Chapter 8 Red Flags

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Albert sat at his massive mahogany desk in his Miami penthouse, his laptop open in front of him. Outside, the city buzzed with life-the ocean waves glittering under the sun-but Albert barely noticed. His focus was solely on the woman who had captured his heart in ways he never thought possible.

Jane Maya. His Jane.

Or so he thought.

He scrolled through their chat history, rereading every sweet word she had sent him. She was unlike anyone he had ever known-gentle, reserved, intelligent. Not like the gold-diggers who threw themselves at him in Miami clubs or the models who only cared about his wealth.

Jane felt... real. Pure. Untouched by the shallow world he lived in.

And yet... something didn't sit right.

At first, he ignored the small inconsistencies.

The way she dodged questions about her background.

The nervousness that crept into her voice when they spoke on the phone.

The blurry, oddly angled photos she sent him, as if carefully hiding her surroundings.

He told himself it was because she was shy. Or maybe she was embarrassed about her modest life. That only made him want to protect her more. To rescue her from whatever hardships she was facing.

But the doubts kept gnawing at him.

Especially after the third time she canceled a video call at the last minute.

The first time, she claimed the internet café lost power.

The second time, she said her little sister was sick.

The third time... she simply didn't pick up at all.

Albert slammed his laptop shut in frustration that night, pacing the room like a caged lion. He wasn't a fool. His entire career had been built on detecting lies and weaknesses in others-he had crushed companies, negotiated million-dollar deals, and outwitted some of the most ruthless businessmen in the world.

And yet, with Jane, he found himself willing-desperate-to believe in something good. Something honest.

He leaned against the window, staring down at the glittering lights below.

Was he being played?

Meanwhile, in Lagos, Olayemi sat in the small internet café, trembling with guilt. Ovie had been harsher with her lately, sending threatening messages when she failed to move the relationship faster.

"Do you want your mother to die in that slum? Do you want to lose everything? Do your job, Olayemi."

She hated him.

She hated herself more.

She could feel Albert pulling away, growing colder in his messages. The warmth and easy affection had started to fade, replaced with shorter replies and polite conversations. He was doubting her. She could sense it in every word he typed.

Desperate to fix it, Olayemi stayed up late crafting long, emotional messages, telling him about her "dreams"-dreams she no longer believed she would ever reach. She made herself sound vulnerable, alone, scared of losing him.

And sometimes, she wasn't even pretending.

Because, deep down, Olayemi feared losing him too.

Not for the money.

Not for the scam.

But because, in the strange, broken place her life had become, Albert was the only bright spot. The only person who made her feel like she was more than her poverty, more than Ovie's puppet, more than a desperate girl surviving day by day.

Albert sat back at his desk after reading her latest message.

"I'm sorry I've been distant," Jane had written. "Sometimes I'm afraid I'm not enough for you. Sometimes I feel like you'll see the real me and walk away."

Albert's heart twisted.

Maybe he was wrong. Maybe she was just afraid, just like him.

He opened his phone and scrolled through her pictures again. She was so beautiful. Dark hair cascading down her shoulders, wide brown eyes full of mystery. A soft smile that haunted his dreams.

He wanted to believe in her.

He needed to.

But still, a voice in his head whispered: Be careful.

And Albert Alvarez was a man who always, always listened to that voice-no matter how much his heart wanted to drown it out.

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