Chapter 53: Poison Lunch

Jaxon

Sara had been right: being home felt different. It was clear things had changed. I loved starting mornings with Sara, driving to work with her and knowing she was around if needed.

But at the same time everything was the same, it felt like we hadn’t gone away at all. I still received my regular amount of paperwork and meetings. I still had to present information to the board regularly, and unfortunately I still had the same number of shady calls and texts that I needed to answer. As much as I was starting to hate it, answering that world became almost more important. Something was off and I could feel the ground under my throne starting to crumble.

It was a drizzly Thursday—which made me miss the heat of the islands—when that black other-world phone rang. I saw the number and recoiled.

“What do you want, Cynthia?” I growled. I didn’t mean to be so instantly hostile with her, but talking to her was the last thing I wanted. Sara said we were starting fresh and I didn’t n