He gave me $2 million and took everything that mattered. The math didn't add up.
The morning after the cemetery, Elara woke with a strange clarity. Grief had burned through her like wildfire, leaving ash and scorched earth, but also... space. Room to think without emotion suffocating every thought.
She'd been living in Kairos's home for weeks now. Eating his food. Wearing clothes from the closet he'd maintained. Accepting his care and his presence and his tentative attempts at redemption.
All while sitting on $2 million she didn't remember earning.
The thought crystalized over breakfast. Leo was chattering about dinosaurs. Kairos was responding with that patient attentiveness that made her chest ache. Normal. Domestic. A life built on money she'd bled for.
"I need my bank information," she said abruptly, cutting through Leo's excited description of a T-Rex.
Kairos looked up, surprised. "Okay. I have it in my office. After breakfast—"
"Now. Please."
