The night was heavy with silence, the kind that carried weight, pressing against the walls of Chike’s safe house like a phantom suffocating the air. Outside, the city of Lagos burned with restless life cars honking, generators humming, shadows moving beneath streetlights but inside the dimly lit study, a storm brewed that had nothing to do with the chaos beyond.Chike sat at the wide mahogany desk, fingers tapping against the wood, his gaze fixed on the glowing interface projected before him. The System of the Forgotten Heir pulsed faintly, whispering calculations, red flagged reports, and fragmented data from his network. Numbers rolled across the screen like soldiers marching to war. Yet, for all the data the system fed him, his mind kept circling back to the same gnawing truth: someone had betrayed him.He leaned back in the chair, the leather groaning under his weight. Betrayal was not new to him his wife’s family had cast him aside, his enemies had schemed to bury him, and The Re

The night had never felt heavier.The city was tense, shrouded under a blanket of silence broken only by the distant hum of engines and the occasional cry of a hawker still daring to stay out past curfew. Chike stood at the window of the rented penthouse, staring out into the city lights below. But his gaze wasn’t on the glittering skyline it was on the shadows that seemed to stretch too long, as though the city itself was trying to warn him of what lay ahead.The Crimson Vault.It was no longer just a whispered myth among the Red Ledger. It was real. It was opening. And his enemies were converging.“Boss,” Taye’s voice cut through his thoughts, low but urgent. He didn’t even bother knocking. The young man looked pale, his shirt stained with dust and his chest heaving. “It’s happening. We’ve just received confirmation three convoys, heavily armed, moving toward the Dockside Sector. That can only mean one thing.”Chike turned, his expression unreadable, though a flicker of grim satisfa

The ground trembled beneath their feet as the hidden passage yawned open, exhaling a wind that smelled of iron and ashes. The torches lining the chamber flickered wildly, their flames straining toward the darkness below as if drawn by some ancient hunger.Chike stood unmoved, his hand still gripping the bloodstained dagger. The others staggered back, shielding their faces from the sudden gust, but his gaze was fixed on the opening as if he had expected it all along.“This is it,” he said, voice calm, steady, dangerous. “The Crimson Vault.”Amaka swallowed hard, her voice barely above a whisper. “It feels alive… like it’s watching us.”The air thrummed with unseen power. Even the stone beneath them seemed to pulse like a heartbeat. The blood sacrifice had not only awakened the Vault it had stirred something far older.Tunde’s face was pale. “Chike, if we go down there… what if it’s not treasure? What if it’s a curse?”Chike finally turned, his eyes glinting with resolve. “Every curse c

The night air was thick with tension, carrying the scent of blood, steel, and betrayal. Chike stood at the heart of the war council chamber, the flickering torches casting long shadows across the ancient stone walls. The Crimson Vault’s generals, cloaked in their black and crimson uniforms, leaned forward at the table, their expressions a mixture of eagerness and unease. On the massive oak table lay a map of the continent, spread open with red markers positioned like droplets of spilled blood each one marking a city the Red Ledger controlled. But tonight, new markers golden wolf insignias had been placed directly atop some of them. Chike’s voice cut through the silence, calm yet dangerous. “We are done playing defense. Tonight, the Red Ledger learns what happens when you corner a wolf.” He moved a golden wolf marker onto the central city of Dakarion, the Red Ledger’s largest hub outside of the capital. Murmurs erupted immediately. “Dakarion?” General Bako frowned. “That’s sui

The silence inside the Crimson Vault was suffocating. The walls, lined with encrypted panels of shifting red light, pulsed like a heartbeat alive watching, waiting. Chike’s every breath echoed back at him, reminding him that once he stepped deeper, there would be no turning back.The Red Ledger had always been a network of shadows, but this was different. This was the core the protocols that could either crown him king of the empire or bury him beneath the weight of conspiracies older than his family’s shame.“Access sequence verified,” the system’s cold voice whispered. The vault’s inner chamber opened, revealing a long table stacked with sealed black dossiers. Each one bore the sigil of the Ledger: a crimson serpent biting its own tail.Chike reached for the nearest file, but his instincts screamed. He froze. Someone else had been here before him. The dust on the case was smudged, disturbed recently.“Too slow, Forgotten Heir.”The voice slithered through the shadows, and Chike turn