Elena stood at the mirror in her small bedroom, adjusting the collar of her navy-blue jumpsuit. She wasn't the type to get dressed up for a pitch meeting, but this wasn't just about business anymore.
Tonight, Xavier had invited her to dinner — "strictly to review the UI," he said. Yet the nervous flutter in her stomach told her this wasn't just code review.
"Girl, that man could make Google apologize," Nana Afua teased from the doorway. "If this was me, I'd wear heels, perfume, and five layers of confidence."
Elena smirked. "It's not a date."
Nana wagged her brows. "Then why did you wax your eyebrows?"
---
They met at Skybar25, one of the most exclusive rooftop lounges in Accra. Xavier, already seated near the edge overlooking the glowing skyline, stood when he saw her. The dark button-up shirt fit him like a promise — quiet, expensive, tailored.
"You clean up well," he said with a smile.
"You too. Almost like a billionaire in disguise."
He laughed, the sound low and rare. "Let's just say I'm undercover."
As they talked over grilled tilapia and roasted plantain, the tension softened. Elena relaxed as he showed her mock-ups he'd drafted. His ideas for app scalability blew her away. She challenged him back with more data points. It was the kind of back-and-forth that felt… electric.
Until her phone buzzed.
Unknown notification: "Unauthorized access detected – MindMesh servers"
Elena froze.
"What is it?" Xavier asked, reading her expression.
She showed him the alert. "Someone's trying to breach our prototype."
He was already on his phone, accessing a secure system. "I'll trace it. Give me your last server login."
They rushed down the stairs, into the car, and drove to Elena's shared workspace.
Inside the quiet room, screens lit up. Elena's server dashboard flashed red — someone had tried injecting malicious code into the AI module.
"Malik," she whispered.
Xavier looked at her. "Your ex?"
She nodded. "He's a backend developer. He knows I'm in this competition. He always hated when I outshined him."
Xavier's fingers flew across the keyboard. "I've isolated the breach. He didn't take anything — just tried to insert a logic bomb."
"Sabotage," she whispered.
Xavier leaned back. "He's threatened. Because your idea has weight."
She looked up at him. "Why are you helping me? You could walk away."
He reached out, gently brushing her knuckles with his. "Because I don't just believe in your code, Elena. I believe in you."
Her breath caught.
And then, without thinking — just impulse and fire — she leaned forward and kissed him.
A slow, deep, breathtaking kiss.
The kind that made everything — the code, the danger, the vow — disappear.
---
But outside the glass doors, in the shadows, someone watched them. Someone with a camera.
A photo snapped.
A message sent.
> SUBJECT CONFIRMED: DRAKE IS IN ACCRA
AND HE'S NOT ALONE.