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Chapter Twenty-One
publish date:
2026-06-29 21:24:39
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Left at the alter, married the enemy Chapter Ninety four
“Chaos,” I said. “Julian’s endgame is chaos. Julian wants everyone at each other’s throats. Julian wants the entire operation to collapse while he watches from custody knowing that he orchestrated it all.”Sebastian looked at the car parked in the parking lot.“We need to play this very carefully,” he said quietly. “We need to sit across from Pascal and pretend we don’t know anything about Kim and Julian. We need to ask questions that make it sound like we’re interested in making a deal. We need to buy time.”“And while we’re doing that,” I said, “we try to figure out what Julian actually wants.”“We already know what Julian wants,” Vivian said. “Julian wants to destroy everyone. Julian wants to watch the world burn while he’s safely in custody where nothing can touch him.”Sebastian looked at his phone again.8:23 AM.Seventeen minutes until the meeting.“There’s something else,” I said very quietly. “Something that doesn’t make sense.”“What,” Sebastian said.“If Kim is working for
Left at the alter, married the enemy Chapter Ninety-three
Chapter 64: The Second BetrayalSebastian’s phone rang at 7:47.Two blocks from the building. Two blocks from Room 2304. Two blocks from having to walk into a conversation we still weren’t prepared for.Edna.Sebastian’s jaw tightened when he saw her name on the screen. He looked at me, then at the car around us.“I can’t answer in here,” he said quietly. “If Pascal is listening—”“Pull over,” I said. “We’ll get out. We’ll find somewhere safe.”He pulled into a dark lot behind a shuttered restaurant. We bailed out before the engine was fully off, doors hanging open. We moved to the far edge and stopped—far enough to breathe, close enough to keep the car in sight.The Los Angeles morning was warm. Ordinary. Completely indifferent to three people trying to have a conversation they didn’t want anyone to hear.Sebastian called his mother back.“Mom,” he said. His voice was very careful.We couldn’t hear what she was saying, but we could see the shift in Sebastian’s entire body. The specif
Left at the alter, married the enemy Chapter Ninety-two
“We buy time,” he said. “We go tomorrow. We listen to whatever Pascal has to say. But we don’t agree to anything immediately. We tell him we need time to think. We tell him we need to consult with people. We tell him we need space to process what he’s asking.”“And in that time,” Vivian said, “we figure out what Kim is actually doing. We figure out if Kim is a leverage point. We figure out if there’s something Pascal hasn’t accounted for.”“My mother is on the ground in Atherton,” Sebastian said. “My mother is watching what’s happening. My mother might have more information by tomorrow. If we can buy time—if we can stall Pascal—then we have a chance to understand the actual situation instead of just reacting to what Pascal is telling us.”“But Pascal has David,” Vivian said. “Pascal has threat leverage. If we stall too long, Pascal releases everything.”“Pascal won’t release everything immediately,” I said. Understanding it. “Pascal needs us. Pascal needs us to testify. Pascal needs u
Left at the alter, married the enemy Chapter Ninety-one
Chapter 63: The GapThat same day, we were sitting in a 24-hour diner on the outskirts of Los Angeles when Sebastian’s phone rang.Edna.He stared at the phone like it was something dangerous, then he answered.“Hi, Mom,” he said. His voice was very careful.We couldn’t hear what she was saying on the other end, but we could see the shift in Sebastian’s face. The specific shift of a man hearing something that didn’t make sense.“When did this start,” he said quietly.There was a pause.“And the investigator hasn’t reported back.”Another Pause.“No. No, don’t push him. Don’t do anything that makes it obvious you’re looking,” Sebastian said.He listened for another minute. Then: “I know, Mom. I know he’s been loyal. That’s what makes this—” He stopped. “I have to go. Be careful. Don’t tell anyone you called me.”He hung up.Vivian and I were both staring at him.“What happened,” I said.“My mother has noticed something,” Sebastian said slowly. “About Kim.”He set the phone down on the
Left at the alter, married the enemy Chapter Ninety
“Which means once we do it,” Vivian said, “we can’t take it back. Once we tell Nolan that we’re working with Pascal, once we deliver that message—we’re in Pascal’s organization. We’re not witnesses. We’re participants.”Sebastian turned to look at me.“Is that what you want,” he said. His voice was very quiet.“No,” I said. “But I don’t know if what I want matters anymore.”“It matters,” Sebastian said. “What you want still matters. What I want still matters. What Vivian wants still matters. We’re not powerless yet.”“Aren’t we,” Vivian said from beside us. “Pascal has leverage. Pascal has threats. Pascal has made it clear that if we don’t cooperate, people get hurt. How is that not powerlessness?”The ocean continued its rhythm against the rocks.“Because we still have a choice,” Sebastian said. His voice had changed—it was harder now, more certain. “Pascal is offering us a choice. It’s a terrible choice. It’s a choice between two things we don’t want. But it’s still a choice.”“What
Left at the alter, married the enemy Chapter Eighty- nine
Chapter 62: The ChoiceWe drove in silence for a long time.No destination. Just moving through Los Angeles while the evening turned to night and the city lights began to replace the sunset. Vivian hadn’t said a word since we got in the car. I was staring at the text on my phone, reading it over and over, as if the words might rearrange themselves into something that made sense.“Don’t call anyone. Don’t warn anyone. Just come back to the building tomorrow. Room 2304. We have more to discuss. And bring whatever evidence you have against Nolan. All of it. Or David starts talking tonight”.“We don’t have evidence,” Vivian said finally. Her voice cut through the silence like something sharp. “We don’t have anything that would hold up. We have conversations. We have things Nolan said. We have—” She stopped. “We have nothing.”“Pascal knows that,” Sebastian said. His hands were very tight on the steering wheel. “Pascal wouldn’t ask for it unless he was testing us. Unless he was seeing if w
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