Chapter 13 - THE DEADLINE
We had six hours.
Stephen sent proof Terrence was alive.
A photograph.
Terrence sitting in a chair inside an unknown industrial building.
No visible injuries.
A newspaper on his lap.
Timestamp visible.
Current.
Sydney collapsed.
I did not.
Not because I was stronger.
Because someone had to think.
Stephen wanted the original Northstar ledger.
Not copies.
Why?
Because the paper contained handwritten annotations.
Signatures.
Ink.
Evidence difficult to dismiss as fabricated.
The federal team wanted control of the exchange.
Sydney wanted to run out the door.
Gregory wanted to negotiate separately.
I trusted none of those instincts completely.
I trusted systems.
So we built one.
We digitized every page.
Documented chain of custody.
Captured forensic images.
Then investigators prepared the original for controlled transfer.
Stephen sent an address.
An abandoned printing plant.
Midnight.
Sydney and I were told not to go.
Stephen immediately sent another message.
ONLY THE SISTERS.
Of course.
He knew investigators would follow.
He expected them.
The point was not avoiding law enforcement.
The point was controlling us.
At 11:47, Sydney and I sat in a vehicle two blocks away.
She was shaking.
“You hate me.”
I looked ahead.
“Sometimes.”
She nodded.
“I deserve that.”
“Yes.”
She looked down.
“I’m pregnant with the man who tried to steal from you.”
“Yes.”
“I cheated on my husband.”
“Yes.”
“I helped Mom.”
“Yes.”
She wiped her face.
“Why are you here?”
I finally looked at her.
“Because none of those things mean I want you dead.”
She cried silently.
At midnight, we entered.
Terrence was there.
Alive.
Jason stood beside him.
Stephen stood farther back.
My father was not present.
My mother was.
That shocked me most.
“Mom?”
She looked terrible.
“Meline.”
“Why are you here?”
Stephen smiled.
“She finally chose a side.”
I stared at her.
“Whose?”
Mom whispered.
“Yours.”
I almost laughed.
Too late.
Too convenient.
But then she turned toward Stephen.
“I brought them.”
My stomach dropped.
Sydney whispered.
“Mom?”
Stephen held out his hand.
“The ledger.”
I carried the case.
I placed it on a table.
“Terrence first.”
Jason pushed Terrence forward.
He crossed toward us.
Sydney ran to him.
He did not embrace her.
That hurt her.
It should.
But he stood beside her.
Stephen opened the case.
Then smiled.
“You know what Evelyn’s biggest mistake was?”
“No.”
“Believing evidence matters more than power.”
He poured lighter fluid over the ledger.
Then struck a match.
Mom shouted.
“No.”
Flames rose.
Sydney screamed.
I did not move.
Because the original pages were evidence.
But not the only evidence.
Stephen watched my face.
“You copied it.”
“Yes.”
His smile disappeared.
“That doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to prosecutors.”
“No.”
He looked at Jason.
“It matters to dead men.”
Jason pulled a gun.
Everything changed.
Agents outside had a visual.
But Jason stood too close to Sydney.
Stephen stepped backward.
Mom moved suddenly.
She struck Jason’s arm.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Agents entered.
Chaos exploded.
Terrence pulled Sydney down.
I dropped behind the table.
Stephen ran.
Jason fell under two agents.
Mom screamed.
The fire suppression system activated.
Water poured over the burning ledger.
Some pages survived.
Stephen did not get out.
Agents caught him at the loading dock.
For the first time, all visible players were contained.
Jason.
Stephen.
My mother.
Gregory under separate questioning.
My father still missing.
We should have felt relief.
Then one investigator approached me.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“The ledger is missing pages.”
“Which ones?”
He showed me.
A sequence had been removed long before tonight.
The section covering the final year of Grandma’s life.
The period including Marcus’s father’s death.
And Grandma’s death.
Someone had removed the most dangerous records.
Mom heard.
Her face changed.
She knew.
“Who has them?”
I asked.
She said nothing.
“Mom.”
Her eyes filled.
“Robert.”
Dad.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
Then she whispered.
“But if he still has those pages, he isn’t running from the police.”
“Who is he running from?”
May you like
She looked toward Stephen being dragged away.
“Someone worse.”
