THE TATTOO

Chapter 16

WHEN THE PAST CALLS

Nnanna stared out of the airplane window, his mind far away from the world around him. The soft hum of the plane, the occasional cough from a passenger, and the murmured conversations faded into the background as an old, buried memory clawed its way back to the surface.

Seventeen years ago.

He was Sixteen, sitting in the back seat of his father’s car. His father, the great and powerful Chief Ibekwe, CEO of IBEKS Group, sat beside him, as imposing as ever. In front, their driver focused on the road while his father’s personal assistant typed furiously on a tablet. The air was thick with tension—tension Nnanna had created.

“I don’t understand, Dad! What’s wrong with me going to school abroad? Is it not our money?” Nnanna had snapped, folding his arms in frustration.

His father let out a heavy sigh. “Because you are too young. You will finish secondary school here, then we will talk about it.”

“That’s not fair!” Nnanna’s voice rose. “My mates are leaving the country! Even my friends in school—”

“You are not your friends.” His father’s tone was final, his gaze fixed straight ahead. “End of discussion.”

Nnanna clenched his fists, his heart pounding. “You just want to control my life, as usual! Everything must be your way! If it’s not about business, you don’t care!”

The words hit the air like a slap. His father turned to him sharply, his face darkening with anger.

“What did you just say to me?”

Nnanna was too angry to back down. “It’s the truth! You only care about your company! You don’t even—”

“Shut up, Nnanna!” His father’s voice boomed through the car.

The driver flinched. Just for a second. His hands trembled slightly on the steering wheel. His father’s PA, startled by the outburst, looked up from his tablet.

Then it happened.

The screech of tires. The deafening blast of a horn. The sharp turn that came too late.

The world flipped. The car spun off the road, tumbling down an embankment. Metal crushed. Glass shattered. Pain—searing pain—shot through Nnanna’s chest as something sharp tore through his body.

Then, silence.

When he woke up in the hospital days later, he was the only one left alive. His father, the driver, the PA—all gone. The rod that pierced his chest had narrowly missed his heart, saving his life. But it didn’t save him from the guilt.

If he hadn’t argued.

If he had just kept quiet.

Would his father still be alive?

The weight of that question had followed him ever since, shaping every bad decision, every reckless move. It was the guilt that led him into the wrong crowd. The guilt that soiled his teenage years. The guilt that turned him into the kind of man he never wanted to be.

A voice crackled over the plane’s intercom, snapping Nnanna out of his thoughts.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we will be landing in Enugu shortly. Please fasten your seatbelts.”

He inhaled sharply, his chest rising and falling as he took a deep breath to calm himself. The past was gone, but the weight of it never truly left.

Reaching for his phone, he dialed Uju’s number.

She picked up after the second ring. “Hello?”

She was trying to sound normal. Trying too hard. But he could hear it—the exhaustion, the pain barely masked in her voice.

“Uju, send me your address,” he said.

A pause. Then, “Okay.”

When the call ended, Nnanna tightened his grip on the phone and exhaled slowly. He wasn’t sure what he would find when he saw her. He wasn’t sure what she needed from him.

But one thing was certain.

He wasn’t going to run from this.

Not this time.

                 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN