Chapter 11

CHAD MALCOLM

Chad Malcolm leaned back in his chair, and he wondered what he should do, because he didn't know.

"Honey," Chad started, trailing off.

Darcy hummed absently, typing away at her desk. Violet flashes appeared as her fingers moved. She had her manicurist change her nail polish a few days ago. Chad thought the color looked stunning on her.

"Do you need something?" Darcy asked, squinting at her computer screen, pausing for a few moments, and then typing again before another pause. She made a face, then typed again.

"Yes," Chad replied.

"What is it?" Darcy typed out something again before her computer screen went dark and she turned in her chair.

Chad stood up and walked to the couches between their desks to give himself time to get his thoughts in order. He sat down and rearranged the magazines and articles scattered on the coffee table between the couches.

"We will get through this," he said. "I know that. The leviathan will never roll over." Chad paused. "They keep coming after us, though. What are we supposed to do about that? We didn't do anything wrong. We're just protecting our company."

Darcy stared at him for a long while, and Chad held her gaze, drowning in the depths of her eyes. "You're feeling frustrated?"

Chad nodded. "Yes. I thought we fixed this all. I thought it was all behind us."

"It seems it is not," Darcy murmured, drumming her fingernails on her desk. "I thought it had all been dealt with a while ago as well, but it seems I was wrong."

"What should we do?"

"We have it under control," Darcy said.

"Do we?"

Darcy held his gaze, eyebrows furrowing slightly, as if in a dare. "Yes. Go for a walk if you need to blow off steam."

Chad braced himself on the arm of the couch and stood up. "I'm going to Morning Jitters. Do you want anything?"

Darcy waved a hand, light catching on her nail polish. "No, thank you."

xxxx

Chad took the elevator down to the lobby and didn't slow to look around as he exited the Corville headquarters of Leviathan Inc. He stepped onto the sidewalk and eased right into the flow of people making their way along the street. No one looked at him twice.

He reached the Morning Jitters cafe a short while later and ordered a coffee.

Chad sat off to the side of the cafe after he got his coffee and sipped it. He had taken many breaks like this recently, stepping away from his work to come and do nothing in the peace of being no one. Darcy continued working in his absence, and Leviathan Inc. still ran.

He twirled his to-go cup in his fingers.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he fished it out.

Take as long as you need, Darcy said in a message. Don't worry.

Maybe something like this could continue with Darcy solely running the company, but no, he couldn't think like that. Darcy needed him, and they were a team. They were husband and wife, a duo who proclaimed their love before everyone at their wedding and who build their company from nothing to power the homes and businesses for the majority of the citizens of Waverwell.

Chad exhaled, closing his eyes and then taking a long sip of his coffee to try to slow his racing mind.

He needed to do something. This wasn't working. Little actions wouldn't fix his company and smooth the bumpy road.

He needed to do something big.

Chad stood up and weaved between customers as he made his way toward the exit. The bells on the door of the Morning Jitters cafe jingled as he left and walked back to the Corville headquarters of Leviathan Inc. It didn't take long, and soon he was walking through the familiar revolving doors.

Freya Fisk still wasn't back at reception, and a part of Chad missed her. She kept careful watch and directed everyone where they needed to go and did her work smoothly and without fail. Chad didn't know where Darcy had found the temporary receptionist, but they were not the same and had a cold presence.

Chad eyed them as he walked by, and he saw the same patchy makeup failing to completely conceal the red mark running down their cheek from their eye. At least their haircut was fixed into a style cropped close to their scalp. They looked far less inviting than the colorful warmth Freya held.

So long as they did their work, Chad supposed. Later he could talk with Darcy and find a different receptionist. Someone with a little more of a welcoming presence.

Chad walked past reception and over to the elevators, and he didn't have to wait long for one.

Chad's finger hovered over the elevator buttons. He was about to press the button to bring him to his office, but he hesitated.

He decided to go to the rooftop garden. Maybe a little more time to clear his head would make him more productive.

xxxx

Chad paced back and forth on the rooftop of the Corville headquarters of Leviathan Inc., eating up the ground in long strides. His chest expanded and contracted with big breaths as he tried to calm himself, but his mind didn't slow. If anything, it started working faster, tumbling with thoughts, spiraling through sentences that hurtled around his brain, images that spun about.

Darcy was a siren. A beautiful siren who pulled him in with her song. Who stole his breath from his throat every time he saw her, every time she spoke, every time she walked in the room and it was like he saw her for the very first time.

Chad loved her.

He loved Darcy endlessly. She was the most stunning woman he ever saw, and he could listen to her speak forever. He wanted to map every inch of her skin and show her how much she meant to him and hold her tight and never let her go because he loved every bit of her.

He would drown in her siren's song forever if it meant he got to be with her, be her husband, her lover, her everything.

The thought of having to be apart from her ripped him up, tore his insides to pieces, but he would do anything for her. He'd spend an eternity apart if it meant she was safe, because in the end, they would be together. Their souls were intertwined and could never be apart. They had proclaimed their love and promised themselves to the other the day they married each other.

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But he knew she lied.

Chad knew she lied.

Chad knew she knew more than she told him. He knew she kept things from him. He knew she knew they were a team and that he knew they both wanted their company to work, to stay afloat, to remain the leviathan they both dreamed of, to cut out the rotten flesh so it could thrive once more.

Chad loved Darcy, and that was that. He knew there would be no one else who could steal his breath away, make his heart beat faster the second he saw her, capture his attention like she did. Chad knew they were soulmates.

Leviathan Inc. was their child, and what wouldn't he do for family?

But even still, Chad didn't know. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do.

Leviathan Inc. was broken, a floundering serpent in the sea, still technically afloat but not swimming as it should be. How was Chad supposed to fix something so broken? How was he supposed to fix something seemingly shattered and beyond repair?

Arkreon was the way forward. Chad knew that much. He was certain of it. He and Darcy were the first to figure out its power, the use it could provide, what it could do for Waverwell. He knew it was the way of the future. He knew it would change the world, just like he and Darcy had promised to do.

Arkreon powered most homes in Waverwell. It took less to do more than an alternative like coal. Leviathan Inc. employed more people than any other company in Waverwell. The number was falling but the fact still held true.

Sometimes moving forward got bumpy, sometimes there were issues, sometimes it took time for people to realize the benefit, sometimes people resisted change.

Chad didn't want people suffering, but instead he wanted to make things better.

Perhaps that's what Darcy wanted him to understand.

Chad never meant for Felix to get in the way and he hoped Felix could find some way to heal, but sometimes things took the long way, a road that didn't seem to make sense. Chad could offer Felix what he could— time off to recover, paid leave for as long as he needed. Things that could help.

Chad didn't want Felix to have been there, and that was enough.

xxxx

Back in their shared office, Chad found himself unable to focus yet again.

Darcy still typed away, but Chad had only managed a handful of words before his mind wandered. His head spun with ideas, trying to find ways to help Leviathan Inc. and set things right. Secure its future as the great company Chad knew it was and that he and Darcy had planned when they first set about building it.

Chad studied his wife.

Darcy knew more than him. She was the one directly working with the Trinity, even if he had participated in smaller ways.

Maybe if he took the fall for it... maybe if he told them everything he knew and they believed it all that it would be enough.

His love for Darcy would never fade. He had made his vows the day they got married and promised his soul to hers for eternity. That vow would stand forever and could never be broken. They'd be together forever, holding each other close even in death.

"I'll go to them," Chad said suddenly, acting on impulse.

Darcy spun around in her chair.

"What?" she asked, frowning. She looked genuinely confused, showing Chad full emotion that she rarely did to others.

"I'll go to them. I'll go to the Moonfall Precinct. I'll say it was me. They already have the Trinity, so I'll tell them it was all me. I'll take the fall for it," Chad said, anxiety snaking around his heart but the leviathan was strong and wouldn't break. "You can fix things and rebuild Leviathan Inc. stronger than ever."

Darcy stared at Chad for several long moments, and he held her gaze, studying her features as she walked around her desk to stand in front of him.

"You know if you go to them they'll just watch us harder." Darcy stepped closer, running her hands across Chad's chest.

Chad held her hands in his, palms on her knuckles and feeling the warmth of her smooth skin. "I know," he replied, "but they'll already look at us. The leviathan will strike first. We can control this."

"They'll never let you go."

"My soul belongs to you. I vowed before everyone the day we got married that I would love you forever, and that will never change. I am yours forever, Darcy." Chad dropped his gaze from Darcy's eyes to her lips and kissed her. "They can lock me up, but we'll never be apart."

Darcy studied him for a moment. "We started this company together."

"We will stay together. You own Leviathan Inc. alongside me. You can run it on its own, but Leviathan Inc. cannot survive without either of us."

"And what will come of you being arrested? They'll charge you, and the fallback will land on Leviathan Inc."

Chad smiled. "You're Darcy Malcolm. You don't take no for an answer. If you want something, you will get it. And if you want to rebuild Leviathan Inc., then you will. Prove to everyone that this was all me. Prove that Leviathan Inc. was innocent. Prove that Arkreon is the way of the future and Charlie Springs was wrong. Show them Darcy Malcolm is innocent and it was all Chad Malcolm."

Darcy didn't reply at first and instead wrapped her arms around Chad's middle. He held her head to his chest.

"I thought we had prevented this all from happening," she murmured.

Chad hummed. "I thought so too, but we can work through this. The leviathan won't fall."

"We're going to change the world," Darcy whispered into his skin.

"We are."

"You're really going to admit to it all?"

"I'll tell them what they want to hear so they don't come nipping at your heels and Charlie Springs's claims never make it past rumors. You'll have to run the company, Darcy, but I know you can."

Darcy was silent for another long while. She sighed.

"I like you here," she said. "I love you. I don't want to run this company without you. We built it together."

Chad twisted his lips. "I know," he replied. "It's the best way. They'll keep digging and digging and they'll never leave us alone and we won't be able to rebuild as strong."

Chad pressed his face to Darcy's hair.

"I don't like this plan," she said.

"What other way is there? We have to get ahead of it all."

Darcy didn't reply at first. Eventually she said, "I don't know."

Chad closed his eyes, searing the feel of Darcy's arms around him into his brain. The way she felt pressed up against him, the heat of her skin, the warmth of her embrace, the scent of her perfume and the faint hint of shampoo.

"Put it all on me," he said. "It was all me. I did it all."

Darcy hummed something unintelligible into his shoulder.

"What was that?"

"Are you sure? Perhaps there's some other way."

"We need to do something big," Chad replied. "This is the way. I did it all, and you can keep Leviathan Inc. running."

Darcy pulled back to look him in the eye. "Chad, you know they'll never let you go. They won't let anyone who's caught up in any of this go. They'll lock you away forever and throw away the key."

Chad held eye contact. "I know, but they can never keep us apart. We'll be together forever. That's what we swore to each other."

Darcy smiled, and Chad returned it.

"Yeah?" Chad said, searching Darcy's gaze, and she nodded. "I take the fall, and you keep Leviathan Inc. running. Tell them it was all me."

xxxx

Chad thanked the driver Darcy had called for him as he stepped out of the car a few blocks from the Corville Precinct. He hoped the short walk would calm the bit of nerves he felt.

He didn't remember the walk, nor did he remember talking to the first officer he found, but before he knew it, another officer was leading him toward an interview room.

They had listened like he guessed they would, and now he was getting his chance to tell his side of the story.

Darcy would be free. She could work on Leviathan Inc. like he knew she could, and he knew she would rebuild the company bigger and better than ever before.

Chad followed the officer closely toward the interview room. He ignored the pounding of his own heart. Perhaps walking into the Corville Precinct would be the last time he would see the light of day. He could live with that.

Ryzor Oberhofer walked by, nose buried in a report, and glanced up.

"Who are you?" he asked, eyes narrowed but expression blank.

"I'm Chad Malcolm. I have come to confess something to you."

Ryzor didn't hesitate as he closed the report and handed it to the officer. "Put this on my desk, please. I can take it from here with Chad."

The officer nodded and took the report, scurrying off.

"This way, please." Ryzor gestured to an open door down the hallway.

Chad sat down in the first chair he saw, and Ryzor sat down across from him.

"Please state your full name," Ryzor started.

"My name is Chad Malcolm."

"What is it you have come here for?" Ryzor asked, pulling out a chair across from Chad and producing a pen and a notepad from his pocket.

Chad eyed the blinking red light on the camera in the corner of the ceiling and the notepad Ryzor pulled from a pocket. It was good, Chad knew. He could tell the story exactly as it was and make sure everyone knew exactly what happened. His words could not be twisted.

He would take the fall for it all, because it was all him. If he believed it, he was not lying and he would tell only the truth.

"I have come to make a confession," Chad replied.

Ryzor nodded. "What is it you wish to confess?"

"I have come to confess that I was involved with the Trinity," Chad said, and Ryzor watched him with an even expression and a slight head tilt that spoke of an active listener.

"I don't know what happened with the murder of Alaska Wendell March," Chad continued, "but I do know what happened with the murder of Ashley Baok. I was involved in it. I paid the Trinity to carry out the murder of Ashley Baok."

Ryzor raised his eyebrows. "You paid the Trinity to murder Ashley Baok?"

"Yes," Chad replied, "and I have come to tell you everything."