Steve's POV
The message came in a red envelope.
No return address.
No signature.
Just a wax seal marked with the old Koleosho crest—a crooked lion with a knife between its teeth.
Korede dropped it on the safehouse table like it was a grenade.
"Where did you get this?" I asked.
"Intercepted it. It was meant for Abeni."
That name again.
Abeni—Koleosho's heir, his daughter, his poison.
She wasn't done.
And now, neither was he.
Even in death… Koleosho had more to say.
Jomiloju's POV
Steve's hands didn't tremble often.
But as he broke the wax seal and unfolded the thick parchment, I saw something flicker in him.
Something cold.
Old.
"Steve?"
He didn't answer right away.
Then he read it aloud.
"To my blood: If this reaches you, I am dead. But blood never rests."
"You are to finish what I began. Kill the Dorotoye line. Burn Steve Adewale. And take the seat he thinks he deserves."
I froze.
My heart stopped on the word kill.
And the mention of my father.
My family.
My name.
Steve's POV
I crushed the paper in my fist.
But it was too late.
The poison had already seeped into the room.
Jomi sat on the couch, silent.
Processing.
Bleeding.
Not from a wound—but from the way legacy wraps its hands around your throat and squeezes.
"You okay?" I asked, stupidly.
Her eyes met mine.
Steady. Shattered.
"Do I look okay?"
I sat beside her, tried to take her hand.
She let me.
Barely.
"I thought it was over," she whispered. "He's dead. I watched you burn his empire."
I looked away.
"So did she."
Jomiloju's POV
Abeni.
I hadn't seen her in years.
But I remembered her.
Cold. Beautiful. Always silent at her father's side like a shadow stitched into the wallpaper.
They said she never cried.
Not even at Koleosho's funeral.
Now she was the one pulling the strings?
I stood up, heart pounding.
"She wants me dead."
Steve stood, too. Fast.
"No. She wants to make me watch you die."
That was worse.
Much worse.
Steve's POV
I made the call to Korede.
"Double security on Jomi. I want eyes on Abeni. If she breathes, I want to know the scent."
"You think she'll go for a direct hit?"
"No. She's smarter than her father. She'll play longer. Deeper."
I hung up and turned to find Jomi already pulling on her jacket.
"What are you doing?"
"Going with you," she said. "I want to see the list."
"What list?"
"The names Koleosho left behind. The ones he marked for death. I want to know who I am in this war. Pawn or queen."
God, she had no idea how much I loved her when she spoke like that.
Jomiloju's POV
The vault was under the old hotel in Victoria Island.
Steve had claimed it months ago after Koleosho's fall—but he'd never opened the black safe in the back.
"Too many ghosts," he'd said.
But now the past was calling. And we needed to answer.
Korede handed us the key.
"Careful," he warned. "It's not just paper in there."
He was right.
Inside was a thick ledger.
And a video drive.
Steve opened the book. I played the file.
[Video Transcript – Koleosho's Voice]
"Steve. If you're watching this, then I failed to kill you."
"Impressive."
"But you made one mistake. You left her alive."
"The Dorotoye girl. Pretty. Soft. A flower. You let love distract you."
"I knew it would."
"So I planted something inside her."
The screen went black.
Then showed a grainy image of me at twelve years old.
Then ten.
Then eight.
Each one… inside my own house.
"Your father trusted too many. I paid one of his men to place a chip inside her wrist when she was a child. Bio-tech. Undetectable. She's a walking tracker."
Jomiloju's POV
I screamed.
Clutched my wrist.
Fell back against the wall like it had caught fire.
"No—no, that's not—"
Steve grabbed me.
Held my shaking arms.
Checked my wrist, turning it over.
"It's not there," he said. "I would've seen it."
"It's internal," Korede said quietly. "It could still be inside."
I backed away.
"I'm a tracker?"
Steve's jaw clenched.
"No. You were a child. You were used."
Tears welled in my eyes.
"I've been leading them to you… this whole time."
Steve's POV
I should've broken something.
Should've shouted, thrown a chair, punched the wall.
But all I did was hold her.
Tighter.
Tighter.
Until she stopped shaking.
"This isn't your fault," I said. "It never was."
"I want it out," she whispered. "Whatever he put inside me—I want it out."
"We'll find it. We'll burn it. And we'll kill the last piece of that bastard's legacy."
A moment passed.
Then she said, softly—
"Even if it kills me?"
And I answered—
"Only if you tell me it's worth it."
Jomiloju's POV
That night, we didn't sleep.
We lay in bed, eyes open, fingers tangled, our hearts beating like war drums in a moment of peace.
He traced my wrist with his lips.
Soft. Gentle. Defiant.
"Tomorrow," I whispered, "we start again."
He nodded.
"And we finish it."