My husband put me out and kept all my assets just to hand them over to his mistress. All I have left is a worn-out debit card my father left me. I thought the balance was zero, but it ended up making the bank manager tremble with fear.

Seek, who had been silent like a shadow, spoke. His voice was flat and lethal.

“Conceptually ambitious, but financially very weak. Mr. Quacy, your proposal does not include adequate risk analysis, and your profit projections are too optimistic.”

Quacy felt as if he had been doused with ice water. He had come to dazzle a foolish investor. Instead, he was being audited.

“Wait,” he said, trying to control himself. His arrogance started to return, looking for logical explanations. “Ah, I know. Zelica must just be a puppet. This man, Seek, is the one in control. Zelica just got lucky.”

“Z,” he said, trying a softer tone—the tone he used to cajole her. “I don’t know what happened to you, but this is big business. Maybe… maybe we can collaborate. I mean, you know me. I’m the best builder in Atlanta.”

Zelica smiled slightly.

“Oh, I know you very well, Quacy.”

Then she stood up.

“I don’t have more time, but I will give you a chance. My team”—she glanced at Seek—“will do due diligence. A complete life-diligence of your company. We need to see your accounting, your list of assets, and your list of debts. We will not invest a single dollar in a company that is not transparent.”

Quacy hesitated. Opening his books would be a disaster. His company wasn’t as healthy as he bragged.

“Why does it have to be so complicated?” he asked. “It’s me, Z. Your ex-husband.”

“Precisely for that reason, Mr. Quacy,” Seek interrupted. “We must be professional. Take it or leave it. If you reject the audit, we will consider your proposal void and offer our land to another developer. I heard your competition from Buckhead is very interested.”

That was a threat.

Quacy was cornered. If he withdrew, he lost the biggest project of his life. If he moved forward, he had to open his wounds.

“Fine,” he said, forced. “Fine. Audit. I’m not hiding anything.”

Zelica nodded.

“Mr. Seek’s team will contact you. Good afternoon.”

Quacy was escorted out of the mansion. He got into his car with his knees shaking. He didn’t know if he had just escaped danger or if he had just walked into a trap. What he knew was that the Zelica he had just met scared him.

He returned to the apartment at the Sovereign in a mess.

“Babe!” Aniya greeted, jumping off the sofa. She was wearing new silk lingerie. “How did it go? Are we rich yet? When can we start planning the wedding in Turks?”

“Shut up for a second, Aniya. I’m thinking,” Quacy shouted, throwing his jacket on the floor.

Aniya was surprised.

“Hey, why are you yelling at me?”

“The investor is complicated. It’s… it’s really messed up.”

“What do you mean, complicated? Did they say no?” Aniya asked, her tone starting to get anxious.

“No. Not yet. But my God, you’re not going to believe this.”

He pulled at his hair.

“The investor. The CEO… is Zelica.”

Aniya froze.

“What? Zelica? The homeless woman?”

“She’s not homeless anymore,” he growled. “She… she is different. She has a mansion in Cascade. She has a financial consultant. She—she owns the land.”

Aniya’s beautiful face went pale. This was the worst case scenario, not because she loved Quacy, but because her status, her luxuries, and her future depended on his wallet. And now, that wallet was threatened by the woman she had despised the most.

“Surely it’s a bluff,” Aniya shrieked. “She can’t be that smart. Surely she… surely she hooked up with some old rich man. Yes, that’s it. She’s a kept woman.”

Quacy wasn’t listening.

“She wants to audit my company. What am I going to do?”

Aniya’s panic transformed into anger.

“That woman. Who does she think she is, coming back and ruining everything? I’ll handle her,” Aniya hissed.

“Handle what? Don’t get involved.”

But Aniya already had a plan. She knew where the new Black elite of Atlanta gathered. She would find Zelica. She would humiliate that woman in public, reminding her who she really was.

A few days later, through a friend, Aniya discovered Zelica’s location: a luxury boutique café in the new office area of Buckhead.

Aniya arrived with full force—designer clothes from the latest season, a flashy bag, heavy makeup.

She saw Zelica sitting alone in a corner, reading documents on a tablet while drinking tea.

Aniya slammed her hand directly on the table, making noise on purpose.

“Well, well, well. Look who’s here,” she said, her voice projected so everyone could hear. “Mrs. Zelica Okafor, right? Moving fast, huh? Climbing classes—from being thrown out in the lobby to sitting in an expensive café.”

Zelica looked up slowly, looked at Aniya, and then went back to looking at her tablet. She said nothing.

That indifference made Aniya even angrier.

“Hey, I’m talking to you here. Don’t play deaf. Who do you think you are, huh? You’re bothering Quacy. Stay away from him. He is mine now.”

Zelica sighed and put down her tablet.

“Yours?” she asked. Her voice was calm. “Things that are owned are usually objects, Ms. Aniya. Isn’t a human being.”

“Don’t give me lessons. I know your game. You came back to steal Quacy from me again, right? Because he’s successful.”

Zelica let out a little chuckle—a cold laugh.

“Steal Quacy, Ms. Aniya? Why would I bother picking up the trash I already threw out?”

Aniya’s face turned red.

Zelica stood up. Now she was at eye level with her.

“Listen well,” she whispered, but the intensity made Aniya take a step back. “I’m not interested in Quacy. I’m interested in his company. And if you want to know…”

She glanced at the flashy bag in Aniya’s hand.

“Quacy came to me begging me to finance his project. He isn’t even capable of paying for your lifestyle without begging me.”

“Liar.”

“Ah, yes?” Zelica pulled out a black credit card—the Centurion card—from her wallet. A card made of metal. “Today I feel generous.”

She called the waiter.

“The check, please. And also for this lady—I’m paying,” she said.