The charts were arranged across the desk in a neat stack.

Ronald looked at them for a long moment. Then he picked them up and tossed them across the room.

They hit Sam in the face and scattered across the floor around him.

Sam didn’t move to pick them up. His hands were shaking too much for that, and the two men standing behind him weren’t positioned to let him move anyway.

He’d had two weeks to wonder what would happen when Ronald found him. He’d spent most of that time hoping the answer was nothing. Now he was kneeling on polished marble in an office that smelled like expensive cologne and quiet threat, and the answer was becoming clear.

Ronald sat back in his chair and looked at Sam the way a man looks at something he’s already decided the value of.

"So," Ronald said. "Phantom threatened you."

"Sir—"

"And you did it." Ronald’s voice carried no particular anger. Just the flat quality of a fact being examined. "You went ahead and defamed my association on his instruction. You didn’t call me. You didn’t find a way to warn me. You simply... did what he told you."

Sam swallowed.

’Because he sliced off Kelsey’s hands, and threw me off a fucking building’ he thought. ’He sliced them off like it was nothing and then asked which hand had done it first. And I was standing right there.’

"I’m sorry, sir," he said aloud.

Ronald studied him for a moment.

"Was he frightening?" he asked. Almost curiously.

"Sir?"

"Phantom." Ronald tilted his head slightly. "Was he frightening enough that you chose him over me?"

Sam thought about cold blue eyes in the dark on a rooftop. About the space around a hand twisting. About Kelsey’s hands on the ground with Kelsey still staring at them.

"...Yes sir," Sam said quietly.

Ronald was quiet for a moment.

Then he smiled.

"Good," he said. "That tells me exactly how valuable he is."

He stood, moving around the desk with the unhurried ease of someone who had never once needed to rush anything.

"His sister," Ronald said. "That’s what has him reactive. That’s the variable." He looked at Sam directly. "You’re going to get her for me."

Sam felt the blood drain from his face.

"Sir—"

"You’re going to get her, bring her to me, and then we’ll see exactly what Phantom does when someone he cares about is the thing being threatened rather than the threat." Ronald’s expression remained pleasant. "If you do this, we’re even. If you don’t do it before I arrange it another way—" He glanced at the two men behind Sam. "Well. You’ve had a preview of what that looks like."

"Next time it may be worse than that" he flashed him a sharp glare. Then moved back to his desk, sinking comfortably into his seat.

"Take the trash out of my office."

The two men hauled Sam upright and threw him through the door, like a ragdoll and slammed the door behind him.

Sam stood alone in the mirrored elevator and looked at his reflection.

’My life’s completely ruined’ he thought seeing the bags under his eyes.

He looked terrible. He’d looked terrible for two weeks and today had made it considerably worse.

The numbers counted down.

He thought about Ronald’s order. He thought about what would happen if he did it. He thought about what would happen if he didn’t.

Then he thought about a rooftop.

About being caught mid-fall seventy meters above the ground. About those eyes looking at him with the specific calm of someone who had decided what they were willing to do and had no particular feelings about it either way.

’If you don’t do it in the next five hours, I’ll come back’ Nicholas words echoed in his head again.

He hadn’t doubted it then.

He didn’t doubt it now.

The elevator reached the ground floor. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The doors opened.

Sam walked out into the lobby, through the revolving door, and onto the street. He flagged down a cab, got in, and sat staring at the seat in front of him while the driver pulled into traffic.

He hadn’t decided anything yet.

He wasn’t sure there was anything to decide. Both options ended badly. The only question was which kind of badly he preferred.

’Sir Ronald completely has no idea what he’s getting himself into, Why’d I have to be tossed in the middle of all this mess!’ Sam thought, his hairs falling from the stress.

"You don’t look so good."

Sam’s head snapped up, eyes wide with terror, "Is that how you want to guard my sister?"

Nicholas sat in the front of the driver’s seat, staring at him through the rearview mirror.

Sam stared at him.

"How did you—" He stopped. Looked around. Looked back. "When did you—"

"You were flagged the moment you left the building." Nicholas glanced at him through the rearview mirror with an expression of mild professional disappointment.

"You also walked past three different exit routes without taking any of them. That’s not the behavior of someone who has a plan."

Sam’s mouth opened. Closed.

"Ronald wants the girl," Nicholas said. It wasn’t a question.

Sam looked at his hands.

"...Yes."

"What did he offer you?"

"His mercy."

Nicholas was quiet for a moment.

"That’s not worth very much," he said finally.

"No," Sam agreed. "I’m beginning to understand that."

The cab didn’t move. Nicholas didn’t seem to be in any particular hurry.

"You told me," he said. "That counts for something."

Sam looked up at him carefully, "What happens now?"

Nicholas looked back at the road ahead, ’I’ve dealt with people like these in the past, didn’t think I’d have to deal with them here too’ he thought letting out a sigh.

"Nothing happens," he said. "You take care of my sister as we’ve agreed, if anything happens to her then you know what will come for you. As for Raystar association... they just need to make one more mistake."