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Full Circle
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2025-12-15 20:05:44
Latest chapter
ONE WILD NIGHT Full Circle
Maya’s POVTwo years after stepping back, we stood in the auditorium of Portland Community College watching the first Michael Collins Memorial Scholarship recipients graduate.Twenty-three students—children of journalists, whistleblowers, activists, and truth-tellers who’d been killed or destroyed for speaking out. All receiving degrees they’d earned with scholarships funded by the evidence my father died protecting.“This is his legacy,” I whispered to Alex, watching them cross the stage. Emma, now three and a half, sat on his lap, asking too-loud questions about why people wore “funny hats.”After the ceremony, recipients lined up to meet us. One young woman, Sarah Chen, approached with tears in her eyes.“My mother exposed toxic dumping by her company. They fired and sued her into bankruptcy. She died when I was twelve.” Sarah’s voice broke. “This scholarship gave me what poverty took away—a future. Thank you.”I hugged her tightly. “Your mother was a hero.“No,” Sarah said. “This
ONE WILD NIGHT A New Beginning
Alex’s POVOne year after Richard’s death, we stood in the conference room of our new headquarters—a five-story building we owned outright, purchased with revenue from a business we’d built ethically from nothing.“Five hundred eighty-three thousand monthly,” James announced, pride evident in his voice. “Almost seven million annually. Forty-two consultants. Eighteen support staff. Offices in three states now.”The growth was real. Sustainable. Built on referrals, reputation, and results—not corruption or connections. Everything my father’s empire had been, we’d created its opposite.“And the scholarship fund?” Maya asked.“One hundred twenty-three recipients this year,” Caroline reported. “Full rides for children whose parents were killed by corruption or poverty. Your father’s legacy is alive, Maya. Really alive.”After the meeting, Maya and I walked through the building—our building—looking at office spaces filled with people we’d hired, trained, and empowered. People building caree
ONE WILD NIGHT Rebuilding
Maya’s POVSpring arrived with the softness of hope. Emma was nine months old now, crawling everywhere, pulling herself up on furniture, babbling sounds that almost resembled words. Jake was finishing his junior year at MIT with straight A’s, already receiving internship offers from tech companies. And Collins-Stone Consulting had grown beyond anything we’d imagined.“Four hundred twenty-eight thousand monthly,” Alex reported during our Sunday breakfast, Emma in her high chair smashing banana into her face with delighted concentration. “Over five million annually. We’re officially a mid-sized firm.”“How many employees now?” I asked.“Twenty-three consultants, eleven support staff. We’re looking at bigger office space again—the current one’s already cramped.”I was consulting twenty hours weekly now, managing eight clients I loved working with. The work fed something in me that had been dormant during those dark depression months—a sense of purpose, competence, contribution.“How are
ONE WILD NIGHT The Trial2
Alex’s POVThe federal courthouse in Hartford looked more like a fortress than a place of justice. Marble walls rose high above us, surrounded by heavy security. News vans crowded the streets. Reporters shouted questions as cameras flashed nonstop while our security team pushed us forward.“Mr. Stone, do you feel vindicated?”“Maya, how does it feel to see your father’s killer finally on trial?”“Will you ask for the death penalty?”We ignored every word. Our only focus was getting inside safely.Emma was not with us. She was at the safe house with Carmen and armed guards. Jake was in school under FBI protection. Today was just Maya and me—witnesses walking into the final chapter of something that began fifteen years ago.Inside the courtroom, every seat was filled. Lawyers, reporters, observers—everyone wanted to witness the fall of Richard Stone.He sat at the defense table in a prison jumpsuit, looking smaller than I remembered. Fragile. Old. When our eyes met briefly, he looked aw
ONE WILD NIGHT The Reckoning2
Maya’s POVSix months after publishing the evidence, our lives had settled into a fragile rhythm. It wasn’t peaceful, not exactly, but it was real. We lived carefully, always alert, yet finally breathing again.Emma was learning to sit up now, her dark eyes following every movement in the room with fierce curiosity. Jake had been accepted into MIT’s early admission program with a full scholarship, something that still felt unreal when we said it out loud. And Collins-Stone Consulting hadn’t just survived the scandal—it had grown.“Three hundred and eighty-five thousand monthly,” Alex said one morning during breakfast, Emma bouncing happily on his knee. “We’re getting close to five million a year.”“How?” I asked honestly, surprised. “We lost so many clients.”“We gained more,” he said with a tired but proud smile. “Companies that care about ethics instead of connections. People who watched us fight corruption and wanted to stand with us. Turns out, standing for something actually matt
ONE WILD NIGHT The Choice
Alex’s POVThe morning after Maya published everything, our world exploded. My phone rang nonstop from six o’clock, an endless stream of notifications and calls. News outlets, journalists, book publishers, movie producers—everyone wanted our story packaged, analyzed, and broadcast to the world.“CNN wants an interview,” I told Maya over breakfast, scrolling through another hundred messages. “So does The New York Times, Washington Post, ABC, NBC… and about forty more outlets.”“Good,” she said, feeding Emma with calm precision. “The more public we are, the safer we become. What did Walsh say?”“She’s furious we didn’t coordinate with the investigation first. But she admits it worked. We’re too visible now for quiet elimination. Killing us would create more problems than letting us live.”Jake appeared in the doorway, looking pale and worried. “There are reporters outside the gate. At least twenty of them, cameras everywhere. They’ve been here since dawn.”“Let them wait,” Maya said fir
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