didn't eat...
I just walked...
Through the streets...
Past the headlines....
Past the whispers of my name turning into myth....
Because if there was one thing I knew now. It wasn't over.
They thought they could bury me under lies.
But I had something stronger....
Truth!
And love that refused to die...
The two things they could never control.
To be continued....