The week passed like a slow, quiet storm. Nothing broke, but the pressure kept building.
Zade hadn’t contacted her since their last deal. No snide messages. No surveillance—at least none she could find. She held up the illusion of peace, walking the fine line between professional calm and the war still burning beneath her skin. She kept working, kept showing up at Steel Corp like nothing was wrong. But behind the scenes, her investigation hadn’t stopped. Not for a second.
Each day after work, she met with Arthur in quiet places: dim cafés, rented backrooms, deserted libraries. Brenda and Michael tagged along, but Alex found herself pulling away from Michael more and more. Something about being near him made her uneasy. Not fear. Not guilt. Just… off. The warmth she once associated with his presence felt smothering now. Overbearing. And she couldn’t explain why.
Nova was getting worse. There were days she didn’t come downstairs at all. Days she didn’t remember what year it was. On good mornings, she sat in the garden with Luca, hands folded neatly in her lap like she was holding on to the little pieces of herself that still remained. Alex spent as much time at home as she could manage, dividing her days between chasing ghosts and clinging to memories that weren’t gone yet.
She didn’t want to imagine a world without her mother in it. So she didn’t.
When Arthur returned from his trip that weekend, it wasn’t empty-handed.
“She’s still fighting?” he asked softly as they sat in the back of a new coffee shop downtown, one of the only places in the city where no one knew them by name.
Alex nodded. “Barely.”
Arthur didn’t press. He handed her a sealed folder, corners sharp, unmarked.
“There’s someone,” he said. “A man named David Brown.”
Alex raised an eyebrow. “And he’s supposed to help us how?”
“He used to be one of the Hale's closest allies. Years ago. Owned most of the drug operations in the east side—money laundering, transport, all of it. But then something went down. Big enough that the Hales cut ties with him cold. From what I’ve gathered, they haven’t spoken in years. And David? He hates them.”
Alex flipped open the folder. A single photo stared back at her. A rough face, aging but strong. Deep creases around his mouth. Anger set into bone.
“If we’re going to find someone willing to talk,” Arthur continued, “someone with nothing to lose and everything to hate—it’s him.”
She tapped the photo. “Where is he now?”
“In hiding. But I’m working on it.”
They left the back room and returned to the main floor where Brenda and Michael were already waiting, seated by the window, laptops and papers spread like a battlefield across the table. Arthur promised Alex in a low tone—meant for her only—that he'll keep her updated about the whole David Brown thing.
Michael leaned back when he saw them. His tone was sharp. “You gonna tell us what that was about?”
Alex sighed. “It’s nothing.”
“It didn’t look like nothing.” He folded his arms. “Why does Arthur keep giving you info in private? We’re supposed to be a team.”
Brenda looked between them, uncomfortable. Arthur gave her a quiet nod and stepped outside to take a call, leaving Alex to deal with the rising tension on her own.
Michael didn’t stop. “Why don’t you want me involved?”
Alex narrowed her eyes. “You’re being paranoid.”
“Like you weren’t?” he shot back. “Back when you used to lie awake thinking your parents would catch us. When you made me sneak out at 2AM like a damn criminal because you were scared of them.”
“Don’t bring that up,” Alex warned.
“I’m just saying,” he said, quieter now. “I never made you feel like a burden for being scared. So why am I the villain now?”
Alex stood up, snatching a few pages from the table as she did. Her voice cracked before it rose.
“Because I can’t trust anyone, Michael! My life is a maze of surveillance, betrayal, and hidden cameras. There’s a spy at Steel Corp I still haven’t identified. Zade plays with my mind like it’s a game. People I thought were allies keep selling me out. And you—”
She stopped.
Brenda looked up. “Alex?”
Alex turned slowly toward Michael. Her eyes were burning now, not with anger—but clarity.
“It was you,” she said.
Michael blinked. “What?”
“You’re the one who leaked the documents about my engagement to Zade to the press.” Her voice dropped an octave. “You wanted to create chaos. You wanted it to fall apart.”
Michael’s mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.
Brenda’s jaw dropped. “No. Wait—what?”
Michael didn’t deny it.
He didn’t flinch.
He just stood there, jaw tense, fists clenched at his sides. After a long pause, he muttered, “Yeah. It was me.”
Silence slammed into the room.
Alex’s pulse roared in her ears.
“So what?” Michael went on, his voice rising now. “I told you I wouldn’t tolerate another man next to you, Alex. I meant that.”
“You sold me out,” she whispered.
“I warned you,” he said coldly. “You didn’t listen. You kept going back to him. I thought maybe if the world found out, you’d be forced to see how wrong it was.”
Alex stared at him. “You ruined everything.”
Michael stepped forward, eyes burning. “I did it because I love you—”
“No,” she snapped. “You did it because you couldn’t control me anymore.”
She gathered the rest of the documents on the table, pressing them against her chest like armor. Then she looked him in the eye one last time.
“You asked why I don’t trust anyone? That’s why.”
And without another word, she walked out into the night.