“Dad says that.”
Later, after Amara slept, Kellen and Serafina stood near the apartment door.
Rain had started again.
Light this time.
Serafina looked around.
“Thank you.”
“For being interrogated?”
“For letting me see this.”
Kellen’s defenses rose.
“This?”
“My life?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Your home.”
He relaxed slightly.
Then:
“I know it’s not your world.”
Serafina’s expression changed.
“Kellen.”
“What?”
“Do not decide what my world is because of my bank account.”
He looked at her.
She continued:
“I grew up wealthy.”
“Yes.”
“Ridiculously wealthy.”
“Yes.”
She almost smiled.
“But my mother worked until midnight.”
“My father missed birthdays.”
“Our house had twelve bedrooms and somehow nobody was ever in the kitchen at the same time.”
She looked toward Amara’s drawings taped to the refrigerator.
“This feels more like a home than most places I’ve lived.”
Kellen did not know what to say.
Serafina reached for the door.
Then stopped.
“Amara asked if I like you.”
He laughed softly.
“She has boundary issues.”
“She does.”
“So?”
“So what?”
“Do you?”
Serafina looked directly at him.
“Yes.”
His heartbeat changed.
She continued:
“That is probably a problem.”
“Definitely.”
“Good.”
“Why good?”
“I would distrust us if you thought it was simple.”
Kellen leaned against the wall.
“Your company destroyed my career.”
“I know.”
“You’re my client.”
“Technically David is your contracting attorney.”
“You’re still paying.”
“Yes.”
“You’re…”
He stopped.
“What?”
“Complicated.”
Serafina smiled faintly.
“You’re not exactly easy.”
“No.”
They stood there.
Close.
Not touching.
Kellen wanted to kiss her.
Serafina wanted him to.
Neither moved.
Finally she said:
“When the investigation is over.”
He looked at her.
“You were thinking the same thing.”
“Yes.”
She smiled.
“Good night, Kellen.”
“Good night.”
The investigation ended sooner than either expected.
Not because they had everything.
Because Trevor panicked.
Three days later, he attempted to copy restricted files to an external device.
Security detected it.
David confronted him.
Trevor confessed partially.
Owen had coordinated the original frame-up.
Trevor manipulated engineering records.
Malcolm Voss, the COO, knew safety exceptions were being suppressed but claimed ignorance about Kellen.
Then Trevor revealed why Serafina’s car had been sabotaged.
Not to kill her.
To scare her.
The plan was crude.
Sever the sensor.
Car loses power.
Security “discovers” system vulnerability.
Trevor presents the event as proof Serafina’s proposed investigation would destabilize Vale because prototype systems remained unpredictable.
Then he would argue for postponing the board’s safety review and launch delay.
But Owen added another layer.
He wanted Kellen blamed.
Owen knew from old monitoring that Kellen still lived near the mountain route Serafina sometimes drove.