Chapter 2

Evelyn Compton POV:

Bianca surfaced from Hazen' s shoulder, her eyes wide and tearful, but a glint of something sharper, something calculating, shone beneath the surface. "Leaving? But... but where will you go? You can' t just abandon your post, Echo. What about... what about our mission?" Her voice trembled, perfectly pitched to appear fragile and concerned.

She turned to Hazen, her hands reaching for his, her gaze pleading. "Hazen, please. Don' t let her go. She' s angry. She doesn' t mean it. We need her."

Hazen' s eyes, devoid of any sympathy for me, were filled with immediate concern for her. He pulled her closer, glaring at me. "Echo, what is this nonsense? You think you can just walk away? After everything Bianca has been through? After all the sacrifices she' s made for Aegis?" His voice was low, laced with fury.

The others quickly rallied behind him. "She' s right, Echo. You' re being selfish," Corina chimed in, her voice cold. Another agent, a young man I' d personally mentored, added, "This isn' t fair to Bianca. She looks up to you."

Fair. Unfair. The words tasted like ash. Corina, the woman whose life I' d saved on a collapsing bridge in Istanbul, whose bleeding wound I' d cauterized with my own hands. The young agent, whose family I' d extracted from a war-torn country. My sacrifices meant nothing.

"My sacrifices?" I asked, my voice rising, a tremor of pure indignation running through me. "Do you even remember what I' ve done for all of you?"

Hazen cut me off, a dismissive wave of his hand silencing my words. "This isn' t about your past heroics, Echo. This is about your current behavior. Your jealousy is clouding your judgment. Bianca is a valued asset. You cannot simply discard her, or your responsibilities, because of your personal issues."

He wrapped an arm around Bianca, pulling her protectively against him. His gaze dared me to challenge him.

A sharp, dizzying wave of nausea washed over me. My vision blurred at the edges, a familiar sensation creeping in – the precursor to the memory wipe' s side effects, a ripple of something unknown and unsettling. My head throbbed, a dull echo of the old injury.

I clenched my jaw, pushing past the discomfort, determined to escape this suffocating room. I turned to leave, but Bianca, with a sudden, birdlike cry, dropped to the floor, wrapping her arms around my leg.

"No! Please, Echo, don' t leave! I can' t do this without you!" she wailed, her grip surprisingly strong.

My combat training kicked in, a phantom limb of my past. It was an instinct, a reflex. Someone grabs you, you break free. I twisted, my leg automatically shaking her off, my knee coming up to dislodge her hold.

She screamed, a high-pitched, piercing sound that made the entire room flinch. She collapsed to the floor, cradling her hand. "My... my finger! She kicked me! She broke it!"

Hazen was on her in an instant, pushing me away with such force I stumbled back, hitting the wall. "Echo! What the hell is wrong with you?" His eyes were blazing, a cold, killing rage in them. He knelt beside Bianca, examining her hand. "It' s swollen. Oh, god. Echo, do you know what you' ve done? You tried to cripple her! Her fine motor skills are essential for her work!"

He scooped Bianca into his arms, carrying her as if she weighed nothing. His eyes, dark and dangerous, met mine over her head. "You are a liability, Echo. A dangerous, unstable liability." He walked past me, ignoring my silent protest, his footsteps heavy as he carried Bianca out of the room.

The other agents followed, their faces a mixture of disgust and fear. Corina paused at the door, her eyes narrowed. "You' ve gone too far this time, Echo. Hazen won' t forget this." She left, the door swinging shut behind her, leaving me utterly alone.

Only one junior agent lingered, a young recruit who had always seemed to idolize me. Now, his face was twisted in a sneer. "Crazy bitch," he mumbled, just loud enough for me to hear, before he too, disappeared.

The words were like a physical blow. But I refused to break. I stood there, drawing breath after shaky breath, forcing down the rage that threatened to consume me.

I walked to Alston Hensley' s office. The CEO of Aegis, a man whose ruthlessness was matched only by his pragmatism. He looked up as I entered, his expression unreadable.

"Echo. I heard there was an incident." His voice was calm, measured.

"There was," I confirmed, standing before his desk, my spine ramrod straight. "And I' m here to tender my resignation."

His eyebrows rose slightly. "Resignation? After a decade of service? After everything you' ve built here?" His tone was almost regretful. "You' ve been one of Aegis' s most valuable assets, Echo. Your record is impeccable."

"My record is irrelevant now," I said, my voice flat. "My position here is untenable. I can no longer function effectively within this team."

He leaned back in his chair, his gaze piercing. "Is this about Hazen? About Bianca?"

I let out a bitter, humorless laugh. "It' s about trust, Mr. Hensley. Or rather, the complete lack thereof." I didn't elaborate. There was no need. He knew. He always knew everything.

Just then, the door opened, and Hazen walked in, his face grim. "Alston, I need to speak with you about Echo. Her behavior is erratic. She' s making baseless accusations. Her mental state is questionable." He stopped short when he saw me standing there.

"Echo?" he asked, a flicker of surprise in his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"Just having a chat with Mr. Hensley about our... professional relationship," I replied, a cold smile touching my lips. "Or lack thereof."

Hazen' s eyes narrowed. "What are you implying?"

"Nothing you don' t already understand, Hazen," I said, my gaze steady.

Alston cleared his throat. "Hazen, Echo has informed me of her desire to leave Aegis."

Hazen' s face paled. "Leave? She can' t. Not now. Not with everything on the line." He turned to me, his voice softer, laced with a strange urgency. "Echo, don' t be rash. We' ve been through too much. Our wedding... it' s just postponed, not canceled. We can fix this."

He reached into his pocket, pulling out a small, velvet box. He opened it, revealing the engagement ring, the diamond glittering under the office lights. "Please. Don' t throw away everything we' ve built."

A cruel twist in my gut. He was offering me a broken future, a future tainted by betrayal, trying to lure me back with a symbol that had lost all meaning. My mind, however, was already moving past this.

My gaze was cold, empty of any emotion. "That ring means nothing to me anymore, Hazen. It' s a symbol of a lie."

Alston Hensley intervened, his voice firm. "Echo has earned her departure. I will ensure her severance package is generous. She will be compensated for her years of exemplary service." He pushed a tablet across his desk. "Sign here, Echo. This will transfer a substantial sum to your offshore account, enough for a comfortable new life."

I nodded, picked up the stylus, and signed the digital form. The money wasn't the point. It was the escape. The finality.

I went back to my room, the silence a stark contrast to the shouting match I' d left behind. I packed a single duffel bag. A few essentials. Everything else, every memory, every ghost, would be left behind. I lay down, exhausted, the heavy weight of the day pressing down on me, and mercifully, I drifted into a restless sleep.

A soft click woke me. My eyes snapped open. The room was dark, but a sliver of moonlight illuminated Hazen standing by my bed. My heart hammered against my ribs, a primal fear seizing me.

"Hazen?" My voice was barely a whisper. "What are you doing here?"

He walked closer, a small box in his hand. "You forgot this," he said, his voice low, almost gentle. He placed the velvet box on my bedside table. The engagement ring.

"I didn' t forget it," I said, my voice flat. "I discarded it."

He ignored the barb. "Echo, please. Don' t do this. We can still work through this. Remember all the times we faced down impossible odds? The way we always had each other' s backs?"

Images flashed through my mind: training sessions, close calls, the quiet moments of victory, his hand in mine. For a split second, a pang of what felt like longing, a ghost of a memory, flickered.

Then, his voice, thick with desperation, shattered the fragile illusion. "Bianca needs us, Echo. She' s terrified. She' s been through so much. You' re the best at this. We need you both."

My eyes snapped open. Bianca. Always Bianca. His desperate plea was not for us, but for her. He wanted me back to clean up her mess, to protect her.

"You want me to clean up your latest disaster?" I asked, my voice laced with venom. "To pretend that none of this happened, just so your precious Bianca can feel safe?"

He flinched. "It' s not like that. We' re a team, Echo. We always have been. Our wedding is still on the table, once things settle." He reached for my hand.

I pulled away sharply. "There is no 'us,' Hazen. There is only you and your new protégé. And there will be no wedding."

Before he could respond, his comm unit buzzed again, urgently. A frantic voice, different this time, but the message was clear: Bianca was in distress. Again.

His face, which had been pleading just moments before, hardened instantly. His priority shifted, his eyes now fixated on the source of the urgent call. He turned and sprinted down the hall, once again leaving me, discarded, in the wake of Bianca' s manufactured crisis.

The door clicked shut, plunging the room back into darkness.

I lay there, the cold weight of the ring box on my bedside table, the echoes of his abandonment ringing in my ears. He truly was gone. And I, I was finally free.

I picked up my phone, my fingers flying across the screen. There was a direct number for Clandestine Tech on the ad I' d seen earlier. I needed to move fast.

"I' m ready for the next phase," I said into the phone, my voice steady, my resolve iron. "Erase it all. Everything."