Chapter 4

The next few days were a blur of cold fury.

I saw everything clearly now, her casual dismissals, her ambition, her hunger for something different.

Something Julian represented.

I' d been a fool, blind for two decades.

Julian made sure I saw them together.

A hand held too long, a shared glance over dinner, Lena laughing at his jokes, leaning close.

He' d catch my eye, a slight, knowing smile on his face.

One evening, I found them in the study, Julian at the grand piano, Lena beside him, her head on his shoulder.

The music was soft, intimate.

He looked up, saw me in the doorway, and his fingers faltered for just a second.

Then he continued, a little louder, a little more possessive of the moment.

He wanted me to see. He enjoyed my pain.

I walked into the Sentinel local office the next morning.

My handler, Marcus, looked up, surprised. "Alex. What's up?"

"I'm resigning," I said. No emotion. Just a fact.

"What? You can't be serious. You and Lena are-"

"There is no me and Lena," I cut him off. "I'm done. Formal resignation is on your desk."

I turned and walked out.

No goodbyes. No explanations beyond the paper.

The Sterling jet was waiting. Montana, a sprawling ranch, a name I barely remembered from a childhood file.

Isabella Vance. My fiancée.

A new life. Or an escape.

I didn' t look back.