Chapter 1

The notification lit up the Agency-issued device, a sleek, featureless black rectangle Maya usually kept tucked away.

"Covenant Term Conclusion: Operative Maya. Extraction Protocol initiated. T-minus seven days."

Seven days.

After five years, just like that.

A wave, not of relief, but of pure, unadulterated indifference washed over Maya.

Ethan. Olivia. Their endless, circular drama.

It all just... stopped mattering.

The phone rang later, Ethan's name flashing on her personal cell.

"Hey, Maya, so, about tonight..."

He sounded distracted, already halfway into his excuse.

"Our anniversary dinner. I know. But Olivia, she just had this massive fight with James, you know how it is, she really needs me. Can we reschedule? Maybe next week?"

Maya was looking at a blank wall.

"Okay."

A pause on his end.

"Okay? That's it? You're not... mad?"

"Why would I be mad, Ethan?"

She heard him huff. "I don't know, you usually get... well, you know. Anyway, thanks for understanding. I owe you one."

He hung up.

Maya didn't move.

She remembered the first anniversary he'd forgotten, then the second he' d bailed on because Olivia had a "really bad day."

The third, he' d shown up two hours late, smelling faintly of Olivia' s expensive perfume, full of apologies that felt like reciting lines.

The fourth, she hadn't even bothered to remind him. He'd spent it consoling Olivia over another James-related crisis.

Each time, a small piece of something inside her had chipped away.

Now, there was nothing left to chip.

She thought about the Agency stipend, modest but regular.

Her freelance graphic design work, that was the real income, the money that paid for this apartment, for Ethan' s expensive coding bootcamps he' d barely finished, for the life he took for granted.

Seven days.

She could almost taste the freedom.