Jace

One Week Later

Life had never been the same for me, and each day blurred into the next, a monotonous cycle of Mina’s demands and my compliance.

She kept giving me one issue after another, each more ridiculous than the last, and I kept feeling myself shrinking—becoming smaller, weaker, less.

I sat alone in my office. I kept doubting myself. Kept wondering if I was really the man my father had raised me to be. He’d taught me to be ruthless, calculating, and untouchable.

“Never allow anyone to control you using your weaknesses,” he’d said countless times throughout my childhood. “The moment someone discovers your vulnerability, you eliminate the...