CHAPTER SEVEN-SOMETHING TO LOSE
597 Words
I showed up to work wearing war paint—lipstick the color of defiance, heels that could kill, and the kind of silence that made people nervous.
I walked through the Kade Industries lobby like I owned it.
Truth? I felt nothing.
Not fear. Not anger.
Just cold focus.
Because the truth had changed the stakes.
And I wasn’t about to be the next woman whose story ended with a vanished trace and a locked file.
---
Max avoided me all morning.
He sent no messages. No sarcastic quips. Not even a half-assed warning.
That was clue number one.
Clue number two came in the form of an unscheduled meeting invite from Ethan’s office.
No subject line. No context. Just one word: Now.
---
His office was dim, warm light spilling from a floor lamp instead of the ceiling panels. The city behind him glowed like a million secrets.
Ethan didn’t look up when I walked in. He just said, “Close the door.”
I did.
Then he said, “Do you know what I hate most, Lila?”
I raised a brow. “Your mirror?”
A slow, dangerous smile. “Deflection.”
He finally looked at me. “I hate being misread. Underestimated. Especially by someone I admire.”
I stayed quiet.
Let him talk.
Let him reveal more than he realized.
“You think I’m the villain in your little revolution,” he said. “But tell me—what do you think this place would be without control?”
“Free.”
“No,” he said. “It would be chaos. Vision without direction. Power without consequence.”
“And A.K.?” I asked. “What was she—an acceptable casualty?”
A flicker passed over his face. Not guilt. Not regret.
Memory.
“She made herself a casualty,” he said. “She went too deep. Refused to come back. I gave her every chance.”
“Is that what I am now?” I asked. “A second chance you can mold?”
He stood then. Slowly.
“You’re not her.”
“I know.”
“You’re harder.”
“You haven’t seen hard yet.”
He moved closer—so close I could feel the air shift between us.
“Then show me,” he said quietly. “But don’t pretend you’re still just here for the job.”
---
I didn’t move. I didn’t flinch.
But my pulse betrayed me. He could probably hear it.
Because he was right.
Something in me had changed. I wasn’t just hunting truth anymore. I was circling danger—and liking the burn.
He reached up and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
And for a second—just a second—I wanted to lean in.
But I didn’t.
Because I remembered the look in A.K.’s final photo.
The empty eyes.
The hollow smile.
---
“I won’t be your project,” I said, voice low.
His hand dropped.
“I know,” he said. “That’s what makes you dangerous.”
---
I left his office without waiting to be dismissed.
And for the first time… I wasn’t sure which one of us had actually won that exchange.
---
Back at my desk, my computer blinked with a new file.
No sender. No label.
Just a line of text:
> “It wasn’t Ethan. Check her design log. Look deeper.”
And attached… was a video.
I hit play.
A.K. stood in the lab. But she wasn’t alone.
Max was standing behind her.
Smiling.
- Writer
