Chapter Eight: When Smoke Clears

Bang.

The sound rang through my ears like thunder crashing through bone.

I flinched back, arms up. The force of it rattled my chest, even though I wasn’t hit.

But Oriana was.

She dropped.

Not like in the movies, no dramatic fall or scream. Just one sharp gasp, then crumple. Her silver suit soaked red at the shoulder, eyes wide with shock.

Killian stood over her, gun still raised.

“I aimed to miss your heart,” he said coldly. “Next time, I won’t.”

Blood soaked into the marble tile beneath her, but she was conscious. Alive. Furious.

“Who else knows?” she rasped.

“Everyone,” I said, stepping forward. My phone was still recording, still live.

“You just confessed to corporate espionage, attempted murder, and insider sabotage. I’m guessing the board will want to have a word.”

Her lip curled. “They won’t touch me. I own half of them.”

“Not anymore,” Killian replied. “I froze your voting shares ten minutes ago. You’re done.”

“You think this ends me?” she hissed.

He crouched beside her, voice low. “You’re lucky you’re not dead. I don’t destroy people for pleasure, Oriana. I do it for protection.”

Then he stood and turned to me.

“Let’s go.”

I looked down at the woman who’d nearly had me killed. Who’d made me feel like a pawn. Like an object to eliminate.

And in that moment, I almost felt pity.

Almost.

The car ride back was silent. Tense. We didn’t speak until the city skyline blurred into streaks of fog and night.

“Where are we going?” I asked finally.

Killian didn’t answer right away.

Then he said, “Somewhere clean.”

Ten minutes later, we arrived at a penthouse I’d never seen, glass-walled, perched above the skyline, the world stretched below us like something he ruled.

He handed me a glass of water and sat beside me.

“You should sleep.”

“I won’t.”

He turned to me slowly. “You saved yourself tonight.”

“You did too,” I said.

A pause.

“You knew I’d leave that note, didn’t you?” I asked.

“I prayed you would,” he replied.

“And if I hadn’t?”

His voice lowered. “I would’ve burned the whole damn city to find you.”

A beat passed.

Then he reached into his jacket and pulled out a sealed envelope.

“What’s this?”

He handed it to me. “Something I didn’t want you to see. But you deserve it.”

I opened it.

Inside was a file. Old. Faded. With Jason Walker’s name across the top.

It wasn’t an intelligence brief.

It was a letter. Written in his hand. Addressed to me.

I stared at Killian.

“How did you get this?”

“I found it on one of the drives Oriana tried to erase. She must have held onto it. Insurance.”

I unfolded the page.

Ava,

If you’re reading this, I’m gone. Not by choice. They came for me, not for what I did, but for what I knew.

Don’t trust Lennox. Don’t trust the company. It’s bigger than him. Bigger than me.

You were the only real thing I ever had. I’m sorry I couldn’t stay.

Run.

...J

My chest ached.

Killian watched me. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to.”

I folded the letter.

“He was wrong,” I said.

Killian looked at me, brows lifting.

“I’m not running.”

The next morning, Killian stood in front of the Lennox Global board, live-streamed to three continents.

Oriana Maddox was removed from power. The merger vote was delayed. An investigation was opened.

But something else happened too.

Killian made a move no one expected.

He named me interim co-chair of the merger review.

Gasps. Outrage. Threats of lawsuits.

He stood tall.

“Miss Monroe is not only qualified,” he said. “She’s the only one I trust.”

And in that moment, I realized something terrifying.

He wasn’t just handing me power.

He was handing me a target.

Later that night, I found him alone on the penthouse balcony, staring down at the city like it might crumble under his feet.

“I’m not scared,” I told him.

“You should be,” he said. “This isn’t over.”

“Because of Oriana?”

“No.”

He turned to me, eyes colder now. Sharper.

“Because she was a puppet. Not the master.”

I froze.

“You mean… there’s someone above her?”

He nodded once. “She wasn’t working alone.”

“Then who...?”

Killian didn’t answer.

He just stared into the night.

And whispered:

“The real enemy hasn’t shown their face yet.”