Chapter 27
I went into the study
and opened the drawer he always used.
Inside lay a USB stick,
labeled: “Wendy.”
I plugged it in.
The screen lit; a video started on its own.
It was him-
in his office,
wearing the suit from the press conference.
He looked tired-
and gentle.
“If you’re seeing this,
I’m already gone.”
He paused, then gave a small laugh.
“I know you don’t believe in death.
So this is the only way
I can force you to believe
you’re the one who must live.”
I stared at the screen, fingers digging into the edge of the desk.
“Everything at Z Group, I leave to you.
People will doubt you, slander you.
Don’t be afraid.
You’re smarter than me. Harder than me.
You can take the wreck I left
and turn it into a beginning.”
He stopped again.
“And…
don’t go looking for me by the sea.
It’s windy there.
You’ll be cold.”
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11:43 Sat, Oct 18
I finally broke and sobbed.
The video ended there.
The screen flickered twice and went black.
The night was deep.
I walked out onto the balcony.
The wind skimmed my face, salted by the shore.
I closed my eyes and whispered,
“Rory,
you say the wind is strong-
but the wind has never left me.”
From the direction of the sea came a low rolling hush,
like someone laughing.
A strange certainty rose in me:
he wasn’t dead.
He was only hidden.
The wind paused at my back,
then slipped away.
In that moment,
I almost heard a voice:
“Wendy, don’t be afraid.
I’m in the wind.”
The next morning,
Yuanzi handed me a file.
“CEO Gu, a message from the coast guard.”
“What is it?”
She hesitated, then said quietly,
“The waves were high that day-
but on the northern rocks,
they found a new footprint.
Single set.
Leading inland.”
P
a
11:43 Sat, Oct 18
I went still.
Softly, I said, “It might be him.”
I looked out at the brightening sky,
the corner of my mouth lifting.
“Good.
At least, the wind hasn’t left.”
For days the wind went wild.
Rain filmed Z Group’s glass facade to a chalky haze.
85
In the top-floor conference room, I stared at the numbers on the projector and said nothing.
“CEO Gu,” someone from Finance ventured,
“about that overseas investment…
are you sure you want to pull out?
That was a project Mr. Zhou signed before he-”
“I don’t care who signed it,” I said coolly.
“I care about results.”
Silence.
I closed the folder.
Wind seeped through the seam of the window;
pages lifted at the corner.
For a second, I could almost hear him:
“You even sound like me now.”
I lifted my gaze to the pane.
The sky outside was iron-gray; the wind smelled of the sea.
For a heartbeat, I felt he was on the other side of that wind-watching me.
Three days later,
Yuanzi came in with a confidential file, her face grave.
“CEO Gu, you need to see this.”
I took it, and my heart jolted.
[Northern port: missing crew list adds one anonymous male.
Approximate age: 35.
Old injury on right shoulder; scar on left wrist.
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11:43 Sat, Oct 18
Witness reports suggest amnesia after coming ashore.] The description cut like a blade.
Old injury on the right shoulder.
Scar on the left wrist.
That was him.
I looked up, my voice tight. “Who sent this?”
“Anonymous,” Yuanzi whispered. “But…
look at the signature.”
I lowered my eyes to the page.
85
11:43 SM DAT
