Page 146 of My Big, Fat, Secret Billionaire Baby

The noise in my head, the endless fucking calculations and anxieties and regrets… gone.

Just the rush of wind, the raw power, the absolute, singular focus of the fall.

Freedom.

Pure, undiluted, just like I remembered.

This is it.

This isme.

But then… it hits.

Not the ground.

Something worse.

A cold, hollow certainty that punches through the adrenaline high, colder than the wind buffeting my face.

Sabrina’s eyes.

Mia’s trusting face.

The quiet peace of the nursery.

The fragile thing I might have just thrown away for this.

For a few fucking seconds of escape.

The elation I expected, the triumphant reclaiming of self… it’s not there.

The silence I craved is now filled with a new kind of noise. The deafening roar of my own betrayal.

I’m flying, yes.

But I’m also falling.

In a way that has nothing to do with gravity.

I navigate the easy line throughthe quarry, muscle memory taking over. Pull the chute at the right altitude. Land smoothly, if a little hard.

My muscles are aching, but I did it. Fucking did it.

I should feel exhilarated.

But I don’t.

Auger is there, all professional efficiency. Ecstatic, Luca is already out of his rig.

He claps me on the shoulder and buzzes, “Fucking knew you still had it, partner! See? That’s the Leo Maxwell the world needs!”

I just stare at him, feeling nothing but a vast, echoing emptiness.

The adrenaline has faded, leaving behind a bitter residue of self-loathing.

I did it.

I proved I still could.

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