Chapter 124: The ReturnEthan walked into the office at nine in the morning.The building was quiet. The receptionist was at her desk, scrolling through her phone. The cleaning crew had already come and gone, leaving the faint smell of bleach in the air. Everything looked the same as it always did, except for the empty desk in the corner. Seraphina's desk. Still empty. Still dark.Ethan sat down at his own desk and pulled up his email. Forty-seven unread messages. He deleted most of them without reading. The ones that mattered were from Andrew, from a few vendors, and from the Chinese investor who had been waiting for a response. He started typing a reply to the investor, but his mind kept drifting to the empty desk across the room.He was about to hit send when the door opened.Seraphina walked in.She was wearing a grey coat and carrying her usual bag. Her hair was pulled back, and her face was calm and unreadable. She walked to her desk without looking at him, set her bag down, and

Mira was waiting in the parking lot of a twenty-four-hour diner on the edge of town. She was leaning against the hood of her car, a black coupe, her arms crossed, her breath misting in the cold night air. The diner's neon sign flickered above her, casting red and blue shadows across her face. She looked up when Ethan pulled in and killed his engine.He got out and walked toward her. The wind bit at his face, and he shoved his hands into his pockets. "You said it was urgent.""It is." She pushed off the hood and met him halfway. "I need the identity. The passport, the papers, everything. I need it now."Ethan stopped a few feet away. "I told you it takes time.""Time is something I don't have. My mother is getting suspicious. She's been asking questions about where I go at night, who I talk to. She knows something is off." Mira's voice was sharp, urgent, and her eyes kept darting toward the dark street behind him. "If she finds out what I've been doing, she'll kill me. Or worse.""Wors

The warehouse smelled like rust and diesel and something metallic that Ethan had stopped trying to identify.He stood at a metal table near the back, a stack of shipping manifests spread out in front of him, his pen moving across page after page. Volkov's imports were mixed with his own, container numbers and customs codes and declarations that didn't match what was actually inside the crates. The signatures were his, the company was his, and if anyone ever looked too closely, the prison sentence would be his too.He had been signing for three hours. His hand was cramping. His eyes were blurry. But he kept going.Volkov's men had brought the paperwork in batches, each one labeled with a number and a date. Ethan didn't ask what was in the containers. He didn't want to know. He just signed.The warehouse door groaned open. Footsteps echoed on the concrete floor. He looked up, expecting one of Volkov's men with another stack of documents.Eleanor Graves walked toward him.She was dressed

Ethan drove to Volkov's place without calling first.The house was on the outskirts of the city, set back from the road behind a tall iron gate. He had been here twice before. Both times, Volkov had been expecting him. This time, he wasn't.He pressed the buzzer and waited.Dimitri's voice crackled through the speaker. "Mr. Cross.""I need to see Volkov.""He's not here.""I'll wait."A pause. Then the gate groaned open.Ethan parked in the driveway and walked to the front door. Dimitri was waiting for him, his face as expressionless as ever. He stepped aside and let Ethan in."He'll be back within the hour," Dimitri said. "You can wait in the living room."Ethan walked into the living room. It was large and cold, with high ceilings and dark furniture. A fire was burning in the fireplace, casting flickering shadows across the walls. The room was quiet except for the crackling of the flames.Camilla was on the couch.She was curled up at one end, her legs tucked under her, a book open

Ethan didn't sleep.He lay on the bed in Volkov's guest room, staring at the ceiling, his mind turning over everything Mira had said. I know who hired him. I know where she's been. I know what she wants.The clock on the nightstand ticked. The house was quiet. He heard footsteps in the hallway once, then nothing.When morning came, he was already awake.He showered and dressed and walked to the kitchen. Dimitri was there, making coffee. Camilla was at the table, reading something on her phone. Volkov wasn't there."Volkov will be down soon," Camilla said without looking up. "Sit. Eat."Ethan sat. Dimitri placed a cup of coffee in front of him. He didn't drink it.Mira walked in a few minutes later. She was dressed in the same clothes from last night. Her hair was pulled back. Her eyes were clear. She looked like she had slept well."Morning," she said."Morning."She sat across from him. Dimitri placed a cup of coffee in front of her. She wrapped her hands around it and took a sip."Y