Friday 3PM

Dare was upset when he got back to the office on friday afternoon. He had just confirmed that the real owner of the Company (StarLight Hydrocarbon) they were about to be paired with for the gas project is a former politician; Alhaji Buba.

Alhaji Buba is a former Minister of Defence, he was fired abruptly by the former president and he has an ongoing EFCC case. He was accused of diverting funds that were meant for training Policemen, Army and for upgrading their equpment and tech. The Courts ruled in his favour two years back because the EFCC did not have substantive evidence against him but the case has not been closed by the EFCC because they've appealed to the supreme court to allow them reopen the investigations.

After Chief told him the name of the Company on Monday, first thing he did was track the Company's investors in London. Since they were based in London he got a former coworker to do some background inquiry on the 'investors'. Last last sha they found out that the money the Investors transferred to StarLight Hydrocarbon in Nigeria was actually from another bizzare Swiss 'Investment Company' that was registered just one year ago. At that point he just knew they had a huge problem on their hand.

So he called Gowon to help out with the remaining investigations in Nigeria and he just met with Gowon today and all the information he found tied the Company to Alhaji Buba.

There is no way they are collaborating with that Company. When the EFCC eventually finds the money he looted and start to prosecute they will come after all his assets, properties and Investment and this will drag them into the scandal too because of the partnership they have to form with the Company for the gas project.

You see, Chief and the other 'big 5 indigenous' oil companies have never participated directly in politics and they don't get involved with politicians because politicians and regimes come and go but Corporations stay.

They all earned their first Major oil blocks on merit in the 80s and they've struggled to defend their legal title and ownership over the years through different regimes legitimately. And they all maintain a clean reputation. Most of the indigenous oil companies that emerged after the big five were all politician companies in reality created with stolen funds.

They have to find a way to elbow this Alhaji Buba and his fake Company out of the arrangement, if they can't do that then they are going to forfeit the award or sell their right to another Company. They will never partner with a politician!

He was so mad about it because this will undermine all of the gas team's hard work.... Sofi's hard work, she is going to be disappointed if they loose this gig because of one stupid politician.

He knew Chief was around because he saw many cars outside the building and a lot people waiting at the reception. They do not talk about stuff like this on the phone, which is why Chief came in today.

Whenever Chief is around, a lot of people come to 'see him' for assistance or contracts. He saw about 3 celebrities too waiting at the reception. lol did they come to report him? They better go and act more movies or release more hits o, he is not giving anyone endorsement deal again.

He was sha already cranky when he got off the elevator and ran into Sofi and that her ex. They were chatting and laughing away like close friends.

"Good afternoon Sir" The junior staff that were loitering around greeted him and scurried off.

She looked guilty when she saw him. He knows the guy's face, he has their pre-wedding pictures in that folder Gowon gave him and he knows he is one of their geophysical contractors.

He couldn't even hide his displeasure when he saw them. She wanted to greet him but he looked away and walked off, avoiding her.

What is she doing with him? Also isn't he is married?

He figured the guy probably came to 'greet' Chief too. Joblessness. He thought as he walked to his office. That sight compounded his irritation for a while but he redirected his focus back to the bigger problem at hand.

Chief said he was going to talk to the Minister of Petroleum about it.
"I don't think she is aware Alhaji Buba owns the Company, no one wants to be linked to that man. If she IS aware then my guess is she was pressured to do it" Mr. Bakare said calmly as he stared out the window in Dare's office.

****

Sofi's POV

Monday 09:00am

He sent her a financial modelling template to prepare a report for him on the Terra de pérola gas reserves for their trip tomorrow. She saw that the mail came in by 6am, he said he wanted it ready before 4pm. As she downloaded it she thought about the last time she saw him when he ran into her and Wale that Friday afternoon.

At first she was glad she was about to make him jealous so she started laughing and even touched Wale's chest but then she noticed that he looked worried so she stopped and she actually wanted to talk to him. She hoped he was not in some kinda trouble with the board, she knew Chief was waiting for him too that was why he came in that day.

Wale claimed he came to 'greet' Chief too because he was happy the old man has recovered then as expected, he stopped by her office to say hello to her too. She knew he came because she has stopped answering his phone calls again. That day he still asked her out for dinner but she declined.

She started working on the spreadsheets quickly he wanted her to calculate the net value of the field that President João was proposing to them. She paused when she saw him rushing out again around 10:30am 'Something is up, and it has nothing to do with this trip' She thought to herself. These days he looks worried not pissed, thats not normal.

Also, usually he would do stuff like this financial modelling himself because he is an expert at it but the fact that he is delegating to her means his mind preoccupied with something else.

Dare's pov:

Monday 06:00pm

When he got back to the office, she was not done with the task he gave her. He still had a lot of work to do that evening. He had made some headway with the Startlight Hydrocarbon problem.

He finally met the CEO....'Frontman' of the Company that day and he has agreed to arrange for a secret meeting between Chief Bakare and the Alhaji Buba. The CEO is an Ivy league graduate with vast consulting experience in oil and gas, it is so sad that he decided to be the frontman of a dirty politician. Alhaji Buba must have offered him alot of money.

They are travelling tomorrow though by 10am and he wanted to look at the results of the task he gave her. He wanted to see how profitable this Terra de pérola project could be because if things get messy with this Alhaji Buba they're going to have to forget naija and work with 'baby dictator' for their gas division.

He actually planned to work late today because he still had a lot to clear on his table. He is going to catch some sleep on the 5-hour flight tomorrow.

As he walked to her office to find out why she has not completed the task he remembered that he has not even come up with any strategy on how to bond back with her on the trip yet because he has been too busy strategizing with Mr. Bakare on how to sort this Starlight Hydrocarbon issue.

Damn you Alhaji Buba!

He still thinks about her though in his quiet moments, he wanted to hold her in his arms, he still visualizes her face, her body before falling asleep every night.

He paused when he saw her through the partition sitting there on her desk struggling with the work. He frowned then continued to her office. Her eyes were tired, he wondered if it was because of the task or she has been busy helping other people do their jobs instead of doing her own.

"What's with the delay?" He said, she should have completed it in 2hrs or less it was preformatted already all she had to do was put in the figures from the proposal President João sent to Chief.

She looked up at him "I think there's a problem with the formatting" she said.

"Why didn't you call me?" He asked her.

She wanted to say something but she kept quiet. She looked scared, like she was waiting for him to scold her. lol.

"Abi you deleted my number?" He teased her instead.

"No" She answered then smiled a little too. That eased off the tension between them a little.

Damn she's so beautiful... and annoying. He thought to himself.

"Let me see it" He crossed over to her table. She was wearing a silk blouse, it was tight around her breasts. Her chest heaved up and down as she breathed calmly.

Did she really think he would yell at her because of this?

Despite the fact that he is salty she dumped him, he could never do that to her specifically. He knows that she didnt call him for help because of the awkwardness between them and its all his fault. He is the one that seduced her, even after she told him she didnt want to mess around with her coworker. She has never missed a deadline since he started working with her.

Her braid was tucked behind her ear and he could smell her perfume strongly from where he stood hunched over her desk beside her. His face was so close to the nape of her neck, he felt like kissing her there but he is a professional and he has self-control.

He opened the document on her desktop and inspected it. He was using her wireless apple mouse to navigate as he corrected the formatting. When he started scrolling down to cross check the remaing cells with the weird hand movement on the mouse, his dirty mind remembered how he used to touch her like that.

He paused suddenly and shut his eyes to shut down those thoughts as blood started rushing downstairs then he looked at her to be sure she couldn't see what was going on with him but she was staring at his hand too with full concentration and she looked tensed too.

He snatched his hand away from the mouse quickly and it startled her a little. She quickly turned her gaze to the monitor, she was flustered too.

He slipped his hands in his pockets slowly as he smiled briefly. Interesting.

He cleared his throat "repeat what I just did for the other sheets then print it out.... send a copy to my email"

"Okay" she said as she stretched her hand out to grab the mouse but she suddenly changed her mind and used the keypad instead knocking the bottle water on her table down in the process.

LOL!

Tuesday

9:20am

This is her 3rd time on Chief's Global Express. The Global Express is Naija Billionaires private jet asoebi, most of them own one.... or two; Dangote, Alakija, Adenuga, Orji Uzor Kalu etc.

The first time she flew in it was to attend a wedding with Amanda in Abuja and the second time she flew alone to PH for an emergency task.

They're flying to PH first to pick Mr. Obaze before they embark on the 5-hour flight to the Ankete, the capital of Terra de pérola.

She sat in the first section of the cabin; the club suite which is where she always sits because the chairs have foldable tables she can comfortably work on. The inner sections of the cabin were plushier and mostly for entertainment and resting.

She opened her laptop and started going through their presentation again. They are meeting with the President João tomorrow but today, they will visit the sites.

She was wearing a yellow summer dress and 3 inch sandals, she also carried a denim jacket because the aircraft gets too cold when its high up in the clouds.

He arrived about 10 Minutes to take-off and he came to sit directly opposite her.

"Hello Miss Ireti" He said.

"Hi" She said curtly then blocked her ears with her air pods. There are 16 other seats and 2 other sections on this aircraft but he chose to sit opposite her. He wants to seduce her again abi.

She is going to ignore him because she knows he will try to get friendly with her again like he did in Abuja. He should go and meet his blue haired babe. She has not forgotten about that one o.

Port Harcourt

"Ahhh me I just want to sleep" Mr. Obaze yawned as soon as he stepped into the plane, he was talking to the attendant.
He paused at their section then looked at the two of them and said "I hope you two are no fighting again?" and they both laughed "Dare stop bullying my girl O" he added as he continued straight to the section that has a bed.

She looked back at Dare and saw him smirking at her. She knew he was probably thinking about how clueless Mr. Obaze is about them. That was the same look he had in his eyes that day Chief called her to his Office. She blamed herself for sleeping with him.

When the attendant came to take their order for brunch after the air craft took off again it looked like he was flirting with the lady so she lowered the volume of her music to listen in on what they were saying.

He was asking her questions about the food because she is also a cook. The girl looked like she was feeling him too. Of course, he is attractive. She actually started feeling bad for his blue haired girlfriend. Scum.

Then he asked the attendant to take her order first because he could not make up his mind. She ordered for salmon, fruit salad and the most expensive sounding mede mede on the menu, she wasn't very hungry but the catering has been paid for already whether they eat it or not.

"Have you made up your mind Sir?" The attendant turned to Dare with a huge smile on her face.

"I'll have what she's having," He said with a stupid smile on his face, his eyes on hers.

Even the attendant was shocked at the drama she was seeing. After all the grammar and questions he asked about food he ended up with copy and paste order.

She ignored him still. She knew he wanted to strike up a casual conversation with her like he did in Abuja. She is not going to take the bait.

They ate quietly with him stealing glances at her. So annoying, is this supposed to feel like a lunch date to him? Isn't this harassment? Why did she even sleep with him?
He needs to leave her alone she has told him she is not doing again.

After the attendant cleared the table, she reclined her chair a little then covered her legs with her jacket and pretended to be asleep.

He grabbed a business magazine and started reading it. She opened one eye to peep at him occasionally. You see ehhn, he is an asshole o, but Dare is fine! He is hot, sexy, and clean like just fucking look at him. The energy he gives off is magnetic.

She has to stop being so hard on herself for sleeping with him sef, he is hot jarey and he got her with his tricks the first time but she's not going to fall for it again.

Her eyes fell on his hand when he started adjusting the collar of his shirt, those strong sexy hands of his that gripped her waist strongly but touched her everywhere else gently.

She didn't know if it was the cozy ambience of the jet or the crazy altitude they were cruising on but she started feeling weird inside. She shut her eyes quickly and crossed her legs but it did not help because her mind kept going back to him and her in his house.
After about a while, he spoke and she almost jerked. His voice has this crazy effect on her. Hope he didn't notice that.

He wanted the attendant to get coffee for him. She did not peek at him again but she heard him put down the magazine. She did not hear the flipping of pages again just silence however, she could feel his gaze on her. The jacket did not cover her legs completely so her legs were cold but she could feel the heat from his laser stare on her legs too.

He must have noticed her discomfort because when the attendant came with the coffee he asked her to drop it in the next sitting area. She heard a beep of the remote that controls the table first then the sound of the table being collapsed and folded, then he came very close to her, she could smell him, she could feel the heat of his body he was hovering above her!

She felt her seat lowering into a more comfortable position as everywhere got darker; He was shutting the blinds of the windows on her side of the aircraft.

'What is he doing?' She panicked but she still didnt open her eyes. She was so scared he would do something to her.

"Please get a blanket for her," She heard him say to the attendant lowering his voice as he walked to the next section of the cabin.

I was supposed to post this on Sunday night along with CH 26, but i had to do alot of research for this chapter first lol. Sorry its late guys. See y'all on Friday!

I have a playlist on my IG highlight for the book so check it out too.

⬇️⬇️⬇️Don't forget to vote ;)