Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE
The Interview
The first time I saw Damien Blackwood again, he was smiling.
Three years ago, he had stood in a courtroom while my father’s name was dragged through the mud. He had watched my mother cry, watched strangers call my father a thief, and watched our entire world collapse.
Today, he was smiling at a woman who wasn’t me.
I stood outside his office with my résumé pressed between my fingers, wondering how long it would take to destroy a man who didn’t even remember the face of the girl he’d ruined.
“Miss Okafor?”
I turned.
A woman in a grey suit stood beside the reception desk. “Mr Blackwood is ready for you.”
Of course he was.
Men like Damien Blackwood never waited for anyone.
I walked into his office.
The room was enormous, with glass walls overlooking the Lagos skyline. Everything was expensive, perfectly arranged and painfully cold. It suited him.
He stood behind his desk, reading something on his tablet.
“Sit.”
Not a greeting. Not even a glance.
I sat.
“Amara Okafor,” he said, finally looking up. “You graduated top of your class, worked at two financial firms, and resigned from your last position without explanation.”
“That’s correct, sir.”
“Why do you want to work for me?”
Because you destroyed my father.
Because my mother still wakes up crying.
Because I have spent three years learning how to smile at people I hate.
Instead, I folded my hands in my lap.
“Your company offers the kind of experience I’m looking for.”
His eyes narrowed slightly.
“That’s a rehearsed answer.”
“Would you prefer an honest one?”
For the first time, he looked interested.
“Go ahead.”
“I want to work for the best.”
A slow smile touched his lips.
“Flattery doesn’t work on me, Miss Okafor.”
“Then I’ll try competence.”
Silence.
I could hear the clock ticking on the wall. My heart was beating so hard that I wondered whether he could hear it.
Damien placed my résumé on the desk.
“You’re hired.”
I blinked.
“I’m sorry?”
“Your first day is Monday. My previous assistant resigned this morning, and I don’t have time to interview another twenty people.”
That was too easy.
I had prepared answers to dozens of questions. I had rehearsed my expression in the mirror. I had spent weeks arranging this interview.
And he had hired me in less than five minutes.
“Thank you, Mr Blackwood.”
I stood.
“One more thing.”
I stopped.
Damien walked around his desk, stopping a few feet away.
“Have we met before?”
The question struck me harder than it should have.
I kept my expression calm.
“No, sir. I don’t believe so.”
He studied my face.
“Strange.”
“Why?”
“Because you look at me as if you already know what kind of man I am.”
For one terrible second, I forgot how to breathe.
Then I smiled.
“Perhaps you’re easier to read than you think.”
I left before he could answer.
Inside the lift, I gripped the railing and closed my eyes.
I had done it.
I was inside Blackwood Holdings. I was closer to the truth than I had been in three years.
All I needed was patience.
My phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
You made a mistake coming back, Amara.
My blood ran cold.
Another message appeared.
Your father wasn’t innocent. And Damien Blackwood isn’t the person you should be afraid of.
I read it three times.
Then a final message arrived.
Ask your mother what happened the night before your father was arrested.
The lift doors opened.
I stepped out into the busy lobby, surrounded by people who had no idea that my entire life had just shifted beneath my feet.
For three years, I had believed I knew who my enemy was.
Now I wasn’t so sure.
And somewhere upstairs, the man I had come to destroy was waiting for me to make my first mistake.
