"I can’t."
"Neither can I."
She looked at him.
"Then why tell me to?"
"Because someone should make good decisions."
She laughed softly.
It was the first normal sound she had made in hours.
Dante closed the laptop.
"We have six hours before sunrise."
"What happens then?"
"We release the evidence."
"To whom?"
"Everyone."
She frowned.
"Morrow will destroy us."
"Maybe."
"That's your plan?"
"No."
He looked at her.
"My plan is to make destroying us impossible."
He explained that Morrow depended on secrecy. If the ledger, the security footage, and the financial records became public simultaneously, killing one witness would not erase the evidence.
"But we need proof that cannot be dismissed."
Beatrice thought of the ledger.
"There is one page."
"Which one?"
"The last."
She had seen it only once.
The final page contained a list of names.
At the bottom was a single line.
DIRECTOR: C.
Dante stared.
"Charles?"
"I don’t know."
"Did Charles have access to the ledger?"
"Yes."
"Then he could be C."
Beatrice's face tightened.
"I don’t believe it."
"Why?"
"Because he was afraid."
"Fear doesn't make people innocent."
Before she could answer, the lights went out.
Dante stood.
The door opened.
Charles walked inside.
Beatrice froze.
"How did you find us?"
Charles looked exhausted.
"I followed the people following you."
Dante raised his weapon.
Charles lifted his hands.
"I came alone."
"Prove it."
Charles placed his phone on the floor and kicked it away.
Then he removed his jacket.
Nothing.
Dante remained suspicious.
"Talk."
Charles looked at Beatrice.
"I am C."
Silence.
Beatrice felt something inside her break.
"You?"
"I was the director."
"Of Morrow?"
"Not exactly."
Charles explained that Morrow had begun as an intelligence network designed to expose corruption. He had joined it believing he could control it.
Then Victor Hale took over.
Morrow became something else.
A private machine for controlling judges, companies, elections, and markets.
Charles tried to leave.
They threatened his family.
"So you stayed."
"Yes."
"You lied to me."
"Yes."
"You used my credentials."
"No."
"Then who did?"
Charles looked at Dante.
"The person who has been beside you."
Beatrice's blood ran cold.
She turned.
Dante's expression had changed.
"Charles," he said quietly.
"I didn’t mean you."
Charles looked at Beatrice.
"Maggie."
The name hit harder than any bullet.
"No."
Charles continued.
"Your sister has been working for Victor Hale for years."
Beatrice shook her head.
"You're lying."
"I wish I were."
The door behind Charles opened.
Maggie stepped inside.
Beatrice stopped breathing.
Her sister looked different.
Calm.
Elegant.
Cold.
"Maggie?"
"I’m sorry."
Beatrice stared.
"You sent the photographs."
Maggie nodded.
"You knew about the ledger."
"Yes."
"You gave them my security code."
"Yes."
Dante stepped between them.
"Why?"
Maggie's eyes moved to him.
"Because Beatrice was never supposed to survive the investigation."
Beatrice whispered, "Then why am I alive?"
Maggie smiled sadly.
"Because I changed my mind."
She explained that she had entered Morrow years ago to pay off a debt. Victor had promised to erase their father's medical bills.
Instead, he owned her.
When Beatrice discovered the ledger, Victor ordered Maggie to retrieve it.
But Maggie couldn't kill her sister.
So she sent warnings.
The photographs.
The messages.
The fake threats.
Every clue had been designed to push Beatrice away from the people Morrow controlled.
"I wanted you to run."
"You could have told me."
"They were watching everything."
Beatrice's eyes filled with tears.
"I trusted you."
"I know."
Dante looked at Charles.
"And Victor?"
Maggie shook her head.
"He's coming."
A slow clap echoed from the hallway.
Victor Hale appeared.
Older than in the photograph.
Alive.
Smiling.
"You've all made this unnecessarily dramatic."
Dante raised his weapon.
Victor didn’t care.
"Put it down."
"No."
Victor smiled.
"You think evidence matters?"
He pointed at Beatrice.
"She works for a company owned by people I control."
He pointed at Charles.
"He was my director."
Then Maggie.
"She was my most loyal operative."
Finally, he looked at Dante.
"And you."
His smile disappeared.
"You're the only variable I couldn't buy."
Dante's eyes hardened.
"That's your mistake."
Victor laughed.
Then the hotel windows exploded.
Gunfire filled the room.
Dante tackled Beatrice to the floor.
Charles pulled Maggie behind a wall.
The battle lasted less than a minute.
When the shooting stopped, Victor was gone.
But he had left one thing behind.
A phone.
Beatrice picked it up.
The screen showed a live video.
Victor was standing in a crowded train station.
Behind him were hundreds of people.
Then the camera turned.
A bomb was visible beneath the central platform.
A timer counted down.
00:19:58.
Beatrice stared.
Victor's voice came through the speaker.
"You wanted the truth."
He smiled.
"Now choose who gets to live with it."
The timer continued.
00:19:42.
======================================================================
PART 5
======================================================================
PART FIVE — AFTER THE COUNTDOWN
Dante moved first.
"Where is the station?"
Maggie answered immediately.
"Grand Central."
Charles stared at the phone.
"It's a trap."
"Obviously," Dante said.
"Then why go?"
"Because there are people there."
Beatrice stood.
"I’m coming."
"No."
"You don’t get to decide that."
Dante looked at her.
For a moment, neither moved.
Then he nodded.
"Fine."
They reached Grand Central in minutes.
The station was crowded.
Too crowded.
Thousands of people moving through the halls.
Dante spoke rapidly into his phone.
"Lock down the lower platforms. Evacuate without causing panic."
Police arrived.
Then federal agents.