This was not a small problem…
This was the kind of problem that destroyed people who didn’t move fast enough to get ahead of it. Given everything that was already hanging over me, I couldn’t afford to be one of those people.
I stood here in the quiet of my office. The city still moved outside as if none of this mattered. I knew that whatever control I thought I still had was slipping faster than I had anticipated.
If I didn’t start moving differently right now, then everything I had built, everything I had protected, and everything I had tried to maintain would not survive what was coming next.
At this point, I had to put my grief aside, and get out of this situation before it was too late to escape it.
Days later…
It was early in the morning and I was preparing to leave the island.
This wasn’t something I decided in one night. It took days to get here. It took days of thinking through every move and making sure nothing was left behind that could come back on me once I was gone. The moment I realized my phone had been compromised, I knew I could not afford to sit still and wait for whatever was coming next. I had done too much and moved through too many situations that were never meant to be exposed, and once something like that starts unraveling, it doesn’t stop halfway. So I started handling my affairs the only way I knew how.
Over the past few days, I withdrew money in smaller amounts so it wouldn’t raise attention, and by the time I finished, I had fifty thousand dollars in cash set aside. I closed accounts that no longer served a purpose and moved anything that could be traced back to me too easily. Files were destroyed, documents were removed, and anything tied to decisions that were never meant to be questioned was dealt with properly.
I got rid of my phone the same night I confirmed it had been tapped.
I didn’t hesitate with that. I destroyed it myself and made sure there was nothing left on it worth recovering. Since then, I had been using a burner, and even with that, I kept myconversations limited. At this point, trust was not something I could afford, and I wasn’t about to give anyone access to anything that could be used against me.
The news had been running nonstop, and even though my name hadn’t been mentioned, I knew better than to take comfort in that. Marcus Hale was missing. Kush had disappeared after making bond. Thomas Caldwell’s face had been all over every channel, and the questions surrounding him were getting louder. Everything connected to those situations led back in my direction whether it had been said out loud or not.
That kind of silence never meant safety. It meant something was building.
I had seen enough cases unfold to understand how this part worked. When everything went quiet around the person responsible, it was because the pieces were being put together before the move was made. That kind of pressure did not come all at once. It closed in slowly until there was nowhere left to go.
I was not about to sit here and let that happen to me.
I hadn’t when told my wife anything.
That decision sat heavier than I expected, but I made it anyway because there was no version of this conversation that would not put her in a position she didn’t need to be in. The same went for A’Mii. My son did not need to carry this, and I wasn’t about to drag him into something that could end in a way I was still trying to avoid.
Right now, the only thing that mattered was getting out. Everything else could be figured out later.
The house was quiet when I stepped out this morning, and for a brief moment I paused near the door, looking back at the space I had built my life in. There was no emotion tied to this moment the way there should have been. It felt distant, like something I had already separated myself from before I physically walked away from it.
I turned and kept moving…
My driver was already waiting outside with the car running, and he stepped out as soon as he saw me, opening the door without asking questions. My luggage had already been placed in the trunk, and once I got inside, we pulled off immediately.
The ride to the airport felt longer than it should have.
I sat back and kept my eyes forward while my mind ran through everything at once. None of the thoughts settled into anything complete. They came and went too fast, jumping from one possibility to another, and the only thing that stayed consistent was the need to get out before anything caught up to me.
My eyes burned from lack of sleep, and I could feel the tension sitting in my chest no matter how I shifted in the seat. I ran my hand over my face and tried to steady myself, but that feeling didn’t go anywhere. It stayed right where it was, reminding me that I was not clear yet, and not even close.
When we finally arrived at the airport, I let out a breath and looked ahead at the entrance. Everything appeared normal. People were moving in and out, cars were pulling up, and nothing about the scene suggested anything out of place.
That helped, even if it wasn’t enough to fully settle my nerves.
I stepped out of the car and adjusted myself before grabbing my luggage, making sure my movements stayed controlled while I headed inside. I kept my expression neutral and my pace even, blending in with everyone else moving through the space.
There was no reason to stand out.
At the counter, I placed my luggage down and waited while the worker began processing it. She moved slower than I preferred, and I could feel that irritation start to build, but I kept it contained. Drawing attention now would only make things worse, so I stood there and let her finish.
When she finally took the luggage and cleared me, I felt a small shift in my chest because I was one step closer.
