Chapter 85: Flora!!
The bar was drenched in a heavy silence, broken only by the faint hum of the ceiling fan and the distant clink of a bartender wiping down already-clean glasses. But Miles and Dion sat still—two brothers, once inseparable, now divided by years of shadows, loss, and bitter truths.
Dion finally broke the silence.
"That year... when I got back from that mission," he began, his voice dry, cracking at the edges, "they told me Flora was gone."
He didn’t look at Miles—his eyes were fixed on the table, the wood stained dark like old blood.
"I was broken," Dion whispered. "And angry. So angry I couldn’t think straight. They said her undercover op with Jehan got compromised... Graveyard claimed the mission failed and we lost Flora in the field. Just like that. No closure. No body. No answers."
Miles’s jaw tightened, but he remained silent, listening.
"I wanted Jehan’s head," Dion continued. "You remember how furious I was. We both were."
Miles gave a silent nod, a flicker of pain in his eyes.
"But Graveyard had other plans. They wanted to capture him. Slow. Careful. Methodical. And I—I couldn’t wait."
He exhaled, bitter and sharp. "The old commander tried to calm me down. Pulled me aside after I lashed out in the war room. Told me to have faith. That justice would be served in time."
Dion’s hands trembled as he reached for his glass, but didn’t drink. "And then... fate intervened. Or maybe it was something else. As I was storming out of the command center, a cleaner bumped into the shredder bin. The container tipped, paper scraps flying everywhere."
He paused, swallowing hard. "A strip of paper landed right at my feet. It had Flora’s name on it."