The thunderstorm outside the grand Okafor estate roared with terrifying intensity, flashing blinding streaks of lightning across the silk-curtained windows of the private clinic room.

I stood frozen beside the mahogany bed, my pulse hammering in my ears like a war drum. For three years, this room had been a quiet mausoleum where family members treated a billionaire’s body like a piggy bank. Now, those dead eyes were wide, burning with sharp, razor-sharp intelligence, and his fingers were locked around my wrist with a crushing, unrelenting grip.

“Who… who are you?” Obinna Okafor rasped again, his voice like grinding stones, scraping out from a throat unused to speech.

He tried to lift his head, his muscles trembling under pale skin, but sheer willpower kept him anchored.

I looked down at his hand, then back to his face. I didn't pull away.

“My name is Chisom,” I whispered, keeping my tone steady despite the tremor in my chest. “Your family forced me to marry you under my stepsister Amara’s name. They thought you were a vegetable. They thought they could steal your empire while you rotted away in this bed.”

Obinna’s dark eyes narrowed. A flicker of cold, calculated fury crossed his face—the terrifying presence of the man who had built Okafor Dominion before the rigged accident three years ago.

“I… I remember the crash,” Obinna whispered, his breathing shallow. “The brakes… the sabotage. My uncle… Ifeoma… Eze…”

“Dr. Eze is poisoning you slowly,” I interrupted quickly, leaning close to his ear as the thunder drowned out our voices. “Every night, they double your sedative dosage to keep you brain-dead while they liquidate your assets. But I switched the logs. I’m keeping you alive.”

Obinna stared at me for three long, agonizing seconds. Then, slowly, his iron grip on my wrist loosened. A faint, bitter smile touched the corner of his cracked lips.