Episode 2
1136 Words
David Lawson worked late.
That wasn’t new. It was expected. Especially when your brother was Cruz Lawson. Especially when you were the one who cleaned up behind him.
The city outside his office window glowed sharp and white. Steelhaven never slept. Not for people like them. Not for people with power.
David’s fingers tapped at the screen, scrolling through a report he wasn’t reading. He hadn’t read much of anything in days. Not since the alert came in.
Elena was out.
No details. No context. Just a single message from Cruz’s head of security: “She’s been released.”
David had stared at that line for almost five minutes. Then he’d gone to the bathroom, splashed cold water on his face, and tried to feel nothing.
But Elena Lawson wasn’t someone you could just forget.
He closed the report and leaned back in his chair. The office was dark now. Everyone had gone home. Just him and the hum of the servers.
He remembered the way she used to laugh. Not often. But when she did, it felt like it cracked something open in him. Like light pouring into a room that had stayed dark for too long.
Then one day, she vanished.
They told him she’d had a breakdown. That she was unstable. Dangerous. Cruz hadn’t said much, just that it was for the best. For her.
And David had believed him.
At least, he wanted to.
Now… he wasn’t so sure.
---
He pulled out his phone and opened the encrypted folder. It held a copy of an old medical record. Elena’s file from the psychiatric facility. Redacted. But not enough.
He had connections. He always had. The perks of being a Lawson.
The file didn’t make sense. The evaluations were vague. The medications weren’t standard. The timelines didn’t match. It looked more like a cover-up than treatment.
And David had seen enough of those.
He stood and crossed the room. The floor-to-ceiling windows gave a perfect view of the tower opposite—Cruz Ventures headquarters. Sleek. Ruthless. Just like its owner.
Cruz had built it from the ground up. With money, charm, and silence. He was untouchable.
But David had spent a lifetime watching how his brother moved. And he knew something Cruz never liked to admit:
Everyone had a crack.
Even him.
---
The next morning, he visited his father.
The old man lived alone now, in a gated estate two hours outside the city. He used to be the king of the Lawson empire. Now he just sat in a room full of books, drinking whiskey and forgetting things.
“You heard about her?” David asked.
His father didn’t look up. “Elena?”
“Yeah.”
“Cruz told me. Said she’s dangerous.”
“You believe that?”
The old man poured another drink. “Cruz believes it.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
A long pause.
Dad: “Doesn’t matter what I believe, son. We protect the family. That’s all that matters.”
David stared at him. “Even if it means protecting a lie?”
His father finally looked up, eyes sharp despite the drink. “You think your brother built this empire by playing fair?”
“No.”
“Then you know what to do.”
David left without saying goodbye.
---
That night, he opened a secure line and made a call he hadn’t made in four years.
It rang once.
Elena: “Hello?”
She sounded tired. But sharp and Alive.
“Elena,” he said.
Silence.
Elena: “Why are you calling me?”
He swallowed. “Because I need to talk to you.”
“You’re Cruz’s brother. You’ve already done enough.”
“I didn’t know,” he said.
A pause. Elena: “You could’ve found out. You didn’t want to.”
He didn’t argue. She was right.
“I know that now,” he said. “I want to make it right.”
There was a long silence. Then she said, “Meet me at the old train station. Tomorrow. 9 p.m. Come alone.”
She hung up before he could say anything else.
---
The train station hadn’t run in years. It used to be the heart of Ironvale. Now it was broken glass and rotting benches.
David arrived early. He waited in the dark, hands in his coat pockets, heart pounding harder than it should.
At exactly 9:02, she stepped out from the shadows.
Elena.
She looked different. Older. Colder. But still her. Her hair was darker now. Her eyes sharper. She wore all black and didn’t smile.
“You came,” she said.
“I said I would.”
She stood a few feet away. Not close. Not yet.
“What do you want?”
“I want to help.”
She laughed. It wasn’t kind. “Help me? Like you helped me before?”
“I didn’t help you before. I should have.”
She stared at him for a long time. “Why now?”
“Because I started looking,” he said. “Really looking. And I found things I can’t ignore.”
She crossed her arms. “You still work for him.”
“Not for long.”
She tilted her head. “That supposed to impress me?”
“No. It’s just the truth.”
Another silence. This one longer.
He took a slow step forward. “Tell me what happened. All of it. I’ll listen this time.”
Elena looked at him—really looked—and for a moment, something in her expression cracked. Just for a second.
Then it was gone.
“Fine,” she said. “But I’m not here for pity. I’m here for justice.”
“Then we want the same thing.”
She didn’t answer. Just turned and walked toward the stairs.
David followed.
And somewhere deep inside, he knew: nothing about this was going to end clean.
David hesitated. “I didn’t know what to believe. Then I did. And by the time I knew, you were already gone.”
It started to rain and it grew steadier.
“I used to wonder if you hated me too,” she said quietly.
“I didn’t,” David replied. “I don’t.”
Elena didn’t know what to do with that.
She stepped back. “Be careful, David. Loyalty to the wrong person can rot you from the inside.”
He nodded. “I know. That’s why I’m here.”
She left first, umbrella tilted like a broken shield. She watched him disappear through the drizzle.
He watched her and thought of how much she had changed..
The rain soaked his hair, his sleeves. Still, he stood there.
'You coming?' she blurted out.
He nodded and followed her through the tracks.
- Writer
