Peter shrugs. “It is what I tell everyone who asks.” He shifts closer to Ify. “And when I know I have their attention, I tell them that, while I was in prison, I would ask my guards for photographs of people hugging, and I would say that I asked for this because I’d forgotten what hugging looked and felt like because I had been in prison for so long. Sometimes, in front of the other prisoners, I would take off my clothes and snuggle with them to pretend I was being held in my sleep. That makes them cry every time.”

“But none of that is true,” Ify says, no trace of a question in her voice. “It’s not true, because no rebel group ever captured you. The Popular Front for Justice in Biafra never existed. And you were not an innocent boy.”

A tremor runs through Peter’s shoulders, then is gone.

“You were a militant. A soldier in a secessionist group that used children to blow up crowded buildings.” Ify says this all in a low drone. “You were captured as an enemy of the state and held in detention for your crimes. And, if my guess is correct, you were released as a result of the ceasefire.” She refuses to look at him, not because he very likely did horrible things during the war but because he dared to lie to people Ify loves. “I’m sure you endured trauma during those years, but you have no right to lie to these people. When they discover the truth—”

Peter jumps to his feet and kneels on the steps before Ify. Suddenly, there are tears in his eyes, and he has his hands clasped together as in prayer. For a panicked moment, Ify looks behind her to see if, through the open door, either Paige or Amy can see this, but they’re gone. Out of sight. “Please,” Peter hisses through his teeth. “Please do not be telling them where I am really coming from.”

“Your accent.”

“You are correct. You are correct. I . . . I am not being entirely truthful. But—but I am trying to save my life. I am desperate, and I am needing help, and they—they are helping me. Please.”

Options war within Ify. Expose him and maybe limit the damage. But how to tell Paige and Amy without breaking their hearts? Maybe try to push him toward other sponsors. Let him deceive other oyinbo with his fanciful stories.

A mask comes over his face. Like a shadow. “If you tell them, I will hurt them. Deeply.” He clenches his fists and stands like something spring-loaded, like a bullet ready to be fired from a gun. “I have learned ways of making people suffer. I know they are dear to you. All the time, they are talking about you. So if you want nothing bad to be happening to them, you will be keeping my secret.”