The phone call ended with a soft, final click.
Keifer pulled the device away from his ear, finally turning around from the window with a heavy, exhausted exhale. He ran a hand through his dark hair, the sharp lines of his face softening as he looked over at Jay. He didn't notice the wet trails still glistening on her cheeks, nor the rigid, trembling stiffness in her posture as she cradled Keira tightly against her chest.
"Sorry about that," Keifer said, his voice a low, tired murmur as he started to walk across the room. "The Tokyo branch is threatening to derail the entire logistics chain. What were you saying just now? Did Keira want something?"
Jay didn't move. She slowly set Keira down onto the soft playmat, letting the little girl babble happily with her building blocks, before rising to her feet.
"She walked," Jay said. Her voice wasn't loud. It was terrifyingly quiet, stripped of all warmth, vibrating with a raw, dangerous intensity.
Keifer paused halfway across the room, his brow furrowing slightly as he tried to process her words. "She... what? When?"
"Just now," Jay whispered, her eyes finally locking onto his. The pain, the loneliness, and the suffocating silence of the past three weeks crystallized into a blazing, uncontrollable fury. "Just now, while you were screaming at the board about port delays and signatures. She stood up. She took her first steps. And you missed it."
Keifer froze. The color drained slightly from his face as the weight of her words slammed into him. "Jay... I didn't—I was right here, I just had to handle—"
"You weren't here!" Jay finally shattered, the dam breaking in a violent, explosive cry that echoed off the high nursery walls.
The grief and exhaustion she had buried for weeks ripped out of her throat.
"You haven't been here in weeks, Keifer!" she shouted, tears spilling over her lashes as she stepped right up to him, her fists balling at her sides. "Every single day it's a meeting, a security crisis, a board directive! We live in a golden cage, surrounded by guards and iron gates, and I am drowning! I am raising our children entirely alone while my husband sits three feet away hiding behind a screen!"
"I am doing this for them!" Keifer roared back, the sudden, fierce defense instinct overriding his guilt as his own temper flared under the pressure. "You think I want to stare at spreadsheets all night?! I am keeping the wolves away from this door so we can even have a family!"
"Then the wolves have already won!" Jay sobbed, her voice cracking as the devastating truth tore out of her. "Because you're saving a legacy while we are starving to death right here in front of you! We don't need the empire, Keifer! We need you!"
The raw, agonizing plea hung heavily in the air, echoing between them like a physical blow. Keifer recoiled slightly, his chest heaving, the anger in his eyes flickering for a second, replaced by a terrified, hollow panic. He opened his mouth, reaching a hand out toward her—"Jay, wait—"
Suddenly, the screen of the phone in Keifer's hand lit up brightly, flashing an urgent, high-priority red alert. The harsh, vibrating ringtone pierced the suffocating silence of the room.
Keifer froze. His hand halted in mid-air.
He looked down at the glowing screen. It was an emergency override call from the security chief—the kind of call that meant an immediate breach, a direct threat to the estate, or a corporate emergency that required his physical presence at headquarters within the hour.
Jay stared at his hand, still outstretched toward her, and then down at the flashing screen.
The choice was right there. Clear, cruel, and absolute.
Keifer's jaw clenched so tight a muscle ticked violently. He looked back up at Jay, his eyes swimming with a desperate, agonizing conflict. "Jay... I have to take this. It's—"
"Go," Jay whispered, stepping backward, her voice completely dead and hollow as the last piece of her heart cracked clean in two. She didn't look at him anymore. "Just go, Keifer."
He hesitated for one agonizing heartbeat. But the legacy demanded its due.
With a choked breath, Keifer turned on his heel, answered the call, and walked out of the nursery without looking back. The heavy oak door clicked shut behind him, sealing her fate, and leaving her alone in the quiet room with her crying children.