Anna Chen's apartment in Pacific Heights was exactly what someone would expect from a CFO's wife, modern, tasteful, expensive without being ostentatious. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the bay. Minimalist furniture in whites and grays. Fresh flowers on the dining table. Everything perfect, everything controlled.Sarah stood outside the door, mic hidden in her necklace, phone in her pocket recording everything. In a car parked two blocks away, Alex and Adrian listened through headphones.Sarah knocked.Anna opened the door immediately, as if she'd been waiting right there. Her eyes were red from crying, or what looked like crying. She wore comfortable clothes, yoga pants and an oversized sweater. Her hair was messy. She looked like a woman falling apart."Sarah," Anna breathed, pulling her into a hug. "Thank God you came."Sarah hugged back awkwardly, hyperaware of the microphone recording every word. "What's going on, Anna? Where's David?"Anna pulled her inside and closed the do

Alex nodded. "Rodriguez, your team takes the security station and secures the entrances. Adrian and I go straight for the basement. Vincent, you stay with the vehicles and coordinate. If anything goes wrong, if Marcus tries to run, you stop him.""What about casualties?" Vincent asked quietly. "If Marcus's security team resists...""We're not here to kill anyone," Alex said firmly. "But we're also not here to get killed. Your team uses appropriate force. Priority is capturing Marcus alive. Everything else is secondary."Rodriguez checked his watch. "We move in five minutes. Everyone check equipment."The team dispersed to make final preparations. Alex and Adrian stood alone for a moment."You ready for this?" Adrian asked."No," Alex admitted. "But I don't think there's any way to be ready for confronting your grand-uncle who's been orchestrating your destruction for thirty years.""Fair point.""Adrian, if this goes bad, if Marcus has some trap we haven't anticipated—""We'll handle

He spent the next two hours explaining everything, Marcus's plot, the tunnel escape, the confrontation in the clearing. The detective listened impassively, taking notes, asking follow-up questions.Finally, when the sun was starting to rise, the detective closed his notepad. "We'll need formal statements from everyone involved, but for now, you're free to go. We'll be in touch."Alex found Adrian and Vincent waiting by one of the SUVs. Rodriguez's team had already been released after giving their statements."Hospital?" Vincent asked. "You should get checked out properly.""No. I need to go to the office." Alex pulled out his phone and checked the time. 6:47 AM. Markets opened in forty-three minutes. "Marcus's transactions are going to execute. We need to be ready.""Ready for what? He's right that we can't stop them.""No, but we can respond. We can have our counter-narrative ready. We can show strength instead of panic." Alex looked at both of them. "This isn't over. Marcus being in

"Then why should I show you mercy?"Anna took a shaky breath. "Because I want to be different. Because I want the chance to figure out who I am when I'm not performing a role. Because..." She stopped, struggling. "Because Sarah offered to leave the door open for me. To give me a chance to be a real sister someday. And I can't do that from prison for the next twenty years.""What makes you think you deserve a relationship with your sister after what you did to her?""I don't deserve it. But she's willing to offer it anyway. And that generosity, that willingness to see me as more than my worst actions, that's something I want to live up to."Judge Davidson studied Anna for a long moment. "Miss Chen, if I were to grant leniency, what would you do with it?""I'd get therapy. Real therapy, not strategic manipulation training disguised as therapy. I'd figure out what I actually like, what I actually want, who I actually am beneath all the layers Marcus installed. And I'd try to make amends

She pulled out a notebook from her bag and handed it to Alex. Inside were detailed notes: dates, times, locations, observations. It read like a private investigator's case file."You've been building evidence against your own husband," Alex said, impressed despite himself."I've been trying to understand what was happening to my life," Anna corrected. "I didn't know about Marcus until yesterday. I didn't know about Sarah being my twin. But I knew David was lying to me about something major. So I documented everything, hoping eventually it would make sense."Alex flipped through the notebook. The detail was extraordinary, Anna had tracked David's movements, his phone calls, his cash withdrawals, everything. If this was genuine, it was an invaluable resource."Sarah," Alex said, "can I talk to Anna alone for a minute?"Sarah hesitated, looking between her sister and her cousin. Finally she nodded and left the room.Once they were alone, Alex sat across from Anna and studied her carefull