LOGINEverything hurt.
Aidan's ears rang.
Voices echoed around him, but he couldn't make out what anyone was saying.
He blinked several times before his vision cleared. Then the pain, arriving all at once like it had been waiting for him to be conscious enough to feel it properly.
Someone was crouching beside him.<
The interrogation room was small and cold. That's where they took him. The goal obviously was to make him feel uncomfortable, but it wasn't working."Who hired you?" The officers asked.Nothing."Why her specifically?" Still he refused to say anything.He looked at the ceiling briefly. Then back at the wall, like he wasn't being spoken to.Priya stood behind the glass watching.She watched him with her arms crossed and her jaw tight and her patience, it was running low.She pressed the small device in her ear."He's not going to talk to them. You handle this." she said quietly.On the other side of the glass Damien looked up from where he was sitting beside the officer. He met her eyes through the mirror eHe nodded once.Damien leaned forward and said something to the officer.The officer looked at him, then at the man across the table, before \ he stood up and left the room.The other officer followed.When the dorr closed, Damien and the man were alone.Damien didn't say anything i
"So Richard remembered someone working for Victor," Priya said thoughtfully. "Someone who handled things for him."Damien nodded. She had come to his place because he wanted to tell her about the prison visit."But not the name of the person apparently." Damien sighed.She leaned back. "So where does that leave us?""Still looking. I feel like I'm in the middle of nothing at this point."A brief silence settled between them.Priya sighed. "There has to be someone who knows.""There is."She looked up."But we haven't found them yet."She nodded slowly."He only needs one mistake. There's no way he didn't make any.""And we only need to find it."Damien smiled slightly. "I like your optimism."Damien watched h
Zara had not planned on going on this date.She had planned on staying home for the weekend, eating something that required almost no effort, and sleeping for what she hoped would be eleven uninterrupted hours. The past weeks had drained her, and right now sleep felt like the only thing that could fix it.Then Luke had called.They had been texting consistently for the past two days. Funny messages. Random conversations. Small check-ins that somehow never felt forced. He had already asked her out twice.This time, she finally said yes."I know a place," he had told her over the phone. "If you're not doing anything."She looked around her apartment.Her sofa looked inviting, so did her bed.But..."One hour," she said, trying to sound firm.Luke laughed."We'll see."She laughed too, already knowing that one hour wasn't going to happen.The restaurant was a small private place. Not too ex
Aidan had to leave immediately, he didn't want to spend another second with them.He entered his car and opened google search on his phone.He sat with it for a moment.He had never typed those words before.He had never needed to, He had never felt the need to.Or maybe... he had simply convinced himself he didn't need to.Those weren't the same thing. He understood that now.He took a slow breath and began typing.Richard Cole. Convicted of Fraud.He hit search.The results appeared almost instantly.Old articles. 2020 and 2021, legal columns, a few broader news pieces.Prominent Businessman Richard Cole Convicted of Financial Fraud.Cole Sentenced to Twelve Years Following High-Profile T
Aidan was a bit skeptical on coming. Why would Victor Winters randomly visit their house if not for something serious?He sighed as he pulled up to his driveway he hadn't been in for months.Jane opened the door.She looked at him for a second — genuinely surprised he came, the surprise running across her face before she could manage it, which told him she had sent the text expecting him to ignore it."You came," she said, trying not to smile."You made it clear that i should," Aidan replied as he stretched his hand so he could move her .She stepped back.He came in.The living room was lit warmly. At least, it still had a warm, homey feeling.He remembered the constant arguments and screaming they had gone through before he left for Mila
Aidan sat in his car for several minutes after leaving Evelyn's suite.The engine was running but he wasn't driving.His hands rested on the steering wheel, but his mind was somewhere else entirely."My father never deserved what happened to him.""Victor Winters."He closed his eyes.None of it made sense.Richard Cole.The name had been buried somewhere in the back of his memory for years. He remembered the headlines. The trial, the fraud accusations, embezzlement. Every newspaper had called him guilty before the verdict was even announced.Jane had believed it.Victor had believed it.Eventually...So had he.He never questioned it.Why would he? It had happened years before AS Tech becam







