109 Days of Obsession

[ALERT: Your balance has dropped below $100.]

I blinked as I stared at the notification on my phone, and blinked again twice. 

The fuck just happened?

That had to be wrong.

I clicked into my banking app, thinking it was a glitch. A maintenance update. Maybe a bug.

But alas it was neither. My balance really was below $100 - $67 to be precise.

My chest tightened as I refreshed the page over and over again frantically.

But no matter how many times I did it still showed $67.

With my hands suddenly shaking, I switched to my savings account.

Zero.

Then the emergency account I’d created when things with Caleb started getting serious.

Zero.

“No. No, no, no…” I whispered, grabbing my phone with shaky hands. My fingers flew over the screen as I hit speed dial for the bank.

Jazz music played on the other end of the line. Soft. Unbothered. Completely opposite of the panic clawing its way through my ribs.

A voice finally came on. “Thank you for calling. How may I assist you today?”

“Yes—hi. I need to report unauthorized transactions. All of my accounts—everything—is empty. Gone. I need you to freeze the account now.”

“Certainly. May I confirm your full name and the last four digits of your account number?”

I gave her the details, my voice tight, my mind spinning.

“Thank you. Please hold for a moment while I review your account… Alright. I see multiple transfers to an external wallet. They were approved from your registered device.”

“No. That’s not possible. I didn’t approve anything.”

“The log confirms the device matches your profile. All transactions were digitally signed using your mobile authentication app.”

My throat dried up.

“That’s not right,” I said, my voice cracking. “There has to be a mistake. Can you reverse it? Trace it? Do something?”

“I’m very sorry, ma’am, but unless you file a police report and secure a court order, we cannot—”

I ended the call.

The silence in the café felt deafening as I stared hard at my screen like it had betrayed me. My eyes stayed glued to the phone - perhaps I was hallucinating and seeing things. Perhaps if I stared hard enough my balances would go back to what they were just about an hour ago.

But hallucinations would not explain the approved transactions the nice lady talked about.

That would not explain it, unless…

I shook my head hard to clear the thought that just made its way to my mind cos there was no way it’s possible.

But how else could I explain this?

Only one person had access to my phone.

Only one person knew the passwords.

Only one person had convinced me to link our accounts for “transparency.”

Caleb.

My boyfriend - the man I trusted and built with.

The man who had told me—just this morning—to wear something unforgettable for tonight’s gala because it was our night.

My hands moved on their own. I grabbed my laptop, shoved it into my bag, and bolted through the café doors into the rain.

The hotel was glowing.

The kind of place that made you feel like you were walking into a dream—if you weren’t already choking on a nightmare.

Crimson carpet. Glass walls. Black cars lined up like chess pieces. Golden light spilled from the lobby, welcoming Lagos’s elite.

My dress were stuck to my legs. The rain had creased the fabric, soaked my shoes, and blurred my makeup but I didn’t care.

Not when it felt like my head was spinning.

I looked a mess I knew it but I walked in anyway.

Security paused me for a beat. I flashed the VIP pass Caleb had sent me days ago. The guard scanned it, glanced at my soaked hair, and stepped aside.

Laughter echoed under a crystal chandelier the size of a car. Waiters in white gloves glided between guests. Cameras flashed. People sparkled.

But I didn’t see any of them.

No. Not when my eyes had gone directly to the center of the stage to see Caleb, my boyfriend, standing there bathed in gold light like a god with that smile I was so obsessed over.

Only this time the smile wasn’t for me. 

My boyfriend was grinning at another completely, and when I turned to look at her, shock glued me to my feet.

I knew that face. That sharp cheekbones, the regal nose that I sometimes found myself envying.

Lottie. The Mayor’s daughter but beyond being the Mayor she came from a long line of old money.

So what was my boyfriend doing, standing beside her and staring at her like she was a fallen piece of the brightest star?

“I want to thank everyone for being here tonight,” Caleb said, his voice smooth, polished. “For years, I’ve worked on something I believed in. But tonight isn’t about code or capital—it’s about something more.”

He turned to Lottie.

And dropped to one knee.

Gasps rippled through the ballroom, but they were nothing compared to the chill that swept through my spine as I gaped at the scene playing out before me.

“Lottie,” he said, loud and clear, “you are my future. Will you marry me?”

Applause erupted in the hall mixed with laughter and champagne glasses clinking together.

But I still stood, frozen as everybody around me moved oblivious of the fact that my heart was breaking bit by bit as I watched the life I had built - the life I had invested so much in for five years - shred apart right before my eyes.

Or maybe they didn’t care enough to notice.

I took in a shaky breath, my head still reeling with something I couldn’t quite place a finger on - shock? Confusion? Pain? Anger?

Perhaps it was a mixture of all of them.

Another shaky breath, then another. Because I hoped they would calm my raging nerves but they didn't Instead they just felt like I was dragging my lungs through fire.

With each breath I took, my mind slowly came to realization of what was unfolding in front of me.

First it was my eyes seeing it.

Then my mind processing it at a fucking slow pace.

Caleb just proposed to another girl that wasn’t me.

I took a staggering step back and bumped into someone but I didn’t turn to look because I was still too busy staring at the happy couple who were now hugging and kissing each other.

Caleb just proposed to another girl - the Mayor’s daughter IN PUBLIC.

My hands clutched my belly and I bent over, suddennly too weak to stand straight.

And then his eyes met mine.

Right through the crowd.

For a brief moment I swear I saw shock then remorse flash across his features then it was gone,

And he smirked….at ME.

The floor didn’t fall beneath me.

I did.

Inside.

I felt everything drop—my heart, my breath, my dignity. I stumbled back a step, heels catching, the whispers already crawling through the room.

“Isn’t that Ava? The startup girl?”

“She looks wrecked.”

“Oh, God. He used her.”

“Damn. Brutal.”

And then—because apparently I hadn’t bled enough—he smiled at the audience and said, “There are people who help you grow. But not everyone is meant to stay. Sometimes, you have to let go of dead weight to fly.”

The crowd laughed and someone clapped.

Someone else muttered, “Savage.”

And I? I couldn’t move.

Not because I didn’t want to—but because if I did, I’d run. Far and fast and screaming.

‘Dead weight?’

“Ava I’m sure you of all people should understand my decisions.” Caleb said again, with a shrug, “I appreciate.,,everything but come on. You don’t really expect me to spend the rest of my life with a low life and liability like you, when I can have a woman who is capable of making me fly by my side, do you?”

‘A liability?’

I wanted to yell but the only thing that kept coming out of my lips were gasps.

I turned, shoved past someone’s chair, and made for the exit. My chest burned. My fingers shook. My vision blurred from fury and shame.

But just before I reached the hallway, I bumped into a strong body, which almost tilted me over because my knees were barely holding me up but before I could fall, strong arms held mine to hold me in place.

And they didn’t let go 

I looked up to see a devilishly handsome man wearing a black suit so precise it might’ve been carved, not stitched. 

I wrenched my arms out of his grip and stepped aside but he stepped in sync blocking me.

“Stay.”

His voice wasn’t loud, not harsh nor was it so deep but there was something so primal about his tone that forced me to obey his order immediately with zero questions.

I looked up and Storm-grey eyes met mine.

My mouth opened. “Who the hell—”

“Five minutes,” he said quietly, still watching me. “Give me that, and I’ll give you something better than revenge.”

My chest heaved. “Who are you?”

He leaned in slightly, “call me your salvation sweetheart.”

Before I could respond, he turned—facing the crowd, raising his voice without raising its pitch.

“This woman here is mine.”

Silence fell like glass shattering.

Caleb turned on stage. “What the hell?”

The stranger stepped forward. His arm wrapped around my waist like we’d done this before. Like this was always the plan.

He didn’t look at Caleb.

He looked at everyone else.

“I have no business explaining to you all but I couldn’t sit back and watch an imp like him disrespect her.

So I just want to announce to you all - that this woman right here…is MINE. So no shades will be tolerated.”

He was indeed my salvation from the Shame. Mockery. Humiliation