Chapter 7

"John," he said softly as he typed the name into the panel.The safe emitted a series of mechanical clicks. The yellow lights turned green. The panel displayed a message: Access granted.The room fell into a deathly silence."No," Chief Okoro whispered, the blood draining from his face. "No, no, no."Emeka stepped back, looking at the safe, which now showed its lock released. He didn't open it; he didn't touch anything else. He simply turned to Chief Okoro."I solved it, sir," he said in a quiet voice. "You can verify it."Chief Okoro approached the safe as if in a trance. His hands trembled when he touched the handle. The door opened smoothly, revealing the interior filled with bearer bonds, exactly as the document said: 100 million naira in negotiable certificates.The silence was broken by the sound of someone dropping their phone. Then another. The employees who had been recording everything were so shocked they forgot to hold their devices."He did it," Aisha whispered, bringing a hand to her mouth. "He really did it."Chief Okoro stared blankly at the inside of the safe, his brain unable to process what had just happened. The child he had publicly humiliated, the child he had mocked, the child he had treated as invisible for months, had just solved a riddle that even his highest-paid executives couldn't decipher."This is a trick," he finally said, his voice hollow. "Someone told him the answers. It has to be that.""Chief Okoro," Aisha spoke firmly, "we were all here. No one told him anything. The boy solved it alone.""Then it was luck! Pure, blind luck!""Luck in three different levels of riddles?" one of the employees who had been watching closely asked. "Each level required different reasoning. That's not luck."Emeka remained still, watching Chief Okoro crumble. He felt neither joy nor satisfaction, only a deep sadness at seeing an adult refuse to accept reality.Adanna finally entered the office, tears streaming down her cheeks. She knelt beside her son and hugged him tightly. "I'm so proud of you," she whispered in his ear.

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