Chapter 100. We Are Sorry

S:

The jet fumes still linger in the air when Leilah pulls me aside. There’s an emergency—one of the chemical suppliers overseas breached contract and the substitute compound we used at the gas company is raising alarms in the local safety commission. If we don’t handle it face-to-face, the permits we fought tooth and claw to reclaim will be revoked. And after what Leonardo did… after the fire and the bodies left behind… I can’t afford that.

So I board the next flight out, anger buried beneath my focus. Eighteen hours of meetings, reports, deals brokered in boardrooms that smell like desperation. I’m exhausted. Worn down. All I can think about is Rae. Every second away from her feels like a weight around my ribs, slowly tightening.

When the final contract is signed, I don’t wait. I’m heading to my private jet when something catches in the corner of my eye.

Two backs.

Familiar in the way that haunts you. In the way memory distorts time. My breath lodges