Location: Iyana-Ipaja – Rooftop of a Burned-Out Hotel
Time: 5:33 a.m.
Lagos hadn't slept. Sirens had echoed all night. A police van had been torched in Oshodi. Gas stations robbed. ATMs hacked. But no one took credit.
Dave stood at the rooftop's edge, hoodie over his head, face shadowed by dawn light.
Beside him, Jamzy lit a cigarette with bloody fingers.
"You heard?" Jamzy asked, voice low.
Dave didn't respond.
"They bombed our supply route in Epe. Blew it wide open. No survivors."
Still no response.
Jamzy exhaled smoke and finally said it:
"This ain't just war anymore."
"This is a message."
Dave's eyes locked on the rising sun. Calm. Cold. Focused.
"Then we send one back."
Location: Reign's War Room – Same Morning
Tessa was already on the third coffee. Karma ran a facial scan on a photo snapped in Mushin the night before — it came back with a match.
Lang. Alive. Confirmed.
Karma spat. "I fucking knew it."
"We underestimated Vera," Tessa murmured.
"She didn't come here to kill Dave."
"She came to turn him."
They both froze as Dave walked in.
"She won't succeed," he said, eyes hard.
"But I'll use her attempt against her."
He tapped the table screen, pulling up a map of Ikoyi.
"We're bleeding intel. Someone's still feeding her."
He pointed to a zone on the map. "But that's where her next move will be."
"How do you know?" Karma asked.
"Because that's where I'd hit next."
He cracked his knuckles.
"And now… we bait the bitch."
Location: Vera's Hidden Base – Apapa Port
Lang paced the corridor outside Vera's quarters, nervous.
She was inside… painting.
Yes, painting. On a massive canvas. Red, black, and grey strokes. Chaos and blood — like her work in Lagos.
She finally spoke.
"He knows you're alive."
Lang stiffened.
"Then we hit now?"
Vera shook her head.
"No. Let him spiral. Let the heat build. Let him trust the wrong person again."
She looked over her shoulder, expression unreadable.
"And then we end him."
Location: Bariga – Inside a Taxi Garage
Dave met with someone nobody had seen in five years —
Uncle Lebo.
Ex-con. Street legend. Political ghost.
He once ran ten wards in Mainland before getting betrayed and disappearing.
He stepped out from the shadows, now walking with a limp, beard grey, eyes sharp as glass.
"You look like your father," Lebo said.
"I don't care," Dave replied.
"Good. He was weak."
They sat. Silence stretched between them like wire.
"Why now?" Dave asked.
"Because ghosts are stirring, boy. And you're not ready."
"I'm ready for war."
Lebo leaned in.
"You don't win this with bullets. You win this with secrets."
He slid an envelope across the table.
Inside: documents. Bank transfers. Political names. Military involvement. Even Vera's original contract.
"She wasn't hired to kill you," Lebo said softly.
"She was hired to replace you."
Location: Inside Uncle Lebo's Safe Flat – Somewhere in Bariga
Time: 8:46 p.m.
The room smelled like old wood, palm wine, and war stories.
Dave stood against the wall, reading through the documents Lebo had given him. Tessa sat by the window, silent but alert. Jamzy paced with his usual tension, while Karma cross-referenced names from the files.
Lebo lit a match. Old hands. Steady. He puffed on his cigarette, watching Dave like a man studying a younger version of himself.
"The truth always comes late," he said.
"But when it lands, it hits like a fucking train."
Dave looked up.
"You said they didn't hire Vera to kill me… they hired her to replace me."
Lebo nodded.
"She's a ghost with a government leash. They train monsters to wipe out kings. You? You became too big."
Karma interrupted, "There's something deeper in these bank statements. It's not just Madu. There are foreign accounts tied to a group called The Clean Circle."
"NGO?" Tessa asked.
"No," Karma replied. "Black budget organization. Off-the-books. Operates through embassies and front companies."
Jamzy slammed his fist on the table.
"So we've been playing street chess while these people run world war behind the curtain?"
Dave remained calm. Focused. Ice in his veins.
"They made me. Now they're scared I won't play my part."
Location: Victoria Island – The Ambassador's Private Residence
Vera sipped from a glass of mineral water while reviewing Reign's updated network map. Behind her stood a man in a blue tie — calm, expressionless.
"Reign is no longer a local threat," he said. "He's adapting too fast."
"That's what makes him interesting," Vera replied. "But everyone has a center. A pressure point."
She tapped on Tessa's photo.
"Push there… and watch him snap."
Location: Reign's Underground Data Bunker – Yaba
Karma ran code across five screens. Numbers flowed like rivers of secrets.
Dave stepped in, eyes scanning.
"Did you find it?"
She nodded. "Found something worse."
She turned one screen.
A file loaded up: Project Mirage — a ghost operation launched five years ago. Its goal: build, weaponize, then destroy street influencers to justify military presence in "unstable civilian zones."
Dave's photo was on the first page.
"They've been watching me since I was nineteen."
His voice didn't rise. It dropped.
Heavy. Controlled.
"This wasn't an accident."
Location: Abandoned School Compound – Mushin
Lang stood in a hallway once used for prayers and punishments.
Now it was home to ex-soldiers, fugitives, and men who followed orders for dollars.
He stepped into the makeshift war room and looked at the map of Lagos.
The red zones were growing.
"Reign's bleeding," one of the men said.
Lang smirked.
"Not enough."
Just then, his burner phone rang.
He answered, and Vera's voice came through:
"Don't get cocky. He just found out about Mirage."
Lang's face dropped. "Already?"
"He'll retaliate soon," she said.
"Then what do we do?"
Pause.
"We make him kill someone he loves."
Location: Dave's Flat – Private Room
Time: 1:34 a.m.
Dave sat alone with Tessa. No words for the first few minutes. Just silence and breathing.
He handed her a flash drive.
"If anything happens to me, you take this. Go to Lebo. He'll know what to do."
Tessa's eyes narrowed. "Don't talk like that."
"I'm not. I'm planning."
"You think Vera's going to come after me?"
He didn't answer. But the answer was obvious.
Tessa clenched her jaw. "Then she better come correct."
Dave looked at her with something rare: fear.
"I can handle a hundred soldiers. A thousand bullets. But if they touch you…"
His voice cracked slightly.
"That's when the city burns."
Location: Abule Egba – Tessa's Aunt's House
Time: 6:45 a.m.
The compound was quiet.
Birds chirped. Generators hummed softly in the distance. Children walked to school, dragging their feet.
Tessa helped her aunt carry buckets of water to the backyard. It felt like a different world — far from the chaos of Dave's empire, far from Vera's warpath.
But peace doesn't last in Dave's world.
As they turned the corner, a black SUV pulled up near the gate.
Three men stepped out.
Clean-cut. Military body language. Sunglasses. Not neighbors.
Tessa's instincts kicked in. She dropped the bucket.
"Aunty, go inside. Now."
The lead man smiled politely. "Tessa, right?"
She didn't wait for a second sentence.
She ran.
Location: Mainland Safehouse – 30 minutes later
Dave got the call mid-sentence.
Karma's voice came through fast and panicked. "It's Tessa. They came for her."
"Who?"
"We don't know yet. Military types. But they didn't grab her — she ran. She's off-grid."
Dave froze.
Not out of fear.
But calculation.
"Jamzy," he called.
"Assemble everyone. No phones. No mistakes."
"You think it's Vera?"
"No," Dave said, cold.
"This is bigger. This is the Circle testing me."
He opened a drawer. Inside: a compact silenced Glock and a custom blade engraved with one word: BLOODLINE.
Location: Somewhere in Mushin – Two Hours Later
Tessa crouched behind a stack of old tires. Her legs ached. Her palms were scraped. But her mind stayed sharp.
She'd ditched the phone. Changed shirts. Wrapped her braids. She was invisible now.
But they were still close.
She heard a boot crunch glass nearby. Then another.
"We just want to talk," a voice echoed.
She rolled her eyes. "You kidnapped a 15-year-old last week. Let's skip the talking."
She looked down at her ankle — bleeding from the sprint.
"Fuck this," she whispered.
She reached into her hoodie and pulled out a small can of pepper spray Dave had given her weeks ago.
"Just in case," he had said.
Tessa smiled faintly.
"Good call, King."
Location: Dave's Black SUV – On the Move
Jamzy was driving like the devil owed him money. Karma rode shotgun, loading a short-barrel shotgun.
Dave sat in the back, silent. Focused.
Then Karma said it:
"You need to hear this…"
She passed him her phone.
A voice recording played — intercepted from a tapped government line.
Male voice:
"We push the girl into the open. Let's see how Reign reacts. If he panics, we move to stage two."
Second voice (deep, calm):
"And Razor?"
First voice:
"He's awake. We move him tonight."
Dave's hands tightened into fists.
"Razor's alive?"
Karma nodded.
"And they're moving him out of Lagos."
"Fuck that," Dave muttered.
"Nobody leaves this city alive unless I say so."
Location: Unmarked Holding Facility – Apapa
In a dark underground room, lit only by a single overhead bulb, Razor sat — older, skinnier, but far from broken.
His wrists were chained. His nose looked recently broken.
Two guards entered.
"They're transferring you. Some big men up top think you're still useful."
Razor smiled through bloodied lips.
"Tell your big men… I've got one message for them."
He leaned forward, voice low and wild:
"Tell Reign… I remember everything."
Location: Backstreets of Agege – That Evening
Tessa limped through a row of closed shops, looking over her shoulder every two seconds.
Suddenly, a hand reached out from a side alley.
She flinched — almost sprayed.
It was Karma.
"Easy, girl. You're good now."
Karma hugged her like a sister, then guided her into a blacked-out van where Dave was waiting inside.
Dave looked her over — bruises, blood, limping.
But she was alive.
He didn't speak.
He just reached for her hand.
She squeezed it.
"They're playing dirty," she whispered.
Dave leaned back, voice ice-cold.
"Then I stop playing."
Location: 3rd Mainland Bridge – Military Convoy Route
Time: 1:03 a.m.
A black-armored van sped through the night, flanked by two Hilux trucks carrying silent soldiers.
Inside the van sat Razor — cuffed, bruised, but not broken.
He looked out the small window slit, smiled at the full moon, and whispered:
"Let's see what you've become, David."
Location: Abandoned Tunnel Beneath Lagos Island
Dave and Jamzy crouched near the tunnel exit. The city roared above them, but down here — it was pure silence.
Karma spoke through the earpiece.
"Convoy's approaching. 90 seconds."
Dave adjusted his gloves. "No gunshots. No survivors."
"Copy."
He turned to Jamzy.
"Ready?"
Jamzy grinned, pipe in hand. "Born ready."
Location: Convoy Route – Moments Later
The trap was art.
Spiked chains across the road. Flashbangs from the rooftop. Tires shredded. Visibility gone.
Soldiers stumbled out — and got dropped one by one.
Jamzy moved like a shadow with fists of steel. Karma sniped from above.
And Dave?
He didn't shoot.
He walked straight into the van, opened the back…
And saw Razor — grinning.
"Took you long enough."
Dave stared.
No words. No anger. Just silence.
Then he stepped in and sat across from him.
"Why?" he finally asked.
Razor's smile faded.
"Because you forgot the first rule."
Dave's brows narrowed.
"No kings in this game. Only survivors."
Location: Safehouse – Underground Room
Dave paced.
Tessa watched from a distance, arms folded. Karma patched up Jamzy's knuckles. Razor sat in chains — but not tortured.
Not yet.
"He's not lying," Karma said.
"The files confirm it. They were planning this since before your name even rang out."
Tessa stepped forward.
"So what's next?"
Dave stopped.
Looked around.
"They built me… then tried to erase me. Now they want Vera to wear the crown."
He looked at Razor.
"But they made one mistake."
"Which is?" Razor asked.
Dave leaned forward.
"They made me care."
His fists clenched.
"Now I have something to lose."
"And I'll burn the fucking world to keep it."
Location: Foreign Embassy – Private Room
Vera sipped from a glass of wine. A tablet screen on the table showed images of the convoy attack.
"He retrieved Razor," one agent reported.
"Good," she whispered.
"Why?"
Vera smiled slowly.
"Because now… he thinks he's in control."
🟥 [ END OF BOOK ONE: REIGN OF HUSTLE ] 🟥