Chapter 23
On Thursday, Celineand I went to the agency to clear out the office.
Most of the contents had been sitting ever since Marco forced me to reopen the doors—boxes stacked and untouched, like the business itself had been holding its breath, waiting to see whether it would survive or finally be allowed to die.Packing what remained took less time than I expected.Too little, considering how much of my life had once lived within these walls.
While Celine stepped outside to take a call, I drifted toward Ray’s old office.
The room was stripped bare now.No desk.No chairs—just the folding kind we’d brought in.On the walls, pale rectangles marked where framed certificates and photographs had once hung.Even the air felt wrong.Thin.Stale.It still carried the faint scent of old paper and the cologne Ray favored near the end.
And beneath it all—the heavier thing.
The smell of secrets.
Who would have known that for years this place had been the nerve center of a money-laundering operation?Medicare fraud.Illegal gambling profits washed clean behind polished smiles and corporate letterhead.
I ran my fingers along the wall, tracing the faint outline where a bookcase once sat.
“Well, Ray,” I murmured, my voice swallowed by the emptiness.“This is it.”
My throat tightened.
“I’m closing it for good.No more loose ends.No more ghosts.”I paused, then added more quietly, “Creed will keep us safe.He protects the girls.He protects me.”
The words felt strange in my mouth—like a confession offered to someone who could no longer argue back.
I brushed away the tear that slipped free despite my resolve and turned toward the front office just as Celine came back in.
“Sorry,” she said lightly.“That was my daughter.She started a training program this week, and I need to pick my granddaughter up from school.”
“Go,” I said.“I just need to load the last few things and take down the sign in the window.”
TheElite Staffingsign still hung there—wooden, hand-painted, slightly crooked.Ray had commissioned it years ago from a local artist for the open house.Back when everything had still felt...legitimate.
“I’ll help you get it down,” Celine said, already moving closer.
“I’ve got it.”
She smiled.Patient.She’d always been patient with me.“You know I won’t leave until you let me.”
I climbed onto a chair and lifted the sign from its hooks while she steadied it from below.
