Fourteen dead.
Fourteen people who trusted us. Who believed Katherine when she promised them safety.
Dead in less than three hours.
I’m coordinating from our apartnt, where phones are ringing constantly. Luca on one line, Timothy on another, and the FBI on the third.
"We need safe houses," I say to Luca. "Protection details. Relocation for everyone still alive."
"Tony, we’re talking about forty-seven people spread across five states. I don’t have the manpower-"
"Then hire more. I don’t care what it costs. Empty my accounts if you have to... just protect them."
Katherine’s on the couch staring at her laptop. Tracking the death count in real-ti.
Fifteen now.
"Katherine-" I start.
"Don’t." Her voice is hollow. "Don’t tell it’s not my fault. Don’t tell I couldn’t have known."
"You couldn’t have-"
"I promised them safety, Tony. Clean slates and new lives. And now they’re dying because they trusted ."
Agent Chen’s on a video call. "Tony, the FBI doesn’t have resources for this. We’re talking about protecting nearly fifty people indefinitely across multiple jurisdictions."
"Then I’ll pay for private security. Every person on that list gets a protection detail. Today."
"That’s going to cost-"
"I don’t care what it costs!" I’m shouting now, I can’t help it. "These are innocent people. They escaped criminal life, and they deserve protection."
Chen nods. "I’ll coordinate with local field offices. We’ll do what we can."
But it won’t be enough. It’s never enough.
Katherine’s phone rings. She answers, listens, then her face crumbles.
"I understand, I’m so sorry. We’re sending protection now. Please, just... stay inside. Lock your doors and don’t open for anyone."
She hangs up and looks at with devastated eyes.
"That was Carlos. One of the boxing gym guys is terrified. Says there are n watching his building. He has kids in the gym right now, teenagers who look up to him."
"Luca’s sending people-"
"It won’t matter! Don’t you see? Diane’s going to kill them all. Every single person I tried to help, and I have to watch."
She’s spiraling. I’ve seen her face danger without flinching, but this... guilt, helplessness... It’s breaking her.
I pull her into my arms. She fights at first, then collapses against .
"I can’t do this," she whispers. "I can’t watch them all die."
"You won’t have to. We’re going to stop her."
"How? We don’t even know where she is!"
Before I can answer, my phone rings. It’s Will Grant.
"I can help," he says without preamble. "With the safe houses. I have properties across the country. They’re empty and secure. It’s part of how I survived Charles."
"You’d do that?"
"Diane’s targeting these people to hurt you, which ans she’s also sending a ssage to , to Rose, and Ted. That anyone who helps you dies." His voice hardens. "I’m done being afraid of her. Send the list, I’ll start relocating people."
After we hang up, I tell Katherine. She nods numbly.
"It’s just delaying the inevitable. Unless we stop Diane permanently, she’ll find them eventually."
She’s right, but it buys us ti.
Ted calls an hour later.
"I traced the dark web leak. It was a server in Eastern Europe initially, but it’s a relay."
"Where’s the actual source?"
"Manhattan. She’s here in the city."
My blood runs cold. She’s been here all along, watching us.
"Can you narrow it down?"
"Working on it. IP tracking. Digital forensics. Give thirty minutes."
Katherine’s watching the news now, muted. Her consulting firm’s building was on screen.
But it’s not the building, it’s a different story showing on the news.
Marvin Industries stock prices were plumting. News ticker: "SEC Investigating Forr Mob Heir’s Company for Financial Irregularities."
"What the hell?"
I unmute it.
Anonymous tips, fake docunts suggesting insider trading and money laundering. All the things I spent the past year proving we don’t do.
My phone explodes with calls and ssages from board mbers, investors, and the dia, all requesting comnts.
"She’s attacking from every angle," Katherine says quietly. "Your business, my business, and everything we’ve built."
"The docunts are fake. We can prove-"
"Doesn’t matter. Perception is reality in business, even fake allegations damage your reputation."
Robert Gale calls. "Tony, we need an ergency board eting. Now."
An hour later, I’m facing twelve angry board mbers via video conference.
"These allegations are completely false," I say. "Fabricated. We have docuntation proving our compliance with every regulation-"
"Tony, I believe you," Janet Park interrupts. "But the market doesn’t care about truth. Stock’s down eighteen percent, and investors are panicking."
"Give forty-eight hours. I’ll prove these docunts are fake and find who’s behind this."
"We know who’s behind this," Robert Gale says. "Sa person targeting your fiancée’s clients. This Diane Reece woman."
"Then help stop her. Don’t abandon ship because of fake allegations."
A long silence ensued, then Janet spoke: "Forty-eight hours. Prove it’s fabricated and restore investor confidence. But Tony... if you can’t, we’ll have to take action to protect the company."
The call ends.
Katherine’s beside now. "They’re losing faith."
"I know."
"We need to go on offense. Stop reacting and start attacking."
"How?"
"Diane wants us defensive, to always respond to her moves. So we flip it, find sothing she cares about, and attack it."
Bella joins us; she’s been coordinating protection details all day. "What does Diane care about?"
Rose’s face appears on screen. Video call from her safe house.
"Her reputation," Rose says. "Diane’s built a carefully curated identity as a respected businesswoman and philanthropist. She’s a board mber at three charities. All fake, but it’s her armor."
"Then we strip it away," Katherine says. "Expose her for what she is."
"How?" I ask.
"Ted compiles evidence of her cris. Rose reaches out to the art world and exposes Diane’s illegal dealings. Will investigates her real estate holdings to find the dirty money. We coordinate dia exposure, destroy her reputation, and make her vulnerable."
It’s a good plan, aggressive but proactive.
Exactly what we need.
"Do it," I say. "All of it. Forty-eight hours, we burn Diane’s life to the ground."
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