THE PRICE OF LIGHT
287 Words
The next day, the news spread across Paris like wildfire.
“Morel Empire Falls: Founder and Detective Arrested in Corruption Scandal.”
Juliet watched the broadcast from her apartment, the city roaring below in headlines and disbelief.
Miles hadn’t slept. His eyes were ringed with exhaustion, his shirt still bloodstained from the broken glass.
“You should rest,” she said softly.
He smiled faintly. “Says the woman who stayed up rewriting the entire Foundation charter.”
She reached for his hand. “You did it, Miles. You burned the shadows down.”
He looked at her with a weariness that went deeper than fatigue. “And what’s left when the fire’s gone?”
“Us,” she said simply.
He laughed quietly, the sound raw but real. “Us.”
But even as he said it, a part of him looked far away haunted.
That night, as Juliet washed her hands in the sink, a soft click echoed from the hallway.
She froze.
The door had opened.
“Miles?”
Silence.
She turned and saw a shadow step through the frame.
Before she could scream, a hand grabbed her wrist, pressing something cold and metallic into her skin.
“Shh,” the voice whispered. “You think it’s over? You think Lang acted alone?”
The voice was female. Cold. Familiar.
Juliet’s heart stopped. “Who”
The woman stepped into the light. It was Vivienne Morel, Miles’s mother.
“Poor girl,” Vivienne said softly, almost kindly. “You really thought you were saving him.”
“Vivienne why?” Juliet gasped.
Vivienne smiled sadly. “Because men like Jean never fall alone. Someone must rebuild what you destroyed.”
Then everything went black.
- Writer
