The message was simple.
It's done.
Two words.
Two words that meant everything had changed.
Kian stared at his phone for a long moment, the weight of the decision he had made settling deep in his chest.
It wasn't regret.
He had known what he was doing the second he made the call.
This had been necessary.
But even necessary things left scars.
Kian exhaled, deleting the message before locking his phone and setting it aside.
The past was gone.
Buried.
For good.
Now, there was only one thing left to deal with.
Mercer.
And after tonight?
He wouldn't be a problem anymore.
---
The next morning, the world felt different.
Not in a way anyone else would notice.
To the office, to the board, to the people still moving through their lives as if nothing had changed, it was just another day.
But Kian felt it.