Chapter 30: The Standoff and the Unspoken Challenge

Yuhan's finger hovered above the glowing button, trembling just enough to betray him. On the screen, Shen Mochen waited—smiling, calm, confident. That smirk had once made Yuhan's heart stutter. Now it curdled his blood.

He exhaled slowly and pressed "accept."

Mochen's face sharpened into clarity. "Hello, Yuhan," he purred, like the past hadn't burned between them. "It's been too long. Though I've been... following your work." His gaze flicked to Yuhan's eyes, then down—reading him like a map he once memorized.

Yuhan didn't blink. "My father. Where is he?"

Mochen leaned back, letting silence stretch like elastic. "Safe. For now. Chief Adekunle was... persuasive in his methods. But you know how fathers are—so noble. So breakable."

That landed like a punch to Yuhan's gut. But he didn't flinch. Couldn't.

"You want the ledger," he said.

Mochen's smile widened. "We both know it's more than that. The ledger, yes. But also... The Genesis Initiative. I know you've started asking questions. About your past. About the project that made you who you are."

A cold spike ran down Yuhan's spine. Mochen wasn't bluffing. He knew.

"And I have a piece of it," Mochen said softly. "Something you won't find in any archive."

Yuhan's fists clenched under the table. His world was being dissected, unraveled in real time. First his father, now the mystery of his own origin dangled like a baited hook.

"And in return for all this?" he asked.

"Abubakar Alhaji. The ledger. And your cooperation," Mochen said. "You'll hand them over. And I'll give you the truth. About Genesis. About your father. About us."

Yuhan's voice dropped into ice. "There is no us. Not anymore."

A pause. Mochen's smile flickered—then returned, darker now.

"Maybe," he said. "But you came when I called."

Yuhan swallowed. That was the trap. It always had been.

"I'm on my way," Yuhan said. "But I see my father first."

Mochen inclined his head like a king granting permission. "Of course. Come alone. But know this — you're already in the lion's den. And lions don't let go easily."

The call cut.

Yuhan stared at the empty screen, a hundred unspoken things rattling in his chest. Then — a flicker on the gate surveillance.

A van.

Nondescript. Forgettable. But the license plate was burned into his memory.

Alhaji's.

He'd been here.

He knew.

And he was watching.