My hand lifted, palm up, offering them the visual in front of them.
“Consider this your future. And the man that you call Vice, will be standing in your position.”
Most people think you remember the begging.
They think the pleas and apologies echo in your head later, when you close your eyes.
They don’t.
What sticks is the feel. The way his skull had sounded under my hands. The shift from man to lesson.
41
Madeline
My alarm went off to the sound of waves I couldn’t hear. The Thorne estate never saw the ocean. Just manicured gardens and old money stone. But my phone background was still the Malice shoreline.
I rolled onto my back and reached for my phone on the nightstand.
06:01.
The screen was already lit with notifications.
Handler: three messages stacked neatly, timestamped just after dawn.
Calendar reminders: blocked hours highlighted in dynasty-gold.
And on top of it all.
VINCENT CROW — 1 message.
First rule: structure before dopamine.
I dropped my head back on the pillow and exhaled slowly, thumb hovering over his name a second longer than it should have, then slid away.
I opened the shared doc app he’d had Luca build for me. Crow-clean design, no dynasty branding, just neat sections andhis initials tucked in the corner of the header in small, sharp font.
MORNING CHECK-IN — MADELINE
Location: Thorne main estate, east wing, my room.
Sleep: 5 hours, broken. Woke twice, no panic. Back asleep within 10 minutes each time.
Body: tired. Head clear. Chest tight but manageable. Period finished two days ago.
Today’s obligations: breakfast with Grandfather at 8. Handler fitting at 9. Water-rights follow-up call at 11. Free from 14:00
Mood: soft. Missing you. Not drowning yet.
I hesitated, then added:
Dreamed about Malice house. You making coffee. Me stealing your shirt. Woke up and missed your snoring-that-isn’t-snoring.
I hit send. The doc synced, little green tick appearing beside my name.
Second step: visual audit.
I got up walked to my wardrobe top rail was Thorne-approved: creams, blush, diplomatic dresses. The lower drawers were Vince’s domain now.
