Chapter 43The door creaked open just as the sound of clinking silverware and murmured conversation drifted from the dining room. Benita stepped inside, still clutching the envelope.The house was warm. Cozy, even. She could smell roasted garlic and wine in the air. It felt like the kind of night that should’ve ended in laughter and stories — but her skin crawled. The weight in her purse might as well have been a live grenade.Her boots tapped lightly across the hardwood as she approached the dining room.Kent was mid-story, making Maloi laugh while Syl scrolled through his phone, unimpressed. Cillian sat at the head of the table — his place, now. Head bent, eyes locked on the glow of his laptop screen, fingers typing at a furious pace. He hadn’t even noticed her yet.No one had.“Someone’s watching me,” Benita said.Silence.Cillian’s hands stopped. He looked up slowly, and when their eyes met, the air between them snapped tight.Then, without ceremony, she dropped the envelope in th
From the breakfast table, they heard Cillian’s car zoom out of the driveway. Maloi pushed her chair backward and stood. “Aren’t you leaving too?”Kent nodded, “I am, I have a feeling he’s going to do something drastic.”When he pulled into the driveway of DCC, he was surprised to find the President’s parking space empty. Kent’s brows joined together in a frown of confusion. “Where did he go?”Then suddenly, his phone buzzed. He glanced at his screen. A message from Him.“Stop staring at my parking space and come up here.”Kent scoffed, looking up and there he was staring down at him with a coffee cup in hand. “You left home with so much purpose, but all you wanted was coffee?”Cillian didn’t reply, he just tossed a file in front of him. “I need everyone at the conference room.”The hum of voices in the conference room quieted instantly when Cillian walked in.He didn’t say anything at first—just walked to the head of the table with a click of his shoes that echoed too loud in th
The low hum of the engine faded as Sylvester pulled into Cillian’s driveway.Before the car stopped, Cillian was already out, suit jacket over his shoulder, Kent’s voice still echoing in his head like a siren.He shoved open the front door. The house swallowed him up, empty and still, the air thick with silence.Footsteps scrambled overhead. Kent and Maloi appeared on the stairs, faces drawn tight.“Where is she?” Cillian asked.Kent opened his mouth—then closed it. Nothing came.Cillian turned away and headed straight to the guest room. His hand hovered over the doorknob. He almost opened it.Almost.Instead, he stood there. Still. Listening to the silence inside.If she wasn’t here— where was she? With Ben? Was she safe?Downstairs, Kent turned to Sylvester. “What’s going on?”Syl exhaled through his nose. “Benita hasn’t answered all day. She might be missing.”Maloi appeared behind them, pulling her robe tighter. “She’s not missing. She just didn’t come home.”“Since when?” Cillian
Benita walked into the most expensive restaurant in Oakland City like she’d always belonged there. Dim lights. Glass walls. Chandeliers too pretty to be useful. She didn’t spot him at first. Too much velvet. Too much curated quiet.She stopped a passing waitress. “Table fifteen?”The girl pointed to the center of the room.Benita turned—and there he was, under the softest light, the one spot where the chandelier actually worked.She walked toward him slow, like her body understood the assignment better than her mind did. She caught her reflection in the glass as she passed. Maloi had told her the dress wasn’t doing too much. A mid-length, high-neck bodycon. Soft, feminine, elegant. No noise. Just precision.It still made her feel like she could fly.Ben stood when she approached. He looked… nervous. That was new.“Benni,” he said softly. “You look… beautiful.”“Thank you,” she smiled wryly. She sat down but her eyes were distant. She was here to perform, and the role required distance
The day had just begun. It would be the first day without Cillian. Maloi and Benita sat across each other at breakfast, it was different without him, yet his presence was barely felt. He rarely spoke between meals, rarely glanced at anyone. Sometimes, Benita would think he still felt guarded having been in prison all those years. He was yet to be free. So he spoke to her with restraint. He tried to keep to himself, yet here she was intruding. “I wonder if he’s at his breakfast table too,” the words slipped carefully.Maloi scoffed. “That’s so easy to know, video call him.”“What?” Benita blinked.“Call him on video call.” Maloi dared her, “I mean is it such a big deal? It’s just a phone call.”Benita hesitated, but eventually picked up her phone.“Yaay!” Maloi and Kent cheered.Benita’s hands hovered on the screen, just then, a realization struck.Why was did she only call Cillian when drunk? Or in sorrow? Why’s is he her goto when she’s down?Has this feeling always been there?
The scent of freshly brewed coffee and something burning wafted into the guest room before the sound of bickering did.Benita stirred beneath the duvet, blinking awake. She still hadn’t gotten used to Cillian’s absurd choice of colors on the window curtains.Here in the guest room, her curtains were green and completely out of sync with the minimalist idea of the room. She had been here for two days and there was at least one thing she’d gotten used to— the chaos outside the door. It gave her the feeling living at home never did. The feeling of not waking up alone.Maloi’s echoed through the hallway, groggy and reluctantly, “I don’t drink coffee.”“Then you can have chamomile tea.” Kent replied with the same energy.“Protein bars and smoothies exist too, you know. Chamomile tea, am I diabetic?”Benita scoffed, rubbing her eyes as she stood up. She padded through the hallway into the kitchen. Maloi stood at the doorway, squabbling with Kent. “Chamomile has nothing to do with diabete