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1
OAK
The creek of metal bowing under extreme heat echoes through the night air, pushing me to run harder.
Fire.
The smoke billows in ominous clouds over the building, foreshadowing the darkness of the future, my future.
Ash.
As I round the corner and the building appears, all the air escapes from my lungs. The spark of blazing flames licks at the building’s windows with a ferocity that looks untameable as the fire engulfs my entire life’s work.
Ruin.
My legs ache from running the mile to the building as I struggle to draw clean air into my lungs. The smoke infects it like a disease, penetrating my lungs as rapidly as it destroys everything I’ve worked to build.
I’m too late.
It has spread to every part of the office block, including the top floor housing the server room, which is the hub and heart of my corporation. The sirens pierce through the air, nearing me and my headquarters, but I realize there’s no hope. If the fire reaches the server room, my entire life’s work is destroyed.
All I can do is watch as my empire burns to the ground. The Archer sign creaks violently as the inferno bends the steel, leaving it hanging onto the side of the building by a thread.
The corrupt assholes behind the fire have torn everything from me over one pitiful argument. I didn’t want to provide my services to gangsters, as my business is legitimate, and that’s how I wanted to keep it, but they wanted me to pay protection money to them. So, they’ve ripped it all from me for sayingno.
Archer Data corporation’s secure servers and entire net worth are in that building. We have nothing if the fire makes it into the server room. The Carmichael clan did this to me. They tore everything I built away from me at the flick of a switch.
My body shudders as I clench my fists by my side, longing to hit something or somebody. I grind my teeth together so forcefully it feels like I might shatter them as I stare at the destruction they’ve left in their wake. The crinkling of the paper between my fingers brings my attention to the letter they posted through my letterbox on Carmichael Enterprises’ letter-headed paper.
Your empire will burn for this.
The second I heard my letterbox at this hour, I was sure it would be them after Jamie Carmichael’s threat at our meeting two days ago.
Comply or suffer, Brett. It’s your decision. We run this city, and no one gets by without paying their fair share. I will ruin you if you don’t.
My refusal to work with criminals led to my destruction, but what man wouldn’t fight against criminals?
People I despise. When I was old enough, I ran from the same type of people, leaving my home country behind and changing my name, establishing something on my own from scratch.
My name on the building, Archer, finally crumples under the heat as the last thread of steel holding it to the office snaps. I growl as it scrapes down the side of the building, screeching as it shatters the windows.
There’s a darkness inside of me, which I’ve tried for a long time to bury, but it is tugging at my insides, longing to break free and wreak havoc on the Carmichael Clan. I may not be a criminal, but darkness reigns inside of me.
When I left the office, Jane told me she’d be working late tonight, but hopefully not this late. It’s past two o’clock. Jane has worked at Archer Data Corp for seven years, and in all that time, I’ve ignored the cosmic pull between us, knowing that it’s inappropriate for the CEO to date his staff. My tastes in sex aren’t conventional, and she wouldn’t understand the darkness that resides in me. She couldn’t have truly loved a man like me.
I shake my head, convincing myself she can’t be inside. It’s too late. She would have been long gone.
The police cars and fire department race into the parking lot, distracting me from my thoughts. They’ll no doubt ask me to leave the scene, but I can’t. My world is crumbling in front of my eyes.
One of the police officers exits the vehicle and approaches me. “Sir, are you the one that called us?”
I nod in reply. “Yes, this is my company’s headquarters.”
He nods. “Can I take your name, please?”
“Brett Oakley Archer.”
The police officer scribbles my name on his notepad. “Thank you. How did you learn of the fire?”
