Page 29 of Controlled Drift
Luca went still.“That’s dangerous.”
“It was meant to be,” Ethan replied.
“And Pyre?”Victor asked.
Ethan exhaled.“A mask.A necessary one.”He lifted his gaze, meeting each of them in turn before it finally settled on Niko.“If Phoenix is the rebirth, Pyre is the end.”
That earned a surprised reaction, which Ethan found he didn’t mind.
“I stayed invisible all the time I was with my father,” he said.“I built this place.Staffed it.Made sure my daughter would never be collateral in anyone's fucked up war.”
“So, it’s just you and Poppy now,” Niko said.
Ethan finally met his eyes.“Yes.My brother, Marcus, is almost eighteen and just about to finish high school.I sent him out of state for his final two years.I needed to get him away from my father as well.”
The rest of the room faded out.
“The rest of this,” Ethan said quietly, “is just for you and me.”
He stood and used the intercom to call down.“Lucy?Could you show everyone to the guest wing?”
She appeared moments later.When the others filed out, Ethan didn’t move until Niko did.
“Will you come with me?”Ethan asked.
“Yes,” Niko said without hesitation.
Ethan turned toward the hallway, heart pounding, knowing with absolute certainty that whatever came next could cost him everything—and that he was finally done running.
****
The house had burnedexactly the way it was supposed to.
Gregory Rhodes stood in the quiet of his study, a crystal tumbler clenched in his hand, watching the footage replay on a wall of screens.The explosion bloomed outward in a violent, beautiful rush of fire and debris—structural failure cascading, glass and steel turning into nothing but heat and smoke.
Except it meant nothing.
Because the bastard hadn’t been there.
Gregory set the glass down hard enough that the liquor inside sloshed dangerously close to the rim.His jaw tightened, fury coiling low and sharp in his gut.
A ruse.
They had been so certain.The analysts.The contractors.Everyone who had assured him that the house in Oregon was Ethan’s.That they had finally cornered the problem.That the leash was back within reach.
Instead, his son had been watching.
Waiting.
Gregory moved closer to the screens, eyes narrowing as he scrubbed back through the feeds.He watched Black Tide flow through the property like a surgical strike.Watched them split, adapt, dominate.
And then he watched Ethan vanish.
Again.
“Pyre,” Gregory said aloud, tasting the name with contempt.
He’d known.
