What We Choose to Burn
Muri sat alone in the estate's archive, the folder open on the table before her. The file wasn't just about her.
It was about everything.
A prototype she had created. Stolen. Hidden. Buried by her father and Lex's. A partnership in silence forged from fear.
The worst part?
She could still see Lex's smile.
Could still hear his voice the night before when he held her like he meant forever.
She had just gotten him back.
And now she held the key to breaking him all over again.
A whisper of a footstep behind her.
Eleanor stood in the doorway, watching quietly. "If you love him, you'll protect him from this."
Muri looked up sharply. "Or I tell him the truth. And let him decide what kind of man he wants to be."
Eleanor raised a brow. "He will not forgive his father. And he may never forgive you."
Muri closed the file. Her pulse was a war drum in her chest.
"I have to try."
She left the estate with the folder under her arm and guilt clawing up her spine.
---
Back at Lex's Penthouse
Lex had sobered by the time she returned. He stood by the window in a clean shirt, hair damp, watching the skyline with a whiskey glass in hand—but this time, it was untouched.
He turned at the sound of the door.
"You left," he said quietly.
"I went to see your mother," Muri replied. "She gave me this."
She placed the folder on the table between them like it was a bomb. Because it was.
Lex stared at it. At her. Then back at the file.
"What is it?"
"The truth," she whispered.
He reached for it—but stopped. His hand hovered.
"Does it change everything?"
Muri nodded.
Lex looked up at her. "And us?"
Muri's voice cracked. "That depends on what kind of man you choose to be after you read it."
Lex's jaw clenched.
And then… he opened it.