I built it brick by brick so no one could ever take me apart again.
What I Built
They call it an empire.
I call it balance.
I don't sell drugs. I don't traffic children. I don't touch what poisons the future. I move information. I redirect power. I clean messes the government pretends don't exist.
Ari knows it all, I never hide a thing from her, she's the heiress so is her right to know them from seven
She knows I've been protecting her since she was seven...and that's my only duty,
The File That Wouldn't Die
The names resurfaced.
Corrupt officials. Defense contracts. Missing funds.
One case stood out,
The Lock's Assassination – Closed
Closed cases are rarely finished.
My gut twisted.
I didn't tell Ari, not yet cause I planned on dealing with it first and present it to her to finish in court once it become n puff issue,
Sleep Isn't Guaranteed
I dreamed of my parents again.
My mother's perfume.
My father's watch ticking too loud.
I woke up in my Uncle arms.
For the first time, the dream didn't follow me into daylight.
My uncle offered to drop me off at the office today and I was so happy, cause gosh I love riding with my uncle the sense of security of everything out of the world,
We argued about music while stuck in traffic.
I joked he liked old jazz. And he said I liked noise.
"You're emotionally seventy," I said.
"And you're uncultured," he replied.
We laughed so hard that I snorted.
I felt completely loved right there.
Then I heard Uncle Gideon asking
"Do you trust him?" Uncle Gideon asked.
"Yes."
"That wasn't my question."
I stared at my hands.
"I don't know," I admitted.
He nodded. "Then you're learning
Succession Is Not Death
I have no wife. No children.
But I have Ari.
Power must be inherited by those who refuse to abuse it.
She doesn't know it yet—but she will be the last of me.
And the first of something better.
Lines Blurring
Ari defended a man I knew was dirty.
She won.
I told myself it was her job.
Still, something shifted.
Loving someone in the grey is harder than loving them in the dark.
I Don't Lose
People ask me how it feels to never lose a case.
The truth?
It feels like carrying a coffin no one else can see.
Every win brings me closer to the truth I buried at seven.
I just don't know who will survive
Justice Is Personal
I reopened the Lock file.
Unofficially.
If loving Ari meant breaking rules, I'd already crossed that line.
I just hoped the truth wouldn't destroy us both.
Love, Carefully
Ben kissed me like the world was fragile.
I kissed him like I might break it.
We made love slowly, like people afraid of waking ghosts.
After, I whispered, "Stay."
He did, and that one thing I love about him, he always listen,
The Clock Move
Time doesn't forgive.
It collects.
Soon, all debts will come due.
I only pray Ari you chooses wisely when they do, uncle Gideon said over the phone,
I Am Not Seven Anymore
I stand in my office, city lights below, power humming through glass and steel.
I survived.
I'm loved.
I loved.
I built.
Whatever comes next am ready Dad