In the chaotic, heavily politicized aftermath, Arthur’s army of lawyers had swiftly scapegoated three junior naval engineers.

The internal investigation was quietly suffocated, the contracts stayed intact, and I—the only person inside the family who had noticed the doctored safety schematics before the ship ever launched—was threatened into silence and then vanished.

My family had gleefully informed their social circle that the grief of the tragedy had broken my fragile mind.

The truth was far simpler, and far more dangerous.

I had gone to the one place their corporate tentacles couldn’t reach me.

I went into the dark.