Mira waited until the dead of night to leave.
The suitcase was light—just clothes, prenatal vitamins, and the medical records for her mother. She had called Liam a few hours earlier, whispering through the tears, "Meet me at the old bus terminal. Midnight. Bring nothing you can't leave behind."
Liam hadn't asked questions. He just said, "I'll be there." She moved through the city like a ghost, hoodie up, head down. At the bus station, the air was thick with diesel and desperation. Liam stood waiting, his hand wrapped around her mother's frail shoulders. The older woman looked confused, but Mira smiled and kissed her cheek gently.
"Everything's okay now, Mama. We're going somewhere better." They boarded the bus, choosing seats at the very back. Mira sat by the window, her hand resting protectively on her belly.
This was it. No more black rooms. No more, Adrian. No more chains, freedom.
Until the black SUV appeared. It pulled up alongside the bus as they exited the city's edge. Two men in suits stepped on. Mira's stomach turned.
"Miss Collins?" one asked, flashing a badge. "You're required to appear for a legal review under Steele Corp's clause 14.1. Failure to comply is a breach of your financial agreement."
Liam stood, fists clenched. "She doesn't work there anymore."
The man didn't flinch. "She received medical payments in exchange for personal compliance. She's still bound." Mira felt her world collapsing again.
She looked at Liam, then her mother, quietly stood.
"Don't," Liam said. "Don't do this."
She touched his cheek. "Take her. Keep her safe. Please."
He looked ready to fight, to drag her off that bus if he had to, but Mira stepped away and surrendered.
---
Back at Steele Tower, Adrian stood by his window, hands in his pockets. When she entered, he didn't turn.
"You ran."
"I had to."
"And now you're back. Why?" Mira stepped forward. "Because you forced me."
He finally turned. "I gave you everything. Protection. Money. Power."
"You gave me a cage," she said. "A velvet one, sure, but still a cage."
He walked toward her, gaze dark. "You don't get to play the victim. You made choices."
"I made sacrifices," she snapped. "So my mother wouldn't die. So I wouldn't collapse under the weight of poverty. You exploited that." Adrian's voice softened. "Julian was going to use you."
"He already did," she said coldly. "Through Amy."
Adrian's expression darkened. "She's been arrested. My legal team intercepted her data transfer. Julian's been sent back to the UK under breach of his parole." Mira blinked. "What?"
"I cleaned up the mess," he said simply. "Because I always do."
She shook her head. "You don't get to control everyone's fate."
"I do when they're in my world."
Silence hung thick between them. Then Mira spoke the words she'd been holding.
"I'm pregnant."
Adrian didn't move. "It's not yours," she continued. "It's Liam's. We slept together the night everything got worse. Before you ask."
Adrian didn't move.
At first, Mira thought he hadn't heard her. But then, his hands curled into fists at his sides, slow and deliberate. A muscle twitched in his jaw.
He looked at her with something colder than rage, something close to betrayal.
"I'm sterile," he said. The words hit like a slap. No warning. No room to breathe.
Mira blinked. "What?"
Adrian's voice was razor-sharp. "Medically diagnosed. Years ago. After an injury I don't talk about."
The silence between them thickened, heavy and humming with disbelief.
"You didn't know?" he asked, eyes narrowing.
Mira shook her head, her throat suddenly dry. "No. I swear, I didn't."
He stepped closer, his expression unreadable. "So, you thought it might be mine? That there was a chance?"
"I didn't think anything," she whispered. "I was scared. Everything was falling apart."
His voice rose, barely controlled. "And you let me believe—"
"I never said it was yours!" she snapped, heart pounding. "You assumed." Adrian turned sharply, running a hand through his hair for the first time since she'd known him. His composure was gone. Cracked wide open. "I could have accepted betrayal," he said quietly. "But pity? That's harder to swallow."
Mira took a step back, shaken. "This isn't about pity..."
He cut her off with a low, bitter laugh. "It's always about power, Mira. Mine. Yours. His." He paused.
"But now, there's something inside you I can never have. And that… changes everything.
"I didn't bring you back to punish you," he said at last. "I brought you back because I don't know how to let you go."
Mira's voice cracked. "That's not love. That's obsession."
"No," he said, turning back to her. "Obsession is wanting someone to stay because they're useful. Love is wanting them to stay even after they've broken you." She swallowed hard. "Then let me go."
He took a long breath. "I can't."
"Then I'll stay," she said softly. "But only until my mother's completely safe. After that… I'm gone."
He didn't fight her this time. He just nodded.
---
Mira returned home alone. Liam was gone. He'd left a note: "I love you. But you've changed. And I can't love a ghost." She cried for the first time in days. Not because she lost Liam, but because she didn't recognize herself anymore. And yet, a small part of her still hoped, hoping for peace.
Hope for a future not written by contracts or secrets. And maybe, just maybe, hope for Adrian too.
But hope was a fragile thing, because the next morning, Mira found an envelope slid under her door. No return address. Just her name, written in red ink. Inside was a single photo.
She hesitated before opening it. Her heart pounded against her ribs as if warning her not to look. But she had to. Inside was a single photo. It was her, bound and blindfolded. In Room 41.
And beneath it, a message scribbled in block letters:
"You thought you were done?" Mira's breath caught.
Someone else was still watching, and they weren't finished with her yet.