200 205 210 Esther, are you still at work?c
Mommy, I have it.
210,000.
All of it.
I counted three times.
Your father’s shop.
You really did it.
Not the shop yet, Mommy.
Just the first deposit.
The agent said if I bring it to his office before 9 tonight, the owner will find and talk to me about selling it back.
That’s all, Mommy.
Just a meeting.
7 years, Esther.
[music] 7 years you have been saving coin by coin.
Two years in this restaurant, mommy.
Double [music] shifts, no new shoes.
Tonight it starts paying back.
Esther, Madame Sabrina is calling everybody.
Staff briefing now.
Now I have to go.
Mommy, I’ll call you from the agent’s office.
You and that notebook.
What are you even writing every night?
How many people we actually serve?
Why are you the accountant?
My father ran a kitchen for 20 years.
He used to say, “Count the plates, not the promises.”
Old habit.
Listen carefully because I will not say it twice.
From tonight, every table is important.
Every single one.
Halvane Holdings is buying Ember and Time, all nine branches.
The deal closes next month.
Halvane Esther, that’s billionaire money.
Madame Clarissa says Halvane may send people to watch us before they sign.
Quietly.
We don’t know who.
We don’t know when.
So, the tablecloths will be clean, the food will be hot, and you will smile until your face is hurt.
And remember rule four.
No staff member pays for a customer.
For any reason, correct, Esther, because the last time a soft-hearted waiter helped a customer, the customer was a thief and the restaurant lost $200,000.
Madame Clarissa does not forgive that rule ever.
Positions.
12 companies.
Elliot.
12 times I have sat in a car and watched you dress like a man who sleeps under a bridge.
And 12 times it told me the truth before the accountants did.
This card is frozen.
I asked the bank this afternoon.
When I try to pay, it will decline.
Then I sit there and I watch what they do to a man who can’t pay.
[sighs] Clarissa Auna runs the finest restaurants in Lagos.
Her books are clean.
Her numbers are beautiful.
We are paying 15 billion naira for a company that is growing every month.
What more do you need to see?
How they treat the person at the bottom.
Godfrey.
Numbers can be dressed up.
People can’t.
Not when they think nobody important is watching.
And if they throw you out into the rain, then I save 15 billion naira.
Keep my phone.
Godfrey.
Tonight I am a man with nothing.
Do you have a reservation?
No, just a table for one, please.
Table 9 by the kitchen door.
Good evening, sir.
Before you order, I should tell you the prices here are quite high.
Thank you.
I’ll have the chef’s table menu and the grilled lobster and the seafood platter and water.
Still not sparkling.
Table 9 just ordered almost 200,000 naira of food in those shoes.
I’m telling you, that man is not paying.
He’s eating, Kingsley.
Let him eat.
Thank you, my brother.
And please take your time.
Everybody here is running tonight.
Declined.
Declined.
Please try again.
Declined again.
Sir, your card has declined again.
What’s happening here?
Card declined two times.
Madam sir, I’ll ask you once very nicely.
How do you intend to pay for 186,000 naira of food?
There must be a problem with the bank if I could make one phone call.
With what phone?
You came in here with nothing but that jacket.
This is what happens, ladies and gentlemen.
People walk into fine places, eat like kings, and then the card is suddenly declined.
Film it.
Film it.
This one is going everywhere tonight.
Zoom on his face.
Look at his shoes.
Security.
You will sit right here until somebody comes to pay this bill or or until I decide what else to do with you.
No, no, Esther.
This is daddy’s shop.
This is 7 years.
Look at him.
Not even ashamed.
Nobody should leave a table hungry and ashamed.
Not in my kitchen.
That’s what you used to say, Daddy.
His bill is paid.
Madam Esther, what do you think you are doing?
186,000 there.
Paid cash.
I know what it looks like when a man is being made small in front of a room full of people.
That’s enough reason.
That money, it was for something important, wasn’t it?
Everything is important when you don’t have much of it.
Go home, sir.
Get your card fixed.
Rule four, Esther.
You stood in that line 1 hour ago and said it out loud.
Office now.
We got everything.
The card, the manager, the girl with the money.
Every second.
Send it to me by morning.
This one is everywhere.
[laughter] Your name badge.
Madame Sabrina, please.
It was my own money.
The restaurant lost nothing.
The bill is paid.
It doesn’t matter whose money it was.
You broke rule four in front of a full dining room.
Badge.
Two years.
Two years of double shifts.
I have never come late one single day.
You know that.
Madam Sabrina, I’m watching the cameras from home.
[music] Is that the waitress who paid the bill?
Yes, madam.
Esther Bank.
Then she’s gone tonight.
Rule four is rule four.
You heard her, Esther.
I’m sorry.
You were going to fire me anyway, madam.
She only made it faster.
Well, did they throw you out?
They called security on me.
The manager told the whole room I was a thief.
And then a waitress paid my bill with her own money.
Cash from an envelope she was saving.
A waitress.
And I’m almost sure they fired her for it.
Find out her name.
Elliot, you know the rule.
You never interfere during a test.
You watch, you leave, you decide.
The test is over, Godfrey.
She passed.
They failed.
And she paid for my lesson.
I’m not leaving her with the bill.
Esther, did you see the agent?
What did the owner say?
Tell me, my dear.
The agent postponed.
Mommy, next month.
It’s fine.
Don’t worry.
Go and sleep.
I’m coming home now.
[gasps] Miss Esther Bank.
Who’s asking?
My employer asked me to give you this.
He says, “Thank you for tonight.”
This is How much is this?
2 million naira, miss.
Good night, sir.
How much money is this?
Halvane Holdings is buying Ember and Time.
Halvane may send people to watch us.
He wasn’t broke.
It was a test.
And I am the one who paid for it.
Esther, you didn’t sleep at all.
What is that on the table?
Sit down, Mommy.
Please sit down.
I didn’t see the agent last night, Mommy.
A man’s card was declined at the restaurant.
They called security on him.
They were filming him like he was a thief, so I paid his bill.
186,000, Esther.
And they fired me for it.
Rule four.
Your father would have done the same thing.
Foolish both of you, but he would have done it.
Then the man sent this 2 million naira.
Esther, God has answered.
This is the shop.
This is your father’s shop.
No, mommy.
This is not God.
This is Elliot Okafur, chairman of Halane Holdings, the company buying Ember and Thime.
He wasn’t broke.
He froze his own card to test us.
A test.
He played poor for one night to see who would be cruel to him.
And while he was playing, I lost my job for real.
This is a rich man buying back his conscience.
I’m returning it.
Are you mad?
Esther, we have nothing.
You have no job.
Take the money, my dear, and let him feel better.
Daddy’s shop will not be bought with money that was paid to make me keep quiet.
Mommy, if I take this, I’m saying what happened to me was fine.
It wasn’t fine.
Mommy, deliveries go through the side entrance.
I’m not a delivery.
I’m here to see Mr.
Elliot Okafo, do you have an appointment with the chairman?
No, but I have 2 million naira of his money and I’d like to give it back.
You’re the waitress and you are Godfrey Ez.
I run deals for Mr.
Okafur.
I was in the car last night.
Most people who receive that kind of envelope do not come back with it.
Then I’m not most people.
She’s with me.
I’ll call you back.
Miss Bankoli, you came?
I didn’t come to visit, Mr.
Okafo.
2 million naira.
Count it.
Every note is there.
It’s yours.
It’s a thank you.
No, it’s an apology dressed as a gift.
And I don’t accept it.
You owe me 186,000 naira.
Not one naira more.
Exactly.
Thank you.
And the second thing, you will tell Ember in time to give me my job back.
You want to go back to the people who fired you?
I can give you a job here today.
Better pay.
I don’t want a job you give me because you feel guilty.
I want the job you cost me.
Do you know what you did last night, Mr.
Okafur?
You wore an old jacket for 2 hours and called it a test.
But I don’t get to take my jacket off.
When the test finished, you went home in a black car.
I went home without a job.
My mother was a cleaner at a hotel restaurant on Lagos Island.
14 years she worked there.
One evening, a man came to the back door hungry, shaking.
She gave him the leftover rice the kitchen was throwing away.
The manager saw her.
He fired her in front of everyone.
Called her a thief for rice that was going in the bin.
I was 19 in my first year at university.
I watched her walk home that night with her apron in her hand.
So every company I buy, I walk in first as a man with nothing.
I watch how they treat the person at the bottom.
Because one day, Miss Banko, I will own that company and people like my mother will work there.
That is why I’m sorry about your mother.
Truly, but you just told me your own story.
A woman lost her job for being kind.
And last night, because of your test, it happened again.
Your test had a price, Mr.
Okafo.
I paid it.
The envelope you paid from, it was for something important.
What was it?
My father’s shop.
Get me my job back.
Then we’re even.
She failed the gratitude test.
No, she passed the one that matters.
Now that the drama is over, Clarissa wants to sign in 3 weeks, not five.
She says another buyer is interested.
A group from Ara.
3 weeks?
We haven’t finished checking their numbers.
I’ve checked them myself.
Elliot, look.
Sales up 40% in one year.
Nine branches.
Full every night.
These are the cleanest books I’ve seen in Lagos.
If we wait, Accra takes it.
Last night, their manager called security on a man for a declined card and fired the only decent person in the room.
The deal waits until Esther Banko has her job back.
Elliot, you can’t hold a 15 billion naira deal hostage for one waitress.
Watch me, Godfrey.
No job, no deal.
Tell her that.
Fine.
I’ll call Clarissa myself.
Madame Munle, I’ll be brief.
Kestre Credit has been patient.
The 4 billion naira you borrowed is due in 60 days.
Rupert.
Rupert.
Always so serious.
In 60 days, Halvane Holdings will pay me 15 billion naira.
I’ll pay Kestro before lunch.
I hope so, madam, because I must remind you of what you signed.
If the 4 billion is not paid in 60 days, Kestro Credit takes this house and all of your shares in Ember and Time.
Everything is going perfectly.
The sale is almost signed.
Then you have nothing to worry about, madam.
60 days.
Always a pleasure.
Rupert, close the door on your way out.
Last night, table 9.
Who are you?
Why are you so calm?
Elliot Okafur.
Clarissa, we have a problem.
I’m looking at it.
He says the deal waits until the waitress gets her job back.
So the chairman likes the girl who paid his bill.
Then she’ll get her job back.
Godfrey and so much more.
Esther, have you seen this?
Have you seen this?
Everybody is sharing it.
Everybody call me now.
Now.
Kind waitress.
Watch again.
She and her broke boyfriend run the same scam in every restaurant in Lagos.
1.8 million views.
Clever girl.
They share the food and the sympathy.
Report her.
I saw her at my restaurant last month.
Same trick.
I’ve never I’ve never seen that man before last night.
Hm.
Lagos people and their tricks.
[gasps] Posted 20 minutes ago.
That’s me.
That’s me this morning.
Someone was there this morning outside the tower.
Someone was watching me.
Someone followed me.
Look, it’s the same girl, the waitress from the video, from our own building.
Can you imagine?
Esther Bank, you and your mother, I want to see you now.
Good morning, landlord.
Is there a problem?
Maybe be richer.
This is the problem.
My tenants are sending me this since 6:00 this morning.
A scammer lives in my house.
Landlord, check your rent money.
Sir, that video is a lie.
That man was not my boyfriend.
I never saw him before that night.
I paid his bill because lie or no lie, my building is now famous for the wrong reason.
Mama, I respect you.
11 years you have paid rent here without stress.
But I cannot have people I cannot have people saying I keep thieves.
End of the month.
Find another place.
End of the month.
Landlord, please.
That’s only 3 weeks.
3 weeks is more than this girl gave that restaurant before she cheated them.
And she was looking so quiet all these years.
Quiet water, deep crocodile.
Go, Esther.
Go and see the agent.
Fix one thing today.
Yes, mommy.
One thing today.
I’ll come back with good news.
Mr.
Aay, I’m sorry I missed the meeting.
Something happened.
But I have the deposit, 186,000.
I’ll bring the rest by next week.
I promise.
Esther, my daughter.
Esther, the owner called me last night.
She has withdrawn.
She will not sell the building to you.
Not now.
Not ever.
Why?
She agreed to meet me.
She saw this.
She said she does not do business with people who scam her restaurants.
Her restaurants.
She said that her restaurants.
Esther, did you think I didn’t know you work for her?
Madame Clarissa Auna owns that building.
She has owned it for seven years.
Your father’s old shop is the first Ember and Time is the first Ember and Time ever opened.
I never gave her your name, Esther.
I only told her a serious buy I wanted to meet.
I knew she would never sell to a bank.
But last night, after this video went everywhere, she called.
She asked me for the buyer’s name.
I told her 10 minutes later, she cancelled.
So now she knows exactly who has been asking.
I’m sorry, my daughter.
Truly.
Yellow walls, wooden benches, daddy laughing in the kitchen.
Clarissa, it was the original.
Eat my people.
Today’s stew is free for anybody who smiles.
Daddy, that is the third free plate today.
I am counting.
[laughter] Mr.
Bankole, do you know what today is?
Madame Mugunlay, I know I’m one day late with the payment.
My wife was sick.
I had to pay the hospital first.
I have the money now.
All of it.
Page six.
Mr.
Banko, if any payment is late by even one day, the full building becomes the property of the lender.
You signed it.
Madam, I signed a loan.
Not my whole life.
You told me the terms were easy.
You promised me you would understand if anything happened.
Kindness doesn’t pay rent, Mr.
Bankole.
Contracts do.
Change the locks tonight.
Daddy, what does she mean?
She can’t take it.
It’s ours.
She can, my dear.
Because I believed what she promised and I never counted what was written.
Remember this.
Always count the plates, not the promises.
Mrs.
Ounlay, I’ll be clear.
I was the man at table 9.
I froze my own card.
I was testing your restaurant and your manager called security on me in front of the whole room.
Mr.
Okafur.
When I saw the cameras, I was ashamed.
Truly, Sabrina will be disciplined.
That is not the ember and time I built.
And the waitress who paid for my food was fired that same night with her own savings.
On your instruction, I’m told.
I gave that instruction before I knew the full story.
Rule four exists because we have been robbed before.
But I was wrong.
I’ll say it plainly, Mr.
Okafur.
I was wrong.
Then give her job back.
And there’s a video on the internet calling her a scammer.
That video is a lie.
I’m going to post a statement today saying I was the man in that video and that video and that she did nothing wrong.
Elliot, think about it.
If the world finds out the chairman of Halvane tests restaurants in disguise, every newspaper writes about the test.
They’ll say they’ll say you paid her to act.
You’ll make her a bigger target, not a smaller one.
You’ll make her a bigger target, not a smaller one.
He’s right.
Let me fix it.
It’s my restaurant and my mistake.
I’ll clear her name myself publicly as her employer.
Who posted that video, Mrs.
Ounlayer?
Lagos gossip pages, Mr.
Okafur.
Whoever knows who they are, nobody can stop them.
Then you have until tomorrow.
Her job back and her name cleared.
Until then, the deal waits.
Did you see his face when he said her name?
He likes her.
Good.
Then he will trust whatever she touches.
Clarissa Aun our shop and you have been working for that woman for 2 years.
Yes, mommy.
You knew you knew whose restaurant it was the day you took that job and you said nothing to me because you would have stopped me.
Mommy, after daddy passed, I promised him I would get the shop back.
But I didn’t even know how a woman like her makes her money.
So I went inside.
So I went inside.
I carried her plates.
I smiled at her customers.
I learned how she runs everything.
And I saved every coin she paid me to buy back what she stole using her own money.
It was always our money, Mommy.
And this.
Every night for 2 years, I counted the customers, the real ones.
At first, just habit.
Why?
But mommy, the managers keep saying the restaurant is full every night.
They keep saying that business is growing.
My notebook doesn’t say that.
Some nights the restaurant is half empty.
Something doesn’t add up.
I just don’t know what yet.
[bell] Good evening, [music] Esther.
Good evening, mama.
May I come in, please?
Just for [music] one minute.
I came to apologize personally.
What happened to you was wrong, and I allowed it.
I’ve already called the gossip pages.
By tomorrow morning, Ember and Time will post a statement.
You are an honest woman.
You did a beautiful thing, and we are proud.
Why?
Because I was wrong.
And because I want you back, not as a waitress, as floor supervisor of our flagship branch.
Double your old salary.
Starting Monday.
Banko.
What a small city Lagos is.
Let the past stay in the past, Esther.
I’m offering you the future.
A good future.
Monday.
Esther.
Monday.
Welcome home, my dear.
We will do great things together.
That woman destroyed your father.
And you just shook her hand.
She took his shop through a contract.
He didn’t read carefully enough.
Mommy, I’m going to read every page of hers.
Every page, Daddy.
Every single page.
Good morning, my family.
Last week, the whole of Lagos watched a video of this young woman.
Some people called her a scammer.
I call her the heart of Ember and Time.
Read it with me.
She is no scammer.
She is the kind of woman we want leading our team.
[applause] From today, Esther is floor supervisor of our flagship and she is the face of our new campaign, Ember and Time Cares.
Take the picture.
Smile, Esther.
Today, Lagos sees your heart.
Closer, madame.
[applause] Beautiful.
One more.
One week ago, she was fired.
Now, she’s my boss, and Madame is hugging her.
Something is not right here.
This is your supervisor tablet.
Any sale above 500,000 naira, any refund, any cancelled bill, it needs a supervisor’s approval.
That’s you now.
Your code is on the card.
Someone already chose my code.
Head office sets them.
It’s faster.
I’d like to change it.
Something only I know.
Of course, it will change it next week.
For now, just learn the job.
You’ll be wonderful.
Yes, she has it now.
Everything is ready.
We’ll talk tonight.
4471.
Congratulations, floor supervisor.
You fired me in front of everyone.
Madame Sabrina, you don’t have to pretend you’re happy.
I’m happy I’m back.
I’m not pretending anything.
You’re her favorite now.
Her face on a banner.
Do you know what usually happens to Madame’s favorites?
What?
The menus for table 12 are wrong.
Fix them.
And don’t let anyone use your code.
You see her job back.
Her name cleared.
A big public apology.
Clarissa did everything you asked and more.
So, the deal is back on.
3 weeks.
Fine.
But now we check their numbers properly.
Our own team, every branch.
I’ve already checked them, Elliot.
Personally, 11 years I’ve done this for you.
Have I ever given you bad numbers?
No, you haven’t.
Then trust me.
Go and eat.
You’ve been staring at that statement for 10 minutes.
I hear the new floor supervisor at Ember and Time is very good.
Of all the tables in this rest, Mr.
Oka for I’ve grown attached to it.
Congratulations on the promotion.
What will you have tonight?
And will your card be working?
I deserve that.
It’ll work.
I promise.
Can I ask you something?
Why did you come back here after what they did to you?
I told [music] you I wanted the job you cost me.
That’s the answer you give.
It’s not the real one.
[music] You tested me once, Mr.
Okafur.
Don’t test me again.
I’m not testing you.
I’m trying to understand there’s a difference.
Not.
You walk into people’s lives in disguise to see what they’re really like.
But people aren’t cards you swipe to see if they work.
Sometimes they decline because they’re tired, because they’re scared, because nobody has been kind to them in a long time.
And sometimes they decline because they’re cruel and the [music] only way to find out which is to watch.
That is what I learned.
[music] Or to trust them first and let them show you.
I trusted people first once.
My mother lost her job for it.
Ah, it’s her.
The scam queen from the video.
Auga, hold your wallet.
She’ll pay your bill and send her boyfriend to collect it.
Sir, you will apologize to her.
Stay, Mr.
Okafur.
[music] Please, I will handle this myself.
Good evening, sir.
The video you’re talking about, the restaurant has already posted the truth.
I paid a stranger’s bill because he was being humiliated.
If you’d like to keep humiliating people tonight, there’s a lovely place down the road.
If you’d like to eat, I’ll send your waiter.
[laughter] I was going to help.
I know.
I don’t need saving, Mr.
Okafur.
I need people to stop testing me.
Friday, 410 guests, 41 million naira in sales.
Kingsley, Friday night.
How full were we?
Friday, half empty.
The rain kept everybody at home.
I made almost no tips.
I counted 140 guests on Friday.
140, not 410.
So, somebody made a mistake.
Saturday.
My notebook says 160.
The sheet says 430.
Last Wednesday, 90.
The sheet says 380.
Kingsley, this restaurant has 38 tables.
Even if every table was full all night, we could not serve 400 guests.
Then where are all those extra people coming from?
They’re not coming from anywhere.
They don’t exist.
Esther, whatever you’re thinking, I didn’t hear it.
Good night.
38 million naira.
Approved by E Bank.
Code 4471.
Saturday 11:47.
Saturday night.
I was at home with mommy.
Before I even started this job, I never approved anything.
I didn’t even have this tablet.
Working late, Esther?
Just learning the job, madam.
Good girl.
Don’t learn too much on your first day.
Lock up properly, floor supervisor.
And Esther, sleep well tonight.
Tomorrow is a big day.
[sighs] She’s seen the approvals.
The 38 million.
She was holding the tablet against her chest like a shield.
She’s not stupid, Bernard.
That’s the problem with her.
She counts.
Then we stop.
Pause everything until the sale is done.
Stop.
Halvane is checking the last month of sales before they sign.
If the numbers drop now, Elliot Okafo walks away and Kestre takes my house in 52 days.
We don’t stop.
We do tomorrow night exactly like every other night.
And the girl watch her the way you watched her go into the Halvane Tower.
That clip did beautifully.
Good night everybody.
See you tomorrow.
Good night, Madame Supervisor.
Don’t count too much tonight.
Not tonight.
Est you don’t go home.
Tonight you see everything.
Tonight you count everything.
Lock the front door, Bernard, and keep the lights low.
Nobody passes this side at this hour.
Locked.
Madam, how many tonight?
140 cards.
35 million.
Make tonight look like a busy Saturday.
[gasps] [sighs] Madam, I’ve never asked.
Whose money is on these cards?
Mine.
Every one of these cards belongs to a small company I own.
The money leaves my left pocket, goes through this machine, and comes back into my right pocket.
It costs me nothing.
But on paper, it looks like 400 happy customers ate here tonight.
And Halvane sees the paper.
Halvane sees a restaurant that is full every night, growing 40% a year, worth 15 billion naira.
The truth is, Bernard, this place is dying.
Half empty since food prices tripled.
If I sold it with the real numbers, I’d get nothing.
And Kestre would take everything I have.
And if Halvan ever checks properly, then they find this code on every fake sale.
4471 Esther Bank, the scam waitress from the viral video.
All of Lagos already believes she’s a thief.
I made sure of that.
Madam, the first batch went in with her code that Saturday before she even started the job.
Nobody checks dates, Bernard.
They check names.
The video worked better than you planned.
I planned for a scapegoat.
I didn’t plan for Elliot Okaffor to like her.
That was a gift.
Now the man buying my company will defend the very woman who gets blamed for cheating him.
Nobody will believe she did it alone.
They’ll just believe she did it.
Did you hear that?
Something moved in the kitchen.
Probably the fridge, madam.
It does that.
Rats don’t make that sound.
Go and check now.
Yes, madam.
Rats again.
Maybe this old kitchen.
Shh.
Don’t move.
Don’t breathe.
Back door behind you.
Now come with me.
Madame Sabrina, how did you not hear?
Move, Esther.
Quickly.
Quietly.
My car is outside.
Nothing, madam.
Just the fridge.
Then hurry, Bernard.
We still have 60 cards to run tonight.
You knew all this time.
You knew.
Yes.
The firing, the code.
You knew all of it.
She told me to fire you that night.
You heard her on the phone.
And Bernard paid the two boys at the bar for their video and posted it on a fake gossip page an hour later.
She wanted all of Lagos to see your face before she gave you the code and the clip of you at Halvane.
Bernard followed you there.
Why would you help her do this to me?
6 million naira.
3 years ago, my mother was very sick.
I had no money.
Madame Clarissa gave me a staff loan.
Very kind, very fast.
And every month since, [music] she reminds me she can call it back whenever she wants.
One phone call and I lose my job and my mother’s house.
Then why are you helping me now?
Because last year it was me.
It was my code on those fake sales.
8 months.
When I finally refused to continue, she just went looking for a new name to put on the machine.
She found you the night you paid that bill.
When I said, “Don’t let anyone use your code.”
That was all the courage I had.
I’m sorry, Esther.
Then we go to Elliot Okto tonight.
We tell him everything.
No more hiding.
With what?
Your notebook and my word.
She’ll say we’re two bitter women she fired.
Nobody will listen to us.
And the man who checks the numbers for Halvane has already told Elliot they’re perfect.
Godfrey Ez.
Ask yourself why a man who has checked deals for 11 years can’t see a restaurant that’s half [music] empty.
The chairman is in a board meeting all morning.
Miss Bankle, please just call him.
Tell him it’s about Ember and Time.
It can’t wait.
Someone’s answering his line.
Mr.
Okafur, it’s Esther.
I need to see you today.
It’s about the numbers.
The restaurant is Esther.
Good morning.
It’s Godfrey.
Elliot is in the board meeting.
Ken King.
He asked me to hold his phone.
What’s this about the numbers?
I’m handling the deal.
Are you there?
It’s nothing, sir.
Just staff matters.
I’ll talk to him another time.
Of course.
I’ll tell him you called.
Madame booked the private room herself.
No waiters allowed inside.
She said only you can serve.
Thank you, Kingsley.
[music] The first part as promised.
And the rest?
10% of 15 billion naira.
The day the sale closes.
It’ll close.
Don’t worry about Elliot.
That man trusts me more than he trusts his own eyes.
And the waitress, she’s starting to count things.
She came to Halvane this morning looking for him.
I took the call.
She hung up like a frightened little girl.
Esther, is that you?
Come in, my dear.
Don’t stand there in the dark.
Come in.
Bring the water.
We’re thirsty.
I’m working.
Madam, sit.
Esther, how long were you standing outside that door?
Long enough.
Good.
Then I don’t have to explain.
That saves us all time.
Esther, let me tell you exactly where you stand so there is no confusion.
73 million naira of sales here were approved with your code.
4 71 on the system.
It’s your name, not hers, not mine.
I never approved anything.
I wasn’t even here.
I believe you.
But who else will?
But who else will?
The girl who went to the Halvane Tower with an envelope of money.
One phone call to the financial regulators and you’ll spend the next 5 years explaining yourself to people who have already decided.
But we’re not here to threaten you, Esther.
We’re here to make you an offer.
That’s my father’s shop.
The building, I own it personally.
The restaurant only pays me rent.
Sign one statement for us and tomorrow it’s yours.
And your landlord problem disappears.
I’ll find your mother a flat.
What statement?
A simple one.
You say that Elliot Okafur planned the declined card scene, that he paid you to step in and pay his bill on camera as a publicity stunt for his company, and that afterwards he sent you 2 million naira to keep quiet about it, which is true.
He did send you 2 million naira.
I gave it back.
The camera outside Halvan only shows you walking in with an envelope.
It doesn’t show you walking out without it.
Why do you need Elliot destroyed?
He’s buying your restaurant.
He’s your friend.
Because tomorrow morning, Elliot is asking the Halvan board to send our own team into every ember and time branch to count everything.
If they count, Esther, they find what you found.
Half empty restaurants and the deal dies.
And Kestre takes everything I have.
But if the board sees your statement before he speaks, they suspend him.
A chairman who plays dress up and pays waitresses during a 15 billion naira deal is a danger to the company.
And while he’s suspended, the deal is mine to finish.
Your father’s shop, Esther, or your name on 73 million naira of fake sales.
You have until tomorrow morning at 8:00.
The board meets at 10:00.
8:00, Esther.
The Halvan car park.
Don’t be late.
He really does like you.
You know, that’s what makes it work.
You’re home early.
What happened?
Mommy, if I did something that made everybody hate me, would you still be on my side?
What kind of something?
The kind people we’ll talk about.
Is it for us, Esther, or for you?
It’s for daddy.
Then I am on your side.
Whatever it is, my dear.
Godfrey said you called me this morning.
Staff matters, he said.
I thought staff matters might go better with food.
How did you find where I live?
I’m a rich man with a guilty conscience.
It wasn’t hard.
Can I come in?
The rich man brings food.
5 minutes.
5 minutes.
I’m counting.
Thank you, ma.
Good evening.
Your father’s shop.
Yes, Esther.
I came to tell you something.
Tomorrow, I’m asking the board for a full check of ember and time.
Our own people in every branch counting everything.
Godfrey says I’m being paranoid.
But you’ve been inside that restaurant every night.
Should I be worried, Esther?
Staff matters, Mr.
Okafo.
Just staff matters.
All right, I won’t push.
You can tell me when you’re ready.
You know, for a long time, I’ve tested everyone around me.
Business partners, friends, women I’ve dated.
You’re the first person in years I haven’t wanted to test.
Good night, Esther.
[snorts] [gasps] [laughter] 7:55.
I knew you were sensible.
Both papers are ready.
Read them if you like.
Quickly.
He paid me to step in on camera.
One condition.
We don’t have time for condition.
For conditions.
You signed the deed, too, Mr.
Ez.
As a witness.
If I’m selling my soul, I want everyone’s name on the receipt.
[laughter] Oh, I like her.
Sign it, Godfrey.
What does it matter?
Fine.
Witness.
Godfrey.
Es happy now?
10:00 boardroom.
You’ll be called in to confirm it.
Congratulations, Esther.
Congratulations, Esther.
Your father’s shop.
Welcome to the winning side.
Before we pay 15 billion naira, I want our own people counting every plate in every branch.
Two weeks, that’s all I’m asking.
Madame Chair, before we vote on that, there’s a more serious matter and it concerns the chairman himself.
Go on, Godfrey.
The chairman disguised himself during an active acquisition.
[music] He involved a junior staff member.
He sent her 2 million naira and this morning she signed a statement.
What statement?
Mr.
Elliot Okafo planned the [music] declined card scene as a publicity stunt.
He paid me to step in on camera.
Afterwards, he sent me 2 million naira to keep quiet.
Signed, Esther Bank.
That’s not true.
Is she here?
She’s waiting outside.
Miss Bank, is this your signature?
Yes, madam.
I signed it this morning before I came here.
Esther, look at me.
Esther, tell them what really happened.
Tell them you gave the money back.
I have nothing to add to my statement, madam.
Nothing at all.
Nothing at all.
[laughter] Elliot, I’ve known you since you were 25.
I’ve never doubted you.
But this board cannot ignore a signed statement during a deal of this size.
All in favor of suspending the chairman for 30 days pending review carried.
Godfrey, you’ll take charge of the ember and time deal until the review is finished and the motion for an independent check is withdrawn.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I’ll do my best.
The company is in safe hands.
Was any of it real, Esther?
Table 9.
The money you paid.
Any [music] of it.
He’s gone, Esther.
30 days.
Godfrey signs the sale this week.
Your father would be proud of you.
You finally learned how business works.
Thank you, madam.
I’m sorry, Elliot.
Forgive me, Daddy.
Forgive me, both of you.
Elliot, I’m so sorry, my brother.
I fought for you in there after you left.
I told them 30 days was too harsh.
Did you?
Of course.
11 years.
That girl fooled all of us.
Even me, Elliot, I’m still shaking.
Godfrey, when you checked Ember and Times numbers yourself, did you visit the restaurants?
Did you count the customers?
Or did you read what Clarissa sent you?
Elliot, please don’t let one bad day make you suspicious of everybody.
Take the 30 days, rest.
Let me carry the deal home for you.
When you come back, it’ll be done and the company will be 15 billion naira bigger.
My mother carried her lunch to that hotel in this tin every day for 14 years.
She trusted the people she worked for, too.
And look where you are now.
Get some sleep, Elliot.
Close the door on your way out, Godfrey.
15 billion naira.
Halvan Holdings buys 100% of Ember and Time Dining Group.
The money goes into a holding account today.
It is released to the seller after 30 days.
30 days?
I need it sooner.
It’s Halvane’s rule, Clarissa.
Every deal.
30 days and then it’s all yours.
And section 19, the seller’s guarantee.
What does that one say?
It says you promise your numbers are true, which they are.
Every Halane deal has it.
Nobody has ever used it.
It’s just paper.
Then I promise.
There.
My numbers are as true as my smile.
30 days, Godfrey.
30 days.
So it was you after all, Kingsley.
It’s not what it looks like.
He defended you.
The only big man who ever stood up for one of us.
Is that what you think?
I don’t know what to think anymore.
That’s the worst part.
I used to defend you, Esther, every day.
[bell] You gave me 5 minutes in my flat.
Give me 5 minutes now.
Go home, Miss Bank.
You’ve been paid.
You had 5 minutes in my boardroom.
Thing.
Then look, look at the bottom of this page.
Clarissa gave me a building worth hundreds of millions of naira for one signature on a statement against you.
And the man who carried that statement into your boardroom signed this deed as the witness.
Godfrey Ez is in Clarissa’s pocket.
Elliot, I can prove it.
Elliot, I’m holding the proof.
Please open the gate.
Come in.
Talk.
Ember and time is dying.
[music] Half empty since food prices went up.
So every night, Clarissa and her driver tap bank cards.
Hundreds of fake sales.
35 million naira in one night.
I watched them do it from the storeroom.
The cards belong to her own companies.
The money goes around in a circle, but on paper, it looks like the restaurant is full every night.
The 40% growth.
Fake.
And every fake sale is approved with my supervisor code.
That’s why she gave me my job back.
Not to apologize, to put my name on the fake sales.
If anyone checks, it’s the scam waitress from the video.
From the video.
She posted that video herself and the next evening I saw her give Godfrey an envelope of cash in the private room.
10% of 15 billion when the sale closes.
I came to your office the next morning to tell.
Then why didn’t you tell me in your flat?
I was sitting right in front of you.
I asked you straight.
Because Godfrey was calling your phone while you sat on my box.
Elliot, think about it.
Think about it carefully.
If I told you that night, you would have walked into that boardroom angry and accused your best friend of 11 years.
With what?
A waitress’s word.
The same waitress the whole of Lagos thinks is a scammer.
They would have suspended you anyway.
Then Clarissa would stop the fake sales overnight, wipe everything, sell to the buyers in Ara, and the only name left on that machine would be mine.
So I gave them what they wanted, a signature.
And in return, they gave me this, a building from Clarissa to the woman who testified against you with Godfreyy’s own name on it.
The only proof in the world that they paid for that statement.
You let me fall in front of eight directors, in front of Rosemary, who has known me since I was 25.
I asked you if any of it was real, and you looked at the wall.
I know.
I was there.
Do you know what that did to me?
Every person I have ever trusted has I built my whole life around never being fooled again.
And you fooled me in one morning.
You tested me once without asking me, Elliot, and I paid for it.
This time, I trusted you without asking.
I trusted that when you saw this page, you would understand.
That’s all I had.
And how do I know this isn’t another performance?
You lied to a room full of people very well two days ago.
Two years of real customer counts every night.
Keep them both.
If I’m lying to you, burn them.
Two years every single night.
What’s this?
The price of what I did that morning.
I don’t trust you, Esther, but I believe this page.
So we work together.
Just work.
Just work.
Then tomorrow morning I go to Rosemary with the deed and your notebook.
I stopped the sale before Halvani pays a single naira.
No.
No.
Godfrey signed it this morning.
Kingsley heard madame talking about it.
The money is already sitting in a holding account for 30 days.
If you stop it now, Clarissa walks away with a slap on the wrist.
Godfrey says he was fooled, too.
And I’m left holding the fake sales.
Then what do you want me to do?
I want you to let the deal go through.
Elliot, you want my company to pay 15 billion naira to a woman running fake sales?
I want Clarissa to believe she has won completely because my father lost everything to one page of a contract he didn’t read.
I want to find the page she didn’t read.
I wrote this clause 11 years ago because of my mother.
Godfrey told her it was just paper.
Play it.
10% of 15 billion naira the day the sale closes.
Don’t worry about Elliot.
That man trusts me more than he trusts his own eyes.
Every meeting, every envelope, every word.
Since the very first day, Godfrey sat at my table and asked what was in it for him.
Madam, my voice and yours are on those recordings, too.
Not for long.
Cut us out.
Every word I said gone.
Leave only him.
Godfrey talking about money, about Elliot, about 10%.
That’s all anyone needs to hear.
You’re not paying him.
Pay him, Bernard.
A man who sells his best friend for 10% will sell me for 20.
Day 30.
9:00 a.m.
The 15 billion lands.
9:30 I pay Castro their 4 billion and my house is safe.
10:00 a.m.
I move the rest out of Nigeria to my sister’s company in Dubai.
And at 11, the Halvin board receives a package.
No name, Godfrey’s voice taking bribes, and 73 million naira of fake sales approved by Esther Bank’s code.
So Halvan thinks Halvane thinks their own deal director and a greedy little waitress cheated them together.
The deed I gave her even has Godfreyy’s name on it.
Proof they were partners.
And Clarissa Ounle, she’s the poor businesswoman whose supervisor faked the sales behind her back.
Shocked, heartbroken, and already in Dubai.
28 days, Bernard.
Then I never have to smile at any of them again.
The small print.
Clause 7.
There’s nothing on the back.
I read it in the car park.
Clause 7.
If the receiver ever reveals any private business of the giver to any person, the receiver must pay the giver 300 million naira within 7 days.
If not paid, the property returns to the giver and the giver may recover the debt from the receivers’s fam family property.
300 million naira.
Mommy, did you know?
You think I knew?
I think yesterday you told me you’d find the page she didn’t read.
And here’s a page you didn’t read.
So, either you’re very good at lying to me, Esther, or Clarissa is very good at hiding things.
Which is it?
My father lost his shop to page six, to page six of a contract he didn’t read, and I walked into a car park.
I read the front of this paper three times and never turned it over.
I made his mistake.
The exact same mistake.
It means the moment you tell anyone the truth about Ember and time, Clarissa can come after your mother can come after your mother’s things.
Then we don’t tell anyone anything until we can prove all of it at once.
You keep saying 28 days, Mr.
Cuthbert.
28 days and you’ll have every naira.
Yes, I know it’s 900 million.
I know the land deal failed.
I know you’ve waited 2 years.
Look, in 28 days, I’ll be a very rich man.
Then you and I are finished.
And I never want to hear your voice again.
Do you understand me?
Never.
11 years carrying his bags.
He never once asked how my investments were doing.
Not once.
Day 30.
Kestro paid.
Transfer to Dubai.
Package to Rosemary.
What are you planning?
Madam Madame Sabrina, what are you doing in Madam’s office?
The new staff wrote her.
She asked for it before 4.
Then you’re finished here.
Next time, knock.
Madame does not like people in her office.
I heard about your building.
I know what everybody heard.
I risked my mother’s house to warn you about that woman.
And the next morning, you signed for her and took a whole building.
A whole building.
So tell me why I’m sitting in this car.
Esther, tell me why I shouldn’t just go home.
Because I signed for the deed with Godfreyy’s name on it as the witness.
And now Elliot Okafo has it [music] and my notebook.
I didn’t sell him, Sabrina.
I’m working with him.
You’re mad.
You’re completely mad.
Then you need to see this package to Rosemary.
GE Audio EB codes.
She’s been recording Godfrey and she’s not paying him.
She’s going to throw him to the board with you the day the money lands and fly to her sister in Dubai before anybody can stop her.
So, in her story, Godfrey and I were partners.
The deed proves it.
His name and mine on the same page.
Even my weapon is her weapon.
Esther Bernard saw me in her office today.
I don’t know how long I have.
Then we move faster than she does.
Godfrey thinks he’s the hunter.
Sabrina, he’s the meal.
Send me that picture now.
Then delete it from your phone.
Mr.
Okafo, I don’t usually meet buyers in lounges at night and I don’t usually buy other people’s debts.
Mrs.
Ounier owes Kestre 4 billion naira due in 46 days.
Her house and her shares in Ember and Time are the security.
Correct.
I can’t discuss a client’s private loan.
Then let me discuss it.
She paid late twice last year.
There are rumors about her restaurants and your board would very much like this loan off its books before something goes wrong.
I’ll buy it full value 4 billion naira today.
Pelbrook Capital.
I’ve never heard of it.
Neither has she.
If Kestre sells, the terms stay the same.
Same date, same security, but Mrs.
Ounlay’s lender becomes Pelbrook Capital.
She’ll be informed by letter.
Inform her.
Tell her nothing changes.
Can I ask Mr.
Okafur, who exactly is behind Pelbrook Capital, a boy whose mother was fired for giving away rice that was going in the bin.
Good night, Mr.
Adale.
From Kestro Credit, madam, by hand.
Kestre Credit has transferred your loan of 4 billion naira to Pelbrook Capital.
All terms remain the same.
Lenders, they sell your debt like they sell tomatoes.
Who is Pelbrook Capital?
Who cares, Bernard?
Same money, same date.
In 27 days, I pay them 4 billion and I never see their faces again.
Bring the car, Bernard.
So, in 27 days, the money lands at 9:00.
At 9:30, she pays Kestre.
At 10, she sends the rest to Dubai.
At 11, she destroys Godfrey and me.
She destroys us in one package.
Except at 9:30, she doesn’t pay Kestre.
Why not?
Because Kestre doesn’t own her loan anymore.
I do.
Pel Brook Capital loan transfer 4 billion.
She just doesn’t know it yet.
Every naira of her house and every share of her company now sits on a debt that belongs to me.
Before anybody draws anything, explain to me in simple words.
Why are we letting Halane pay that woman 15 billion naira?
Good simple words.
Section 19.
This clause is in every deal I’ve ever made.
I wrote it 11 years ago after I bought my first company and found out the owner had lied to me about everything.
Every single number.
One, the seller personally promises that every number she gave us is true, not the company, her with her own name.
Two, if we prove even one big number was false, the whole deal is canled.
The 15 billion comes straight back to Halvan.
She gets nothing.
Three.
On top of that, she personally pays Halvani a penalty, 20% of the price.
3 billion naira.
3 billion from her own pocket.
And Godfrey told her it was just paper.
Godfrey didn’t read it properly either.
He never had to.
I always did.
So, think about day 30, Sabrina.
The 15 billion never reaches her.
She can’t pay the 4 billion she owes on her loan.
And she owes another 3 billion to Halvan on top.
But she’ll just go back to Kestre and beg for more time.
She always does.
Kestro doesn’t own her loan anymore.
I do.
Her house, her shares, all of it sitting on a debt.
But none of it works unless we can prove the numbers are false properly in a way nobody can argue with.
Clarissa’s lawyers will say Esther made [music] it up.
Then we don’t count the people, we count the [music] food.
My father used to say a restaurant can lie about everything except its kitchen.
Every customer eats something.
Chicken, rice, fish.
Every plate needs gas to cook it.
If 400 people really ate at Ember and Time every night, somebody had to sell Clarisa enough chicken for 400 people.
And if they only bought enough for 14040, then the other 260 were ghosts.
And ghosts don’t eat.
Where do we get the kitchen records for?
All nine for all nine branches.
Every branch buys its chicken, rice, and fish from one supplier.
Mrs.
Agatha Ori Farms and Madame Clarissa has owed her money for 8 months.
Chicken first rice on truck two.
Sabrina Cole, if Madame Clarissa sent you to beg for one more month, tell her my trucks are already packed.
She didn’t send us, Mrs.
Ori.
She doesn’t know we’re here.
And this one?
Ah, the waitress from the video.
What are you two doing together?
We need every delivery note you’ve sent to all nine ember and time branches for the last 12 months.
Chicken, rice, fish, every kilo.
Why?
Because Madame Clarissa tells the world.
Her restaurant serve 400 people a night.
Your trucks know the truth.
400?
My girl, I’ve been wondering for a year.
She’s growing so fast while ordering less chicken every month.
Come, I’ve been keeping every paper.
A woman who doesn’t pay her bills should not expect her supplier to forget anything.
How many left?
3 months.
Mrs.
Ili’s papers show what she sold us.
These books show what our kitchen actually signed for.
If they match, nobody can say we made anything up.
Someone’s here, Sabrina.
A car just parked at the back.
Hello.
Who is back there?
Why are the lights on in my store room at this hour?
It’s Madam.
Then show me where it’s I counted those crates myself.
You don’t count anything in my kitchen.
Floor supervisor.
You give the orders on the floor.
I check the deliveries.
That is how it has always been here.
What is going on here?
Madam, your new supervisor thinks she can check my delivery books.
She says I’m counting the chicken wrong.
Somebody should check it.
The chicken in the freezer doesn’t match what the kitchen ordered.
Esther, you are a supervisor of people, not chicken.
Stay out of my kitchen.
Lock up properly and go home, both of you.
It’s late.
[sighs and gasps] She looked at that book for a long time.
She didn’t see the phone.
Three more months.
Hurry.
March.
All nine branches together.
Oori Farms delivered enough chicken, rice, and fish for about 38,000 plates.
And Clarissa sales report for March says 112,000 guests, 74,000 people who never ate a single thing.
Every month, same story.
You were right.
The customers go up 40%.
Ghosts don’t eat.
My father would be so proud.
All those nights counting plates.
Tell me about him.
He used to cook for anyone who walked in.
Traders, bus drivers, university students.
If you couldn’t pay, he’d say, “Pay me next week.”
Half of them never did.
Mommy used to shout at him.
He’d say, “A hungry man remembers who fed him.
A rich man forgets who paid.”
He sounds like my mother.
What was her name?
Dorothy.
The most stubborn woman in Lagos.
After they fired her, she sold boiled corn by the road so I could finish university.
Every day, rain, sun, everything.
She passed the year before I made my first real money.
She never saw any of this.
She saw you, Elliot.
That’s the part that counted.
I said I didn’t trust you yet.
I remember.
I’ve been lying to myself for three days, Esther.
Every single night.
Not yet.
Not while there’s a building with Godfree’s name on it in your drawer and a clause that can take my mother’s home.
When this is finished, if you still want to say it, say it.
Then I’ll still want to say it.
Then cook for me again.
That stew was better than anything on Clarissa’s menu.
Same stew, same pot.
Any night you want.
[laughter] Good night, Elliot.
Go and sleep and lock your gate properly.
Text me the moment you get home.
I mean it.
You told me to watch the house.
She just left.
1:45 in the morning.
I have the video.
24 days is too long, Godfrey.
I don’t like it.
My loan changes hands to a My loan changes hands to a company nobody has heard of.
My branch manager is sneaking around my office.
And now this.
She’s still with him even after the statement.
Of course she’s still with him.
That girl signed your statement and then walked straight back to his house.
Which means she’s not ours anymore.
Godfrey, maybe she never was.
Then what do you want?
My money now, not in 24 days.
The holding account can only be released early by the board at a formal handover with the director’s present.
Then arrange a handover.
A handover lunch at my flagship Friday.
The board, camera, staff, the board signs the release at the table and the money comes to me that afternoon.
Friday is in 4 days and in 4 days, Godfrey, you get your 10%.
Don’t you want your 10%?
Friday.
And Godfrey, make sure the waitress is at that lunch.
I want her standing right in front of the board when I’m finished.
What is it from?
Rosemary.
Godfrey has called an emergency handover lunch at Ember and Time on Friday.
The board will approve early release of the 15 billion at the table.
Friday, Esther.
Not 24 days.
Four.
If the money is released Friday afternoon, it’s in Dubai by Friday night.
And there’s more.
Harold Fasani has shown some directors a video.
A young woman leaving your house at 2:00 in the morning.
They are saying the waitress and the chairman are lovers and that the whole thing was planned between you from the beginning.
Elliot, I can’t defend you if this is true.
Then on Friday, they’ll be waiting for us both.
Thursday night.
Friday night, 11:50.
Saturday, 11:35.
My delivery books are in that room.
And madam, the night you walked in on them, Esther was in that room, too.
I remember.
Sabrina first.
Esther, I need on Friday.
Sabrina, come in.
Close the door and sit down.
I’m fine standing, madam.
Is something wrong?
Three nights in a row alone in my storoom office with my delivery books.
What were you counting?
Stock.
Madam, the chicken order didn’t match.
I was checking checking at midnight.
Three times.
You’re finished here, Sabrina.
Leave your badge and your keys on the desk.
Madam, please.
And your staff loan.
6 million naira.
I’m calling it back.
You have 7 days to pay in full.
7 days?
You know I don’t have 6 million naira.
Madam, you know where my mother lives.
Then you should have thought about your mother before you went counting my chicken.
Madame Sabrina, what happened in there?
Ask me another day, Kingsley.
Not today.
Just let me walk out of here.
Madame Clarissa, in my depot with your own feet.
Has the sky fallen?
I came to pay you Agatha.
8 months.
All of it.
Every night plus a little extra for your patience.
On Friday, Ember and Time belongs to Halvani.
After Friday, you supply all nine branches for the new owners, and I make sure they keep your contract.
Unless somebody has been asking you for my delivery records.
If anybody asks, Agatha, you’ve lost those papers.
A flood in the store, rats, whatever you like.
I understand you very well, madam.
Good woman.
Keep your trucks running.
Agatha.
I’ll see them at my branches and my branches after Friday.
Good evening.
We are looking for Esther Bank.
Is she here?
I’m Esther Bank.
Who’s asking?
We’re from the financial regulator.
A complaint has been filed against you by Mrs.
Clarissa Ounier of Ember and Time.
73 million naira of unauthorized transactions approved with your supervisor code.
You’re invited to our office on Monday morning at 9:00 to answer some questions.
Please bring identification.
73 million.
My daughter, there must be a mistake.
Madam, then Monday is the place to explain it.
Mama, 73 million.
I told you that girl was hiding something.
From waitress to the boss’s money, Lagos is not easy.
73 million naira.
Esther Bank.
Monday 9:00.
Mommy, give it back.
Let’s go inside.
Esther, stop.
Whatever you’re doing, stop it.
Mommy, listen to me.
No, you listen.
You listen.
Your father fought that woman.
Do you remember what he did to him?
He stopped eating.
He stopped sleeping.
He died fighting her, Esther.
And now she’s coming for you.
73 million naira.
I didn’t do it.
I can prove I didn’t do it.
Then give her back the building.
Give her back everything.
We can go tomorrow.
[snorts] Nobody knows us there.
Please.
I have already buried a husband because of Clarissa.
Don’t make me bury my daughter’s whole life, too.
You got my letter.
The regulator’s letter.
You sent them.
I’m a responsible businesswoman, Esther.
I found 73 million naira.
Of course, I reported it.
Monday will be very uncomfortable for you.
You approved those transactions yourself.
I watched you.
Careful, Esther.
Yes.
Careful.
Clause 7.
Clause 7.
Read it again.
If the receiver ever reveals any private business of the giver, one word to anyone and you owe me 300 million naira in 7 days.
I know what it says.
Then you also know what I’ll take when you can’t pay.
Your father’s building, your mother’s sewing machine, that ugly wooden sign she wraps in cloth like a baby.
Every pot, every chair, everything with the name bank on it.
So, here’s what happens on Friday.
You’ll be at the handover lunch in your uniform.
You’ll stand where I tell you.
You’ll smile for [music] the board.
And whatever happens in that room, Esther, you will say nothing.
[music] And if I don’t, then by Saturday, your mother is sleeping in her sister’s spare room in Ibada, and you’re explaining 73 million naira to the regulators alone.
Go back to work.
Why invite her to the lunch at all?
Why not keep her far away?
Because she has something, Godfrey.
Sabrina has been in my store room three nights.
That girl has been in Elliot’s house at 2:00 in the morning.
They’re planning to stand up on Friday and say something to the board.
Then the lunch is a risk.
The lunch is a stage.
So I speak first before the board signs.
I stand up heartbroken and tell them the truth as I want it told.
My supervisor’s code was used for million naira of unauthorized transactions.
I caught it.
I reported her to the regulators myself.
And she is the chairman’s lover caught on video at his house.
The two of them have been trying to destroy this deal from the start.
After that, whatever she says sounds like revenge, and whatever Elliot says sounds like a man protecting his girlfriend.
Dealt with in public in public.
Then the board signs and by Friday evening the money is on its way to Dubai and your 10% is on its way to you.
Rosemary, 5 minutes, please.
That’s all I’m asking.
Not here, Elliot.
Not now.
People are watching.
You’re suspended.
Half the board has seen a video of that young woman woman leaving your house at 2:00 in the morning.
Harold is telling everyone you planned this whole thing together.
It’s not what they think.
It never is.
I’ve [music] protected you for 9 years, but I can’t protect you from a video.
Stay away from the lunch on Friday, Elliot, for your own sake.
She called my loan.
7 days.
I’m I can’t get back into that building now.
Whatever we have, it’s all we’re getting.
You’ve done more than anyone.
Sabrina, rest.
Mrs.
Ori isn’t answering.
That’s the fourth time today.
Clarissa got to her.
We don’t know that.
Esther, Sabrina’s been fired.
Our only supplier won’t pick up the phone.
You have the regulators on Monday.
Your mother wants to run to Ibadan.
And my own board chair just told me to stay away from a launch where my company is about to give 15 billion naira to a woman faking her sales.
Faking her sales.
I can’t even be in the room.
Where are you going?
To find you a chair in that room.
Eat something, Elliot.
I’ll call you.
Madam, there’s a young woman at the gate.
She says her name is Esther Bank.
She says she’ll wait all night if she has to.
Let her in and bring her straight here to the garden.
Yes, madam.
Right away.
The witness who brought down my chairman in my garden at 10:00 at night.
Yes, madam.
Then say what you came to say.
I don’t waste my time with tears.
I can’t tell you what I know, madam.
Not tonight.
There’s a paper I signed that will take my mother’s home if I say one word.
So, I’m not here to make you believe me.
I’m here to ask you for one thing, which is let Elliot be in the room on Friday.
After what you said about him, after that video, you’ve known him since he was 25.
Madam, did he ever once lie to you?
I lied to you in that boardroom.
Not him.
If I’m still lying on Friday, you can let them take everything from me.
I won’t fight it, but please let him sit in the room.
Halvani has an old rule.
The largest shareholder may sit in any board meeting as an observer, even when suspended.
He can’t vote.
He can’t speak unless I allow it.
That’s enough, madam.
That’s all he needs.
I’ll tell him myself.
But hear me, young lady.
If this is another performance, you and Elliot Okafo will both walk out of that lunch with nothing.
Nothing.
I’m lying, madam.
I’ll deserve it.
You have a chair Friday.
Daddy, if you’re watching, help me finish what you started.
The bus leaves at 4:00.
Then wait until 4:00, Mommy.
That’s all I’m asking.
Just until 4:00.
And if you don’t come back with good news, then we take the bus together.
Everything is ready, Madam Chair.
One signature, and Halvan owns nine restaurants by this afternoon.
Let’s not rush, Godfrey.
We’ll sign when we’re ready.
Directors, welcome.
Welcome.
Today, Ember and Time finally becomes family.
Please eat everything, drink everything.
Esther, are you okay?
Madame keeps looking at you.
Stand straight.
Kingsley, whatever happens today, just stand straight.
Mr.
Okafur is here as the largest shareholder of Halvin Holdings.
He is an observer.
He will not vote.
He will not speak unless I allow it.
Mr.
Okafur, there’s a seat at the main table for you.
This is where I first learned how your restaurant treats people, [bell] madame chair, directors of Halvan.
Today, the restaurant I built becomes part of your family.
But before we sign, I must be honest with you because honesty is everything to me.
Two weeks ago, I discovered that my own floor supervised visor’s code had been used for 73 million naira of unauthorized transactions.
I trusted her.
I made her [music] the face of our company and this is how she repaid me.
I have already reported her to the financial regulators myself.
I hid nothing.
And that is not all.
Director Fasanmi 1:45 in the morning last Sunday outside the chairman’s house.
I recorded it myself from across the street.
The same young woman who signed a statement against Mr.
Oka Okafur leaving his house in the middle of the night.
I believe the two of them have been working together from the beginning to destroy this sale and whatever she says today will be part of that plan.
Miss Bank, you’ve heard all of it.
Do you have anything to say to this board?
I propose we sign it now.
Let’s not waste this board’s time.
Madame Chair, may I have one minute?
He’s an observer.
He can’t speak.
One minute.
Elliot, I’m not here to defend myself.
I only want to remind the board of our own rules.
Section 19.
Section 19.
Before Halvan releases a single naira, the seller must personally confirm in writing in front of the board that every number she gave us is true.
That’s all.
Confirm your numbers, Mrs.
Ounle, and then sign for your money.
Godfrey told me about this clause.
Just paper.
Every number I gave Halvan is true.
Every guest, every naira there.
Happy Mr.
Okafur.
Very.
Now I have something to say.
Esther, clause 7.
Think about your mother.
I know.
Clause 7, madam.
300 million naira.
Take it.
Take the building.
Take my mother’s sewing machine.
Take my father’s sign.
My father would rather lose his sign than have his name standing next to your lie.
Go on, Miss Bankoli.
Mrs.
Ouna told you her restaurants serve 400 guests a night.
That business grew 40% in one year.
It didn’t.
Ember and Time has been half empty since food prices went up.
This is exactly what I told you she would do.
Every night after closing, she and her driver tap a box of bank cards on these machines.
The cards belong to her own companies.
The money goes out of one pocket and back into the other.
It costs her nothing, but on paper, hundreds of guests appear who were never here.
And we’re supposed to believe a waitress who was filmed the chairman’s house at You don’t have to believe me, sir.
Because you can fake a card, but you can’t fake a chicken.
Kingsley, 10 plates, please.
Every guest eats something.
Chicken, rice, fish.
Mrs.
Ounlay’s sales say 10 guests ate here.
But her kitchen only bought enough food for three.
The other seven never ate because the other seven never existed.
March.
All nine branches.
The kitchens bought food for 38,000 plates.
Mrs.
Aunle reported 112,000 guests, 74,000 ghosts.
Every month is the same.
Numbers in a waitress’s diary.
Where’s your proof?
Who sold me this chicken?
Bring them here.
Good afternoon, everybody.
Somebody call chicken seller.
Make way.
My boxes are heavy.
Every delivery note I sent to all nine branches for 12 months, every kilo signed by her own kitchens.
She paid me 8 months of debt on Tuesday and told me to lose these papers.
Rats, she said a flood.
My dear, I sell chicken.
I don’t sell lies.
Bring it here, Mrs.
Let me see it myself.
You didn’t answer your phone because I knew she was watching it.
Four times you called my girl.
I counted everyone.
[laughter] Madame chair, this is a supplier with a grudge.
Even if there were problems, the code is Esther Bankles.
Whatever happened, it happened under her name.
Bernard, go back two pages, please.
Allow me.
Bernard, look at the date.
Madam Chair, look closely.
That Saturday, I didn’t even work here.
I was fired the week before.
My code was approving fake sales.
And last year before Esther, it was my code.
8 months.
These are madam’s messages to me.
Run the cards tonight.
Make it look like a Saturday.
When I refused, she took my code away and went looking for a new name.
Mrs.
Ounle.
Fine.
Fine.
Then let me tell you who really cheated Halvani.
Bernard.
Play it.
Play it.
10% of 15 billion naira.
The day the sale closes.
Don’t worry about Elliot.
That man trusts me more than he trusts his own eyes.
She recorded me.
You recorded me.
She cut her own voice out.
Every envelope came from her.
She offered me the 10%.
It was her idea.
All of it.
Huh?
You took it.
You took it.
You promised.
You promised it.
Madame Chair, the building Mrs.
Ounlay gave Miss Bank for signing that statement against me and the witness Godfrey Ez, 11 years I’ve trusted you, Godfrey, and you sold him for an envelope.
[sighs] The board has reviewed the documents.
We have made our final decision.
I must declare that your numbers are false.
This ruling is final.
This board cannot accept them.
Section 19 applies.
The sale is cancelled.
The 15 billion naira returns to Halvani today.
The seller receives nothing.
And under the same section, she personally owes Halvani a penalty of 3 billion naira.
3 billion?
You can’t.
Godfrey Ez, your contract with Halvane says any director who accepts a bribe loses all his shares in this company.
You’re removed from this board.
Effective now.
Every naira you receive from Mrs.
Sole will be recovered.
And director Fasani, you spied on our chairman who was being bribed.
I’ll expect your resignation on my desk by tonight.
Keep your 15 billion.
I’ll survive.
I still have my house.
I still have my company.
My lender will give me time.
Lenders always give me time.
Not this one.
Your 4 billion naira loan.
Kestre sold it last week to Pelbrook Capital.
Pelbrook Capital is mine.
Your loan has a rule, too, Mrs.
Ounle.
If the borrower gives false numbers, the whole loan is due immediately.
So, I’m calling it in today.
Your house, your shares in Ember and Time, you signed for them.
You can’t do this to me.
Kindness doesn’t pay rent.
Madam, you told my father that contracts do.
[sighs] Halvan will be sending you a full file today.
Everything you saw here and more.
Thank you, madam.
Mrs.
Ounle, Mr.
Ez, we’d like you both to come with us to our office this afternoon to answer some questions.
The cards and the full recording before she cut anything out.
A woman who throws away her partner on Friday throws away her driver on Saturday.
Madam, you’ll come with us, too, Mr.
Bernard.
Your hands tap those cards.
I know you think you’ve won, little waitress.
My father told me to count the plates, not the promises.
One more vote.
All in favor of ending the chairman’s suspension.
Effective immediately carried.
Welcome back, Mr.
Chairman.
[applause and cheering] Welcome back, chairman.
Now, serve that chicken before it gets cold.
Only you, Mrs.
Ori.
[applause] Only you, Mrs.
Ori.
3:20.
You have 40 minutes before your mother gets on a bus to Ibadan.
And for the first time, I’m not afraid of that bus.
You told me to ask again when it was finished.
I did.
Then I’ll ask you what I asked you in the boardroom.
Was any of it real?
All of it, Elliot.
From the first plate to the last.
Every single plate.
Wait.
Please wait.
Madam, we are full.
Next boss.
I’m not getting on.
I’m getting someone off.
Mommy, get down.
We’re not running.
Esther, what happened?
She lost.
Mommy.
Clarissa lost everything.
Mama, [snorts] calm down.
Your daughter is blocking my boss and the 300 million, the claws, our things.
The Halane lawyers read it this afternoon.
A contract that pays someone to hide a lie is worth nothing.
Mommy, she can’t touch one pot.
Your father.
Oh, your father.
He would be dancing in this motor park right now.
I know, Mommy.
I know.
My mother says you’re both staying with us until you find a new place.
She’s already cooking.
Don’t argue with her.
Nobody wins.
[laughter] Lillian, it’s me.
I need you to send me something just to start again.
Just a little.
You need to stop calling me, Clarissa.
Don’t call me again, Clarissa.
The regulators wrote to my bank in Dubai about your transfers.
My accounts are frozen because of you.
You were always going to drag somebody down with you.
I just didn’t think it would be me.
Excuse me, madam, please.
The truck is waiting and we have to finish today.
Then take it.
Penalty owed to Halvane Holdings.
3 billion naira.
All accounts frozen.
900 million naira.
Godfrey.
Two years I waited.
You told me 28 days.
Now your shares at Halvane are gone.
Your salary is gone.
So I’m taking the house and the car and the plot in that leaves me nothing.
You had a friend who trusted you more than his own eyes.
That was worth more than all of this.
You sold it for 10% of nothing.
Good morning.
As of this week, Ember and Time belongs to Pelbrook Capital, which means it belongs to me.
I didn’t pay 15 billion naira for it.
I paid 4 billion for her debt.
Her own lies paid for the rest.
Three things.
One, every staff loan Mrs.
Auna gave any of you is canled today.
Two, every salary she paid late is being paid back in full this Friday.
[cheering] Three, [applause] your new general manager is Sabrina Cole.
Madame Sabrina, general manager.
I knew it.
[applause] Kingsley, go back to work before I change my mind.
[cheering] One more thing.
This rule has hurt enough good people in this room.
And this rule is finished.
Do you want this?
I was going to throw it away.
Yes, I want to remember it.
Lot seven sold to recover the penalty owed by Clarissa to Halvan Holdings.
One commercial building 14 Adenia Street, Suruer.
Opening price 120 million naira.
120.
Third row 130.
The gentleman on the left.
Do I hear 140 again?
My girl, don’t blink.
140 to the lady in the third row.
Any more beats?
No.
140 million.
Going once.
Going twice.
Sold to Miss Esther Bank.
It’s yours, Esther.
Your father’s building is yours.
This sign is going home.
[applause] 10-year bank loan, normal interest.
Not one naira from you, Mr.
Chairman.
I signed as her guarantor.
I’ve seen what this girl’s kitchen counts.
I’m not worried.
You wouldn’t let me help.
You helped.
You sat at the back and kept your hands down.
That was the hardest thing you hardest thing you’ve ever done, wasn’t it?
Very nearly.
Why, Esther?
I could have bought it for you this morning.
Because then it would be a gift.
My father didn’t lose his shop because he couldn’t afford it.
He lost it because he trusted the wrong person’s promise.
I want this one paid for honestly.
Page by page.
My name, my debt, my building.
I’ve stopped the tests, you know, at Halane.
No more disguises.
From now on, we trust people first and then we count everything.
That’s the right order.
Kingsley table six is waiting for their rice.
Hurry, my son.
Coming, mama.
Four plates, no spills.
Head waiter skills.
[laughter] Good evening, Mama BC.
Driver tundday, your fish is coming now.
Welcome everybody.
Eat well.
11,000.
Sir, will your card be working tonight?
Be working tonight?
I promise.
I even checked it twice before I came.
Approved.
Have dinner with me on Sunday.
A real one.
No tests, no plates to count.
On one condition, you cook your mother’s stew.
Done.
My mother’s stew Sunday night.
Bring your notebook if you like.
Esther, it’s her.
Should I serve her?
Serve her, Kingsley.
Everyone eats in this kitchen.
The peppered goat and fried rice.
Madam, 18,600 naira.
18,600 naira.
Your most expensive dish.
And a bottle of water.
Fine.
It still tastes like a canteen.
A canteen with a painted wall.
Your bill.
Madam declined.
Try again.
Your machine is as cheap as your food.
Declined.
Decline, madam, three times.
Well, go on, Esther.
You’re famous for paying people’s bills.
The whole of Lagos saw it.
No, Kingsley.
Rule four.
Madam, no staff member pays for a customer for any reason.
Your rule.
You fired me for breaking it.
So, what will you do?
Call security.
Throw me out in front of everybody like I did to him.
Throw you out?
No, madam.
In my father’s kitchen.
Anybody who eats and can’t pay goes to the back and washes plates.
Me wash plates.
Do you know who I am?
Yes.
You’re the woman whose card just declined three times.
[laughter] Eh, three times.
Even my own card has never disgraced me like that.
Lagos, see your ember and time queen.
Oh, washing plates tonight.
I’m leaving.
Then leave.
And tomorrow the whole of Lagos will know Clarissa Ounle ate and ran from a canteen.
Samuel washed his own pots in this kitchen for 20 years.
The sink is at the back.
Madam, use plenty of soap.
[applause] The big pots first.
Madam, the rice burnt at the bottom.
Scrub well.
Eh, welcome to the staff.
18,600 naira.
At our rate, that’s 3 hours of plates.
You’re enjoying this.
Every single plate, madam.
[laughter] Bye-bye, madam.
Decline.
Come back next week.
The pot will be waiting for you.
You made Clarissa Aunle wash pots in your father’s kitchen.
Was that kindness?
No, that was the bill.
Samuel, your kitchen is full again.
Can you see it?
Count the plates, Daddy.
Not the promises.
