After the Alderbrook Spirits contract was signed, Julian headed to the distillery with the rest of the project team for due diligence.

Alderbrook marketed itself as trendy. Young. Modern.

The company itself was none of those things.

Family-run.

Old-school.

Conservative down to the bones.

On the third morning, the Apex VP left early for another meeting. The analyst took Leo to meet the CFO, leaving Julian and another management trainee to interview the chairman.

The chairman of Alderbrook Spirits was somewhere in his sixties.

Heavy face.

Sharp eyes.

A temper that hit the room before he did.

The second he saw how young they were, his expression darkened.

Half the questions got brushed aside before they even finished asking them.

Then Julian brought up the company's core competitive advantage.

The old man dropped his pen onto the table with a loud crack.

"I hired you people to solve problems," he snapped. "If I have to answer everything myself, what's the point of paying you?"

Emma He sat beside Julian clutching the recorder with both hands.

Quiet girl.

Soft voice.

She looked visibly rattled.

The chairman turned toward them again.

"What exactly are they teaching kids your age now?" he barked. "Sending children to interview me?"

Jesus fucking Christ.

Julian smiled anyway.

"If Alderbrook chose Apex," he said evenly, "then you already trust our ability to handle the work."

The old man stared at him.

Julian kept going.

"The interview's just a process. What matters is presenting Alderbrook properly to regulators and investors."

A beat.

"We want them to understand why the company deserves confidence."

Silence stretched across the office.

Then the old man grunted.

Apparently satisfied.

"Alderbrook's core strength," he said proudly, "is naturally our baijiu product line. This particular label—"

The interview finally ended forty minutes later.

Emma practically collapsed the second they stepped outside.

"Oh my god."

She shoved the recorder into her pocket and exhaled hard.

"I thought we were leaving empty-handed."

Julian nodded.

"At least we got usable material."

"Good thing you were there."

Emma glanced over at him.

"Honestly? You've changed a lot."

Julian looked confused.

"Changed how?"

"I don't know." She thought for a second. "Your vibe's different now."

Another pause.

"You used to hate confrontation."

She laughed softly.

"Look at you, handling people now."

Julian almost laughed.

Most nights he still couldn't sleep.

Still felt one missed deadline away from falling apart completely.

"I was just winging it," he said.

"And I still hate situations like that."

"Seriously?" Emma looked shocked. "Couldn't tell at all."

Samuel had thrown him into enough disasters lately that this barely even registered anymore.

Client dinners.

Live presentations.

Cleaning up messes under impossible deadlines.

Compared to all that—

handling one arrogant old man almost felt manageable.

"It's acting," Julian said with a grin.

"In investment banking, introverts either learn fast or die."

Emma sighed dramatically.

"Seriously. This industry is brutal for people like us."

She nudged his arm lightly.

"There were days I thought screw this, maybe I should just go back and get a PhD."

Julian looked oddly jealous.

"I thought about grad school too."

"Then why didn't you go?"

Emma frowned.

"You had the grades for it."

"And your undergrad background's insane."

"You would've been great in academia."

Julian remembered his father's sigh the night he mentioned graduate school.

Heavy.

Tired.

Disappointed before Julian had even finished speaking.

The man who once claimed he'd sell everything to support Julian's education suddenly thought a bachelor's degree was more than enough.

His parents had both dropped out after middle school.

Julian never expected them to understand academia.

They'd gotten him through college.

That alone already felt expensive enough.

"Figured I should work first," Julian said quietly, eyes lowered.

Emma nodded immediately.

"Honestly? Makes sense."

A small laugh.

"Funny thing is, I didn't even know I liked research till I started working."

The schedule stayed brutal the rest of the day.

Factory visits.

Production checks.

Document verification.

By the time they finished, the sun was already setting behind the mountains.

On the final evening, Alderbrook fully embraced the whole liquor-company culture and organized a massive farewell dinner.

Julian escaped ten minutes after arriving.

Claimed he still had work to finish.

Not even entirely a lie.

He asked Emma to send over the interview recording. Planned to organize the transcript tonight.

Two minutes later:

[Emma]: The recorder's gone.

Julian stopped walking.

[Emma]: Leo borrowed it this afternoon :(

[Emma]: He still can't find it...

Julian messaged Leo next.

The answer came back quickly.

Possibly left at the factory.

And they were leaving early tomorrow morning.

So Julian went back with him to search.

By then it was already ten at night.

The workers were gone.

The entire factory sat dark beneath the mountains.

Silent buildings stretching across the hillside like sleeping monsters.

Leo headed toward wastewater processing.

Julian took the liquor cellar.

The place was pitch-black.

Cold.

Too quiet.

Julian switched on his phone flashlight and moved carefully between the barrels.

Finally—

there.

The recorder sat wedged behind a stack of casks.

Julian bent down to grab it.

Movement flashed suddenly in the corner of his vision.

Before he could react—

Fire exploded across the cellar.

Holy shit.

The flames climbed frighteningly fast.

Sirens tore through the quiet town minutes later.

Red emergency lights painted the night in violent flashes.

Julian sat outside the cellar wrapped in his down jacket, watching firefighters drag hoses underground.

Thankfully they caught it early.

The fire stayed contained.

Julian finally stood to leave—

then nearly walked straight into the chairman.

Great.

Exactly who he wanted to see right now.

The old man strode toward him first.

"Good thing you spotted it early," he said heavily. "Otherwise we'd be talking about more than two ruined barrels."

Julian had cursed this man out internally at least fifty times already.

Getting thanked by him felt bizarre.

"Could've been worse," Julian muttered.

The scene stayed chaotic.

Police moved in and out taking statements.

Julian explained what he'd seen and finally slipped away.

He'd barely reached the factory gates when his phone rang.

Asher.

"Heard there was a fire," Asher said immediately. "You okay?"

"I'm fine."

Julian stepped around a puddle near the road.

"The fire's already out. Damage seems manageable."

"Police are investigating now."

"And you?"

Julian opened his mouth.

"I'm—"

Leo snatched the phone directly out of his hand.

"Julian's hurt," he shouted loudly into the receiver. "And he refuses to go to the hospital."

Julian stared at him.

Traitor.

"Go get checked," Asher said immediately. "Work can wait. We'll send someone over."

"That's really unnecessary," Julian argued. "It's barely even a scratch. You guys don't need to come all the way out here—"

"Too late," Asher cut in.

"They're already on the road."

A pause.

"Should arrive in about an hour."

Julian closed his eyes briefly.

Right.

No point fighting it anymore.

"...Thanks," he said finally.

Leo got held back by police afterward since he'd also seen someone near the fire scene earlier.

So Julian ended up alone outside the factory gates trying to call a cab.

Ten minutes.

Nothing.

Eventually he gave up and started walking back toward the hotel.

The due diligence reports could wait until tomorrow.

His regular work couldn't.

Back in the hotel room, Julian finished everything he'd missed during the day and sent the files over to Samuel.

No reply.

The Alderbrook fire had already hit local news.

Messages started flooding in from coworkers checking on him.

Julian replied to each one individually.

Somewhere in the middle of all that, he noticed a message from his father sent two hours earlier.

Urgent matter. Call back when you see this.

Julian checked the time.

Almost midnight.

He hesitated.

Didn't want to wake them if it wasn't serious.

But what if something had happened?

So he sent a text first.

Still awake? Can you talk?

The call came immediately.

Julian's chest tightened.

"What happened?" he asked quickly. "Did something happen at home?"

The phone was on speaker.

His mother's voice came through first.

"Why'd you reply so late? Still working?"

Julian leaned back against the headboard.

"Yeah."

Then:

"What happened?"

Silence lingered briefly on the other end.

Then his mother laughed softly.

"Well... your birthday's coming up."

"We were thinking maybe we'd visit New York."

"If that's okay?"

Julian blinked.

Right.

His birthday.

He'd forgotten completely.

The idea of family visiting actually made him happy.

A little.

Then reality hit immediately after.

He had nothing.

Tiny apartment.

No savings.

No time.

No energy to drag his parents across the city on subways and buses while counting every dollar.

But his mother's voice sounded careful.

Hopeful.

Julian softened instantly.

She'd never traveled before.

Back when he was in college, she'd once wanted to visit Boston.

Ended up giving up after checking hotel prices.

His father hadn't agreed either.

Julian still remembered promising himself he'd take them somewhere nice one day once he started making money.

"You can come," he said quietly.

"I just might not have much time off work."

"We're visiting you," his mother said immediately.

"Not sightseeing."

Another pause.

"When are you planning to come?"

"After Jason starts winter break."

Three people traveling cross-country wasn't cheap.

But Julian had income now.

He should be giving back to his family.

"How are you getting here?"

"Train's fine," his mother said.

His father cut in:

"Sleeper if possible."

Even without the reminder, Julian couldn't stomach the thought of them spending thirty hours on a slow train.

He'd done it before.

The summer after middle school graduation, when he'd gotten accepted into a top high school, his parents finally let him visit the coastal city where they worked.

July heat.

Crowded green train cars.

Sweat.

Noise.

Thirty straight hours standing and squeezing through strangers.

Still one of the worst memories of his life.

Julian started checking high-speed rail tickets instead.

Twelve-plus hours.

Nearly a thousand dollars.

And their hometown didn't even have a direct station.

They'd need to transfer through the provincial capital.

Probably book a hotel overnight too.

At that point—

flying almost made more sense.

Which somehow cost even more.

Julian stared at the numbers on the screen.

Silent.

His savings were getting dangerously low.

Even with next month's double paycheck, things would still be tight.

Twenty-thousand monthly salary sounded impressive until taxes, insurance, and rent carved it to pieces.

His throat tightened.

"Would hard sleeper be okay?"

Silence.

Then his mother laughed lightly.

"Of course."

"Back then, we sat thirty hours on hard seats just to get to the coast for work."

Guilt hit so hard Julian almost couldn't breathe.

Several times he nearly said maybe don't come after all.

But then he remembered his mother's hands.

His father's missing finger from the construction site accident years ago.

The words wouldn't come out.

They'd worked brutal jobs their entire lives.

Raised him anyway.

Now he'd finally climbed high enough to help.

Wasn't this exactly what he'd worked for?

So why did he still feel exhausted all the time?

After hanging up, Julian sat alone on the edge of the bed.

Heavy silence pressing against his ribs.

He had a better job now.

More money.

Better prospects.

So why did his life still feel exactly the same?

His phone vibrated suddenly.

Samuel.

Julian answered immediately, voice rough from exhaustion.

"Boss?"

"You're not at the hospital."

Samuel's voice came low through the speaker.

Flat.

Unreadable.

Julian blinked.

"What?"

"Where are you?"

A beat.

"...Hotel."

"Come downstairs," Samuel said.

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

Julian stared at the screen after the call ended.

Wait.

Samuel?

Not Asher?

And how the hell was he already this close?

His thoughts tangled instantly.

But he didn't dare waste time.

Julian splashed cold water on his face and hurried downstairs.

The town had gone completely quiet by then.

Only one streetlamp still glowed outside the hotel entrance.

Several minutes later, a black sedan pulled up in front of him.

The driver's-side window lowered slowly.

Samuel glanced at him once.

"Get in."

Julian hesitated beside the car.

"I'm really okay," he said quietly. "You didn't have to—"

"Don't make me say it twice."

Samuel's voice dropped lower.

Commanding now.

"Get in."

Something stung sharply behind Julian's eyes.

"You came all the way here just to yell at me?"

Samuel looked caught off guard for half a second.

Then his expression eased.

"Sorry," he said.

Much softer this time.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay."

A pause.

"Get in. We're going to the hospital."

Julian didn't move.

Samuel didn't rush him either.

Just waited.

Patient.

Another few seconds passed.

The tightness in Julian's chest loosened slightly.

After a moment, Julian opened the door and slid into the passenger seat.