PHOENIX

13| WALKING AWAY WAS NO LONGER AN OPTION

When Roy and Melissa finally stood up to leave, Jackson remained exactly where he was. He resisted the urge to get up immediately, knowing that doing so would only make him stand out. Instead, he took another slow sip of his coffee and forced himself to appear like an ordinary customer who had nowhere else to be. Every instinct urged him to follow them the second they walked out of the restaurant, but impatience was exactly what would get him caught. He waited several more minutes before signalling for the bill, all the while keeping one eye on the restaurant's entrance to make sure he didn't lose track of the time. Once the waiter returned, Jackson paid quickly, thanked him, and left the restaurant at an unhurried pace, carefully tracking the convoy's movements without making it obvious that they were the reason he had come outside in the first place.

Stepping into the warm late-morning air, Jackson immediately located the vehicles. Roy and Melissa had already reached them. Just as before, Melissa climbed into the front passenger seat without waiting for anyone to open the door for her, while Roy got into the vehicle behind hers. Within moments, the engines came to life one after another, and the convoy began pulling away from the restaurant with the same flawless coordination Jackson had witnessed all morning. He waited until they had gained a reasonable lead before walking calmly to his own car. Only after they had disappeared onto the road did he start his engine and pull out of the parking space. The last thing he wanted was for one of the escort vehicles to notice the same white car leaving every location shortly after theirs. Maintaining a generous distance, he allowed several other vehicles to remain between them, using the growing late-morning traffic as natural cover while making sure the convoy never completely disappeared from view.

As he drove, Jackson found himself replaying everything he had witnessed since Melissa left the hotel earlier that morning. Every scene passed through his mind with remarkable clarity. Roy greeting his daughter with unmistakable affection. Melissa smiling in a way Jackson hadn't seen in years. The disciplined security surrounding them wherever they went. Even the brief fragments of conversation and body language he had managed to observe seemed increasingly important the more he thought about them. Individually, none of those details answered the questions he had spent years asking, but together they formed pieces of a much larger puzzle. Jackson had always believed that bringing Roy down meant exposing his criminal empire. Now, however, he was beginning to realise that understanding the organisation alone wouldn't be enough. To destroy Roy, he first had to understand Roy the man, his habits, his relationships, the people he trusted and the family that appeared to occupy such an important place in his life.

The convoy continued driving for quite some time before eventually leaving the busier parts of the city behind. Jackson quietly followed from a distance until the vehicles turned onto a quieter road leading towards the outskirts. Several minutes later, an enormous gated estate came into view. The property stretched across an impressive piece of land, hidden behind towering perimeter walls topped with sophisticated security systems. Surveillance cameras covered every visible angle of the entrance, while armed security personnel monitored everyone approaching the gates. Jackson immediately eased off the accelerator and continued past the estate before finding a discreet place to park some distance away. From there, he retrieved a pair of binoculars and made his way to a concealed vantage point that allowed him to observe the entrance without exposing himself.

Through the binoculars, Jackson watched as the convoy approached the gates. They opened almost immediately without anyone needing to identify themselves. As Roy's vehicle passed through, the guards stationed at the entrance straightened noticeably before saluting with a level of respect that bordered on reverence rather than simple professionalism. Melissa's vehicle followed close behind, disappearing beyond the imposing gates alongside the rest of the escort. Moments later, the gates slowly closed once again, sealing the estate off from the outside world as though nothing had happened.

Jackson lowered the binoculars only briefly before lifting them again, unable to pull his eyes away from the property. His pulse had quickened without him even noticing. Everything about the estate suggested that it was far more than an ordinary family residence. This felt like a fortress, a place where Roy could operate beyond the reach of outsiders, protected by loyal men, sophisticated surveillance and enough security to discourage almost anyone from getting too close. If Jackson could somehow learn what went on behind those walls, or better yet, find a way inside, he might finally uncover the answers he had spent the last five years searching for.

The thought was tempting. Dangerously tempting.

Jackson slowly lowered the binoculars and released a quiet breath, reminding himself that impatience had killed better men than him. Whatever secrets were hidden behind those walls would still be there tomorrow. One careless decision today could ensure that he never lived long enough to uncover them.

As Jackson drove back towards the hotel, his thoughts refused to settle. No matter how hard he tried to focus on the road, his mind kept drifting back to Melissa and the increasingly confusing picture she presented every time he saw her. Each encounter seemed to contradict the last, as though he wasn't dealing with one person but several completely different versions of the same woman. The more he observed her, the less he understood her, and that frustrated him more than he wanted to admit. He had spent years convincing himself that he knew exactly who Melissa Roy was, only to realise that every meeting with her chipped away at that certainty and replaced it with even more questions.

The first time he saw her again at the hotel, she had looked exactly like the Melissa he remembered from five years ago. She had been warm, soft-spoken and almost painfully shy, reacting to bumping into him with the same gentle politeness that had once made him fall hopelessly in love with her. Even though their conversation had been filled with awkwardness and she had immediately become suspicious that he was Jackson, there had still been something so familiar about the way she carried herself that it had caught him completely off guard. She had looked troubled, as though she had been carrying an invisible burden for a very long time, yet despite that sadness, her eyes still held the same warmth he remembered so clearly. When she apologised after mistakenly believing he was someone else, her smile had been just as sincere as it used to be. For one dangerous moment, Jackson had almost forgotten everything that had happened between them. Looking at her had felt like stepping backwards in time, and he had nearly allowed himself to believe that the woman standing before him was the same Melissa who had once filled his world with happiness.

Then he remembered what happened the following day when he decided to follow her outside the city.

The difference had been so dramatic that it still unsettled him every time he thought about it. That Melissa had been almost impossible to recognise. She had seemed cold, calculating and emotionally detached, carrying herself with a confidence that bordered on arrogance. Even the way she walked and spoke had felt different, as though she had deliberately become someone else the moment she stepped into that environment. It hadn't simply been a change in mood. It had been a complete transformation. Watching her interact with the unfamiliar woman had left Jackson questioning whether he had ever truly known her at all. The sweet, gentle woman who had laughed with him, shared dreams with him and spoken about building a future together had seemed to disappear completely, leaving behind someone he would never have imagined falling in love with.

And then there was today.

Today, at the mall, she had once again become the Melissa he remembered. The warmth had returned to her smile, and the affection she showed Roy hadn't looked rehearsed or forced in the slightest. Everything about the way she greeted him had felt genuine. The happiness on her face couldn't have been faked that convincingly... at least not as far as Jackson could tell. Watching her laugh, smile and accept her father's affection with such ease only complicated everything further. It forced him to question whether she had really been pretending all along or whether there was something happening beneath the surface that he simply couldn't understand. Every answer he thought he had discovered seemed to create two more questions, and he was beginning to feel as though he was chasing a mystery far bigger than he had originally imagined.

Before he could stop himself, another possibility quietly entered his mind.

What if Melissa was bipolar?

The thought lingered far longer than he expected. He wasn't an expert, and he knew he wasn't qualified to diagnose anyone, but he couldn't deny that the dramatic shifts in her behaviour had begun to make him wonder whether there was something deeper influencing the woman he was seeing. It was only a passing thought, one he couldn't support with anything beyond his own observations, yet it refused to disappear. More than anything else, what unsettled him was the effect today's encounter had had on him. The smile Melissa had given Roy had looked so natural, so sincere, that despite everything she had done to him, it had stirred feelings Jackson had spent five years trying to bury. He hated himself for it, but the truth remained unchanged. Somewhere beneath the anger, the betrayal and the desire for revenge, a part of him still cared about her. And if there truly was something wrong with her, something beyond her control, he couldn't deny that the possibility bothered him far more than it should have.

Jackson let out a long, weary sigh as his fingers tightened around the steering wheel until his knuckles turned pale. He wasn't driving back to the hotel thinking about rekindling what they once had. That chapter of his life had ended five years ago, buried beneath betrayal, fire and the ruins of everything they had built together. Whatever future he had imagined with Melissa had died the day she chose her family over him. He wasn't foolish enough to believe they could simply pick up where they had left off. Even if she begged for another chance, even if she somehow managed to explain away everything that had happened, he wasn't sure he would ever be capable of trusting her again. That wasn't what troubled him. What unsettled him was something entirely different. He needed to understand why she seemed like a completely different person every time he saw her. What could possibly make someone change so dramatically from one moment to the next? Was it the suffocating pressure of growing up in Roy's family? Was she forced to behave differently depending on who was around her? Or was there something far darker happening beneath the surface that he simply couldn't see?

The more he thought about it, the more determined he became to uncover the truth. Walking away was no longer an option. Not because he wanted Melissa back in his life, but because too many things refused to make sense. Every answer he uncovered only seemed to create even more questions, and his curiosity had become impossible to ignore. He couldn't decide whether it was the lingering fragments of the love he once felt for her or simply his need for answers that kept pushing him forward. Perhaps it was both. Whatever the reason, he knew one thing with absolute certainty. He wasn't ready to let this mystery go. Not until he understood what had really happened to the woman he had once believed he knew better than anyone else.

By the time he turned into the hotel's parking lot, Jackson found himself asking a question he had been trying very hard to avoid all morning.

Why am I so worried about her?

The thought irritated him almost as much as it confused him. After everything Melissa had done, worrying about her should have been the last thing on his mind. She had betrayed him in the worst possible way. She had stood by while his life fell apart. She had become part of the family responsible for almost killing him, yet somehow she still occupied far too much space inside his head. Instead of concentrating on bringing the Roys down, he was wasting precious time trying to understand the woman who had helped destroy him. The more he thought about it, the less sense it made, and that only frustrated him further.

Jackson shook his head sharply before parking the car, almost as though the movement alone might force some common sense back into his stubborn mind. He had to stop this before it got worse. Leaning back against the seat, he closed his eyes for a brief moment before speaking quietly to himself.

"Melissa betrayed you."

The words sounded hollow but he repeated them anyway.

"She betrayed you."

His jaw tightened.

"She's not worth this. She never was."

Each sentence was supposed to harden his resolve, yet instead they seemed to collide with memories he had spent years trying to bury. His hands curled into fists almost instinctively as frustration rose inside him. He hated that he even needed to remind himself of what she had done. He hated even more that, despite repeating it over and over again, a part of him still refused to let her go.

His greatest mistake hadn't been falling in love.

It had been falling in love with someone he barely knew.

Looking back now, Melissa had always been surrounded by unanswered questions. From the very beginning, there had been pieces of her life she carefully kept hidden. She had fascinated him precisely because she was so mysterious, and instead of questioning those mysteries, he had allowed himself to become enchanted by them. Her beauty, her gentle smile, the way she looked at him as though he mattered more than anyone else in the world, and the dizzying excitement of their whirlwind romance had blinded him to everything else. If there had been warning signs, he either hadn't recognised them or, worse still, he had recognised them and deliberately chosen to ignore them because believing in the fantasy had been so much easier than confronting the truth.

Jackson slowly opened his eyes and stared through the windscreen without really seeing the hotel in front of him. Happy memories continued to creep into his thoughts despite every effort to push them away. The sound of Melissa's laughter. The way she used to smile whenever she caught him staring at her. The countless conversations they had shared about a future they would never have. They were beautiful memories. They were also poisoned now.

No matter how precious they had once been, they could never exist without reminding him of how everything had ended. Melissa hadn't simply broken his heart. She had destroyed his trust, nearly cost him his life and forced him to question every moment they had ever shared together. The woman he had loved more than anyone else had become the person he understood the least, and somehow that truth hurt almost as much as the betrayal itself.