The city didn't pause for their chaos.
Traffic still crawled. Vendors still shouted. Life went on with a stubborn rhythm that felt almost cruel in its normalcy. But for Ife, everything had shifted.
She sat in the back of the car, wrapped in Arden's jacket, staring out the window as Lagos blurred past. Sirens faded behind them, replaced by the hum of tires on asphalt. Her hands were still shaking.
Arden noticed.
He reached over, lacing his fingers through hers. "You don't have to be strong right now."
She let out a breath she'd been holding for weeks and leaned her head against his shoulder. "I didn't know if I'd ever see you again."
"I did," he said quietly. "I never stopped looking."
Victor drove in silence, glancing at them through the rearview mirror. "Julian disappeared before the arrests. He planned that exit."
Arden's jaw tightened. "He always does."
"And your father?" Victor continued. "He knows everything now."
Ife stiffened. "Your father?"
Arden exhaled. "He's the reason I was sent here. Protection that turned into exile."
She turned to him. "Does he know about me?"
Arden met her gaze. "He will."
They took refuge at a safe house near the outskirts of the city. Quiet. Guarded. Temporary.
Ife wandered onto the balcony later that night, the air cool against her skin. She needed space to think—to feel.
Arden joined her, two mugs of tea in hand.
"Chamomile," he said. "Victor's idea."
She smiled faintly. "Tell him thank you."
They stood in silence for a moment, watching the city lights.
"I was scared," she admitted. "Not just of Julian. Of how easy it was to become someone I didn't recognize."
Arden turned toward her. "You didn't lose yourself."
"I chose power," she said. "And I didn't hate it."
He studied her face. "That doesn't make you bad. It makes you human."
She looked at him then, really looked. The man who had crossed lines for her. Who had stayed.
"What happens now?" she asked.
He hesitated. "My father will want me gone. Somewhere safer."
"And you?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.
Arden reached for her hand. "I want you."
Her chest tightened.
She stepped closer. "Then don't leave."
He cupped her face gently, forehead resting against hers. "If I stay, you'll never be safe."
She smiled sadly. "I wasn't safe before you."
That broke the last wall.
He kissed her.
Slow. Careful. Like a promise rather than a demand. Her hands curled into his shirt, grounding herself in the warmth of him. For a few precious seconds, the world shrank to just them.
When they pulled apart, he rested his forehead against hers. "We're not done fighting."
She nodded. "Then we fight together."
Across the city, Julian watched the news in silence.
Arrests. Seized assets. Exposed names.
He turned off the screen, expression unreadable.
"They think I lost," he murmured.
He picked up his phone and dialed a number long buried.
"It's time," he said. "Bring the past back."
The line went dead.
Julian smiled.