BENEATH THE FACADE
Behind the façade of wealth and power, a web of secrets awaits.
Chapter 39
That night felt like a pause in time.
We sat on the hood of his rented car, the metal still warm from the day’s sun. There was nothing grand about where we were—just outside the gates of the school that had shaped our earliest dreams. The same school where we’d run barefoot across the field, dodged punishment together, laughed until our ribs ached. Now, it stood quiet behind us, a relic of who we used to be.
Above us, the sky stretched wide and clear, freckled with stars that shimmered like promises. The kind we used to whisper to each other when the world hadn’t yet asked for proof.
I leaned back on my palms, listening to the hum of the night. The crickets. The faint rustle of leaves. The silence that wrapped around us—not awkward, but thick with the weight of everything we no longer said aloud.
Alex sat beside me, his elbows on his knees, head tilted up like he was searching for something i
