Chapter 50 – Before the Fall

  The lights of the cheap restaurant buzzed above their heads, dying insects trapped in the glow.

  Kevin raised his bottle.

  "So. To the future, yeah?"

  Laughter broke around the table—warm, drunken, real.

  Ten friends. No, more than friends. Family.

  Kevin grinned at Derek across the booth, who mockingly lifted two bottles in each hand like an idiot king. Lily sat beside Kevin, leaning in with a smile too wide for her face, eyes bright, the future already written in them.

  The clink of glass filled the night.

  Promises filled the air.

  First day at the agency.

  The building smelled of stale coffee and crushed dreams.

  Kevin showed up early. Tie crooked. Shoes scuffed. Eyes burning with something stupid like hope.

  He shook hands, made jokes, stayed late.

  By the end of the first week, people knew his name.

  By the end of the first month?

  They were saying it out loud.

  Applauding when his article about the new education reforms got picked up nationally.

  His boss, a heavy man with a heavy watch, clapped him on the back in the hallway.

  "Good work, Kevin! Bright future!"

  Kevin just smiled, cheeks hurting, heart flying.

  At lunch, they gathered by the vending machine—him, Derek, Lily, a few others—shoving chips into mouths, laughing like idiots, arguing about politics like they mattered.

  It was... good.

  Too good.

  The fall started quiet.

  A missed promotion.

  Nothing big. Happens, right?

  Then Derek’s name started coming up in meetings instead of Kevin’s.

  Kevin kept smiling. Harder now. It felt like pulling glass over his teeth.

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  Another month.

  Kevin saw it.

  He stayed late finishing an article.

  The office was dark, empty.

  Except for the boss’s door.

  Left open.

  Inside, Derek laughed lowly, shaking hands with a man in a gray suit.

  A fat envelope disappeared into Derek’s jacket.

  Kevin froze.

  Couldn’t move.

  The room spun.

  He watched Derek turn, still laughing, heading toward the vending machines.

  Kevin caught him there.

  Grabbed his collar, slammed him into the buzzing, blinking machine.

  "The fuck was that?" Kevin hissed. His voice shook. Rage and disbelief fighting for control.

  Derek just smirked.

  "Grow up, Kev."

  Kevin’s fists balled. Derek didn't flnch.

  Kevin's arm trembled. Then dropped.

  He stepped back.

  He could see it now—how the world actually worked.

  He could see the cracks under the paint.

  He let go.

  Because there was no one else left to hold on to.

  It got worse.

  His name disappeared from the board.

  Stories he fought for, killed.

  A whisper campaign started.

  "Kevin’s difficult."

  "Kevin’s emotional."

  "Kevin’s not a team player."

  He fought to keep breathing.

  To keep smiling.

  For Lily.

  Then came the night he lost even that.

  He stayed late again. Dumb hope.

  Maybe they’d reconsider. Maybe it wasn’t over.

  Walking down the empty hallway, papers in hand, he heard it.

  The low, breathless moans.

  The boss’s door again.

  He pushed it open.

  And saw her.

  Lily.

  Her shirt half-off.

  Straddling the fat bastard like he was a throne.

  Kevin didn’t scream.

  Didn’t shout.

  He just stood there.

  Silent.

  Dying.

  Lily saw him.

  Met his eyes.

  And smiled.

  Cold.

  Professional.

  Already finished with him.

  "Grow up, Kev," she said.

  Exactly like Derek.

  He didn’t go home that night.

  There was no home anymore.

  Only empty streets.

  Cold rain.

  And a life he no longer recognized.

  End of Chapter 50 – Before the Fall