Scattered Dreams, Billionaire Promises.

t silence is the one t

-

ike a fortress under siege. Thunder boomed overhead, not like a distant growl but like the fury of the gods themselves crashing through the clouds. Lightning lacerated the sky in jagged bursts, each one illumin

ghtgown sticking slightly to her legs with tear-soaked fabric. She had cried without realizing it. The tears had come silently, steadily, like the rain, like the creepin

that soared. Creatures that didn't know about secrets or screaming or

s no longer safe to drift into dreams. Not when everything around her felt

lly her

ns or the soft bickering over who had misplaced the car keys. No-this was sharper, crueler. The ki

pitch. Maria Maxwell was a woman of elegance, with perfect posture, luminous eyes, a

e to Kira, with his crisp suits, strong jawline, and magneti

d, but she caught enough to feel

we had m

ught w

lied,

it fo

it for

now it's

Kira b

ut she knew what it felt like when grown-ups said "gone." It me

n she'd been sketching stared back at h

softest creak e

tu

footie pajamas were decorated with stars, though most of the pattern had faded from countless washes. In one hand, he clutched

he whi

beside her without q

arms wrapping around her waist a

fightin

she said

it b

d. "It's jus

st talking about the ra

again-louder, this t

oser, brushing a h

d no

of th

t may

en. In how her father had been taking more calls behind closed doors, whispering names she didn't recogn

h

cre

was low and ragged, the sound o

Liam bo

tumbled to the floor. She reached fo

tighter. "No. D

went t

hick Persian carpet, but the silence between echoes was louder than thunder. Painti

ed the staircas

caught in

ell was on

on the marble floo

at odd angles. One arm flung outward, the other curled beneath

sn't

n't br

was

Kira w

scream-a raw, guttur

of ivory, was now streaked with red. Her hair fell in wet strands around her face,

led besi

Ki

ht of her father lying so still burned

-

came in

men with radios. Boots echoing on marble. A tall man gently

the f

ket. People Kira had never met saying how wonderfu

ne expla

ted in Maria's lap. Maria, dressed in all black, stared blankl

hildren. No one asked

He was laughing, wind in his hair, standing at

he w

der men came. Not with

krup

investi

iquid

cured for t

hing de

ira like waves crashing

mother sobbing in the bath

a woman u

-

later,

ith a

h a pho

their shared room. Nia was giggling on the floor wi

he pho

ered in th

, Kira knew somet

. Just... void. Like someone had taken a

one," she

linked

didn't

slowly. "The accounts. The tru

O

a's voice trembled. "Y

ght we

," she said to no one. "I begged him. I knew somethin

we

. She stood

g inside her had

-

use wa

n the cars. Then the piano. Men came with polite

use keys we

only seen through tinted car windows. Graffiti covered walls. T

bedrooms. But the

ook th

-

wore the same clothes for days. She

depression. G

rapy co

a took

to buy rice cheaper. She patched Liam's torn clothes. She braided Nia's hair

pped sk

her pad remai

a sitting in the dark kit

am

espo

water and sa

ised to protect us. But he did

ed the lump

r and covered her mo

e care of

looked

. "You're strong, Kira. S

heir old life. That she didn't want to b

idn't say

ust n

-

girl who danced barefoot acro

e stood a q

nger waited t

s world would ne

ould pro

of t

tter

ant sacrifici

becoming a grow

er flying like the b

ca

ell had learn

he stronges

doesn't

life can

silent, storm