The Architect of His Ruin

te of charcoal c

raw, burning reminder of the five shots of Maotai I'd forc

edative the ER doctor gave me

ng, they said. And a dange

ed to pick me up

d me, even now, a year afte

e called in a crisis. The lines were blurry, toxic,

hospital bed, the IV stand squeaki

onger than I thought.

uite asleep, but

e from the quiet stairwel

ne. With our fina

n project is locked down. That sev

'd poured my lifebloo

, his voice smooth. "A Project Director title.

ary. A cold knot f

. His voice was tight. "It's he

augh in his tone. "I'll make sure she's taken care of. B

. The big pictur

any? She built the sales department from scratch. She took the fall for those

. He remembered. Etha

ecause I said I made the call Ethan botched

," Ethan scoffed.

pped, heavy with something dark. "You re

he baby. Our baby.

yself for. The stress, the d

n snapped, but his voice lacked convicti

it was a 'blessing in disguise.' Your exact words. Because a baby would hav

nausea. The roo

bedrock. Solid, dependable. But Olivia keeps things running smoothly behi

my life's work as i

eer. All just tools for

estowing a great favor. "A big one. But the title a

e, but this felt like a deepe

d history, my unwavering lo

ke the arrangements. The press release needs to name Oliv

cts. My strategy. Gi

physical thing, cla

y head sharpened i

the project. It

he 'cornerstone'

own ambitio

ss emotio

Oh god,

ve it was my fa

blacked out

d again, the hallwa

ward my room, his fa

kay, baby? Yo

ative echo of our past. His hand r

soft, caring. The voice he used when he wanted something.

hought I was just dazed from t

lly. "Just some boring financ

i

screamed

ver made for him felt

soul and pat me on the

lm settle

naive. Devoted. E

as w

those thing

anym

was t

thing. He wouldn't

lan. I neede

Ste

ed from the dep

an's nemesis. Et

d. He'd remembered my name. He'd told me, "If you ever get tired of building some

based

eyes, feigni

red," I

. "Rest, baby. I'll ta

. You'll take care of de

another call, I reached for my

I found Liam Sterling

a short, dir

the Henderson project. Every contact, every piece of data. Ethan is abou

fore I could