The air in the Ashbrook estate was suffocating, charged with rage, judgment, and a silence that threatened to swallow everything Ryan still held together.
Jonathan’s phone was pressed to his ear, his thumb flicking across the screen with the same precision he used in boardrooms when millions hung in the balance. To him, this was no different, a problem to eliminate, a liability to burn from their ledgers.
Ryan sat frozen for a breath, staring at his father as if he were watching a train derail in slow motion. His jaw tightened, his chest constricting until each inhale scraped. Eve’s face flashed in his mind, not the tear-stained farewell she left behind, not even the resignation in her final letter, but her quiet dignity, the way she set his plate down night after night as if he were sti
