Raegan listened intently, hanging on every word, trying to make sense of his diatribe.

“Do you know how much I've suffered? ALL the pain, the humiliation... It was never meant for me! Everything must be restored to its proper place!" Henley snarled, tightening his grip on Raegan.

"What do you mean?" Raegan probed.

Henley, his grin widening, merely chuckled and said, "You'll find out soon enough."

Sensing an opportunity, Raegan tried to bargain. “Let me go first. Then, I'll listen to what you have to say."

Henley leaned in, his chin resting on her hair, his voice heavy with longing. “Raegan, if Mitchel didn't have his wealth and status, would you still have fallen for him? If I was the one with everything, would you have loved me instead?"

His questions hung in the air, but Raegan's answer, despite being stifled, was clear. "No."

The mask of Henley's civility was torn away in a flash of rage, and he glared at Raegan, his eyes turning bloodshot. “Why not?" he demanded, seething.

“Because I don't like you. And there doesn't need to be a reason for that," Raegan responded, unyielding in the face of his ire.

Henley, increasingly frustrated, insisted, “I'm not ugly. Lots of women are after me. So why won't you love me?"

"Because..." Raegan hesitated for a moment.

With a swift flick of her wrist, Raegan struck Henley's chest with a crackling force.

It was soon followed by the sound of sizzling as Raegan's self- defense device made contact with Henley.

A muffled groan escaped Henley's lips as he crumpled to the ground.

Raegan swiftly withdrew her self-defense device, her gaze icy as she admonished, "Just as you are now, relying on brute force to dominate the weak, perpetuating inequality. Such tactics garner no respect."

Henley hadn't anticipated Raegan's swift movement, Leaving him weak and defenseless. Struggling to rise, he couldn't muster the strength to restrain Raegan.

Clutching his chest, Henley confronted her, pallor coloring his face.

"And what about Mitchel? After being treated that way by him, here you are, observing his workplace like this. Is he truly worth it?"

Raegan's gaze fell, her countenance drained. "I've severed ties with him. I stand here not in remembrance, but in farewell."

With those words hanging in the air, Raegan departed.