I settle into the study with my laptop and a cup of black coffee. Thorne already swept the outskirts of the private villa this morning. I caught his nod through the window as he finished his perimeter check. Keon’s got the SUV prepped outside in case we need to move. Sable’s monitoring the feeds.
They’ve been on high alert ever since Xavier landed on the island.
Just in case.
Because you never know what kind of shenanigans a guy like that might try to pull when backed into a corner.
I focus on my laptop. The cursor blinks in an empty email draft.
I start typing.
To: Foundation Staff and Fellows
From: Corin Saelinger
Subject: Re: Accountability and the Path Forward
I work on the email body for a full five minutes.
Then I delete it.
Too corporate.
Too much like every other memo I’ve sent that says nothing while pretending to say everything.
This can’t be another press release dressed up as honesty.
I try again.
Five years ago, I made a decision that I regret.
Better. But still not quite right.
Fuck.
I push back from the desk and pace to the window. The ocean stretches out below, blue and indifferent. I think about all the times I’ve used that view to reset myself since arriving. To find clarity. To remember that the problems I’m wrestling with are small compared to the scale of everything else.
But this problem isn’t small.
It’s the foundation of everything I’ve built since those five years ago.
Since the incident that caused Amara to leave me.
Every transparency program, every audit protocol, every whistleblower protection policy. All of it grew from the rot of what I failed to do when it mattered.
When I failedher.
I sit back down.
Five years ago, I discovered that a client of this firm was engaged in financial misconduct that harmed vulnerable communities. I raised objections internally. I documented my concerns. I demanded action.
And then I stayed silent when the board overruled me.
The words come faster now. I name the client. Diana Castellane. I name the former board member who buried my objections. Xavier Laurent. I name the person whose reputation was destroyed in the fallout because I didn’t fight harder.
Leena Chowdhury.
Amara’s mentor. The woman who taught her everything. The woman whose career I helped ruin by choosing institutional loyalty over moral courage.
