Renata chose the location herself, a quiet library reading room after hours, neutral ground with no history tied to either family, and insisted on being present along with Mira, both of them seated slightly apart from the table where Daniel and Elias would talk. The room smelled of old paper and dust, and the quiet felt strange after weeks of dinners, warehouses, and clubs with no names on their doors.Elias arrived alone, no guards visible, though Daniel had no doubt several were close by regardless."Mr. Ashworth," Elias said, taking a seat across the table. "Thank you for agreeing to this.""I agreed because Voss said you wanted honesty," Daniel said. "I'd like to test whether that's true before I decide how much of my own honesty to offer in return."Elias almost smiled at that. "Fair enough. I'll start, then. My son embarrassed me badly, and I removed him from active family business as a result. Isabelle Duarte tried to use your situation against me, and your father in law refuse

Renata arrived the next morning with a single folder, thinner than any she'd brought before, and set it carefully on the kitchen table like it might break if handled too roughly. She still had circles under her eyes from whatever late nights had gone into finding even this much, and she waited until she had a cup of coffee in front of her before saying anything more."This isn't much," she warned. "But it's more than we had a week ago."Daniel opened it slowly. Inside was a single photograph, grainy, clearly taken from a distance, showing a woman standing outside a building Daniel didn't recognize. Beside it, a short note written in handwriting he did recognize, Voss's careful, precise script."Voss gave you this," Daniel said."She did," Renata confirmed. "Quietly, and only after I pushed her harder than I usually would. She said she owes you this much, even if it costs her something to give it.""Who is this woman?""Her name i

Voss agreed to meet him that same night, alone this time, at a small park near the edge of the city where streetlights cast long shadows over empty benches. Daniel arrived early, standing at a distance for several minutes, watching the empty path before finally deciding it was safe enough to approach.She was already waiting when Daniel arrived, standing near the water fountain, her posture as composed as ever, though something in her eyes shifted the moment she saw his face."You found Reyes," she said. It wasn't a question."He told me you gave the order," Daniel said, his voice steady despite the anger simmering underneath it. "The extraction point. The change that got Callahan killed. He said it came from you."Voss didn't flinch, didn't deny it, which somehow made it worse than if she had."Yes," she said quietly. "I gave that order, and I have carried the weight of it every single day since, whether or not you choose to believe that

Renata arrived within the hour, laptop already open on the kitchen table, her expression tighter than Daniel had seen in weeks. She barely waited for the door to close behind her before setting the laptop down and turning it toward him, as though she'd been holding onto the discovery the entire drive over."Tell me," Daniel said, sitting across from her."The order Voss received," Renata said, turning the screen toward him. "I traced the authorization chain as far back as I could. It didn't come from Elias. It came from someone above him, someone whose name I've only ever heard mentioned once or twice, always carefully, always with respect bordering on fear.""Who.""Simon Kestrel," Renata said. "Elias's older brother. Officially, he stepped back from family business fifteen years ago, handing control to Elias and disappearing into a quiet, private life somewhere overseas. Unofficially, I think Simon never actually stepped back at all. I think Elias has s

Three days into the search, Renata called with news that made her voice tighten in a way Daniel hadn't heard before. He'd grown used to her calm, methodical updates over the past weeks, which made the edge in her voice now all the more unsettling."We found a property," she said. "Registered under a shell company connected to Simon, similar to how Reyes's place was hidden. Except this one wasn't hidden well enough by accident, Ash. I think it was left findable on purpose.""What do you mean.""I mean when my contact reached the address this morning, there was nobody there. But there was something waiting for us instead."She arrived at the house an hour later, a plain envelope in hand, and set it down on the kitchen table with the same careful weight she'd used for Anton Reyes's photograph weeks earlier.Daniel opened it slowly. Inside was a single typed page, no signature, though none of them needed one to know exactly who had written it.<