Part 1
Sade Akinwale poured a full cup of chilled zobo across the marble lobby and ordered the new cleaner to scrub it before “the smell of poverty” followed her into the elevator.
Everyone near the reception froze.
The young cleaner stood with a mop in his hand, his faded green uniform hanging loosely on his shoulders. He was tall, calm, and too well-spoken for the kind of man Sade believed she could humiliate without consequence. But to her, he was only another invisible worker in the Balogun Towers, the Lagos headquarters of one of Nigeria’s most powerful logistics and real estate empires.
—Ma, the floor was already wet. Please be careful.
Sade turned slowly, her gold earrings flashing under the bright lobby lights.
—Are you teaching me how to walk?
—No, ma. I was only warning you so you would not slip.
She looked him up and down with disgust.
—Then warn yourself first. People like you should learn where to stand when important people are passing.
The cleaner lowered his eyes.
His name was Tade.
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