Seven days of silence. Dead ends. Burner phones. Every night, she’d turn on her phone long enough to text Ella or Cami—and then vanish again. Until she didn’t. No more messages. No more signals.
I knew what that meant. She got a burner.
My men tracked Ella. Then Cami. Then the new number—two states away, a one-bedroom apartment above a florist shop. I drove the seven hours alone.
Didn’t bring security. Didn’t breathe until I saw her silhouette behind the curtain.
She only left the apartment twice in a week. Once for groceries. Once for coffee.
She didn’t see me.
But I saw her.
She looked… hollow. Thinner. Like she was being erased one day at a time. The light in her? Gone.
And that—was me. Not the fire. Not the Order. Me standing here, breathing, while she disappeared in real time.
I destroyed the parts of her I loved most. Her fire. Her mind. Her trust.
So I left.
Because I had nothing to offer her. Not yet.
But that ends now.
The boardroom at Crimson, Inc. is slick and soulless. I built it that way.
But today, I’m not here to impress anyone. I’m here to change everything.
I rise from my chair. No theatrics. No speech prepared. Just the truth.
“Promises were made during the last merger,” I say. “Ones I never intended to keep. I lied. Manipulated. Secured what I wanted and moved on.”
A few glances shift around the table.Good. Let them squirm.
I told myself the damage was collateral. Necessary. That if she broke, it would be clean. Contained.
I was wrong.
“But it’s time we build something different. Something better. Every man in this room has enough money to last ten lifetimes. We’ve spent years taking. Controlling. Destroying. I level my gaze at the oldest board member. “Now we create.” A silence falls. I let it stretch. “We’re reopening Hollister Genetics. Full funding. Expanded scope. We’re bringing back every scientist we forced out, and every survivor from the fire gets a seat at the table.”
Someone mumbles, “Good tax write-off.”
I laugh—short and sharp. “That’s as close to a yes as I’m getting from you greedy bastards. I’ll take it.”
Maverick follows me up to my office after the meeting.
“So,” he says, folding his arms. “You done burning the world down?”
“Yeah,” I answer. “It’s time.”
He studies me, skeptical. “Because of her?”
“No,” I say. “Because of me.” I meet his gaze. “Because I don’t want to be the man who taught her how to disappear.”
Maverick exhales hard. “And you want me to keep running the Order.”
I nod. “Not because I’m walking away. But because people still depend on it. They need safety. Stability. You can give them that.”
