It had saved my life.

And I said it into those cameras hoping it might, someday, save someone else’s.

Chapter 15 — A Silent Relic

Six months later, I sat in the private executive lounge on the eighth floor of the Vance Global tower, and I found the cold, steady hum of the building’s air conditioning strangely grounding, a sound I had once thought I would never live to hear again.

On the polished table before me rested three things: a steaming cup of Earl Grey tea, a leather binder stamped with the golden seal of Vance Global, and my smartwatch, its black face sleeping quietly on its charging stand.