"It’s over," I tell him. "The FBI knows everything. Lisa sent all the evidence to the DOJ. Your board is being arrested as we speak."
"You’re bluffing."
"Am I?" I gesture to the window. "Look outside. See the FBI vehicles? The DOJ agents? They’re here for you, Charles."
Lisa’s voice broadcasts through the room’s speakers: "ridian board mbers arrested at 14:32, Sterling Industries board at 14:45, Atlas Global at 14:47. You want to continue?"
Charles’s face goes white, then red. His empire was crumbling in real ti.
"You think this changes anything?" His voice is shaking with rage. "I have contingencies, dead man’s switches. If I’m arrested, everything cos down. Everyone connected to -"
"Already disabled," Lisa interrupts cheerfully. "All of them. Your tech guy? Yeah, he works for now. Has been for six months."
Charles’s gun is shaking. He’s losing, and he knows it.
But he’s still dangerous.
"I can still kill your father," he says. "Right here, right now, and you get to watch."
"You could." My voice is calm. "But then I kill you imdiately. No trial and no chance to talk your way out. Just dead."
"I’m a dead man anyway."
"Maybe, but there’s dead in a shootout, and dead after years of appeals. Choose."
Thomas moves.
Fast. Faster than a man his age should move, and he grabs Charles’s gun hand to force it away from his head.
"I’m done being anyone’s pawn."
They struggle. Charles is younger, but Thomas is desperate.
The gun goes off, and Thomas stumbles.
I hear a shot to his shoulder. It wasn’t fatal, but he was bleeding.
However, it gave the opening I needed.
I shoot.
Not to kill but to disarm.
The bullet hits Charles’s hand, and his gun flies away, skittering across the floor.
Timothy and David crash through the main entrance. The Guards were overwheld and outgunned.
It was over in seconds.
Katherine’s free, and she’s running to . I catch her, hold her to check for injuries.
"I’m okay. I’m okay."
Bella’s helping Thomas. Pressing her jacket to his shoulder wound. "Stay still. The Paradics are coming."
"You ca," Thomas says to her. "You didn’t have to, but you ca."
"You’re my father. Of course I ca." She looks at him seriously. "I don’t know you. Don’t know if I’ll forgive you for giving up, but you’re still my father."
Thomas is crying. "I don’t deserve your loyalty."
"Probably not." Bella’s voice is matter-of-fact. "But you’re getting it anyway."
Charles is on the ground, Timothy and David securing him. He’s not resisting anymore, just staring at us with pure hatred.
"You think you’ve won?" His voice is venomous. "I have contingencies you don’t know about. If I’m arrested-"
"They’ve been disabled," Lisa repeats. "All of them."
"The Commission survives!" Charles is screaming now. "It always survives! You can arrest , but there are others! There will be others!"
"Not this ti." I crouch beside him. "This ti, we got everyone. Your board, your assets, and your network. It’s over."
FBI agents swarm the room with Chen leading them.
"Charles Sterling, you’re under arrest." Chen’s reading rights by the book to him.
They led Charles away when he looked at one more ti.
"You’re just like ," he says. "Ruthless. Willing to sacrifice anyone for what you want. That’s why you won."
"I’m nothing like you." My voice is cold. "I protect people. You use them."
"We’ll see." He smiles despite being in handcuffs. "We’ll see what you beco, Anthony Marvin. Whether you stay the hero or beco the monster."
Then he’s gone.
Paradics were treating Thomas, and Bella was staying with him, refusing to leave.
"I’ll ride with him," she tells . "To the hospital. Soone should."
"Thank you." I don’t know what else to say to this sister I just t.
"We should talk... later. When all this is over." She almost smiles. "I have a lot of questions about our father. And you."
" too." I manage a smile back. "About you... about everything."
"Later." She nods and goes with the paradics as they load Thomas onto a stretcher.
Katherine and I are finally alone in the chaos. The Ergency personnel were everywhere, but they were giving us space.
"You ca back," I say. "For my father."
"For your family and for you." She touches my face. "I couldn’t let Charles kill him, not after everything."
"Even though he betrayed us, lied, and made believe he was dead."
"He’s still your father, and he was trying to protect you. Even if he did it wrong." She leans into . "Family’s complicated."
"Tell about it." I look toward where Bella disappeared with Thomas. "I have a sister. A thirty-six-year-old engineer sister I never knew existed."
"You have a sister." Katherine’s smiling despite her exhaustion. "Family’s really complicated."
"At least she seems sane."
"Give it ti."
We’re laughing, despite everything. Maybe because we’re alive together and it’s finally over.
Chen approaches. "We need statents. Depositions. You’ll both need to testify."
"Later." I’m not letting go of Katherine. "Right now, we’re just going to exist. Together."
Chen nods. "Later, then."
Elliot and Susan find us. Both safe and exhausted.
"Is it really over?" Susan asks.
"It’s really over," Katherine tells her. "Charles is arrested. The Commission is done."
"Good." Susan hugs her. "Because I need a vacation. Sowhere with no terrorists, no billionaire psychopaths, and really good cocktails."
"That sounds perfect," Katherine agrees.
We’re being led out of the elevator, through the lobby, and into the chaos of Manhattan.
We see FBI vehicles everywhere, the news crews and civilians gawking.
We’re finally free.
Then Chen pulls aside. "We have a problem."
"What now?"
"We raided the ridian board eting. Where the other eleven board mbers were supposed to be waiting for arrest."
"And?"
"We found twelve bodies. All dead. Professional hits. Executed minutes before we arrived."
My blood runs cold. "What?"
Katherine joins us. "What’s wrong?"
"The board is dead," Chen says grimly. "All of them. Soone killed them to prevent them from talking."
"But Charles-" I start.
"Charles was arrested here. This happened across town. Whoever did this had access to ridian’s top floor despite our lockdown. They were already inside. Waiting."
Chen shows us cri scene photos.
Twelve bodies. Board mbers. All shot execution-style.
And on the wall was written in blood.
Charles failed, the board failed, but the Commission endures. You’ve removed my puppets. Now face the puppeteer. -A.M.
Katherine’s staring at the ssage. "A.M.?"
"We don’t know. Initials, maybe. A code na?"
Then Katherine goes white.
"No. It can’t be."
"What?" I grab her shoulders. "Katherine, what is it?"
"Anthony Marvin." She looks at with dawning horror. "A.M. Your initials."
Understanding hits like a freight train.
"They’re framing ." My voice is hollow. "For all of it. The board murders... everything."
"That’s..." Chen’s face shows he’s already thinking through implications. "That’s exactly what it looks like."
Katherine’s gripping my hand. "But you were here with us, you have an alibi. You couldn’t have-"
"Doesn’t matter." I know how this works. "Soone with resources and planning could fake evidence, video, and witnesses."
"But why?" Katherine’s voice breaks. "Why fra you?"
"Because," Chen says quietly, "whoever’s really behind the Commission wants Tony to take the fall. Wants him arrested, discredited, and destroyed."
"The real Architect," I finish. "Charles wasn’t the top. That ans he was another layer."
"And the real Architect just eliminated everyone who could identify them." Chen’s phone is buzzing. "I have to go to the cri scene, but Tony - don’t leave town, don’t do anything that looks like running."
He leaves.
Katherine and I stand in the chaos.
We thought we’d won.
We thought it was over.
But the real Architect is still out there.
And they just frad for twelve murders.
"What do we do?" Katherine’s voice is small.
"We prove I didn’t do it. We find the real Architect, and we end this." I pull her close. "Together."
"Together."
But for the first ti since this all started, I’m not sure we can win.
Because how do you fight an enemy who can fra you for murder while you’re surrounded by the FBI?
How do you fight soone invisible?
That powerful?
That far ahead?
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