Chapter 38
“ A lready missing me?” I ask Andrea as she steps into my office.
“Sir, behave. This visit is strictly professional,” she retorts, leaving the door wide open behind her—one of HR’s rules.
“Ah, then what brings you here, Miss Walker?”
“I need to check with you if we can use some of the codes from that old video call app you guys developed a few years ago. There will be a lot to improve, but it’s still better than starting from scratch.”
“Yeah, sure. Steven was the lead on that one. Check with him if there’s anything else you need.”
“Perfect. Also, did you look at that script I sent you?”
“Not yet. I’m about to, though, if you want to supervise me—as the project leader and all.”
She bites back a smile. “I trust you, Coleman. But don’t fuck it up, or I’ll have to take action regarding your incompetence.”
“What actions?”
“That’s a story for another time. Tonight, maybe?” She’s right by me now, looking like her nerdy self in her Jurassic Park T-shirt and high-waisted jeans.
“Looking forward to it,” I reply with a smirk.
Her hand comes to my jaw for a tender graze, as if she can’t hold it back. The door is wide open, but my screens hide the touch.
“Did you enjoy our little breakfast this morning?” I ask, hoping we can do that again in the future.
She nods with a tender smile. “I also enjoyed the one you cooked for me, you know. Salty pancakes or not.”
“I promise I’ll get better at it, freckles.”
“It’s alright if you don’t. I’m in this for better or worse, baby.”
“Marriage vows, already? ”
“You haven’t proposed yet, so I’m taking matters into my own hands.”
My hand reaches for her hip, my index hooking into the belt loop of her jeans to tug her closer. As if reading my mind, she leans in. We exchange a quick peck, separating right as someone enters the room.
“Oh, come on, guys,” Kevin scolds us with amusement. Andrea sets some distance between us before turning to the intruder. I shoot him an annoyed glare, which he ignores. “I get the lovey-dovey phase right now, but let’s avoid getting in trouble over PDAs, yeah?”
“Sorry,” Andrea says with a wince. “I’ll leave you guys alone. Lex, tell me when you’ve gone through that script, please. It’s the last issue we have before running our tests.”
“Wait, while I have you two,” Kevin says, halting her exit. “Dinner at our place Wednesday evening. Shelly insisted, and I’m not one to refuse my wife anything.”
Andrea and I silently consult each other. Michelle has wanted to have us for weeks, but it was never the right time. “I’m free,” Andrea decides.
“Me too. You can tell your wife we’ll finally have that dinner.”
“Great, she’ll be delighted.” Kevin grins. Andrea gives him a nod and leaves, closing the door.
“Are you here for a full report?” I caustically ask Kevin as he steps toward the sofa.
“Well, you left the party before I could ask, Lexi. Shelly was a little offended by the way you snuck out, by the way.”
“That’s why I sent the flowers.”
Smirking, he settles down on the sofa, arms crossed. “So, how did it go with the Walkers?”
“Great. Her parents are amazing, and her abuela is… one of a kind.”
“In a good way, I hope.”
“In the best way. That week there was… I don’t know, eye-opening.” I stand from my chair and walk around my desk to lean on it, facing in his direction. “Your family has always been kind to me, and they welcomed me into your home when we were kids—and even now. But with the Walkers… It was different.”
“That’s because they might actually become your family,” he explains, understanding. “You and Andy are on your way to building a life together, and what’s hers will become yours, and vice versa. Family included.”
I grimace. “My parents can stay out of the deal.”
“I’m fairly confident they got the memo. How did your sisters take what happened at the gala, by the way?”
“Miriam got to them first and gave some biased account of what happened, so they were quite upset with Andrea’s behavior. But then I explained what actually happened, and they’re pissed at our father now. They thought he’d stopped calling me names like that, that he’d realized my diagnosis isn’t as debilitating as he believed.”
“I’m really sorry that you still have to put up with his bullshit all these years later. Shelly is always available if you want to talk. You know that, right? She knows you don’t have a therapist at the moment, and she’s more than willing to have casual sessions with you until you find one.”
“That’s very kind of her, thank you. But I’m doing good, Kev. Really good. I have the best girlfriend in the world, my company is doing great, I work with my best friend, my goddaughter-to-be is adorable…”
“We’re doing the Christening on the last weekend of February, by the way. Our parents are harassing us to have it sooner, but Shelly still isn’t feeling up to it,” Kev explains.
“How’s she doing?”
“Better with every toothless grin of our little Maddy. She started smiling, you know.”
“Yes, I got your seventeen pictures over the holidays.”
“Sorry for loving my daughter so much.”
“Did I complain?” I retort with a quirked eyebrow.
“Anyway, I’m putting another baby in my wife as soon as she’s willing. I know you don’t want your own, but I’ll make up for it—if Shelly is, too, of course.”
Although this isn’t a can of worms I expected to open this morning, I’m in such a joyful mood that I don’t hold back the need to share this recent development with him. “Actually, that has changed.”
The utter shock on his face is comical. “Wait, what?”
“Out of some cosmic luck, Andrea wants children with me. And while I’ve never even considered it before, I’m more than eager to make that happen.”
“You want … children?”
“We agreed on at least two.”
His mouth, which is open with shock, turns into a broad and delighted smile. “I can’t believe you’re going to make me an uncle, after all! Fuck, Lex, that’s big news! ”
“Calm down, Kevin. Millions of people have children every year. It isn’t that big a deal.”
“It is for you. Does it mean you’ll have to—”
“Yes, I already booked an appointment. Now, all that won’t happen for another few years, so calm down, He-Man.”
“Don’t wait too long. Maddy needs cousins close to her age.”
I chuckle, shaking my head. “I knew I shouldn’t have told you. And now Shelly will also know, and she’ll be on my ass about it, too.”
“I will tell her, but I promise we’ll try to stay chill about it.”
“Good. Now, off to work. We both have to catch up from the lengthy break.”
“Right, yes.” He gets up from the sofa and walks to the door. Gripping the handle, he turns around with teary eyes, visible joy plastered on his features. “I’m really happy for you, Lexi. I used to worry about you, and now… I can’t express how good it is to know you’ll be okay and have a good and happy life.”
I don’t hold back from rolling my eyes, even though his words affect me deeply. I was too close to my situation, blinded by tunnel vision, to realize where I was heading. But from an outsider’s perspective, especially one who knows me so well, I can see how my life wasn’t on the healthiest path.
After one last smile and a nod, Kev leaves my office, closing the door behind him. As much as I’d like to linger in the meaningful moment I just shared with my best friend, I have too many things to do. So, I’m quick to return behind my desk. My phone dings with a notification right as I’m sitting, and when I check, I see it’s one of my recently installed apps.
Maria Carmen has played her words, so now it’s my turn. It takes only a moment to find what’ll earn me the most points, so I take it down a few notches and play a different one. I can get competitive, but this isn’t one of those times. I’d rather she doesn’t get sick of me and keeps playing than win some silly game.
I put my phone down and think to myself that it’s a great thing I didn’t tell Kevin about the ring. Although I plan on proposing to Andrea, it won’t happen immediately. So, her abuela’s engagement ring will stay in my sock drawer for a little longer—until we’re ready for the next stage of our life together. Plus, I’ll change the main stone so Maria Carmen can keep the diamond her husband bought for her over fifty years ago. I need to find a jeweler who can make an elegant pendant for it .
Although my focus is a little scattered, I accomplish a lot during the morning. I’ve never minded staying late to work, but I have found a reason to get home on time now, which pushes me to be efficient and have a better work-life balance.
A commotion in the hallway outside makes me check the clock on the bottom right corner of my screen. As I suspected, it isn’t lunch break yet. So, what’s that about? When the noises intensify, I remove my glasses and stare at the closed door, listening. The voices outside are urgent, clipped. Something isn’t right. My stomach tightens, an instinctive warning I can’t explain.
Before I can get up to check, the door flies open so violently it slams against the wall, making the frames there rattle. My brain barely has time to process what happened before they flood in, quick, purposeful, unstoppable, and merciless. A rush of noise follows, sharp words thrown into the space between us, but I can’t hear them, not really. The world narrows to the sudden weight in my chest, the brutal certainty of what’s happening curling around my ribs.
I’ve heard people say that in the final moments, your life flashes before your eyes. Some instinct of the brain, a desperate flood of memories, a last rush of something before the inevitable. Whatever happens to me is the same, but I don’t see my past. I see my future. That’s all that matters—snippets and images of moments that have yet to come, memories of the man I could have been, faces that aren’t born yet…
I see Andrea barefoot in the kitchen of the home we were going to build, stealing bites of my breakfast as the scent of pancakes fills the air. I see a summer afternoon, the laughter of freckled children mixing with the cry of seagulls on a beach we haven’t visited yet. I see the life that should have been ours. The life we were owed.
The noise around me swells—too much, too loud—but my body won’t move, won’t react. I’ve spent years bracing for disaster, expecting the worst, but this isn’t how it was supposed to happen.
Not now.
Not when I finally have entire decades to look forward to.
Not when everything I never even let myself hope for is waiting for me.
Not when I have her .
“ I ’m still mad at you for taking Lex away so early,” Mace protests.
“We wanted to celebrate the new year our own way—with no one around.”
“Sharing is caring, boo.”
“That applies to cupcakes, not boyfriends,” I retort with a grin. “And I did share him with everyone at the party.”
“That’s true. We had fun, didn’t we?”
“A lot, yes. I know Lex did, too. I’m thrilled everyone was okay with him being there. I was worried it’d be weird.”
“Nah, this gotta be the country’s most inclusive and accepting company. We ain’t discriminating against no one—even if they’re rich and our boss.”
I chuckle at the way he frames it. Kelex and its people indeed have a great mentality. Still, I’m delighted the New Year party went well.
“Are you done with your edits?” Mace asks.
“Almost. Give me another five.”
The app is a hit with beta testers. We have a mountain of bug reports to tackle and a handful of user-suggested features to consider. My favorite—one we should have thought of—is adding face calls, allowing video chats where our real-time algorithm instantly translates speech and sign language.
The excitement fuels me like an overcharged battery. I’ve been buzzing all morning, elated by the positive feedback. The app is still far from reaching its full potential, but it’s already an essential tool for some users—much more than I ever hoped.
I just sent Mace the script when I get a text from MC.
MC the Main Character
Dile a tu novio que se guarde su lástima. Yo quiero un reto de verdad.
Tell your boyfriend to keep his pity. I want a real challenge.
Giggling, I reply that I’ll pass the word on to Lex. My abuela is competitive as hell but also a very sore loser. I understand why Lex would let her win, or at least not obliterate her at their online game. He has to be a little less obvious about it, though.
I’m halfway into writing a text to Lex when Brian barges in, out of breath and alarmed. “Guys!” he shouts. “The feds are here! ”
“What?” Mason asks before we can.
“Yeah, Mouly was with some of them in the elevator! Three guys in suits, ten more geared up—like they’re about to make an arrest. And she said they were going just upstairs.”
My body senses what’s happening before my mind can, goosebumps erupting all over my skin, my stomach twisting so violently I might be sick. And when my brain catches up, denial slams into me like a wall. No. There’s no way this is what I think it is. No fucking way. Mouly understood wrong. They aren’t going upstairs. Or they aren’t here to make an arrest.
I look around at the guys, who are all as shocked as I am. But when I meet Oliver’s eyes—filled with raw, unmistakable anguish—my nausea doubles.
“Do you know who they’re here for?” Steven asks, his voice thick with disbelief.
“No, Mouly said it was, like, FBI and Homeland, and they had ‘CYBER’ patches, but that’s it.”
Again, my body reacts before my brain can, practically jumping out of my chair and rushing out. I nearly knock Brian over on my way out, but I don’t stop. I don’t even look back.
No. No. No.
There’s no fucking way this is happening.
The open space is chaos—murmurs, frantic whispers, and suffocating tension. But I don’t hear any of it. I only hear my own heartbeat, a brutal pounding in my ears. Hellbent on getting there, I climb the stairs faster than I ever have, two at a time, and slam my entire body into the door when I reach it.
I refuse to believe it. Not even for a second. There’s no fucking way…
As I stumble into the Kelex upper floor, I see people have gathered there, curious to see what’s happening. I shove through them like a desperate force of nature. And when I break through to the front, I witness the crushing scene that caused everyone to gather like this.
My hammering heart stops beating and the entire world ceases to exist as my fears materialize before my very eyes.
Lex.
Lex, with his hands cuffed behind his back. Lex, surrounded by armed federal agents. Lex, his face carved with agony, defeat, and fear.
A blade of ice buries itself in my chest. I can’t move. Can’t breathe. Like Brian said, over ten federal agents are here, and they’re escorting him toward the elevator. One of the suits grips his arm tightly, forcing him forward like some criminal. Seeing him like this rips my heart in half, my chest aching so much, tears well up in my eyes.
But he isn’t just another criminal. He’s Lex. My Lex.
The hallway spins around me, leaving me dizzy and disoriented. At the same time, it feels as if the Earth stopped on its axis. Countless questions fill my mind, too many at once to leave me capable of thinking rationally. How did they figure it out? Why is this happening now? What will they do to him? Where are they taking him?
Sheer panic makes breathing hard, and when Lex’s eyes drag up and meet mine among the gathered crowd, my lungs stop working altogether. His whole body goes rigid, his steps halting. This isn’t fucking happening.
One of the geared-up men shoves his shoulder with the tip of his assault rifle. A gun. On Lex.
It’s only then that the fear of their weapons sinks in. They could have shot him. One wrong move, one moment of resistance, and they could have ended him during their arrest. The realization hits me so hard that I nearly collapse.
But somehow, the awareness that this could have gone way worse alleviates my overwhelming dismay. Only a little, but enough to get my body to move again.
“Wait!” I scream, the sheer desperation in my voice silencing the room. I don’t think as I lunge forward, ignoring the men barking at me to stay back. I crash into Lex’s solid chest, wrapping my arms around him with every ounce of strength I have.
This isn’t it.
This isn’t our story.
This isn’t how we end.
“I love you,” I utter over and over, my body trembling violently. Someone pulls on my shoulder while they shove him back, trying to separate us. But I cling to him like my life depends on it.
“Andrea, my love, let go,” Lex begs, his voice cracking up. I can feel how much he wishes he could hold me in return, and I resent the handcuffs for preventing it.
I shake my head furiously. “I promised I’d never leave you. I meant it.”
The agents hesitate—maybe out of mercy, maybe to avoid causing a scene. I tilt my face up, struggling to see Lex’s dismayed face through my tears. “What do we do?” I whisper .
“For your own sake, nothing.”
“But—”
“Ma’am, release him,” a suited agent demands.
I tighten my hold instead. When two hands come to my shoulders again, they aren’t as rough or insistent as before. “Andy, come on,” Oliver’s familiar voice says, steady but strained.
“Girl, let go.” This time, it’s Mason.
Lex looks down at me, his eyes locking onto mine like he’s memorizing every detail. “I love you, freckles. I hope you can forgive me.” His voice is soft. Devastated. Final.
He then bends over for a desperate, quick, and poignant kiss. One last shattering kiss. When the guys pull on me this time, I let go. Our lips rip apart. Tears blind me. My body sags, grief swallowing me whole as an endless stream of ache and sorrow flows down my cheeks.
Helpless, I watch as they lead Lex to the elevator, wondering if I should follow them. I need to be with him. He needs me more than ever. I’m not leaving him alone at a time like this. I make a move forward, ready to follow the men, but a Homeland agent stops me, blocking my way with a firm arm.
“Andy, come,” Oli says, trying to take me away from the crowd. His voice is softer than I’ve ever heard it, as if he’s afraid I’ll shatter right here. He tugs at my arm, but I don’t move.
I can’t. Not when Lex enters the elevator, turns around, and gives me one last look. Surrounded, caged in by those men who came to tear our world apart, he stands tall. But I see the hurt in his eyes, how broken he is inside. I want to run to him, to rip him away from those men and disappear together, far from this nightmare.
We don’t let go, our eyes locked by an unbreakable force, and in that moment, it feels like we’re the only two people left on Earth. This last gaze is a love letter, a goodbye, a thousand words we never got to say. I’d pass a million more, but the stainless steel panels slide shut, severing us with cold indifference.
The world doesn’t just tilt—it crumbles and collapses, leaving a gaping, crushing void where Lex used to be.
He’s gone.
And I don’t know how to exist without him.
I’m so lost and disoriented that I don’t even realize Oli and Mason are steering me to an empty conference room. This isn’t real. It can’t be. I’m having a vivid nightmare or hallucinations… But the way my body sh akes with sobs? The way my lungs burn, my breath coming in frantic gasps? That’s real.
So is Mason’s hand rubbing slow, steady circles on my back. And the weight of Oliver’s hand pressing firm against my shoulder, like he’s trying to hold me together.
“Whatever this is,” Mason starts softly, “he’ll be okay, girl. He’s a rich white man, so almost nothing can touch him.”
He’s so damn wrong that I almost laugh—a sharp, broken sound lodged in my throat. He doesn’t get it. This isn’t some misunderstanding. It isn’t a mistake. It’s actually long overdue, like fate catching up with Lex at the worst possible time.
I lift my head, and when my eyes meet Oliver’s, I see he understands. He knows. They don’t make arrests like this on a whim. Not with federal agents. Not with CYBER patches and loaded rifles. Whatever they have on Lex, it’s enough to bury him for a decade. Maybe more. Maybe forever.
But Oliver is wrong, too.
They don’t get to take Lex from me. I’m so fucking done with letting shit keep us apart. They don’t know who they’re up against. With our respective resilience and brains, we can win this. And neither of us is going down without a fight.
Lex is mine.
And if I have to, I will burn the whole fucking world to bring him back.
This won’t end us.
To Be Continued …