Chapter 37 - Six Hours Until the City Burns
They returned to the estate at two in the morning.
Antonio refused to leave Roman’s arms.
Roman did not complain.
Sofia ran down the staircase.
“Antonio!”
He wriggled free.
The children collided in the hallway.
Clara covered her mouth.
Catherine cried openly.
Adrian pretended he had dust in his eye.
Marcus looked away.
Roman simply watched.
His family was whole.
For exactly ninety seconds.
Then Rhodes walked into the room carrying Elena’s laptop.
“We have a problem.”
Roman sighed.
“Of course.”
The dead-man release had begun.
At eight a.m., encrypted files would upload simultaneously to dozens of journalists, government servers, foreign intelligence inboxes, and public repositories.
Clara looked at the clock.
5:51 a.m.
Two hours and nine minutes.
“What exactly is in the files?” she asked.
Rhodes answered.
“Everything.”
“Define everything.”
“Illegal payments stretching back forty years. Informant identities. Witness locations. Sealed adoption records. Medical files used for blackmail. Names of undercover officers. Children of protected witnesses.”
Roman’s face darkened.
“So Antonio was right.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Your father?”
“He said releasing everything would punish innocent people beside guilty ones.”
Rhodes nodded.
“And Elena knew that. If this dump goes public unfiltered, she can portray it as Roman’s revenge.”
Marcus understood.
“She destroys Gaines’s enemies while blaming us.”
Roman looked at Rhodes.
“Can you stop it?”
“Not from Elena’s laptop. The upload is distributed.”
Clara stared at the file architecture.
“What about the third key?”
Vincent, under guard in the adjoining room, had been brought back for questioning.
Roman walked in.
Vincent sat with a bandage around his head.
“You knew?”
Vincent looked hollow.
“No.”
“Your sister was using you.”
“Yes.”
Roman placed both hands on the table.
“Can the upload be stopped?”
Vincent hesitated.
“Carlo’s key had a shutdown function.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Roman grabbed his collar.
Marcus stepped closer.
Clara said his name.
Roman released Vincent.
Vincent laughed bitterly.
“You’ve changed.”
“People keep complaining.”
Vincent looked toward the children through the glass doors.
“My father loved Elena more.”
Roman said nothing.
“He thought she was gentle.”
Vincent swallowed.
“She became better at hiding cruelty than the rest of us.”
Clara entered.
“The key.”
Vincent nodded.
“My father told me the Crown Reserve could be sealed permanently if all three heirs agreed.”
“Three heirs?” Adrian asked from the doorway.
Vincent looked at him.
“Duca. Vane. Moretti.”
Everyone went still.
Adrian frowned.
“I’m not a Vane.”
“No. But Elias transferred his authority to Sofia before disappearing.”
Roman looked toward Adrian.
“And Sofia passed it to both sons.”
Vincent nodded.
“So Roman and Adrian share the Duca-Vane authority. I hold Moretti.”
Clara said, “Then you can stop this.”
Vincent looked down.
“I can help.”
Rhodes brought the terminal.
The shutdown demanded three biometric signatures.
Vincent.
Roman.
Adrian.
Roman placed his thumb on the scanner.
Adrian followed.
Vincent hesitated.
Roman’s eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“If we seal it, the archive becomes inaccessible.”
“Yes.”
“Then my father’s death disappears again.”
Clara stepped closer.
“No.”
Vincent looked at her.
“We preserve the truth legally.”
“How?”
“Filtered disclosure.”
Rhodes understood.
“We separate criminal evidence from protected personal data.”
Vincent shook his head.
“You expect me to trust the government?”
Rhodes almost smiled.
“No. I expect you to trust subpoenas, court orders, defense attorneys, journalists, and approximately four hundred lawyers who hate each other enough to prevent a single cover-up.”
Marcus nodded.
“Surprisingly persuasive.”
Vincent looked at Roman.
“You would allow evidence against your father to be released?”
Roman did not hesitate.
“Yes.”
“Against yourself?”
“If it is legitimate.”
Vincent stared.
The old Roman would have destroyed the machine.
The new Roman stood beside his children and chose consequence.
Vincent placed his thumb on the scanner.
SHUTDOWN AUTHORIZATION ACCEPTED.
Countdown stopped.
Everyone exhaled.
Then the terminal flashed.
SECONDARY MIRROR ACTIVE.
Rhodes cursed.
Elena had created another server.
Location unknown.
Upload time:
ONE HOUR, FORTY-TWO MINUTES.
Roman stared at the screen.
Vincent whispered, “She never trusted me.”
Clara leaned over the terminal.
“No.”
Roman looked at her.
Clara’s eyes sharpened.
“She never trusted anyone.”
She pulled up Elena’s location history.
“And people who trust nobody keep the final switch close.”
Marcus smiled slowly.
“Where?”
Clara pointed to one repeated encrypted address.
A private residence in Washington, D.C.
Registered to Thomas Gaines.
May you like
Roman looked toward Rhodes.
She was already calling for a plane.
