He said it like it meant something good. Like it was romantic. Like saying I made a secret escape hatch for you would land as some grand gesture and not make my whole brain dissolve into a million fried pixels. I stood there, in Ryan’s office that still smelled like his cologne and betrayal, staring at him while his lips formed words I couldn’t hear because all I could think was—Hollow. That was the name. Hollow Systems. A shadow company. A ghost idea. A fallback plan. One I didn’t know about but had my name inked all over the ledger. Like I’d signed up for it in my sleep. Like he had mapped out a future for me behind my back in case the sky fell… or the truth did.
"I wanted a way to protect you," he said again, softer this time, like my silence was killing him. Good. Let it. Because what
