Mira's POV
I watch Dominic's company burn through my laptop screen.
Sophia's apartment is small but safe. She's in court right now, probably yelling at some judge about justice. She doesn't know I'm not planning to fight in court.
I'm planning something much worse.
My phone has seventeen missed calls from Dominic. Forty-three texts. They started as apologies, then turned into threats, then became begging.
The last one says: "Please. I'll give you anything. Just stop."
But I can't stop. Because every time I close my eyes, I see Lily's face. My baby girl who thinks I abandoned her. Who's probably crying for her mommy right now while Victoria tells her lies.
That Mommy was sick. That Mommy didn't love her enough. That Mommy chose to leave.
My hands shake on the keyboard. I've been coding for six hours straight. I haven't coded in five years—since Dominic said I should "focus on being a proper wife."
Turns out you don't forget how to destroy things.
Kane Enterprises' stock dropped forty percent today. Three board members resigned. The Patterson deal evidence is sitting in an encrypted file, ready to send to the FBI.
One click. That's all it takes to put Dominic in prison.
But prison is too easy. Too quick.
I want him to suffer the way I'm suffering. I want him to lose everything slowly, painfully, publicly.
The apartment door opens. Sophia walks in, still in her court suit, carrying Chinese food.
"You need to eat," she says, not for the first time.
"I'm not hungry."
"You haven't eaten in three days, Mira. You're going to collapse."
I ignore her, typing faster. I'm inside Kane Enterprises' client database now. Every contact, every contract, every secret deal. With this information, I could—
Sophia slams my laptop closed. "STOP."
"Don't—"
"You're killing yourself!" She's crying now. "You sit here destroying him while you destroy yourself too. This isn't you!"
"You're right," I say quietly. "This isn't me. I don't know who I am anymore."
Sophia sits beside me, taking my hands. "Then let me help you figure it out. Let me fight for custody. I'm a good lawyer—"
"They have better lawyers. More money. More power." I pull my hands away. "I can't win in court, Sophia. The system protects people like them."
"So what? You just give up on Lily?"
"NO!" I'm shouting now, tears streaming down my face. "I will NEVER give up on my daughter! But I can't get her back as Mira Kane—the weak, pathetic housewife they threw away. I need to become someone they can't touch. Someone with power."
"How?"
I open my laptop again. On the screen are job offers—emails I sent to myself from tech companies across the country. Anonymous inquiries from someone called "M. Shadow."
"I'm leaving San Francisco," I say. "Tonight."
Sophia's face goes pale. "Where?"
"Somewhere they'll never find me. Somewhere I can rebuild." I pull up a map on my screen. Small coastal towns, far from the city. Places where nobody knows Mrs. Kane. "I need to disappear, Sophia. Completely."
"But Lily—"
"I'll come back for her. When I'm strong enough. When I'm powerful enough that even Victoria Kane can't stop me." I look at my best friend. "But right now, if I stay, they'll crush me. And then I'll never get my daughter back."
Sophia is quiet for a long moment. Then: "How long?"
"I don't know. A year? Maybe two?" The words hurt to say. Two years without holding my baby. Two years of her growing up without me.
But it's the only way.
"What do you need?" Sophia asks.
"A new identity. Bank accounts they can't trace. And a lawyer who'll file the divorce papers after I'm gone."
Sophia nods slowly. "I know people. Criminal defense attorneys who deal with witness protection. They can create a paper trail that goes nowhere."
"Good." I start closing programs, wiping my digital footprint. "I need to vanish tonight. Before Dominic's investigators find me."
"He's already hired three."
"I know. I've been tracking them." I smile, but it's not a happy smile. "They're looking for a scared housewife. They won't find what I'm becoming."
I stand up and start packing. I don't have much—just the clothes I grabbed, my laptop, and my mother's necklace.
"What about money?" Sophia asks.
"I have enough." I've been siphoning small amounts from household accounts for months. Not enough to notice, but enough to survive. "And I'll make more."
"Doing what?"
"What I should have been doing all along." I pull up my laptop one more time. On the screen is a website—still under construction. "Cybersecurity consulting. Corporate espionage detection. Hacking services for the right price."
Sophia's eyes widen. "That's illegal—"
"No, it's profitable. And perfectly legal if you know how to do it right." I close the laptop. "I'm done being invisible, Sophia. I'm done being weak. The Kanes wanted me gone? Fine. But when I come back, they won't recognize me."
"And if you can't come back?"
The question hangs in the air. What if I disappear forever? What if Lily grows up thinking I abandoned her? What if I become so different that my own daughter doesn't know me?
"Then at least," I whisper, "I tried."
Sophia hugs me tight. "Call me. Even if it's just to let me know you're alive."
"I will."
I pick up my bag and head for the door. One last look at this apartment, at my best friend, at the life I'm leaving behind.
"Mira?" Sophia's voice stops me. "What should I tell Dominic if he comes looking?"
I think about that for a moment. About my husband who never saw me. About the man who let his mother steal my child. About the future where I'm not his victim anymore.
"Tell him," I say slowly, "that Mira Kane is dead. And something much more dangerous took her place."
I walk out into the night, into the unknown, into whoever I'm going to become.
Behind me, Sophia locks the door.
Ahead of me, everything is dark and terrifying and free.
Three blocks away, I stop at an ATM. I need cash for the bus ticket. When I put in my card, the screen flashes an error: ACCOUNT FROZEN.
They found me faster than I thought.
I try my credit card. Same thing. Dominic froze all my accounts.
Panic rises in my chest. I have forty dollars in my wallet. That's not enough to disappear.
My phone buzzes. Text from unknown number: "Need help? Wire transfer waiting at Western Union. Password: ShadowQueen. Consider it an investment in your future. -M.S."
M.S. again. The mysterious person who sent me the evidence against the Kanes.
I should be suspicious. I should question who this is and what they want.
But I'm desperate. And desperate people make dangerous choices.
I go to Western Union. Sure enough, there's a transfer waiting. Five thousand dollars.
The clerk barely looks at me as she counts out the cash.
I walk out with money I didn't earn from someone I don't know.
And I realize: I'm not just running away anymore.
I'm walking into a trap I don't understand.
My phone buzzes again. Another message from M.S.:
"The money is yours. No strings. But when you're ready to stop running and start hunting, call this number. I can teach you to be the weapon they never saw coming."
A phone number appears below.
I stare at it for a long moment.
Then I save it and delete the message.
Whoever M.S. is, they're dangerous. Maybe more dangerous than the Kanes.
But right now, dangerous is exactly what I need to become.
I board the midnight bus heading north, to a town I've never heard of, to become a person who doesn't exist yet.
As the city lights fade behind me, I make myself a promise:
I'm coming back for you, Lily. And when I do, I'll be strong enough to protect you from everyone—even your own father.
The bus rolls into darkness.
And Mira Kane disappears forever.