Chapter Eleven: The Traitor's ReturnFelix did not go back to his cousin's floor that night.He drove to Derek's building instead. The doorman recognized him now. The suit did the talking. The watch did the rest. The doorman nodded and Felix walked through the lobby like he owned it.Derek opened the door with a black eye and a split lip. He looked worse than he did in Victor's office. His hands were shaking. His eyes were red."You should not be here," Derek said."We need to talk."Derek stepped aside and Felix walked in. The apartment was a mess. Clothes on the floor. Empty bottles on the table. The white walls looked gray in the dim light."You look terrible," Felix said."I almost died," Derek said. "Your monster almost killed me. And you saved me. Why?"Felix sat down on the couch. The same couch where Derek had handed him a beer three days ago. It felt like three years."Because I am not a killer," Felix said. "Not yet. And because you are still useful."Derek laughed. It was a

---Chapter Thirteen: The ChoiceFelix stopped walking the moment he saw the gun.Chloe stood in the middle of the white room with her arm extended and her finger on the trigger. Her face was calm. Her eyes were cold. She looked like she had been waiting for this moment for a long time."The folder," she said. "Put it on the table."Felix did not move. "You are going to shoot me?""If I have to."Felix looked at her eyes. They were the same dark eyes that had looked at him across the party. The same eyes that had touched his cheek in this very room. The same eyes that had warned him about the coin.But there was something else in them now. Something hard. Something final."Why?" he asked.Chloe's hand did not shake. "Because I have been waiting for this for three years. The evidence. The proof. The thing that will destroy Victor Kensington. And you are not going to take it away from me."Felix slowly placed the folder on the table. His eyes never left hers."I was not going to take it

---Chapter Fifteen: The LetterThree months passed.Felix did not count the days. He was too busy building something new. Something real. Something that did not depend on a coin to exist.He bought a small apartment in a quiet part of the city. Big windows. A view of the park. A bed that did not squeak. He bought clothes that fit and shoes that did not pinch. He opened a bank account with clean money. Real money. The kind that came from smart investments and not from cheating people.He did not need the coin anymore. He had learned enough from using it to know which stocks would rise and which would fall. The patterns were in his head now. The coin had taught him to see things other people missed. He trusted his gut. He took risks. He won more than he lost.Chloe moved in after the first month.She did not ask. She just showed up with a bag and a smile and said she was tired of being alone. Felix opened the door and let her in and never looked back.They cooked dinner together. Badly

Chapter Seventeen: The Gold CoinFelix did not sleep that night.He sat on the couch with the wooden box on the coffee table in front of him. Chloe sat beside him with her hand on his arm and her eyes on the box.They had been sitting like that for hours. Neither of them spoke. Neither of them moved. The box was small and old and carved with symbols that seemed to shift in the dim light.Finally, Chloe broke the silence."Open it," she said.Felix looked at her. "Are you sure?""I need to see it. I need to know what we are dealing with."Felix reached out and opened the box. The gold coin lay inside on a bed of dark velvet. The eye was closed. The number five was engraved on the back. The metal glowed like it had its own light source.Chloe reached out and touched it. Her fingers hovered over the surface."It is warm," she said. "Like it is alive."Felix picked up the coin. It was heavier than the other one. Denser. More solid. He could feel the power radiating from it. The pull. The

---Chapter Nineteen: The New AllianceThe next morning, Felix woke up with Chloe in his arms.The sun was coming through the window and the city was waking up outside. For a moment, everything felt normal. Peaceful. Like the night before had never happened.Then he remembered. The gold coin. The Council. Marcus in the hospital. Chloe's confession.Everything came rushing back.Felix sat up and looked at Chloe. She was still asleep. Her face was peaceful. Her dark hair was spread across the pillow.He reached over and touched her cheek. She stirred and opened her eyes."Morning," she said. Her voice was soft. Sleepy."Morning," Felix said.She smiled. Then her face changed. She remembered too."The Council," she said. "Marcus. The war."Felix nodded. "We need to talk. We need to make a plan."They got up and made coffee. They sat at the kitchen table with the gold coin between them."Tell me everything," Felix said. "Everything about the Council. Everything about Elias. Everything abo