Chapter 412
I sit behind my desk, but I haven’t looked at a single thing because my eyes are staring sightlessly into nothing.
My office is quiet, but that doesn’t help. If anything, it only makes my thoughts louder despite trying to push them aside.
Sierra is somewhere in the house, probably with the twins. We haven’t spoken to each other since we left the war room. There is just too much sitting between us. Too much that needed to be processed before either of us even tried to.
I lean back in my chair, dragging a hand over my face as I replay everything she said. I hate admitting it, but she’s right.
Brook pushing Sierra down the stairs, that was all her. That was the twisted jealousy inside her…But everything else? The shooting, the threats, the planning, the kidnapping? It doesn’t fit into who Brook is.
When Sierra said it might not just be about her, I didn’t want to hear it, but now I can’t ignore it.
I have enemies, but that’s not new. Every single person at my level has rivals who would want to take them down and rule the business world. Have monopoly on all the resources. What’s new is the possibility that one of them, or more, is willing to go this far. Is willing to kidnap my newborn daughter to get what they want.
I think through them one by one, faces and names I haven’t cared to revisit in a while resurfacing, playing in my head like a gallery.
Some of them are ruthless enough, desperate enough and angry enough to approach Brook and pull of something like this.
I exhale slowly before pulling a pen toward me and dragging a blank sheet of paper closer and I start writing.
Name after name goes down, each one bringing back a memory, a deal gone wrong, a betrayal, a grudge that never quite died and by the time I’m done, the page is filled.
I stare at it for a second before reaching for my phone. Blaze picks up on the second ring.
“Yeah p>
“I’m sending you a list,” I say. “I need you to look into every single name on it. I want everything; movements, connections, anything that ties them to what’s been happening p>
There’s a pause before he responds, his tone sharpening slightly. “You think these people are involved p>
“Let’s just someone showed me a different perspective and I’m not willing to call it bluff.” I reply.
“Alright… I’ll get everything I can on them p>
I hang up, forwarding the list before dropping the phone on the desk. Just as I’m about to get lost in my thoughts again, laughter, coming from outside cuts through the silence.
I push myself up from the chair and walk toward the window, and that’s when I see Sierra and the twins.
Sierra is sitting on the grass, her injured leg stretched out in front of her, while the twins hover around her like she’s the center of their world. Nova is talking animatedly, her hands moving as she speaks, while Nolan sits closer, calmer but just as engaged.
Sierra laughs at something Nova says, and Nolan drifts closer almost like he’s drawn to her warmth.
She looks different. Different from how she left months back, and different from how she was when she came back. It’s not a complete change because it’s easy to see she’s still holding parts of herself back, but she’s not as indifferent as before.
I just stand there watching them. Watching how the twins seem mesmerized by her. How Sierra responds to them and the way their interactions look so natural. It’s like they’re the real family and I’m the outsider looking in on their happy moments.
Something in my chest tightens because this is what I want. This, with the addition of Val, when we find her is what I desire more than anything. I want Sierra to be a part of our lives, to be a part of my life, just like I want us to be part of hers.