“That was years ago.”
“Show me the test that allowed you to come home and erase an eight-year-old child from our marriage.”
He found the PDF.
She read it.
Relationship DNA Analysis.
Alleged father: Tobechukwu Eze.
Child: Kede.
Probability inconsistent with paternity.
Nkiru read the form twice.
Then pointed.
“Who is O. Awe?”
Tobe looked.
“I don’t know.”
“Because according to this form, you didn’t submit the samples.”
He leaned closer.
She continued.
“There’s no chain-of-custody signature from you.”
“Nkiru—”
“And the collection address is an Akinwale corporate office.”
Tobe stared.
For the first time, doubt he had spent years suppressing returned fully.
He whispered:
“Dapo arranged the test.”
The next morning, Nkiru demanded a meeting with Tami.
Tami expected anger.
She was not prepared for the precision.
“Kede was born during your marriage to Deji?”
“Yes.”
“But you suspected Tobe.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“From the beginning.”
“And you waited until after Tobe married me to raise it again.”
Tami looked down.
“I tried to leave it alone.”
“Until Abuja.”
“Yes.”
“What happened in that hotel room?”
“I told him the dates did not make sense.”
“Did you ask my husband to leave me?”
Tami flinched.
“Nkiru.”
“That was a question.”
Tami swallowed.
“I asked whether he was happy.”
“That was not the question.”
Silence.
Then:
“I asked whether there was any possibility of correcting what happened between us.”
Nkiru’s face hardened.
“Six months into my marriage.”
“I was frightened.”
“So you reached for somebody else’s husband.”
“He refused me.”
“Immediately?”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“My father arrived.”
“Dapo.”
“Yes.”
“He knew why Tobe was there?”
“Yes.”
“He arranged the DNA test?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Tami rubbed her forehead.
“Because by morning he wanted the matter finished.”
“Finished for whom?”
“Everybody.”
Nkiru leaned forward.
“Did you ever personally see the original laboratory result?”
“My father showed me the same document Tobe received.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Tami became quiet.
“No.”
Nkiru left the room with more questions than she had brought in.
Then the finance investigation widened again.
The excess 37.8 million naira had not traveled in one direction.
It passed through three shell vendors.
Eleven million eventually entered an investment vehicle that had helped capitalize a company controlled by Renée Balogun.
That discovery brought Kunle Balogun into the room.
Kunle was older than Dapo by several years.
A veteran executive.
For decades, he had been treated as one of the men who helped professionalize Akinwale Group’s finances.
His daughter Renée had humiliated Dapo in the restaurant.
Now her company appeared downstream from stolen money.
Kunle entered the boardroom furious.
“This is becoming ridiculous.”
Farin remained seated.
Dapo sat at the head of the table.
Tami was present.
Nkiru had not been invited, but because her husband’s case was now formally under review, Farin had begun sharing selected findings through counsel.
Farin said:
“The excess 37.8 million moved through three shell vendors.”
“Then investigate procurement.”
“We did.”
He slid a document across the table.
“One vendor transferred eleven million into an investment vehicle.”
Kunle looked at the page.