Novels by Lawal Taiwo

Jake barely slept. The dorm room stayed quiet, but his mind did not. Every time he closed his eyes he saw Lily on the bench, then Lily at the pool, then Lily in the hallway asking for five minutes. The three pictures kept mixing until he gave up and sat on the edge of the bed while it was still dark.Sam snored lightly on the other side of the room. Jake pulled on jeans and the same jacket from the day before. He left a short note on the desk so Sam would not worry and slipped out.Campus at early morning felt different. The paths were almost empty. Mist hung low near the grass. Jake walked without a real plan. His feet took him toward the old library again. The bench under the oak tree was empty. He did not sit. He just stood there for a minute, then kept moving.By the time the first classes started, the air had changed. People looked at him longer. Phones came out more often. Someone in the hallway actually said his name and the word “Montgomery” in the same sentence. Jake pretende

Jake walked away from the bench without looking back. The path under the old oak trees felt longer than usual. Students passed him in groups. Some stared. Some whispered. He kept his eyes forward.His phone stayed quiet for almost an hour. That almost felt worse than the constant messages.He went to the library and tried to study. The words on the page did not stick. Every few minutes his mind went back to Lily on the bench—her red eyes, the way her voice cracked, the way she said “what we had was real.” Part of him wanted to believe her. The bigger part still heard her telling the whole party she never knew him.Sam found him at a corner table two hours later.“You talked to her,” Sam said. It was not a question.Jake nodded once.“And?”“She said she panicked. Said she was scared of what people would think. Said it was real for her.”Sam dropped into the chair across from him. “Do you buy it?”“I don’t know.” Jake closed the book he had not been reading. “I told her I don’t trust h

Jake woke up on his old dorm bed. The mattress was thin. The room smelled like laundry and cold coffee. For a few seconds he forgot everything. Then the night before came back all at once—Lily standing in the hallway, asking for five minutes, and him saying no.Sam was already awake, sitting on his bed with his phone. He looked over when Jake sat up.“You slept?” Sam asked.“A little.”“She texted me too, you know. Lily. Asked if you were really here. I didn’t answer.”Jake rubbed his face. “Thanks.”Sam set the phone down. “People are talking already. Someone posted a blurry video of you walking into Brightwood yesterday. Comments are going crazy. Half of them say it’s fake. The other half are trying to figure out who the rich guy is that picked you up from the police station.”Jake stood and pulled on the same jacket from yesterday. It still felt too new. “Let them talk.”“You going to class?”“Yeah. Normal day. As normal as it can be.”Sam watched him for a second. “You sure you’re

Jake rode back to the estate in silence. The car was quiet. The driver never spoke. Outside the windows the city turned into trees and long private roads. Jake kept his old phone in his hand, screen still dark. Lily’s last messages sat there like open wounds.I need time.He had sent those three words and meant them. But the words kept looping in his head anyway.When the car stopped under the covered entrance, Harrison was already waiting. He opened the door without a word. Jake stepped out. The clean clothes from that morning still felt like they belonged to someone else.“Your grandfather is in the study,” Harrison said. “He asked to see you when you returned.”Jake nodded and walked inside. The big hall still made him feel small. He climbed the stairs slowly. His side hurt less today, but the memory of the pool and the bottle still sat under his skin.Richard looked up from his desk when Jake entered. The old man set his papers aside.“You went to Brightwood,” Richard said. It was

Jake kept walking through Brightwood Shopping Center. The floors were shiny. The air smelled clean and expensive. People in nice clothes moved past him without looking twice. No one knew who he was yet. That felt strange.His new jacket still felt stiff. The black card sat in the inside pocket. He had not used it. He did not even take it out. Part of him still expected someone to stop him and ask what a kid like him was doing there.Near the main entrance a security guard stepped in front of him. The man looked Jake up and down—old sneakers, plain pants, no fancy watch.“Whoa. Where do you think you’re going?” the guard asked. His voice was already bored and mean.“Inside,” Jake said. “I’m here for lunch.”The guard laughed. “Lunch? Here? Look, this isn’t the place for people like you.” He pulled a crumpled ten-dollar bill from his pocket and held it out. “Take this. Go find a burger place down the road. That should cover a meal.”Jake’s face got hot. He did not take the money. “I don

Jake barely slept that night. The bed was huge and soft, but every time he closed his eyes he saw the pool lights again. He saw Lily’s face when she said she didn’t know him. He saw Ryan’s smirk. The black card Richard had given him sat on the nightstand like it might disappear if he looked away too long.His old phone buzzed under the pillow. He pulled it out.Sam: Dude where are you?? Police said some guy in a suit took you. Call me.Sam: Jake I’m serious. People are saying you got arrested or worse.Sam: Please just tell me you’re alive.Jake sat up slowly. His side still hurt. He typed back with one hand.I’m okay. Long story. Don’t tell anyone you heard from me yet.Sam answered almost right away.What the hell does that mean? Are you safe?Safe. Just different. I’ll explain when I can.Jake turned the phone off before more messages came.Across the room the new phone from the estate glowed softly. He walked over and picked it up. One message waited.Young Master, your grandfathe

Noah and Kara reached an old storage unit on the edge of the city. The lock was rusted but still worked. Inside it was cold and smelled of old paper. They sat on the floor with their backs against the metal wall.Noah took out his phone. The photos of Victor’s notebook were clear. He stared at the words about his parents one more time. Daniel and Lena. Arranged accident. Payment cleared.The truth sat in his chest like a stone. He had wanted answers for so long. Now that he had them, they did not feel like winning. They only felt heavy.Kara watched him without speaking. After a while she said, “You don’t have to send them tonight if you’re not ready.”Noah shook his head. “If I wait, Victor files the police report. Then the story is that I’m a thief. I need the truth out first.”He opened a new message to Mrs. Elena. He attached the clearest photos and wrote only a few lines.These pages show who paid for the accident that killed my parents. The same people who took other children. K

Noah and Kara stopped two streets away from the Hale private club. The building was tall and clean, with bright lights and two men in suits at the front door. Expensive cars pulled up every few minutes. Laughing voices drifted out every time the door opened.Noah felt the ten thousand dollars in his pocket. It was real, but it still felt strange, like it might disappear if he blinked too hard. The clean clothes still did not feel like his.“We can’t walk in the front,” Kara said. “They know both our faces by now.”Noah watched the side of the building. A service door opened for a delivery van. Two kitchen workers stepped out for a smoke.“There,” he said. “Service entrance. If we time it right, we can follow them back in.”Kara looked at him. “And then what? We just walk around until we find Victor’s notebook?”“We look for the top floor. The notebook said that’s where he keeps it. We get proof about my parents and we leave. Nothing else.”Kara was quiet for a moment. Her fingers tigh

Noah and Kara found an empty parking garage on the edge of the industrial side of the city. It was quiet, dark, and full of old cars that no one used anymore. They sat on the concrete steps near the back wall.Noah took the blue notebook out of the backpack and held it. The frozen account message still sat in his phone like a stone. Four thousand dollars in cash was all he had left. The clean shirt on his back still felt like it belonged to someone else.“Midnight,” Kara said. “That’s six hours.”Noah nodded. “Victor wants the notebook. If I give it to him, he wins. If I don’t, the police report goes out and my face is everywhere.”Kara leaned her head back against the wall. “There’s another way. We could leave the city tonight. Start over somewhere else with what’s left.”Noah looked at her. “Is that what you want?”Kara was quiet for a long time. When she spoke, her voice was soft.“Part of me does. I’m tired of running. I’m tired of looking over my shoulder every hour. But if we le

Noah and Kara kept walking until the streets grew quieter. They found an old storage room behind a row of closed shops. The lock was broken. Inside it smelled of dust and cardboard, but no one would look for them there.Noah sat on a wooden crate and opened the backpack. He took out the memory stick with the scanned pages and the original blue notebook. Both still felt heavier than paper should.Kara leaned against the wall and checked her phone. Her face changed.“Victor already posted something new,” she said. She turned the screen so Noah could see.The photo showed the front of the bank. Under it Victor had written:The Brooks family raised a thief. He stole money that was never his and ran with a known traitor. Anyone who helps him will answer to us.Ricky had left a comment under the post: Always knew the trash would show his real face. Can’t wait for the next part.Noah felt the words land in his chest the same way they always did. Even with money in his pocket and proof in his

Noah and Kara found a small closed café two streets away. The owner knew Kara from years ago and let them use the back room without asking questions. It was quiet. One table. Two chairs. A single window covered by a thin curtain.Noah set the blue notebook on the table. His hands were still dirty from the alley. He opened it carefully.Page after page listed names and payments. Most of them meant nothing to him. Then he found a short section near the middle.Child host: Noah. Taken in by Brooks family at age three. Real parents: Daniel and Lena. Both deceased in arranged accident. System seed planted early. Overseer payment route: Hale family accounts.Noah read the lines twice. His real parents had names now. Daniel and Lena. They had not left him. Someone had taken them away so the Brooks family could raise him like a product.He closed his eyes for a second. The clean shirt still felt strange on his skin. The money in his pocket still felt like it belonged to someone else. Even wit

Noah sat in the passenger seat and watched the city slide past the window. Kara drove fast but not wild. She checked the mirrors every few seconds. The cut above her eye had stopped bleeding, but it still looked fresh.“Where are we going?” Noah asked.“A place the Black Ledger doesn’t know about yet,” she said. “An old apartment above a closed laundry. I used it once when I first left them.”Noah kept one hand on the bank card in his pocket. Sixty-two thousand dollars. More money than he had ever touched. It still did not feel real. Part of him expected someone to snatch it away any second.Kara glanced at him. “You don’t trust me. That’s smart. I wouldn’t trust me either.”“You left the Black Ledger,” Noah said. “Why?”Kara was quiet for a long moment. When she spoke again her voice was lower.“They don’t just take the system. They take the person. I watched them do it to a boy two years younger than you. After they finished, he didn’t even know his own name. I couldn’t stay after t