Home / Other / MARCH 17TH / Lanterns Along the Bagamoyo Shore
Lanterns Along the Bagamoyo Shore
last update2025-09-23 22:46:06

The whispers did not fade with time; they multiplied, curling like smoke into every corridor of Masaki life. What began as newspaper quips and mischievous social posts had swelled into a coordinated spectacle, as if the entire peninsula had been recruited into a theater where Victor and Sophia were both the stars and the jesters.

At first it was playful. Memes about Victor’s animated gestures or Sophia’s dazzling laughter were almost flattering, their images circulating in the same way one might celebrate a favorite celebrity. But within weeks, the tone shifted. Anonymous accounts painted them as opportunists, schemers who had charmed their way into Masaki’s good graces. Old photos from BlackButton days resurfaced, taken out of context and captioned with barbs. Even Pastor Denis’s sermons were clipped and edited, as if to suggest he secretly condemned them.

Sophia found her face on a tabloid cover one morning, beneath the headline: “Masaki’s Cleopatra—Danger in Her Smile.” She laughed
Continue to read this book for free
Scan the code to download the app

Latest Chapter

  • The Echo of Rumors (Part Three)

    The night after the press briefing, their compound in Oysterbay felt both fortified and fragile. Friends called to praise their defiance, messages poured in on social media, and even rival outlets carried the footage of Victor and Sophia standing tall, daring the whispers to meet the light. But beneath the noise of support, the silence of the banks lingered. No statement. No reassurance. Just waiting. Victor sat by the window, the city glowing beyond the glass. He had been in fights before — against competitors, against bureaucracy, against the weight of history itself. But this was different. It was shapeless, faceless, a fog seeping into every crack. Sophia entered quietly, a file in her hand. She placed it on the table between them. “What’s this?” Victor asked. “The audit reports,” she said. “Every ledger, every receipt, signed and sealed by Kwanza Partners. We’ll publish them tomorrow.” Victor nodded, though his eyes stayed distant. “It won’t be enough.” “It will be

  • The Echo of Rumors (Part Two)

    The call from the bank came the following morning. Victor had been reviewing shipments, checking ledgers with the precision that had made his businesses both admired and envied. Numbers had always been his shield — unlike people, numbers did not bend with pressure. But that morning, the spreadsheet on his laptop blurred as the phone on his desk vibrated insistently. “Mr. Mwinyi,” the voice said, smooth and professional. “This is Ibrahim from Coastal Bank. I’m afraid we need to schedule a review of your facilities. Routine, of course, but urgent. Are you available this afternoon?” Victor knew better than to ask why. Banks never said why, not directly. He agreed, thanked Ibrahim, and hung up. His fingers lingered on the phone. Sophia appeared in the doorway, her expression already sharp with worry. “Who was that?” “Coastal,” he said quietly. “They want a review.” She crossed her arms. “Routine?” “Nothing is routine right now.” The bank’s glass façade glinted harshly in the midda

  • The Echo of Rumors(Part One)

    The morning came with a deceptive gentleness. In the early light, Zanzibar shimmered like something pulled from memory — the white sands glowing pale gold, the ocean stretched calm and endless, and Sophia’s laughter echoing from the veranda as if the night’s shadows had never touched them. Victor sat at the edge of the breakfast table, the steam of his coffee rising, his gaze fixed on the horizon. He had always loved this view, the sea rolling into eternity, as though the land itself trusted the tide to return each day. Yet this morning, the stillness unsettled him. It was too quiet, as if the world was holding its breath. Sophia noticed. She always noticed. Draped in a light kanga, her hair loose against her shoulders, she carried the kind of ease that softened even the hardest truths. But today, her eyes lingered on him longer than usual. “You’re already in Dar,” she said, folding her arms. It wasn’t a question. Victor smiled faintly. “You know me too well.” “You’re drinki

  • The Weight of Quiet Hands

    The villa emptied just before midnight, leaving the air thick with stale smoke and unfinished promises. Outside, the sea was restless, hurling itself in muffled crashes against the seawall. But inside the mind of Salim Mwinyi, the night was as clear as a sharpened blade. Salim was not the Patron, nor did he ever pretend to be. Where the Patron exhaled strategy with the patience of a chess master, Salim was the one who carried pieces across the board. He knew the routes, the hands to grease, the voices to bend. He was, as some in the circle whispered, the “quiet hands” — never celebrated, rarely noticed, but always reaching where others could not. That night, as he slipped into his unremarkable black Prado, he carried more than instructions. He carried the burden of execution, the turning of shadows into substance. Whispers mean nothing until they leave fingerprints, the Patron had told him once. You are the fingerprints. The words had never left him. The first stop was not a mini

  • The Chamber of Smoke

    Masaki’s nights had their own rhythm — the steady sigh of the sea against the seawall, the glow of headlights threading down quiet avenues, the palms rustling like restless witnesses. Yet behind shuttered windows, the true pulse of the city beat elsewhere, in rooms where curtains never parted and the air was heavy with smoke and secrecy.The chamber was not marked on any map. From the outside, it was an unremarkable villa on a shaded street, its white walls softened by creeping bougainvillea. Inside, though, the air carried the musk of old cigars, polished wood, and expensive cologne. A round table of mahogany sat in the center, ringed by men and women who rarely appeared together in public but who held the levers of power in their hands.A single fan whirred lazily overhead, scattering the smoke but never clearing it.“They are already bending,” said one, a tall man with glasses that caught the lamplight like blades. His voice was smooth, academic, as if betrayal could be reduced to

  • Fractures

    The city woke that morning with a sheen of heat already rising from the asphalt, the palms along Ali Hassan Mwinyi Avenue barely stirring in the thick air. Victor had grown used to beginning his days with a call from Hamisi, a mid-level officer in the municipal office who had, over the last year, become more than just a bureaucrat. Hamisi was discreet, loyal, and quietly brave. He had kept doors open when others sought to close them, ensuring Victor’s proposals never died at the bottom of a filing cabinet.But this morning the call never came. Victor checked his phone at seven, then eight, then nine. At ten, he dialed Hamisi himself, pressing the phone to his ear while the fan above his desk ticked on in lazy rhythm.“Victor,” Hamisi’s voice came at last, but it was sharper than usual, clipped and hesitant.“I was waiting for your call,” Victor said. “The permits—”Hamisi cut him off. “I cannot be seen speaking with you. Not now. Things have changed.”The line clicked dead.Victor sat

More Chapter
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on MegaNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
Scan code to read on App