Not for them.
I grabbed my bag, slung it over my shoulder, and paused just long enough to look at my reflection one more time.
It started with a name.
Ryker tossed it out like it meant nothing, like it was just another headline that would come and go.
“Harrington’s company is merging with Hale Industries,” he’d said, peeling off his gloves after practice. “Big deal. Like—billions big.”
I didn’t react. Didn’t ask questions. Didn’t give him anything to latch onto.
But I filed it away.
Now I sat in my apartment, the city glowing through the windows behind me, laptop open on the table.
Digging.
Financial reports.
Press releases.
Investor summaries.
I clicked through document after document, piecing it together like a puzzle no one else seemed interested in solving.
Hale Industries.
Harrington Group.
Separate, powerful?—
Together?
Untouchable.
That word sat heavy in my chest.
Untouchable.
I leaned back in my chair; the leather creaking under my weight as I dragged a hand over my jaw.
Of course that was what he was building.
Of course Harrington wasn’t satisfied with getting away clean.
He wanted more. More power. More protection. More distance from what he’d done.
My eyes flicked back to the screen, to the numbers, the projections, the language dressed up to look clean and strategic.
But I could see through it.
This wasn’t just a deal.
It was a shield.
A way to make sure no one could ever touch him.
My jaw tightened.
