“They started talking about how useful my name still was,” he continues. “How many alliances it could repair. Which prisons I would have to visit to show loyalty to the right people.”
He adjusts his grip on the wheel again, knuckles brushing the leather.
“That’s when I realized they weren’t trying to save me. They were just moving the pieces around again.”
The road curves, and he follows it.
“I didn’t want any of it,” Beau adds. “Not the titles, not the wars, not the family business. I wanted something that belonged to me instead of my bloodline.”
I tilt my head slightly. “So you joined the Marines after that?”
“Yeah, part of it was getting out. Part of it was making sure nobody ever got that close to me again.”
Silence stretches for a few seconds, filled only by the low rumble of the engine.
“And part of it,” he admits, quieter now, “was that I didn’t really care if I lived through it.”
I shift in my seat, pulling my legs in closer.
“They thought it was temporary. They figured I would come back trained, disciplined, useful. They thought the military would turn me into a better weapon for them.”
I glance at him again. “And that’s where you met Seth.”
A faint smile touches his mouth.
“Yeah, turns out he and I have a lot in common.”
He taps the steering wheel once.
“Different reasons. Same appetite for violence. Same understanding that the world doesn’t fix itself. Sometimes you burn the problem out.”
The road rumbles beneath us while trees blur by on either side, and the world keeps moving like nothing is wrong.
“So when I say I understand Seth,” Beau adds, “I mean it. Shit like that changes you.”
I turn back to the window, watching the dark slide past.
“He’s going to do something terrible.”
“Yeah,” Beau agrees.
I drag my sleeve over my hands, folding them tighter. “And we can’t stop him.”
Beau lets out a quiet breath. “That part we can agree on.”
I stare ahead, voice steady. “I’m going to do something terrible too.”
Beau looks over at me then. “Are you ready for this? Because what you’re planning to do isn’t something you just come back from.”
“I haven’t come back since I left the manor. I’m not the same person.”
He nods once in acceptance.
The rest of the drive stretches long and quiet.
My thoughts drift back to Seth. I picture his face when the screen went black, the way his body went empty, like something vital had been unplugged. I know him well enough to understand what that moment did to him.
He can’t let this go.
