Chapter 37 Cybil #2
He’s still looking at me. Waiting. Letting the silence get to me.
It’s working.
“But I have to let you go,” he finally says.
I flinch. “You’re firing me?”
“Yes, effective immediately.”
If I wasn’t already sitting, I’m pretty sure my knees would’ve buckled from underneath me. I should be relieved, jumping for
joy, but this has thrown a giant wrench in the plan to get to Ramirez’s laptop. “May I ask what I did?”
“I have paid you for the rest of the year.” He reaches for a piece of paper and hands it to me. “If there’s anything else
you need, a recommendation, I will help you in any way I can.”
I look at the amount written on the check. My breath catches. “Sir, that’s double my salary.”
“Take that and go on a long vacation or start fresh somewhere new. It doesn’t matter, but you need to leave, Cybil. Disappear.
Tonight, if you can.”
I raise my chin. “Excuse me?”
He takes a breath like it’s heavier than the words he’s about to say. “It’s my fault. I should’ve seen it coming. Should’ve
shielded you. But I failed. I couldn’t even protect my own son.”
“Sebastian?”
Mr. Edmond nods, bitterness edging his voice. “He launched a crypto venture two years ago. Thought he’d landed the perfect
investor with Lorenzo, but what he found was a viper in a tailored suit. I didn’t know how dangerous Ramirez was until it
was too late. I should’ve done more to keep Sebastian safe.”
“What’s happened?”
Mr. Edmond’s gaze drifts toward the lake, eyes shadowed with regret. “Lorenzo preyed on Sebastian’s ambition—on his need to
succeed without me looking over his shoulder. He’s always been so determined to break free of the label put on him. That he’ll
never be more than my shadow.”
It’s not the emotion in Mr. Edmond’s voice that hooks me—it’s the words.
Break free of the label.
That small, loaded phrase cuts deeper than I expect. Because I know exactly what it feels like to wear a label that sticks no matter how hard you try to scrub it off.
All my life, I’ve believed I had to prove I wasn’t unstable. That I wasn’t reckless or irresponsible or doomed to fall apart
like the mother I grew up raising. That the only way anyone would take me seriously—or love me—was if I could show them I
was built on control, structure, success.
And worse, I believed Ben thought that too. Just a few careless words, but they wrapped around me like a second skin. Until
today. When Ben didn’t just tell me I was wrong, but showed me. With his actions. His faith. The way he looked at me like
I was already everything I kept trying to prove. The whole time I blamed him for a label he never gave me—but one I gave myself.
The thought barely has time to settle before Mr. Edmond’s voice pulls me back to the present.
“Lorenzo used Sebastian’s company as a front to wash cartel funds—millions. By the time I uncovered the truth, it was too
late.” He turns back to me, and for the first time, I see Earl Edmond the father—not the CEO, not the strategist, just a man
carrying the weight of watching his son get played. “I’ve been trying to fix it. Quietly. Liquidating my own assets, looking
for someone else to step in and take over the deal so I can get Sebastian as far away from Lorenzo and his crimes as possible.
But I wasn’t careful enough. Ramirez noticed. And now he’s watching everyone more closely”—his eyes settle on me—“including
you.”
It hits me then. Mr. Edmond didn’t bring me here to confront me. Or kill me. He doesn’t know who I am. Not really. Or what
I’ve been doing. I should be relieved, but for one brief, disorienting second, I feel guilty.
He’s trying to shield me from the dumpster fire I’m already neck-deep in because he thinks I’m just collateral. He has no
idea I’m one of the people holding the matches.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?” His voice sharpens, heavier now. “If you stay, he won’t give you a warning. He’ll just . . .
make the problem disappear.”
“I can’t leave.”
“Cybil, this isn’t pride.” Urgency is etched into the lines of his face. “I will pay whatever you ask if you’ll take it and
disappear. This is your life I’m talking about.”
“What about you and Sebastian?”
He exhales slowly, like he’s been carrying the answer for too long. “There are things I did in the early years when I was
building my company. Things I’m not proud of.” He looks out toward the lake again, voice rough with memory. “Cut corners.
Looked the other way. Told myself it was survival, not ambition. And I justified it because I wanted a future for my son.
Something better than what I had.”
A pause. His gaze lowers.
“But you don’t build something clean by burying the dirty parts deeper. I’ve tried to be different these last few years. Tried
to make it right—cut ties, change the culture, protect what matters. But Ramirez . . .” His jaw clenches. “He doesn’t let
go. And now Sebastian is in the middle of it, and so are you.”
I swallow hard. The guilt from earlier creeps in again, curling under my ribs like a wire pulled too tight. He doesn’t know
the whole truth. Doesn’t know I’m here because I made myself part of this mess.
“I can’t leave,” I say again, quieter this time. Not defiant, just . . . resolute.
“Cybil—”
“You said it yourself—Mr. Ramirez notices everything.” I meet his eyes, steady now. “If he suspects me and I suddenly just
vanish, it’ll confirm every doubt he has. I have to stay.”
He’s silent for a beat. Thinking. And then his expression falls. He doesn’t have a way out of this. Except through me and
the plan Ben and I have to take Ramirez down.
“I’m so sorry, Cybil.” His voice is raw. “I’ll do whatever I can to get you out of this—to protect you. You have my word.”
I nod, throat tight. I want to believe him. And part of me does.
But the other part of me knows better. My pulse hammers beneath layers of lies, each one heavier than the last. I take a deep breath and steady my voice, because the truth is, the only person I’ve ever trusted to fight for me .
. . is the boy who once promised to meet me under an oak tree.
And the man who showed up anyway—even when I never did.
I don’t think twice. I just say it. “Sir, I need to tell you about Craig Miller.”