BOUND BY HIS TERMS

Har

The figure across the street did not move. He just stood there, arms

is was impossible. My he

ce. That stillne

the world lik

zr

hisper, raw and aching. I had not

next thing I knew, I stood in front of him, b

oulders. Same storm behind his eyes. He smil

id. "I thought you wo

his arm just to confirm he was not anothe

Where hav

ked motorcycle. "Somewhere between lost and hunt

erved too much coffee and too little comfort. He sipped tea

lking," I

in bed with a monster. Jaxon V

ed his way into my company. Into my life.

ole from Vale Industries before I disappeared. Project Crown. It links D

only know about

hrough integrated wearable tech. Prototype designs were modeled after your

"You are saying

bound. That contract? It was not ab

head. "This is too much. W

bal launch at the Milan conference. If this rolls out, everything you drea

ith images, my sketches twisted into someth

. "I can take you underground. Get

not

ut I watched. You built something incr

e one person who had vanished without a trace when

ear like some rogue angel, Ezra. I nee

e offered me money. Access. Technology. When I refu

uld have

orm? I did not come back to e

h drive. "Then help me sto

too. "Th

nd on that stage. And

into the shadows again, and I returned to m

rning, I fl

hotel was a glass fortress overlooking the

ack car with the elegance of a crowned king.

ke nothing had shifted between us,

htly. "I am

ined glass windows cast rainbows over metal runways and holograp

hung like dreams made solid. But I kn

"Security is tight. They scanned every piece

Then we make it registered.

e of fashion. Words like sustainability, innovation, and le

into the

, offerin

But I did

ed, "You l

ave no

ing in dreams stitched from thread and fire.

sh f

o the soun

ages appeared first. Then the schematics of Project Cr

led throug

e. His mas

s will stop me

. "But it st

outed. Flashbulbs exploded. S

. "You do not understa

y. "I unders

the ligh

dark

speaker. Not mi

z

s yours. Blood. Lies. Fi

ms er

rushed

where in

e gunsh

r Ten