LOGINWakes pov
I woke up to the harsh glare of sunlight pouring through the thin curtains, my head pounding like I’d been hit with a hammer. The room smelled of cum and alcohol, nothing like the warmth of our main bedroom. For a few seconds, I just lay there, staring at the ceiling, trying to piece together how I ended up here.
The guest room.
Of all places.
Then the blurry flashes of last night came back. A bar, too much whiskey, and a girl whose name I never cared to learn. Her perfume had been heavy, clinging to my shirt, her laugh loud enough to drown out the noise in my head. A mistake, sure, but one I’d chosen. One I could shrug off, because sometimes you need to sink low just to breathe.
I’d taken the guest room deliberately when I got back, not because it was comfortable, but because it was far from Aloe. I didn’t want the questions. The quiet accusations. The way her eyes could strip me bare without her saying a word. I thought a few hours of silence would be a blessing.
Turns out, it was a curse.
Dragging myself out of bed, I ran a hand through my messy hair and headed toward the main room expecting to find Aloe there. Maybe sitting with that stiff posture she gets when she’s angry. Or ready to throw a sarcastic comment my way. Anything.
But the bed was untouched. The sheets are smooth. Her pillow was exactly where it always was, only without the faint smell of her hair.
Something inside me twisted.
I searched the living room but she wasn't there. The kitchen was empty too. Even the terrace, where she sometimes went to cool off, was deserted. Each empty room fueled my irritation until it was a steady burn in my chest.
I went straight to the security post. The guard was leaning against the desk, half-distracted by his phone.
“Have you seen Aloe since last night?” I asked, my voice low but sharp enough to make him straighten.
He shook his head. “No, sir. Not since yesterday evening.”
I stared at him, waiting for more, but he avoided my eyes. My patience was already thin, and his evasiveness pushed it to the edge.
“Pull the footage,” I ordered.
The place where all the CCTV recordings were kept, felt colder than usual. The hum of the equipment filled the air as I rewound through the hours, my eyes locked on the screens.
I scrolled back to the day she caught me with the blonde girl on our bed..mm but it was filled with cries so I skipped till where she pulled out her phone, glanced around, then made a call.
I leaned closer to the monitor, but the audio was nothing but scrambled static. My jaw clenched. Who was she talking to, without my permission, I'm sure she's with whoever that person was. My worst mistake was giving her a phone.
I inhaled loudly, then skipped to the next day… I wanted to fast forward to evening time after the security man saw her last … but I paused when I saw her suitcase, half-open on the floor, clothes spilling out everywhere. A few dresses, jeans, and shirts and.. few stuff but I quickly skipped till when I saw her carrying her bag outside.
I clicked on the outside camera as the video played full screen. And there was a Black SVC which she entered after a little talk with whoever that person holding the door for her was.
My heartbeat slowed, heavy, like my body was bracing for something my mind didn’t want to accept.
Was leaving me, of course she can't, she can't spend more than 48 hours without my help.
I sat there longer than I needed to, staring at the paused frame of her stepping into the car. The Aloe I knew or thought I knew would never vanish in the middle of the night without saying a word. And yet here was proof.
By the time I left the surveillance room, anger was everywhere around me, because I got inside the main building, I had my phone and dialed my Tech guy's digits.
“Heron,” I said immediately he picked up, “I need you to trace something for me. Last night, Aloe made a call. I want to know who she called.”
There was a short pause, before he said. “Give me the time and the phone number she used in making the call.”
I told him the exact minute I’d seen her on the footage, then called her phone digits for him. I could hear his keyboard tapping in the background.
“Got it,” he said after what felt like eternity. “The call came from Blake Matthew’s personal apartment.”
I still went.
“That’s impossible.”
“No, it’s not,” Heron replied. “That’s what the logs show.”
I shook my head. “No one goes to Blake’s apartment, not without an invitation. He meets people at his villa, his penthouse, his mansion… but never that place.”
Heron didn’t argue. “All I know is what the system tells me.”
I ended the call without another word, my grip tightening around the phone until the plastic creaked.
Blake Matthew, my fucking enemy. And Aloe had gone to him.
The thought alone was enough to make my blood feel like boiling tar. It wasn’t the fact that she’d left but she fucking went to my enemy, of all places to go.
I stood there in the middle of the room, and made myself a promise… one I had no intention of breaking.
She could run to the ends of the earth. She could hide behind locked doors and powerful names.
But I would find her. Because as long as we didn't end with a signature on some divorce papers, she's still my legal wife, and nobody takes what belongs to me.
And as for Aloe… she hadn’t seen the lengths I could go yet…. She's about to bring out the monster that created the monster in me.
Aloe's POVTwenty years after Morrison's revenge was exposed, we gathered at the foundation's twentieth anniversary celebration. The event took place at the same Portland convention center where we'd celebrated the tenth anniversary, but everything else had changed.The foundation now operated in all fifty states, had staff exceeding five hundred, and had helped exonerate 312 people each representing years of life saved from wrongful imprisonment. The numbers were staggering, the impact immeasurable.James flew in from Seattle where he worked as structural engineer, his career completely divorced from criminal justice but successful and fulfilling. At twenty-seven, he'd recently gotten engaged to fellow engineer, building life unconnected to our family's dramatic history.Hope, now twenty-two, was investigative journalist for major news network, her documentary work having launched career that was already garnering awards and recognition. She'd maintained focus on criminal justice rep
Blake's POVThe documentary filmmaker contacted me through Sofia, who'd become expert at filtering legitimate opportunities from time-wasters. This one, she assured me, was legitimate established director with multiple awards, serious production company backing, genuine interest in telling comprehensive story about Morrison's revenge and its aftermath."Her name is Carmen Rodriguez," Sofia explained during phone call. "She's done documentaries about wrongful convictions before, won several film festival awards. She wants to make feature-length film about your case, the foundation's work, and the broader implications for criminal justice reform.""How intrusive?""Very. She wants access to family, foundation operations, interviews with everyone involved. It's comprehensive project, probably two years from start to release."I discussed it with Aloe that evening. "Documentary about Morrison's revenge means reliving everything publicly the arrest, the trial, the vindication, all of it ca
Aloe's POVJames graduated high school with no particular interest in criminal justice reform, which felt like small victory. At eighteen, he'd decided to pursue engineering at Oregon State, choosing field completely unrelated to the cause that defined our family."I'm proud of you for finding your own path," Blake told him during graduation dinner. "You don't have to follow in my footsteps or dedicate yourself to the work that consumed my life.""I know. But honestly, Dad, watching you fight all those years—it was exhausting just being near it. I want career that doesn't involve constant battles and systemic injustice. I want to build bridges, literally, not metaphorically fix broken systems.""That's completely valid. Someone needs to build actual infrastructure."Daniel, now fifteen, had different perspective. He'd grown up hearing stories about Morrison's revenge as family history, had watched Blake and Wakes work on foundation projects his entire conscious life, had Hope as older
Wakes's POVI sat in my office overlooking Manhattan fifteen years after my release from prison, reviewing financial statements for the Second Chances Initiative. The foundation had grown beyond anything Blake or I had imagined when we started it—offices in twenty-three states, staff of over two hundred, annual budget exceeding $50 million."We've helped exonerate 187 people," Evelyn reported during our monthly update call. She'd become foundation's chief operating officer three years ago, transforming from recent college graduate to essential leader. "Plus provided crucial support in over 400 other cases. Dad, the impact is exponential every person we help becomes advocate for others.""You've done this, Evelyn. Your organizational skills, your dedication the foundation wouldn't be this successful without you.""It's team effort. But thank you."After hanging up, I stared out at the city where I'd built business empire through ethically questionable means decades ago. That version of
Blake's POVHope's documentary project consumed our household for months. At thirteen, she'd developed obsessive dedication to storytelling that reminded me uncomfortably of myself at that age—before prison, before Morrison, before any of the complications that defined my adult life."Dad, I need to interview you about Morrison's revenge," she announced one Saturday morning, camera equipment already set up in our living room. "And I need you to be honest, not give me the sanitized version you tell journalists.""What makes you think there's sanitized version?""Because I've read all three of your books and watched your interviews. You talk about Morrison's revenge like it's distant historical event. But it happened to you—to us. I want the real emotional truth, not the public narrative."I sat across from her camera, suddenly nervous about being interrogated by my own daughter."Okay, Hope. What do you want to know?""How did it feel when the FBI arrested you? Like, actually feel, not
Aloe's POVThe Second Chances Initiative celebrated its tenth anniversary in November with gala event at Portland's convention center. Ten years since Wakes and Blake had founded it, since they'd transformed from enemies to allies working toward shared purpose of preventing wrongful convictions and supporting reform."A hundred and forty-three exonerations," Sofia announced during her presentation, Maya now four years old and sitting quietly in the audience beside Heron. "Combined total of 1,847 years of wrongful imprisonment prevented. Reforms implemented in nineteen states based on our advocacy work. This is what ten years of dedicated effort accomplishes."The audience—foundation staff, donors, exonerees, legislators, advocates applauded sustained recognition of achievements that had seemed impossible when the organization first launched.Blake was scheduled to speak, but he'd asked me to introduce him. "You've been part of this from the beginning," he'd said during planning. "You







