The Midnight Knock
It was nearly 2:00 a.m.
Favour lay awake in bed, staring at the ceiling, thoughts spiraling into panic. She hadn't told Daniel, but a quiet part of her had already started packing. A scarf here. Her passport under her pillow. She was preparing… to vanish.
Then came the knock, three sharp raps on the door.
She jolted upright.
Daniel was still asleep beside her, unaware.
She tiptoed to the living room, her heartbeat a steady thud. She peered through the peephole.
Ijeoma.
Favour opened the door cautiously. "What are you doing here?"
Ijeoma stood without makeup, her face pale. She looked… broken.
"I was wrong," she said. "I came to fix it."
Favour said nothing. She stepped aside.
Ijeoma handed her a small flash drive. "Everything they did. Every email your file was tampered with. And the name of the person who ordered it."
Favour's fingers tightened around the drive.
"You were never the problem, Favour," Ijeoma said, her voice hoarse. "You were the threat."
"To who?"
"To people like me. And his mother. And anyone who thought you were too… small to take up space."
A long silence passed.
Favour stared at her. "Why now?"
Ijeoma looked down.
"Because someday I want to tell the truth without flinching. And because you fought for a life I tried to steal."
Then, like a shadow dissolving in light, Ijeoma turned and walked into the night.