Chapter 2 - The Lease of Lies-2
Funmi adjusted the strap of her designer bag, her lips pressing into a thin, tight line. The smug arrogance that had walked through the door minutes ago was rapidly melting into cold, calculating hostility.
"Femi," Funmi said, refusing to look him in the eyes. "I told you to handle this quietly before today. You promised me she wouldn't be an issue."
Femi looked back and forth between us, his chest heaving under his pressed linen shirt. "Handle what?! Funmi, what is she talking about? This is our house! I put down twenty million Naira!"
"No, Femi," I interrupted softly. "You didn't put down twenty million Naira. I put down fifteen million Naira from my late mother's estate, which you insisted on transferring through your personal business account so you could 'handle the bank transfers.' But you didn't transfer it to the property developer. You transferred it into an offshore account owned by Funmi’s shell company, Aura Logistics."
A collective gasp echoed through the room. Ada stepped forward, recording everything on her phone.
"Are you insane?!" Femi roared, taking an aggressive step toward me. "Are you accusing me of stealing from you in front of our friends?!"
"I'm not accusing you of anything, Femi. I'm stating facts," I said, pulling a folded stack of certified bank statements from the pocket of my blazer and holding them up for the room to see. "Mr. Lawson, standing right there, is Funmi’s corporate attorney. Mr. Adeleke is a senior bailiff from the Lagos State High Court. They aren't here for a party. They're here to serve an eviction notice, aren't they?"
Mr. Lawson stepped forward, pulling a manila envelope from his briefcase. He looked thoroughly uncomfortable being put on display in front of thirty partygoers.
"Mr. Femi," the lawyer said gravely. "As of midnight last night, the default notice on the lease-to-own agreement reached its sixty-day limit. Since the primary account associated with Aura Logistics failed to guarantee the title deed, the property reverts back to the original landowner, Miss Funmi Williams."
Femi staggered backward as if he had been struck in the chest with a sledgehammer. He grabbed the edge of the hallway table to steady himself.
"Funmi... what is he saying?" Femi stammered, his voice cracking. "We... we had an agreement! You said if I managed the investment portfolio for your family's estate, the apartment deed would be transferred to my name!"
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Funmi sneered, dropping all pretense of warmth. "You really are an idiot, Femi. Did you actually think I was going to hand over a sixty-million-Naira luxury apartment in Yaba to a middle-management accountant just because you paid off a fraction of my company's bad debts? You were a convenient puppet. You signed the indemnity clauses yourself."
"She tricked you, Femi," I said, looking at my husband with cold, detached pity. "Or rather, you were so blinded by your desire to look like a big man, so desperate to keep your wealthy ex in your life, that you handed her my inheritance on a silver platter."
