Part 1
Ogechi Nwosu sent her eviction plea to a stranger, and by sunset, that mistake had dragged her into the most dangerous offer of her life.
Her landlord had screamed so loudly on the phone that the neighbors in the face-me-I-face-you compound in Surulere heard every word.
— Ogechi, this is not a charity house! If I don’t see my rent this week, carry your bag and leave!
She stood in her one-room apartment with an empty pot in her hand, barefoot on cracked tiles, her stomach twisting from hunger. Her cat, Pepper, sat near the door, watching her like even animals were tired of her suffering.
— Don’t look at me like that. If I had fish, would I not give you?
The cupboard was empty. The rice was gone. Garri was gone. Even salt looked like it had packed out of the house in anger. Ogechi was a graduate with a certificate hidden inside a nylon folder, 47 rejected job applications on her phone, and 0 naira in her account.
Tears dropped into the empty pot.
— See? Even this pot is collecting evidence against poverty.
Shaking, she typed a message to her landlord.
Good evening, sir. Please, I am begging you. I have not found work yet, but I will pay. Please don’t throw me out. I have nowhere to go. God will bless you.
She pressed send.
Then she looked at the number.
Her heart stopped.
It was not her landlord.
It was an unknown number.
— Ah! Ogechi, so hunger has now blinded your fingers?
She tried to delete it, block the number, throw the phone under the bed, and pretend her shame had never happened. But the reply came before she could decide which drama to choose.
In a glass mansion in Ikoyi, Damilola Adeniran, billionaire owner of Adeniran Holdings, had just stepped out of his private gym when the message appeared. He almost ignored it. For 3 weeks, he had trusted nobody. His former personal assistant had sold company documents to a rival. His family wanted him to marry a senator’s daughter to protect their social circle. And in 10 days, he had to attend a Dubai investors’ summit where every deal depended on image, confidence, and loyalty.
He read Ogechi’s message twice.
Then he smiled for the first time that day.
— Wrong number, but honest pain.
He called her.
Ogechi nearly swallowed her tongue when a deep male voice came through.
— Are you the lady begging not to be thrown out?
— Sir, please forgive me. Hunger and fear joined hands and attacked my phone.
— What is your name?
