Page 178 of Money Reigns
“Well, I guess all that’s left to say is goodbye, Liv. I’m leaving today. For good. Got all my stuff shipped last week. I just wanted…”
His voice trails off. “
I step aside, suddenly hollow. “I’ll miss being neighbors.”
He pauses, hand on the knob. “We haven’t been neighbors in a while, Liv.”
That one hits deeper than I thought it would.
“I—Hey, I know I said I wasn’t ready for anything when you asked, but—”
“But I’m not War Beaumont,” he says, not unkindly. Just final. “I get it, Liv.”
He turns the knob, opens the door, but glances back once more.
“I just hope you realize the cage he’s put you in… before he throws away the key.”
And then he’s gone.
The door clicks shut behind him.
Silence rushes in.
Thick and immediate.
I don’t move. Not yet.
Just breathe, Liv.
I press myself back to the door, hands still curled at my sides like I’m bracing for something else to crash through. My lungs sting with the breath I haven’t let go.
A camera.
In the bookshelf.
I close my eyes, try to center myself, but all I can smell is the faint trace of Brody’s cologne, sharp and familiar in the space War has carefully constructed for me.
My pulse stutters, the words he left behind rattling in my chest.Cage. Key.
I should check.
I should tear every book off that shelf and find the thing he swears is there.
But I don’t.
Because I already know.
If Brody said it, it’s true. War wouldn’t deny it. He’d look me straight in the eye, unapologetic, and say of course I put a camera in your office Olivia.
Of course I need to see you when I’m not there.
I push off the door, legs shaky beneath me, and make my way to the desk. My laptop is still open, cursor blinking like nothing just shattered the illusion of privacy I never even realized I was clinging to.
My fingers hover over the keyboard.
Focus. Just… work.
I open my inbox. Drafts. Deadlines. Numbers I’m supposed to care about. But the words blur, crowding into one long smear of static.
