04:15Pm

Dare's POV.

Their convoy was already waiting outside the Presidential Palace, she came to say goodbye to Mr. Obaze first because he is leaving for the US tonight. He is going for his daughter's graduation; he actually delayed his US trip for this one plus his work here is done he has seen the sites.

When she finished talking to Mr. Obaze she looked at him and held his gaze for a few seconds before walking off to the second vehicle. He couldn't tell how she was feeling about his display earlier, is she mad at him? Is she glad he stepped in? Is she interested in João? He could not read her emotions she was just being super formal with him.

"Dare what was that?" Mr. Obaze finally said to him when they got into the car it was just the two of them and the Driver.

"Didn't you see the way he was harassing her?" Dare said under his breath.

"He was flirting with her!" Mr. Obaze shrugged "He is single, she is single, and they're both adults"

Dare was both shocked and angry that Mr. Obaze was cool with it. "He is a Dictator!"

"So? Men like him usually make great spouses" Mr. Obaze joked.

Dare was too bewildered to even respond to that he just stared at the old man in shock.

The man laughed and continued "What? Mugabe, IBB, Dos Santos, Al Assad, they all worship their wives, Sofi will make perfect first Lady! and he is not....a dictator that was his Father"

Ok WTF! would he be saying that if it were one of his daughters? Dare thought to himself.

At a point, Dare even started wondering if he was overreacting, if he was just being jealous.

However, he realized that he would have done the same thing even if there was nothing between them. She is his Staff, she is on his team, and he is responsible for everyone on this trip.

That Dog called João was being disrespectful to her, reducing her to her 'beauty' and then hitting on her during a meeting. That was just wrong TBH. If he wants to toast her, he should do that in a casual setting.

This is not just about him being jealous, he admits that he should have been more subtle or polite with the Man since they were here for Business, but fuck it! The guy was irritating him with the way he was looking at her like she was some piece of meat. Just thinking about it now was pissing him off sef.

That night she changed her room because of him, he decided to leave her alone and he stopped trying to get her attention on this trip because she was having none of it; She ignored him completely during the flight, she rode in the second car to avoid him, and she even went as far as changing her room to put more distance between them.

He was stressing her and he did not want that so he decided to back off and focus on the matter at hand instead, which is securing this deal enough for it to be a viable option in case the Nigerian deal goes south because of freaking Alhaji Buba.

But now, with President's João's randy behavior, he has no choice now but to fix the Alhaji Buba problem because, there is no way in hell they're working with that Animal called João!

He is going to ensure nothing brings them.....HER back to this country. He is going to kill this deal, Mr. Bakare should forget about it. Sofi is not part of the package, over his dead body.

However, to 'fulfill all righteousness' though, he will complete the outstanding official duty of the trip by meeting with the Minister tomorrow; in the meantime, he wanted to convince her to leave tonight because he doesn't know how much madness President João inherited from his father.

There is no commercial flight to Nigeria today, there is just one to the US by 6pm and he is not even sure if she has a US visa, so he wanted her to quietly fly back to Lagos with the jet.

He knows she is going to argue with him and be a coconut head about it so he was planning to order her to fly back formally. He suspects she is mad at him for being antagonistic and unprofessional towards the President but he does not regret it one bit, he would do it again.

Honestly, he should have insisted on not doing business with this guy when Mr. Bakare brought it up, but he got selfish because he just wanted an opportunity to travel with her again and now he has exposed her to an animal and put everyone at risk.

It is so sad that this is the shit a lot of women have to put up with on their jobs, some might even be pressured into being 'nice' to the client to help them secure a deal. He sees how the Bank Managers keep sending different women to him to 'visit' him or 'check on him' to know if he 'needs anything' and they're doing all that to ensure the Company continues banking with them.

He would never do that to any woman, and he will not sit back and watch that happen to the woman he loves.....yes he loves her. He was ready to chop bullet today for her.

When they got to the Hotel he was still discussing with Mr. Obaze, they were talking about the issues in the PH operations so he walked with him to his Chalet to get his stuff and back to the car that will take him to the Airport. As soon as Mr. Obaze left, he went to look for her.

5:07pm

He went to the reception area of the main building and asked to see her, the receptionist called her room and there was no answer.

He tried reaching her on her mobile phone but it wasn't connecting, she was not online too in the chats, his messages were not even delivering. They have been communicating over Wi-Fi all through this trip and there is Wi-Fi everywhere in the hotel so at least the messages should deliver.

After a while he asked the receptionist to check if she inside, told them it was urgent. The receptionist sent someone and confirmed she was not in her room.

Okay this is strange where did she go? He thought to himself.

"When last did you see her?" He asked the receptionist.

"I saw her leave in the morning but I'm not sure if she has returned," He said.

"What? We drove back together" The car conveying her was right behind his, he saw her get off the car and he is 100% sure he saw her walking into the reception, he was even checking her out admiring her cute little steps. That was just an hour ago.

He called their travel agent in Nigeria to ask if she had contacted them, he was hoping she had used her own head to depart but the agent said no.

Dare's heart started beating fast, he called Gowon immediately and asked him to get someone to track her location with her number, email, watsapp he gave them everything.

30 minutes later Gowon's staff called to inform him that her phone is offline but the last location is the hotel.

This drove him insane and he got extremely paranoid, his mind was already thinking of every possible crazy scenario, he went with one of the Hotel Staff to check her room, they searched everywhere and there was no sign of her, her phone was there, plugged and charging but it was switched off, her bags were still there though.

Even Gowon thought it was strange but he told him to remain calm, he said he has some contacts in the Terra de pérola Military.

"She probably went shopping, don't do anything stupid, just stay calm, I'm going to make some calls now to see if we can get a footage of the reception area" Gowon said to him but his was not listening O.

They can delete the footage! If the reception guy is claiming he didn't see her then something is up!

6:15 PM

He was heading out of the hotel building still on the phone with Gowon when a Taxi pulled up and he saw her step out of it. She was holding two shopping bags and she was with the female official from yesterday who went with them for the Tour.

He wanted to sweep her up in his arms and hug her but he stayed calm, they are not yet on good terms. He sighed as the fear vanished from him. goddamnit is he so whipped for her!

He heard her thank the Lady and then the Taxi drove off. When she saw him, she walked up to him. She had changed into one of those floral tropical dresses and she was wearing a small straw hat, she looked happy and relaxed.

"What are you doing here?" She asked him.

"You went shopping?" He asked her weakly, berating himself inside for panicking like that.

"mhhmm" She nodded then smiled at him there was still some excitement in her voice from the shopping trip, "Cristiana wanted to show me the local market, I couldn't help it" She smiled sheepishly and her smile immersed his heart in warmth.

Thank God! He hardly prays o, he cannot even remember the last time he went to church, but today he prayed when he thought she was missing.

"Can we talk?" He said seriously "Please?"

At that point, he was tired of playing games, his life flashed before his eyes earlier today, and then he thought she had been kidnapped just some minutes ago and both times today his one regret was that: he has never told her how he really feels about her.

He wants to have a heart to heart with her right now, he wants to come clean about everything. Get her to trust him more.

She hesitated first a little then she gave her shopping bags to a bellboy and walked with him along the footpath that leads to the beach.

"Hope you're okay?" He asked her. He wanted to double check especially with what happened at the meeting.

"I am fine" She said "You?"

"I am alright" He looked at her. She was wearing flats this time around so the height difference was more between them.

They both fell silent for a few seconds before she broke it.

"Dare...thank you... for stepping in during the meeting"

He nodded. He was so glad she said his name this time, she did not call him Mr. Madaki.

They got to a very quiet bay area and he stopped then turned to face her. He didn't want them to go further because sunset was approaching and he still doesn't trust anyone in this country. Plus she had taken off her sandals, going further would take them to the shrubby part of the beach, he didn't want anything to prick her soft pretty feet.

He stared deeply into her eyes and started talking.

"Sofi, listen I am tired of whatever this fight is can we just go back to...?"

"Back to what?" She frowned.

She is still acting up lol. He thought to himself.

"You know what I'm talking about, we were together and then you abruptly cut me off, stopped responding to my messages, started acting up"

"Oh, we were 'together'?" She glared at him.

"Yes, why would you think otherwise?" He asked with confusion but she was still glaring at him she was fuming inside but she still looked hot lol. At least she is showing emotion today, they are making some progress. However, she didn't answer him, she looked like she wanted to walk away from him so he quickly held her hand to stop her from leaving.

They must talk about this today she's not walking out on him again without any explanation.

"Why are you acting like it was nothing?" He was genuinely baffled.

"Who is the woman you brought to the office the other day?" She said heatedly as her eyes welled up with tears.

"What woman? Is this a joke?" What is she talking about?

"The one with blue hair?" She snapped.

"Blue hair?..... That's my sister!"

"Right" She said sarcastically.

"No I am serious, she's my sister....what is wrong with you?" he raised his voice.

"Also, what the fuck! she is a teenager!..you think I am messing around with a teenager?"
He couldn't believe it! So this is why she has been frustrating him for the past few weeks. How did she even know about it? Diana was only in Lagos for like 1 second that day and she herself was not even in the office. He was mad at her but he was also relieved at the same time.

She looked a little bit embarrassed but she still had doubts in her eyes. So he opened his phone to show her a selfie Diana took of them that day in the Airport before she boarded her flight to Abuja.

"I swear to God that is my sister, here is a picture of us" He gave her his phone "She flew in from the US that morning, her flight to Abuja was delayed for over 5 hours so I sent Soji to pick her up"

She looked at the picture tentatively, lol Diana is even his carbon copy, how can anyone think they're dating this is crazy!

"You broke up with me because of my sister?" he laughed hysterically "You are something else!"

She looked back up at him, realizing she had fucked up but she was still glaring at him.

"This is the reason you cut me off? Why didn't you just confront me about it?"

"It is not the only reason," She said defensively.

"Okay what else do you have against me?" He released her hand but still held her gaze deeply.

"I don't want to have an affair with my boss" She looked away.

"This is not an affair Sofi, I am in love with you!" He screamed, startling her.

A/N: Lol you people should just start adding +12 hrs to the time i say i'll update 😂. Chapter 30 coming up in a bit....today (for real 🙈)

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