Chapter Six_Caught Between Them

I barely made it three steps out of Rami’s office before a hand closed around my arm.

“Zara.”

Kofi’s voice stopped me cold. I turned slowly. He looked the same and completely different at the same time — still handsome, still polished, but there was something uneasy in his eyes now. The kind of look that said he wasn’t prepared to see me here, of all places.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked, pulling my arm free.

He glanced past me toward Rami’s office door, then back at my face. “I could ask you the same thing. You work here?”

“That’s none of your business.”

He stepped closer, lowering his voice. “Your mum told Zola you have kids now… is that true?”

I froze.

“Don’t,” I cut him off. My voice came out sharper than I expected. “Don’t you dare talk about my children.”

Kofi’s expression shifted into confusion mixed with something that looked almost like hurt. “Zara, I’m just asking. Are they—?”

“They are none of your concern,” I snapped. “You lost the right to ask me anything the day you decided to fuck my sister behind my back.”

The words landed hard. He flinched, and for a second I saw the man I used to love flash across his face before it disappeared again.

We were standing near a quiet corner by the elevators. People walked past us, but no one paid attention. I didn’t care if they did. My heart was still racing from the meeting with Rami, and now this. It was too much at once.

“You knew,” I continued, the anger rising fast now. “You knew I was struggling with the hormonal imbalance. You watched me cry over doctor appointments and blood tests, and instead of staying, you went and made a baby with Zola.”

Kofi opened his mouth, but I didn’t let him speak.

“I got treatment, Kofi. I finished it. The doctors cleared me weeks before the wedding. I was going to tell you that night as a surprise. I had the results in my bag. I thought we were finally going to start our family.” My voice cracked, but I forced it steady. “Instead, I opened an envelope and found out you already had one… with my own sister.”

Silence stretched between us. Guilt flashed across his face, clear and heavy, but he didn’t say the words I once wanted to hear. He just stood there looking at me like he didn’t know how to fix what he broke. Like the damage was already too deep.

I shook my head, suddenly exhausted.

“Stay away from me,” I said quietly. “And stay the hell away from my children.”

I turned and walked off before he could answer. I didn’t look back. I couldn’t.

By the time I reached the lobby, my hands were still shaking.

I didn’t see Rami again that afternoon, but I could still feel the weight of those grey eyes on me. The same eyes that had stared at my twins’ photo like he already knew the truth. The same man who had touched me like I wasn’t broken two years ago… and then disappeared before morning. Every time I closed my eyes for even a second, I saw his face in that office — calm, controlled, and far too dangerous for my peace of mind.

I pushed the thoughts away and left the building as fast as I could.

Across the city, in the quiet of his office, Rami Lawrence sat behind his desk staring at nothing.

Her face kept replaying in his mind. The way she froze when she saw him. The way she snatched the phone so quickly. The panic in her eyes when he looked at the children. Those grey eyes on the screen… they were the same as his. There was no mistaking it.

He knew that face. He just couldn’t place from where. It sat at the edge of his memory like a word he couldn’t quite remember.

After a long moment, he pressed the intercom.

“Get Kofi Leo in here.”

A few minutes later, Kofi walked in, still looking slightly unsettled.

Rami didn’t waste time.

“Do you know Zara Peters?” he asked calmly, watching the other man’s face carefully.

Kofi hesitated for half a second too long. Then he shook his head. “No. Not really. We’ve crossed paths, nothing more.”

Rami studied him in silence. He didn’t believe him. The hesitation had been too obvious. But he nodded once anyway.

“That’ll be all.”

Kofi left. Rami leaned back in his chair, eyes narrowed, the name Zara Peters still sitting heavy on his tongue. Something about this whole situation felt off. And he hated unanswered questions.

That night, the apartment was quiet.

I stood in the doorway of the twins’ room, watching them sleep. Zain had one arm thrown over his sister. Zuri’s little mouth was slightly open. They looked so peaceful. So unaware of the storm their existence had just created. For two years, they had been my entire world. The only pure thing I had left after everything fell apart.

I leaned my head against the doorframe and closed my eyes.

What if he figures it out?

The thought terrified me more than I wanted to admit. Rami didn’t seem like a man who let things go. And those eyes… they were the same. There was no denying it. Part of me still remembered the way he had held me that night — like I wasn’t broken, like I was something worth keeping. That memory had no business showing up now.

I pulled out my phone and called Kemi before I could talk myself out of it.

She answered on the second ring. “Finally. You’ve been quiet all day. What happened?”

I walked into the living room and sank onto the couch, pulling my knees up slightly.

“I saw him,” I said.

“Who?”

“The man from that night. He’s the CEO of Apex Global. His name is Rami Lawrence.”

Kemi went silent for a second. “You’re joking.”

“I wish I was. And it gets worse. Kofi was there too.”

“What the fuck?”

I told her everything — walking into Rami’s office, the photo of the twins lighting up on my phone, the way Rami’s eyes locked on it, Kofi showing up at the door, and the confrontation by the elevators. When I finished, Kemi was quiet for a long moment.

Then she exploded.

“That bastard still has the nerve to open his mouth around you? After everything he did? I swear to God, if I ever see Kofi Leo again I’m going to lose my damn mind. The audacity of that man—”

“Kemi.”

“I’m serious, Zara. That man is a piece of shit. And now the one-night stand is your boss? This is messy as hell. You’re telling me the guy you slept with the night of your failed wedding is now sitting in a corner office deciding your career?”

I rubbed my forehead. “I don’t know what to do.”

“You need to be careful,” she said, her voice serious now. “Especially with the twins. If this Rami guy is as powerful as you say, and if those kids really look like him…”

“I know.”

There was a pause on the line.

Then Kemi said quietly, “You need to tell him before someone else does.”

I closed my eyes. The words settled over me like a weight I wasn’t ready to carry.

The next morning, I walked into Apex Global with my stomach in knots.

The elevator doors opened on my floor.

And Rami was already standing there, waiting.

His expression was cold. Controlled.

“We need to talk,” he said. “Privately.”