Brian’s POV
It was just after midnight when I woke in a cold sweat.
The apartment was silent. No wind. No traffic. No comfort.
I sat up on the edge of the bed, elbows on my knees, staring at the floor like the answers might be hidden in the cracks between the planks.
Kaia’s voice echoed in my mind, slithering in like smoke I couldn’t chase out:
“Make sure he knows what I can still do from behind these walls.”
I hadn’t told Isabelle everything.
Not yet.
Yes, I gave her the financial records—the paper trail, the forged signatures, the overseas transfers. But I hadn’t told her how long I’d worked for Walter. How deep I’d gone. How close I’d come to being the same kind of monster she fought so hard to bring down.
Not because I wanted to lie.
But because I wasn’t ready to lose her.
I
