Agent Park and Agent Reyes returned to the field office and reported the results of their interview with Ethan Cole directly to their supervisor, Captain Sarah Mitchell.After relaying the update to the division chief, Captain Mitchell came back and called a case review meeting.The conference room table was covered in files on the arms smuggling case. The projector was still frozen on crime scene photos from the old residential building, the location where over a hundred rifles and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition had simply vanished.Captain Mitchell traced her fingers across the files, brow furrowed, and after a long silence spoke."Cole's involvement can be ruled out. Shift focus to the other suspects.""Captain."Park stood up immediately, her tone leaving no room for interpretation."I don't think we can fully rule him out."Mitchell looked up at her, expression neutral. "Give me your reasoning.""My instinct." Park said it without hesitation.A ripple of suppressed lau

At three in the morning, Ethan finally dragged his exhausted body to bed.By eight the next morning, he was awake.His body had changed fundamentally since his rebirth, recovery came fast, even after nights like this one. In his previous life, a night like that would have left him unable to function until noon. Now he just felt mildly stiff.He glanced at Mia beside him. She was still deeply asleep, cheeks carrying the faint flush of the night before, breathing steadily.He carefully moved her arm off him and got up. After washing up, he checked the calendar.Fourteen days.He ate a quick breakfast and drove to the largest wholesale produce market in the city."I want to order 100 tons each of apples, bananas, oranges, grapefruit, grapes, watermelons, mangoes, and pears."Ethan stood at the largest vendor's stall and stated his requirements without preamble.The vendor stared at him."Son, did you say 100 tons each? That's thousands of tons total. We're talking dozens of semi-trucks."

Back at the apartment, Mia ran a hot bath first, then helped Ethan through a proper shower with the quiet attentiveness she'd developed over the past weeks.When Ethan came out wrapped in a towel, Mia leaned close to his ear, her voice carrying a warm, deliberate edge."Go wait on the bed. I have something for you."Ethan raised an eyebrow. He had a reasonable idea of what was coming, Mia had been methodical about keeping things interesting, rotating through enough creative variations that he'd genuinely stopped being able to predict what came next."Alright." He smiled and went.He'd barely settled against the headboard when the bedroom door opened quietly.Mia walked in wearing a white halter top that left her midriff bare, paired with a high-slit silk skirt that moved with her steps and showed long stretches of smooth skin. No shoes. Long hair loose over her shoulders. Minimal makeup. Eyes soft and direct, watching him with a warmth that was neither performed nor uncertain.She cro

What Ethan didn't know was that Agent Dana Park had been thinking about him considerably more than he had been thinking about her.After failing to get approval through Captain Mitchell, Park had gone home and done what people with the right parents sometimes do when official channels run slow.That same morning, in a townhouse in a quiet residential neighborhood, breakfast had the particular tension of a conversation that hadn't finished from the night before.Robert Park, Deputy Director of the Northeast Regional Field Office, sat at the head of the table in a pressed dark suit jacket, reading a print report, his coffee untouched.His wife, Carol Park, Assistant Director of the Federal Anti-Corruption Division, was in silk loungewear with her phone in one hand, watching their daughter Dana from across the table.Dana was pushing a piece of egg around her plate, eyes still slightly red from the night before. After coming home and going to her mother with the full account, Carol had i

Mia had wasted no time.Following Ethan's instructions, she'd ended her lease, packed everything she owned, and moved it all into his apartment within two days. Given how much of her wardrobe had been purchased by Ethan over the past month, the volume of clothing was considerable.She stood in the living room doorway looking slightly sheepish."Ethan, I have a lot of clothes. A lot of them you bought. I think they might be taking over. Are you going to say something?"Ethan looked up from the documents he'd been reviewing and smiled."Use the space. Once the renovation's done and we move over, you can have as much room as you want."The Storage Space has no ceiling, he thought privately. She could bring everything in every closet in New York and I'd still have room.Mia's expression softened. She came around behind him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pressed her cheek against his back."Ethan, you're genuinely good to me. I never imagined living somewhere like this."Ethan set