CHAPTER 12 — REBECCA’S CONFESSION
Lily stared at her mother.
“Did you help him?”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
“At first.”
The timer continued counting down.
Seven minutes.
Rebecca spoke quickly.
Before her disappearance, she had discovered corruption inside Nightfall. She believed the government would bury the truth to protect national operations.
Marcus offered her another solution.
Fake her death.
Move the evidence outside official control.
Expose everyone involved.
“I thought he wanted accountability,” she said. “I didn’t understand that he wanted power.”
“You left us for him,” Lily said.
“I left because Marcus had already marked your father for death.”
I looked at Rebecca.
“You could have told me.”
“He had someone inside your security detail. If I contacted you, he would know.”
Marcus shouted from the platform.
“Stop trying to justify yourself.”
Rebecca turned toward him.
“You used my fear.”
“And you gave me everything I needed.”
Above us, Richard laughed.
“This family is even more broken than mine.”
Lily looked up at him.
“You never loved me.”
Richard’s expression changed.
For one second, I saw something human.
Then it vanished.
“I loved what you could give me.”
Lily stepped toward the biometric scanner.
“I’ll sign.”
“No,” I said.
She glanced at me.
Trust me.
She placed her hand on the device.
The screen illuminated.
Richard leaned toward the glass.
Marcus focused on the scanner.
Rebecca shifted in her chair.
Elena cut the final strand of her restraint using the sharpened edge of her pendant.
Five minutes.
Lily pressed her palm down.
The system requested a voice command.
“I, Lily Bennett Ashford—”
The lights went out.
Not a power failure.
Daniel had taken control of the lighting grid while leaving the servers active.
In darkness, Elena tackled one guard.
Rebecca struck another with the metal chair.
I moved toward Marcus.
Gunfire erupted into the ceiling.
Emergency lights flickered red.
Marcus ran toward a side exit.
Naomi’s teams breached the doors.
Above us, Richard attempted to activate the transmitter.
Nothing happened.
Lily had not authorized the assets.
Her palm had uploaded the cloud recording from Easter directly into the auction network.
Every buyer now received evidence of Richard’s violence, financial crimes, and conspiracy.
His own bidders began disconnecting.
Richard screamed and slammed the control panel.
Marcus reached the exit.
Rebecca blocked him.
He raised his gun.
I hit his arm as he fired.
The bullet struck the glass control room.
The window shattered.
Richard stumbled backward.
The transmitter fell from his hand and landed on the ledge outside the broken window.
Marcus and I struggled beneath the platform.
He reached for a second weapon.
Lily kicked it away.
Naomi’s agents closed in.
Then Richard climbed through the shattered window.
Blood covered his hands.
He crawled along the narrow ledge toward the transmitter.
Lily stood below him.
“Richard, stop!”
He looked down at her.
“You should have stayed on the floor.”
He grabbed the device.
The archive timer dropped to ten seconds.
Daniel shouted through the speakers.
“He triggered full release!”
Richard smiled.
Then the ledge beneath him broke.
May you like
He fell.
And the transmitter fell with him.
