Chapter Twenty- Five: Media Madness
The bright lights of the press room burned like judgmental stars. Journalists swarmed the hall like vultures, shouting questions, some sincere, most scandalous. Mrs. Adebayo stood poised behind the podium, her makeup immaculate, her gele high and threatening, her lips tugged into a diplomatic smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Tammy is simply resting," she said, voice smooth but firm. "She's overwhelmed by the sudden attention and change of environment, as any young bride would be. I can assure you, she's fine. My son loves her. This marriage is intact."
Beside her, Grandma Adeola gave a curt nod, her walking stick resting like a royal sceptre. "Una too dey find wahala. She no run. She dey rest. Abi una no dey rest?"
But no one was buying it.
Every headline that afternoon told a different story. Runaway Bride?, Marriage on the Rocks?, CEO's Wife Vanishes Again! The photos of Jeremy standing alone at public events only fueled the fire.
Jeremy was watching football on the TV with wine in his hands when Tobi called and asked him to go to the entertainment news channel. Jeremy sighed, cut the call and changed it to the entertainment section where he saw his mom and grandma talking on tv. He threw his glass on the wall and got up going to his room.
Meanwhile,Tammy sat on the edge of the bed in the safe house, still in her oversized hoodie, hair tied messily, eyes fixed on the flat-screen. She stared at the footage of the press conference like it was a slap.
"They're spinning this like I'm some spoiled little girl," she muttered, voice thick with emotion.
Anjii handed her a bottle of water, quiet. "That's what they want people to believe. That you're too delicate for this world."
Tammy scoffed and twisted the cap open, taking a long gulp. "Let's show them how delicate I really am."
Anjii looked up. "What do you mean?"
Tammy's laptop snapped open. Her fingers flew across the keyboard like a pianist with vengeance in her bones. "I want to know exactly who Tony Balogun's been talking to. Every call, every message, every shady email thread. He's not doing this alone."
She plugged in her signal interceptor and VPN router. "I'm tapping into his internal comms—work phone, personal, encrypted accounts, even burner lines. No more hiding."
Anjii pulled her chair closer, watching as layers of firewalls and encryption began to melt away like butter under Tammy's determined typing.
"There," Tammy whispered, isolating metadata from a suspicious email. "That server's been pinging from an offshore account every three days. Guess who owns it?"
Anjii leaned in.
"Someone under a dummy corporation… but registered by the same firm that manages Tony's investment portfolios."
Tammy's heart pounded. "We're close."
The door opened and Rita walked in looking around the place and sighing. This was their third hide out now. 'Hi boos, wassup?' she asked as she walked over to where they were seated bringing out snacks as Anjii filled her in on what had happened.
Meanwhile, at the Adebayo estate, Jeremy slammed the remote control on the center table, his jaw ticking.
"Why would you do that without telling me?" he snapped at his mother.
Mrs. Adebayo didn't flinch. "Because the press was eating us alive and your silence was making things worse."
"She's not hiding, she's trying to figure things out—"
"Oh? And you know this for certain?" Grandma Adeola asked quietly. "Because it seems like you no even sabi wetin dey happen with your own wife."
Jeremy exhaled, rubbed his hand across his face. "Zion's still tracking. He thinks she's not alone."
"She's smart. Too smart to just disappear for no reason," Grandma murmured, sipping her tea. "Someone hurt her."
"Someone in our circle," Jeremy muttered.
The next morning, Tammy stared at the cluster of files on her screen. There were aliases, odd payments, phone calls at midnight between Tony and a masked contact named "Orion." She blinked.
"Orion?"
The name was consistent across multiple threads—and the latest message?
> Next move depends on whether the girl stays hidden. Don't engage unless you're sure she has nothing.
Tammy copied the message, forwarded it to a new encrypted folder she'd named Backstabbers. Her fingers trembled slightly.
They still thought she was clueless.
They were wrong.
And when Jeremy returned to the house that night, he found Zion waiting for him.
"She's still active," Zion said simply.
Jeremy turned sharply. "Where?"
Zion shook his head. "Don't know yet. But something's off. The same number that used to ping Tony's phone… it just bounced a signal off one of our internal networks. Someone's hacking us from the inside."
Jeremy's eyes narrowed. "Find her. Before they do. I know she's innocent but what if something happens to her?" He sighed running his hands through his hair.
Back at the safe house, Tammy stared at the decrypted messages like they were a personal war.
"No more running," she whispered. "They picked the wrong girl. I've caught you bitches."