Treachery

Episode 6

People get that one wrong all the time. They think it’s supposed to feel good. Warm. Easy. That’s not love. That’s comfort—and comfort makes you slow. Weak.

Love, real love, is ugly sometimes. It’s doing the hard thing because it’s right. It’s shutting your mouth and showing up. Not with flowers or poems—but with action. Sacrifice. That’s love. Not some candlelit lie.

Theo screamed this time. Full-throated. Real.

I didn’t flinch.

You learn to tune it out. After a while, pain becomes a sound like any other. Like a car alarm in the distance or a dog barking at nothing.

My mind wandered, not toward guilt, but toward numbers. My stocks were climbing again. Slowly. Steady recovery. But not enough. I needed the drive Theo took. The files he encrypted. That’s what would bring the company back to full strength. Not revenge—data.

People think it’s about emotion. Rage. Pride. But it’s not. It’s math.

He stole. I lost. He suffers. I gain.

Another groan. More metal clanking. I didn’t look. I didn’t need to.

Somewhere in the noise, I thought about my father. The first man I saw who believed the world was just math and leverage. He taught me to count people like variables. Useful until they weren’t. Replaceable when they failed.

He died with a full portfolio and an empty funeral.

I understood him more now than I ever did growing up.

I glanced at Theo. His head hung low, blood at the corner of his mouth. He still hadn’t cracked. Good. That meant we had time. Time to get what we needed.

I straightened my cuffs. Checked the time. My next meeting was in two hours.

Business always came first. It was the only thing in life that ever made sense.