The Secret Keeper
Daniel stared at the container of soup now washed and placed on his dining table.
He hadn't said anything to Favour.
He'd read the note three times. Each word bled with humility and exhaustion. He imagined her fingers burning from chopping bitterleaf, her eyes swollen from onion tears. He tasted the courage more than the pepper.
Still, something wasn't letting him call her yet.
Maybe it was guilt, maybe shame, or maybe it was because… he'd lied too.
He turned back to his laptop and stared at an encrypted folder titled: "Ijeoma_Project_DRAFTS."
He opened it.
Inside were emails—private conversations between Ijeoma and his department dean about Favour.
One message read:
We can't risk Daniel's marriage becoming a public stain. If she's caught plagiarizing or lying again, it reflects on our integrity, her student visa can be revoked handle it quietly.
Another, from Ijeoma herself:
"I'm watching her. Trust me. She'll break on her own."
Daniel leaned back, overwhelmed.
Favour wasn't being judged just as a wife.
She was being targeted as an outsider.
He picked up his phone to call her, then dropped it again.
Because suddenly, another realization hit him.The man in the photo… the stalker... wasn't Ijeoma's doing.
It was the department.
And he was part of it.