Chapter 4

Ethan' s old apartment was just as he' d left it two years ago: dusty, smelling faintly of stale air, and filled with furniture covered in white sheets. It was a ghost of a former life, but it was his. As he uncovered a lumpy couch and dropped his boxes on the floor, he felt not a sense of loss, but of a new beginning. This was a blank slate.

His phone rang two days later. It was Olivia. Her voice was different. The shrieking rage was gone, replaced by a soft, almost gentle tone he hadn't heard in a long time. It was the voice she used when she wanted something.

"Ethan," she began, "I' ve had some time to think. I was upset. We both were. Let' s not throw everything away."

He waited, knowing there was a catch.

"I want you to come back," she said. "I' ll give you your job back. Senior Developer. Same pay." She paused. "But there' s a condition. For things to work, you' ll report directly to Liam. It' s the only way he' ll respect the hierarchy. It' s the only way he' ll truly learn from you."

The insult was so profound, so utterly tone-deaf, that for a moment, Ethan couldn' t speak. She wasn' t offering an olive branch; she was offering him a collar.

He could hear a muffled whining in the background. It was Liam. "Tell him he has to, Aunt Olivia! It' s not fair that he gets to just leave after what he did to me!"

Olivia' s voice became saccharine sweet, not meant for Ethan' s ears. "It' s okay, sweetie. Don' t worry. I' m handling it." The sharp contrast, the way she coddled the saboteur and patronized the expert, was all Ethan needed to hear.

He started to laugh. It wasn't a happy sound. It was a cold, empty laugh that held no humor.

"You' re kidding me, right, Olivia?"

Her gentle facade shattered instantly. "Don' t you dare laugh at me!" she seethed. "This is a generous offer. You' ll regret this, Ethan. You think you' re so special? You' ll never find a company that will treat you as well as I did."

"Goodbye, Olivia," he said, and hung up the phone. He blocked her number and immediately threw himself into preparing for his final round of interviews with Phoenix Innovations. He needed to focus on the future, not the toxic past.

An incoming video call popped up on his laptop screen a few hours later. The caller ID was Liam Hayes. Against his better judgment, he answered it.

Liam' s smirking face filled the screen. He was spinning in a large leather chair. Olivia' s chair. Her nameplate was visible on the desk in front of him. He was in her office.

"Hey, Ethan!" Liam said, his voice dripping with smug satisfaction. "Just wanted to let you know, Aunt Olivia put me in charge of all your old projects. The whole portfolio. Said I had a fresh perspective."

He leaned closer to the camera. "Don' t worry, man. I' ll try not to mess them up too bad. It can' t be that hard, right?"

Ethan felt a surge of pity for the clients, for the employees, for the company Olivia had sacrificed him for.

"Good luck, Liam," Ethan said, his voice devoid of emotion. "You' re going to need it. Especially with the quarterly server migration coming up at the end of the month. That' s a tricky one."

He knew Liam didn't have the first clue what that entailed. It was a complex, delicate operation that Ethan had spent weeks planning.

Liam' s smirk faltered for a second, a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes. Just then, Olivia walked into the frame behind him. She looked tired and annoyed. She saw Ethan on the screen, and her face darkened. She reached over and ended the call abruptly.

Ethan closed his laptop. He shook his head slowly. She had done it. She had actually handed the keys to the kingdom to a fool. It wasn't his problem anymore. But he knew, with a sinking certainty, that it was only a matter of time before the whole thing came crashing down.