CHAPTER 77: LIAM

I pounded my fist on the conference table, the sharp crack echoing through the room. The projector screen was still flashing its garbled data, but no one seemed to be paying attention anymore. Everyone's gaze was fixed on me, a mixture of fear and uncertainty in their eyes. My patience was gone, and my frustration was reaching its limit.

"Seriously?" I barked, my voice echoing off the walls. "We've been going around in circles for weeks. I'm tired of this. We need a real plan, not this disorganized mess!"

The room fell silent. You could cut the tension with a knife. I felt like I was on the edge of a cliff, looking down at a chasm of stress and exhaustion. It wasn't just this meeting. It was everything—my work, my strained relationship with Emma, and the looming shadow of her father's disappearance two decades ago.

Emma and I had been distant lately, but that wasn't the whole story. The real weight on my shoulders was the dark history connecting our families. Her father had disappeare