Page 185 of Silent Shadows

“They'd want us to laugh. To screw up. To fall in love.” He smirks. “To make terrible coffee.”

“To believe weird things?” I chime in, laughing as I wipe my eyes.

“Exactly.” He glances over at me, quick and brief. I think our quota of brotherly emotional intimacy has been reached. He clears his throat. “And for the record?”

I wait.

“You’re not crazy for believing in bigger, impossible things.”

He looks back at the road.

“But you would be crazy if you stopped living your actual life waiting for proof.”

The words land sharp. Immediate. Daisy.

“I love her,” I whisper.

Owen grins. “No shit.”

I laugh. “No, I mean it.”

“Yeah?”

“I think I…” I smile helplessly. “I think she’s proof that big, impossible things exist.”

Somewhere deep in my chest, the fear that's lived there for years loosens just a little.

The truck hums softly beneath us. The desert rolls on forever. And beside me, my brother drives. Like Dad used to. Like we've always done.

Finally, my belief doesn’t feel broken. Just redirected. Maybe the extraordinary was never meant to replace grief. Or love. Or life. Maybe it was only ever meant to remind me that there was still something worth reaching toward.

chapter

twenty-five

DAISY

Within an hour after my breakthrough with Marissa, she had a meeting set with the executive team and we had a proposal nearly ready. Because no matter how much I evolve, personal growth for me will always look like over-functioning. A few days later, I was on a plane back to middle-of-nowhere, Arizona.

I’m not at the Machine yet. I’m close enough that I’m nervous and far away enough to chicken out. My motel room—thirty-five minutes away from the RV park—is chaos. Laptop open. Notebook open. Three cold coffees. One truly alarming pile of snack wrappers.

And Maya on FaceTime, staring at me with the kind of patient concern usually reserved for people building bombs in garages. "You know," she says, "when you texted me not to tell Miles we were talking, I assumed we were discussing an emotional crisis."

"Mean."

"Am I wrong?" she raises an eyebrow with a knowing smile.

I huff and glance toward the window. Red cliffs glow in the early morning light. God, I missed this place.

"So…" Maya says. "Talk."

I take a breath. "I'm leaving The DL." Her eyes widen. I continue. "I'm starting my own imprint. Full creative control."

She smiles so hard it almost hurts. "Daisy. That’s huge."

"And I think…" My pulse kicks. "I think I figured out how to protect you guys."

She shakes her head slightly, confused. "What do you mean?"