Chen was waiting outside the diner when they pulled up, having driven straight over the moment Killian's call cut through with three words: C. Hale. Now.He didn't ask questions before reading the filing Elias had forwarded, scanning it twice in the harsh light of the car's interior, his expression sliding from confusion into something Killian hadn't seen on his old teacher's face in two years — genuine, unguarded shock."Say something," Killian said. "Whatever you're thinking, say it.""Cordelia Hale." Chen's voice had gone rough. "Marcus Hale's younger sister. I met her exactly once, nineteen years ago, before the Order exiled him and before Deadmoo existed as anything but an idea he talked about too often for anyone's comfort. She was seventeen at the time — sharp, careful, already better at reading a room than her brother ever was."Cassandra's stomach turned over. "Seventeen years old. Same as Ivy is now.""I doubt that's a coincidence." Chen's jaw tightened. "Cordelia disappeare

"Somewhere none of us can track." Killian repeated the words slowly, fury settling into the same cold, focused clarity that had carried him through every confrontation this week. "You've had eyes on Sarto for nine years, according to your own account. How does a man like that simply vanish with a seventeen-year-old girl and leave you with nothing?""Because I've spent nine years watching him do exactly what my brother pays him to do, not what he does when he decides my brother's leash no longer serves him." Colette's composure had thinned to almost nothing now, the careful management Killian had come to expect from her replaced by something closer to genuine panic. "Sarto's business depends on discretion, Mr. Dante. If he's decided your gift is worth more sold privately than delivered to the Order, he wouldn't need my brother's infrastructure to disappear. He'd have built his own exit years ago, precisely for a moment like this one."Cassandra's hands had curled into fists at her side

"'M.'" Chen repeated the single letter like it might rearrange itself into something more useful the longer he stared at it. "That's not enough to work with. Half the names connected to this entire mess could start with that letter.""Not half," Colette said slowly, something troubled crossing her face. "Reyes doesn't answer to an 'M.' Neither does my brother, whatever else he goes by inside the Order. I've spent nineteen years mapping every name connected to this world, and I can't place a single significant player whose name fits that initial.""Which means it's someone none of us have accounted for yet," Killian said. "Exactly like Sarto's note warned."Cassandra knelt beside Ivy's chair, checking her over once more with the careful attention of someone who needed the reassurance as much as her cousin did. "We need to get her home. Now. Whatever this new threat is, she's answered enough questions for one night.""Agreed." Killian helped Ivy to her feet, the girl steadier than he ex

Sandra Whitmore's estate sat behind gates that opened before Chen had fully stopped the car, staff clearly instructed to expect them without delay. She met them at the door herself, no assistant, no entourage, dressed down from the polished CEO composure Killian remembered from the hospital lobby into something closer to genuine fear."Thank you for coming," she said, ushering them inside quickly, glancing at the street behind them before closing the door. "I wasn't certain you would, given the hour.""You said this was urgent," Killian said, watching her carefully, weighing every gesture against the possibility that whatever she was about to say might be another layer of calculation rather than honesty. "Start there."Sandra led them into a study, smaller and more personal than the sprawling formal rooms Killian remembered from his one previous visit to a Whitmore property, and gestured for them to sit before pacing rather than joining them."My husband," she said finally, the words

"Sarto called Reyes." Killian read the message aloud, watching Colette's expression shift from careful analysis into something sharper, more alarmed. "That doesn't fit anything he told us in the note he left with Ivy. He said he was done with the Order. Done working for your brother.""Then either he lied to us tonight," Colette said slowly, "or something's changed in the last two hours that made working with Reyes suddenly worth more than working alone." She pulled out her own phone, dialing rapidly, her earlier composure fraying at the edges. "I need to know what they discussed. If Sarto's decided to sell whatever leverage he's gathered directly to the Council instead of keeping it for himself, that changes everything about how much time we actually have left to plan around this."Miles Whitmore, forgotten for the moment amid the new information, cleared his throat. "Perhaps I can help. I have resources of my own — legal counsel who specialize in exactly this kind of corporate entan