Chapter 213

"You told me it was over, Yemi." I couldn’t stop the words from slipping out of my mouth, sharp and raw, as I stood frozen in the hallway, my heart pounding in my chest. My hands were shaking, but it wasn’t the cold that had gotten to me. “You promised me we were past this. That nothing would come between us again.”

Yemi didn’t say anything for a long moment. He was standing a few feet away, his back against the wall, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. He had that look on his face—the one I knew so well—the one that said he was processing, calculating, trying to figure out what to say. He was good at that. Too good, sometimes.

But tonight, I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t stand him being so guarded. I couldn’t stand the silence that had hung between us ever since we’d walked into the room and found out what had happened.

It had been a perfect evening—well, almost. The kind of evening where we could finally relax and breathe, knowing that everything was starting to fall into place. We’d spent hours together, laughing, talking, even sharing stories that felt like we were finally letting go of the weight we’d been carrying for so long.

And then, the call. The one that shattered everything.

“Dee, listen to me.” Yemi’s voice was tight, strained. He was trying to keep his cool, but I could see the cracks starting to show. “I didn’t want you to find out like this. I never meant for you to be dragged into it.”

“Dragged into it?” I repeated, my voice rising. “You think I haven’t been dragged into your mess every damn time?”

His eyes flashed, but he didn’t argue. Instead, he pushed off the wall and stepped toward me. He reached out, but I pulled back, taking a step away.

“Don’t, Yemi.” I couldn’t breathe. “Don’t touch me right now.”

The anger bubbling inside me was starting to make my skin burn, but underneath it, there was something deeper. Something that made my heart ache in a way that hurt worse than any betrayal could. We’d worked so hard to fix everything. I had believed—no, I had trusted—that we were past this. That we were on the same side, fighting for the same future.

But now… now I didn’t know who Yemi was anymore.

“I didn’t want to keep any more secrets from you, Dee. But this…” He ran a hand through his hair, the frustration evident on his face. “This is bigger than I thought. I couldn’t just ignore it.”

“You couldn’t just ignore it?” I laughed, though it didn’t feel like a laugh at all. It was a bitter, hollow sound. “You promised me, Yemi. You promised that you wouldn’t go back to your old ways. That we were going to fix things. That we were going to be a team. And now you’re telling me there’s something bigger than us?”

Yemi flinched at the words, his jaw tightening. I could tell it wasn’t the words that stung him. It was the truth. The truth he had been avoiding.

“What happened?” I whispered, the words coming out as a plea. “What did you do?”

He hesitated for a moment before looking away, his eyes darkening. “It’s not like you think. I—” He paused, his voice breaking. “I didn’t want to involve you in this. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“Hurt?” My breath caught in my throat. “What are you talking about? Who are you protecting now?”

Before he could respond, I heard a soft knock at the door.

My heart skipped a beat, and I looked at Yemi in confusion. He glanced at me, but his face was a mask of uncertainty.

“You should answer it.” His voice was low, almost too quiet.

I frowned, hesitating for a moment before slowly making my way toward the door. When I opened it, I found someone I never expected to see again standing in front of me.

“Marcus?” I said, my voice barely a whisper. “What the hell are you doing here?”

He didn’t look any different than the last time I’d seen him—still wearing that worn-out leather jacket, his eyes full of regret. But there was something about him now, something darker that I couldn’t place. And it didn’t make any sense.

“Dee, I—” Marcus started, but his voice trailed off when he saw Yemi standing just behind me.

I turned to Yemi, my eyes wide with confusion. “What is this? What’s going on?”

Marcus stepped into the room, his eyes flicking between the two of us. “There’s something you need to know.”

“We already know too much,” Yemi said, his tone flat. He was trying to keep it together, but I could hear the crack in his voice.

Marcus nodded, swallowing hard. “I never wanted to hurt you. But I—I made a mistake, Yemi. A huge one.”

I turned to Yemi, the words coming out almost like a demand. “What is he talking about?”

Yemi didn’t answer. Instead, he stepped back, as if giving Marcus the floor to speak.

“I lied. About everything.” Marcus’s voice was rough, and his eyes darted nervously. “I didn’t leave for the reasons I told you. It wasn’t about the business. It wasn’t about your family. It was because I was afraid. Afraid of the consequences of what I had done. And I thought—”

“You thought what?” I snapped. “That you could just walk away and everything would be fine?”

Marcus flinched at my words, but he didn’t back down. “No. I thought that I could protect you both. I thought I could fix it without anyone knowing what had really happened.”

I shook my head in disbelief, stepping away from him. “Fix what, Marcus? What the hell did you do?”

Yemi closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He was trying to stay calm, trying to hold it together, but I could see the pain in his eyes. The hurt. The betrayal. And I knew it wasn’t just from Marcus.

It was from me, too.

Marcus turned toward him, his voice low. “Yemi, I… I owe you the truth. About your father. About the money. And about what really happened all those years ago.”

My stomach twisted as the room seemed to close in around me.

“What are you talking about?” I whispered, feeling the walls closing in.

And then it hit me—like a punch to the gut.

“No,” I gasped. “No. You didn’t…”

Marcus looked away, unable to meet my eyes.

Yemi took a step back, shaking his head. “No. No, this isn’t happening. Not now.”

I felt my heart drop into my stomach, the weight of Marcus’s words crushing me.

But just before I could say anything else, the door slammed open behind us. And what happened next changed everything.

It was a message, delivered in silence, but it would haunt us for the rest of our lives.

“You’re too late.”

And with those words, everything I thought I knew about love, loyalty, and betrayal was about to unravel.