Chapter 1

• One and half year ago…
• “Promise me you will take care of yourself dear,” Gina says as she follows Neriah into the already moving train
• “I promise mom,” Neriah says for the one millionth time today.
• Tears run down her face ruining the perfect face Neriah hopes to remember for a long time. “And you promise to always call right?” She asks, making Neriah’s heart hurt even more.
• Neriah pulls Gina into a tight hug, “I’ll call; I promise I’ll call every week as much as I can.” She vows, before pulling away and helping to wipe her tears away.
• Gina gently takes Neriah’s hands and make her look into her eyes, trying to insert assertiveness. “If things get bad, you know you can always come back home okay?”
• Neriah nods, biting her lips. Gina is making it as though this is a final goodbye, which she knows isn’t true. “I know, and if things don’t work out well after two years, I’ll come back home and find a decent job in the town, I promise, now stop crying and causing people to stare."
• Gina nod, wipe her tears off and kisses Neriah on her forehead, “Take care of yourself, okay?”
• Neriah nod before collecting her other bag and Gina stop following the train.
• ***
• NOW...
• “Please Mr Tony just one more week and I’ll find a place to move go to, I promise." Neriah practically begs as she follows Tony out of her apartment.
• Tony is the caretaker of her apartment, this is the thirteenth month since she has been in this apartment and it is the last month she has here.
• The Middle Eastern man gives her a pitiful smile, “I like you, Miss. Gomez, but my hands are tied here. Mr Inferno the new buyer of this house hopes to have everyone out before Friday."
• Neriah rubs her forehead furiously, “Mr Tony, that’s tomorrow —" she tries to speak but he interrupts her.
• “Don’t do this to me Neriah,” he pleads, “you’re one of the best tenants this building has ever had, but you got to move out before Friday."
• Her eyes grow glassy and her lips trembles, “I don’t have anywhere to go,” she mumbles.
• Tony groans, “I’m sorry Miss. Gomez” he apologizes once more before walking out of the room.
• When Neriah had stepped into the big city 18 months ago she wanted to pursue her dream which has always been fashion and clothing design and there was no better place to pursue that but in the large city of Lagos where all dreams could come true.
• Upon her arrival, she settled in and began working at some of the industries she'd read about while she was still at home, but none of them would approve of her work. Determined, she continued to go further, but the more she believed, the more she failed.
• Her dreams are almost ending having spent 18 out of the 24 months she’d initially set out to pursue this dream and now to make matters worse, she’s now being asked to leave the house with the refund of the six months advance she had on the house.
• She scrambles to the cold tiled floor burying her head between her legs and tears sting her eyes as she contemplates on what to do next.
• “Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to announce this year man of success, Mr Cainan Inferno,” announces the man on TV and the clapping of multitude follows next as they.
• Why does the name sound familiar? Neriah wonders on the floor, where else has she heard the name. She pauses a moment trying to recollect and then bam! It occurs to her like a flash of lightning. Inferno is the same name of the man Mr Tony said had bought his property from him.
• Neriah grabs a pen and piece of paper before moving in front of the TV and seeing his name boldly written on the screen where he’s being interviewed, she quickly writes it down. She goes to her laptop and types the full name in, before pressing on the search button and patiently she waits as the web displays who he is to her. Apparently, the broadcast is a rerun and she’s grateful that it is being aired now.
• She takes her time and downloads all the available information about him, which she is still surprised are good things into her head. From everything written here, he’s a self-made billionaire, who is heavily invested in humanitarian work and research. According to everything written here, he’s a selfless enthusiast who hopes to change and make the world a much better place.
• How bad can he be?
• Neriah dries her sobbing eyes and put a little makeup on and ties her messy hair into a side ponytail. She grabs her sneakers and after putting them on, she walks out of her house.
• The Cainan Inferno group which happens to be the real name of his company is luckily just a few minutes’ walks from her house according to what she'd written down earlier from the web, which explains why he’d want it.
• Neriah is a little amazed by the fact that she’d lived in this neighbourhood for close to two years, but had never bothered to even know anyone or anything around her. She immediately blames herself from being too driven by her dream to get to enjoy life and hopes to make a change about that from now on.
• Neriah finally comes to a stop at the 14th street Avenue where the company is supposed to be and as she looks, her mouth drops open and she knows she’s soon going to fall on her butt if she keeps starring up and hoping to see the head of the building.
• “Excuse me, ma’am,” a young man in a blue suit says, brushing past her and hurrying into the building and she hears him murmuring, “I’m so fired already."
• Neriah swallows down on nothing and looks at her wristwatch and it’s only 3 minutes past 8 she tells herself before entering the building.
• The inside is even more organized than the outside with each staff on their position, on their desk highly focused on their works. She approaches one of the workers on his computer at the corner of the room and smiles a little as she reaches his table.
• The blonde-haired, twenty-something-year-old man stops typing and glances up at her with the ‘I can’t be bothered’ look before asking, “Can I help you?”
• “Yeah, good morning, I’m actually looking for…….”
• “Oh my gosh he’s here,” comes the stuttering voice of the man she’s standing before, “can you move away from this desk? I don’t want to get into any trouble with the boss.”
• Neriah turns around from the blond rather rude young man and as she does this, she sights the man she’s been hoping to see before coming here.
• Cainan Inferno.
• Everything in his path seems to stop moving and so does she. She doesn't want to but she knows she has to admit that he is handsome maybe even beautiful in this case. Mixed skin, thick black hair, well-sculpted nose, chiselled and hard jaw, green eyes and a swollen red lips and she think she can guess what he's been doing in the last few minutes.
• "Hey everyone!" Cainan calls out, bringing the attention of everyone on the floor to him. "Say hello to Shawn," he says, pulling the young man Neriah had seen outside earlier when coming in by the arm.
• "Hello Shawn," everyone says in unison.
• The twenty-something year old, brown eyes, dark skin, black hair man who looks like he's about to pass out head drops and he stares at the floor.
• "Shawn is late again and everyone knows the first one is a?" He pauses after asking.
• "Warning," the staffs reply again like automatic answering robots.
• "So everyone says goodbye to Shawn," the young man's eyes widen in sorrow and looks like he's about to break down in tears.
• "Goodbye, Shawn."
• Cainan pats his shoulder, "Go and clear your table, Mr Ola."
• "Sir please give me one more chance." Shawn ramble helplessly, "My mom's admitted at the hospital I need this job so we're not thrown out." he says in tears.
• Not showing any bit of sympathy, Cainan says, "Not my business Shawn, go clear your table or I'll call the security to throw your things out."
• Unable to say anything else Shawn bows his head and walk away from him.
• Cainan who doesn't seem to be done yet continues to speak, "Let this be a warning to every one of you, if you do your best, you'll be rewarded, if not, you'll be fired. Carry on people."
• Neriah saw her opportunity and she decides to take it. She begins to approach him only to be blocked by two men out of nowhere.
• "Let me through!" She says, after being unable to make them move even as she pushes at them.
• "Who at you and what do you want?" One of them asks.
• She tiptoes to make sure Cainan isn't completely gone yet. "I just want to talk to your boss."
• He folds his arms, "He doesn't want to talk to you."
• "Can you go ask him at least?" Neriah knows she's sounding desperate but she can't help it, she really can't help it.
• "Who's that?" Cainan demands, his voice deep and commanding attention.
• "This Lady here want to talk to you," one of the men replies.
• He walks over to where the three are, "Let's hear it then," he folds his hands
• Neriah is taken off guard, not expecting it to be that easy and so she asks, "What?"
• He rolls his eyes, "Not deaf are you?"
• She shakes her head, "I'm not, I stay at the mainland, 43 west on 25th street." She begins to say.
• He growls and Neriah is sure he's losing his patience, "You're inviting me to your house now? Cause I have better offers."
• The guards chuckle and he glares at them, and once again Neriah dismisses his rude and arrogant response. "N-no... No" she stutters, shaking her head even as her cheeks heat up in embarrassment. "You're the new owner of the property and you're are asking us to leave."
• "I believe I gave you all extension and also gave a double refund of your rents."
• She nods "Yes you did, but finding a house in the city is not as easy as you think it is," she explains, her frustration dawning on her
• He shrugs casually, "Then move back to your home town."
• Her eyes widen and she scoffs, "Thanks; I just need a little more time and I'll leave that's all."
• "24 hours is my most generous offer to you young lady." He says with no trace of pity in his tone as he walks away from her.
• Her eyes widen and she follows him out of his office, "But that's unfair."
• "Unfair is demolishing the house on you while you're still inside and believe me that's what I'm going to do if you don't get lost in 24 hours."
• She scoff, not knowing if the man she's talking to is man or metal. "You're unbelievable."
• "Being unbelievable is what has brought me here today." He agrees with a nod.
• "And being an idiot is what will take you to where you will be tomorrow, cause you might be a billionaire, but you sure are an idiotic one." She does not realize she'd said that out loud until she finds the whole room quiet and the eyes of all the staffs in the room on her including the murderous eyes of the one she just called an idiot.
• She doesn't say another word before walking away, more of running.
• She meets Shawn as she walks outside and he's still holding his box, "Hey, I saw what happened to you inside and I must say no one deserves to go through that."
• He smiles a little and he looks down, "Thanks and I heard what you told him inside, thank you for saying it to his face, most of us wish we had that courage. So on behalf of all of us who didn't have enough guts to speak, thank you."
• She can't help smiling, "No problem."
• The two begin to walk down the road, "So what are you going to do now?"
• She shakes her head, "Going to pack my bags and look for where I can move into before tomorrow comes."
• "There's a house on lease close to where I live, you can come check it out."
• Her face lightens up, as she turns to him, "Really?"
• "Definitely. I know it isn't luxurious but it's something."
• "Okay sure."
• "The idiotic billionaire, I hope someone writes something on that one day."
• ...
• There comes a knock on the door and Cainan drops the pen and closes the file he's reading through, "Come in," he says.
• Ben, Cainan head of security enters the office, crossing his hands behind his back as he comes to a halt. "I was told you needed me."
• He nods, "I have a job for you."
• "What is it, boss?"
• "I want you to keep an eye out for someone and feed me back everything you find out about them."
• "Okay, sir, who's it?"
• "Her name is Neriah Gomez."