Amanda POV:
Brody closed the distance between us, his expensive shoes crunching on the gravel. My breath hitched, a desperate flutter in my chest. This was it. The moment he'd recognize me, just like in all my fevered dreams. He'd sweep me into his arms, tears streaming down his face, apologizing for ever doubting.
He stopped a few feet away, his expression unreadable. Then he reached into his wallet. He pulled out a crisp hundred-dollar bill and extended it towards me.
"Here," he said, his voice flat, devoid of any warmth. "Go get yourself a meal. And stay away from my property."
The world spun. The hundred-dollar bill, a flimsy green rectangle, fluttered between us. Not a hug. Not a word of recognition. A handout. For a beggar. His words were a physical blow, a cold wall slamming into my hope.
My hand shot out, not to take the money, but to touch him. To prove I was real. To make him feel my presence. "Brody, it's me. Amanda." My voice was a raw whisper.
He recoiled, as if my touch was poison. His face contorted in disgust. "Don't touch me!" he snarled, taking a hurried step back. "You insane woman."
The hundred-dollar bill slipped from his fingers, fluttering to the ground, a green leaf in the dirt. It landed near my feet, a symbol of my shattered dignity.
"Brody, what are you doing?" Carla's voice, sweet and concerned, drifted from behind him. She walked up, slipping her arm through his. Her eyes, however, met mine. A flicker of recognition, a glint of triumph. And then, a veil of feigned pity.
She knew. She absolutely knew.
"It's just a crazy person, darling," Brody mumbled, pulling Carla closer. He turned his back on me, shielding her and Eben from my presence. He was her shield. My world crumbled.
Eben, who had been watching silently, his small face a mixture of confusion and fear, glanced back at me one last time. His eyes held a strange, sad curiosity. Then, Carla squeezed his hand, and he turned away, disappearing into the house with her and Brody. The heavy oak door slammed shut, echoing the finality of my abandonment.
My legs gave out. I sank to the ground, the dirt cold and unforgiving against my skin. My soul felt hollowed out, scooped clean. The hundred-dollar bill still lay there, mocking me. Automatically, I reached for it, my fingers twitching.
"Bet you didn't expect him to be so cruel, did you?" the guard sneered, kicking a pebble at me. "Word is, Mr. Sharpe is getting engaged to Miss Watkins next month. He says she helped him move on after his wife ran off with some foreign guy. You're just a painful memory now, lady. And a very ugly one at that."
He nudged the bill with his boot. "Go on, take it. He won't want his new fiancée seeing you around. Go buy yourself a ticket out of here."
The pain in my chest intensified, a searing agony that made my vision swim. It wasn't just my heart breaking; my old wounds, the ones from the captivity, flared up. My body shook uncontrollably.
"Get up!" the guard barked, a hose suddenly appearing in his hand. A jet of icy water slammed into me, knocking the breath from my lungs. The force tore at my ragged clothes, washing away the dirt, but leaving my skin raw and burning. I choked, my lungs struggling for air. "Get out of here before I call the cops for trespassing!"
I crawled, half-blinded by the water, dragging my broken body down the long driveway, clinging to the shadows. Each movement was agony, but I pushed on, away from the brightly lit house, away from the happy family inside.
I collapsed in a dark alleyway behind a row of trash cans, the cold concrete a poor substitute for a bed. The world went black.
A sweet, sickly aroma roused me. My stomach growled, a hollow, desperate clang. I was famished. My eyes fluttered open. A half-eaten cake, tossed carelessly into a bin, beckoned. I lunged for it, my hands scrambling for the sugary crumbs. It tasted like ash and heaven.
Then, a sharp, searing pain in my mouth. I spat out a piece of glass, blood blooming on my tongue. A deliberate act. Someone wanted me gone. Permanently.
Just then, a burst of light erupted in the sky. Fireworks. Red, gold, and green. They bloomed over the city, forming words I could almost make out: "Marry Me, Carla."
A bitter laugh escaped my lips, a dry, rattling sound. He was proposing. To her. On a night when I was eating discarded cake from a dumpster, bleeding from a deliberate wound, and watching my life play out with her in my place.
The last flicker of hope in my heart died. Not just died, but was incinerated.
I pulled out the hundred-dollar bill, still clutched in my hand. It was dirty, crumpled, but it was money. Enough to buy a burner phone. Enough to make one call. My last lifeline.
My fingers fumbled with the ancient device, dialing a number I hadn't used in four years. It rang once, twice… then a click. "This is Clarke."
"It's Amanda," I rasped, my voice barely human. "I'm back. I want in. Project Nightingale."
There was a long silence on the other end, then a sigh. "Nightingale? Amanda, you know what that entails. A complete erasure. And your condition..."
"I don't care," I cut him off, my voice gaining strength. "I have nothing left to lose. Burn it all down. I want to build something new from the ashes."
Project Nightingale. The blackest of black ops, designed for agents who needed to disappear completely, body and soul. It meant giving up everything, even my identity. My life as Amanda Park. My memories, my emotions. A complete psychological re-engineering. I' d once dreamt of a quiet life, a family, a normal existence. That dream was dead.
I closed my eyes. "Tell Brody," I said, my voice cold, detached, "that Amanda Park is officially dead. He got his wish. Tell him to be happy with Carla. He's welcome to her. And my son."
The words felt like a surgical incision, severing the last nerve endings connecting me to my past. There was no going back.
