Their marriage had once been filled with plans. Nkiru met Tobi at a friend's wedding five and a half years earlier, when he was a junior financial analyst with a pressed shirt and a laugh that made him look younger. He wasn't wealthy or especially smooth. He helped an elderly guest find her seat while other men argued over photographs, then returned to apologize for keeping Nkiru waiting for a dance he had promised her. She remembered thinking that anyone who noticed an older woman struggling with a chair probably noticed the world properly.
They married in a church in Surulere, surrounded by family and friends who contributed more food than they could eat. Their first apartment was small, but Tobi insisted on a bookshelf even when they had almost no books. Nkiru bought him a bright blue tie for his first promotion, a tie he claimed was too loud and then wore every Monday for months. They argued about money, laughed about her habit of rearranging furniture, and planned to have children once they could afford somewhere larger. For a while their life was ordinary in the finest possible sense.
When Tobi joined Akinwale Group, their future seemed to open. The salary was better, the insurance more reliable, and the opportunities substantial. Nkiru celebrated by cooking his favorite egusi soup and inviting two friends to dinner. She didn't know that his recommendation had come from Temilade Akinwale, a senior executive with whom he shared a history far more intimate than a professional reference. She knew only that someone senior had noticed his work.
The trouble began eight months before the night at Meridian. Tobi came home one Wednesday carrying his office laptop and an expression Nkiru had never seen. His company badge had been deactivated, he said. Finance was reviewing a supplier payment. There had been an allegation. He could not discuss details until the investigation ended. By Friday, his employment was suspended. Two weeks later, Akinwale Group dismissed him for gross misconduct connected to a payment of forty-two million naira, an amount so large that Nkiru read the dismissal letter twice before understanding it.
Tobi insisted he'd authorized a payment of four million two hundred thousand naira for a logistics vendor, not forty-two million. He had questioned why the amount changed, but the final electronic record displayed his approval. An internal inquiry found his credentials associated with the transaction. Kunle Balogun, chief financial officer, said there was no credible evidence of outside access. The company's investigators recommended dismissal and referred possible criminal conduct for further assessment. The police matter did not produce a prosecution, but the company's finding spread through the industry faster than any court judgment.
Friends became polite. Recruiters stopped responding. One former colleague told Tobi he would help with references and then ceased answering messages. At home, Tobi began waking in the middle of the night and checking emails that never arrived. He applied for junior roles and consulting contracts beneath his experience. Some companies requested a background verification; others simply withdrew. It was Nkiru who returned to a service job after the hotel's management restructure had eliminated her supervisory position.