Chapter 3 - The Price of Neglect
The contract was simple.
Everything.
Every asset.
Every account.
Signed over to Emma.
Ryan hovered the pen.
"If I sign, I go free?"
Silas laughed.
"Freedom is a luxury."
"You haven't earned it."
"But she lives?"
"She thrives."
Ryan signed.
The ink was black.
Sharp.
Final.
Silas took the paper.
"Good."
He stepped toward Ryan.
"Now, the punishment."
"She suffered."
"You will remember."
He touched Ryan’s temple.
A needle pricked the skin.
Cold.
Sharp.
Ryan collapsed.
His mind swam.
Visions.
The nursery.
The blood.
The whiskey glass.
He saw it all.
Through her eyes.
He felt the pain.
The fear.
The loneliness.
He screamed.
It was a psychic mirror.
Every ounce of her agony.
Reflected in him.
It lasted hours.
Days.
He lost track.
When he woke up,
He was on the porch.
The sun was blinding.
The house was gone.
No furniture.
No trace of them.
Just the empty structure.
He sat in the grass.
He looked at his hands.
They were clean.
But he felt the stain.
The memory was etched.
A permanent scar.
He walked to the road.
A car pulled up.
A stranger.
"You okay?"
Ryan stared ahead.
"I lost everything."
"Who did?"
"Me."
He looked back.
The house sat hollow.
A monument to his pride.
He had been the king.
Now he was the beggar.
He walked toward the city.
The lights flickered.
He felt the cold.
The world was vast.
Cruel.
He was finally alone.
The hunt was done.
But the ghost remained.
In every shadow.
In every breath.
May you like
She was everywhere.
---
