Six Months Later – Atlanta, Georgia


The skyline hadn’t changed, but Talia Monroe had.


The neighborhood once filled with Marcus’s ghost developments was under federal investigation. The media dubbed it “The Concrete Conspiracy.” Between whistleblowers, Simone’s testimony, and the files recovered from Isaiah Reed’s burner archives, a storm had cracked wide open.


Marcus’s name was now synonymous with corruption. His “clean legacy” was reduced to dust, just like the house that burned.


And Talia? She was still standing.


Talia zipped up her jacket as she stepped onto the construction site—her new project. Not condos. Not luxury towers. This was different.


A community center.


Designed for single mothers, displaced tenants, artists, and students. The building would be open-air, solar powered, and built by a team of locals, many of whom Marcus’s deals had displaced. The blueprints were hers. The land? Donated by Simone’s law firm after she took a sabbatical and switched careers.


They called it The Foundation.


As Talia approached the site trailer, kids waved at her from across the fencing, and a few volunteers shouted her name. She smiled, but it was quiet. Steady. Earned.


Inside the trailer, Simone was reviewing permits, chewing on sunflower seeds.


“You’re late.”


“I was up writing,” Talia said, dropping a folder on the table. “Started a book.”


“Oh? Memoir?”


“More like a manual,” she said. “How to Spot a Sociopath in Six Blueprints or Less.”


Simone laughed. “Put me down for a pre-order.”


They shared a quiet moment before Simone leaned back. “You ever think about what would’ve happened if you never read that message?”


Talia nodded. “Every day.”


“And?”


“I’d still be sleeping beside the man who tried to erase me.”


Simone was quiet. Then: “You think it’s over?”


Talia looked out the window at the rising frame of the new building.


“No,” she said. “But this time, I’m the one drawing the lines.”


She turned, grabbed her hard hat, and walked into the sun.


Reconstruction wasn’t just about buildings.

It was about survival.

And she was done hiding in glass houses.