Chapter 13 - Eighty-Three Minutes
Lucas Bennett attacked the dead-drop server from one end of the library.
Elaine Porter worked from the other.
Rocco coordinated with Swiss authorities.
Carlo stayed with Eli and Claire.
Dominic stood beside his mother.
Eighty minutes.
Seventy-eight.
Seventy-six.
Lucas shook his head.
“The server won’t allow deletion without a hardware token.”
“Which Reinhardt has.”
“Yes.”
“Can you change the release list?”
“Trying.”
Elaine looked up.
“If it releases, we respond immediately.”
Dominic nodded.
“With what?”
“Full disclosure.”
Everyone stared.
Elaine continued.
“We identify authentic archive materials ourselves.”
“Before journalists authenticate the fabricated ones.”
Dominic understood.
“You want us to publish first.”
“Yes.”
Charles looked horrified.
“That will expose everything.”
Elaine looked at him.
“That is the point.”
“The political fallout—”
“You lost the right to advise us on political fallout.”
Charles went silent.
Dominic looked at Isabella.
“This was your secret.”
She typed.
NOT ANYMORE.
He nodded.
“Then we release the authentic records.”
Elaine began organizing files.
Dominic continued.
“And every document implicating my father.”
Charles stared.
“All?”
“All.”
“Dominic—”
“All.”
Isabella reached for his hand.
He squeezed hers.
Marin stood quietly near the fireplace.
Dominic looked at her.
“The fabricated files include you.”
“I saw.”
“If they release—”
“I’ll deal with it.”
“You shouldn’t have to.”
“No.”
Marin looked at him.
“But neither should your mother.”
Dominic smiled faintly.
“You two are getting annoyingly similar.”
Isabella typed.
GOOD.
Marin laughed despite herself.
The clock showed 10:51.
Then Rocco’s phone rang.
Swiss police.
He listened.
“They found Reinhardt.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“Where?”
“Parking structure near the bank.”
“Token?”
Rocco shook his head.
“Not on him.”
“Where is it?”
“He says he mailed it.”
Dominic stared.
“To whom?”
Rocco asked.
Listened.
Then looked up.
“Vivien.”
Everyone turned toward the sitting room.
Dominic walked there.
Vivien’s attorney had arrived.
Margaret Wynn.
Sharp suit.
Sharper expression.
“Mr. Virelli.”
Dominic ignored her.
He looked at Vivien.
“Lukas mailed you something.”
Her face changed.
Margaret immediately spoke.
“My client will not answer.”
Dominic nodded.
“Then she doesn’t have to.”
He turned toward the detective.
“You searched her belongings?”
“Yes.”
“Packages?”
“No.”
Vivien smiled.
Dominic looked back.
“Where was it sent?”
“No answer.”
Margaret repeated.
Dominic stared at Vivien.
“Fifty-eight minutes.”
She tilted her head.
“To midnight?”
“Yes.”
“And you still need the token.”
“Yes.”
Vivien smiled.
“Then uncuff me.”
Margaret looked at her.
“Vivien.”
“No.”
Vivien kept her eyes on Dominic.
“Dismiss the kidnapping allegation.”
“I can’t.”
“Tell Sloan not to cooperate.”
“No.”
“Give me my ring.”
“No.”
Her expression cracked.
“You’d rather destroy your family name?”
“Yes.”
Vivien blinked.
Dominic stepped closer.
“You still don’t understand.”
His voice was quiet.
“I’m not negotiating against the truth.”
She stared.
“I spent years cleaning my father’s name by hiding the worst parts of him.”
He shook his head.
“That ends tonight.”
Vivien looked unsettled.
Dominic continued.
“If the archive releases, I will publish every authentic page myself.”
“People will hate you.”
“Some.”
“Your investors will leave.”
“Some.”
“You could lose billions.”
“Yes.”
Her eyes searched his face.
“You don’t care?”
“Of course I care.”
Dominic looked toward his mother.
“I just care about other things more.”
Vivien looked at Isabella through the doorway.
Then at Marin.
Understanding arrived slowly.
“You love her.”
Everyone froze.
Marin stared.
Dominic’s expression changed.
Vivien laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
Dominic said nothing.
Vivien continued.
“That’s why you believed her.”
“No.”
Dominic’s voice hardened.
“I believed her because she told the truth.”
“You love her.”
“This has nothing to do with—”
“It has everything to do with it.”
Vivien stood despite the cuffs.
Margaret tried to stop her.
Vivien ignored her.
“You were never going to marry me once she became important.”
Marin stepped forward.
“I had nothing to do with your engagement.”
Vivien laughed.
“You existed.”
Marin stared.
Vivien’s eyes filled with tears.
“You sat beside him twelve years ago.”
Marin’s face changed.
“You knew about that photograph.”
“Of course I knew.”
Vivien looked at Dominic.
“My father showed me everything.”
“You tracked a woman because she gave me coffee twelve years ago?”
“No.”
Vivien’s voice broke.
“I tracked everyone who might matter.”
The room went silent.
Dominic finally understood the depth of it.
Vivien did not love people.
She mapped them.
Measured them.
Ranked threats.
Stored weaknesses.
“What did Marin threaten?”
Dominic asked.
Vivien looked at her.
“She made your mother stronger.”
That answer surprised him.
Vivien continued.
“Before Marin, Isabella depended on everyone.”
“She was frustrated.”
“Easy to isolate.”
Isabella’s face hardened.
Vivien pointed at Marin.
“Then she came.”
“She gave her boards.”
“She taught the staff to wait for answers.”
“She made you start asking your mother what she wanted.”
Vivien laughed through tears.
“Do you understand?”
“She ruined everything before I even moved in.”
Marin whispered.
“I helped a woman communicate.”
“Yes.”
Vivien shouted.
“That was enough.”
Dominic stared at her.
The entire plot suddenly made terrible sense.
Marin had not become a target because of Dominic.
She became a target because she returned agency to Isabella.
Eli became leverage because Vivien could not control Marin directly.
Dominic stepped closer.
“Where is the token?”
Vivien looked exhausted.
“Post office box.”
“Which one?”
She looked at the clock.
10:58.
“Give me the ring.”
Dominic stared.
“No.”
“One last time.”
“No.”
Her face twisted.
“Then lose everything.”
Dominic nodded.
“Okay.”
Vivien’s expression fell.
He turned away.
“Dominic.”
He kept walking.
“Wait.”
He stopped.
Vivien breathed hard.
Margaret whispered.
“Don’t.”
Vivien ignored her.
“Newport Central Post Office.”
Dominic turned.
“Box 417.”
Rocco was already moving.
Vivien added.
“Key is in my wallet.”
The detective retrieved it.
Rocco left with two officers.
The clock showed 11:01.
Fifty-nine minutes.
Lucas continued working.
Dominic returned to Isabella.
His mother typed one sentence.
YOU CHOSE RIGHT.
Dominic looked at her.
“I haven’t chosen anything yet.”
She looked toward Marin.
Dominic followed her gaze.
Marin noticed.
“What?”
Isabella smiled.
Dominic shook his head.
“Don’t start.”
Marin frowned.
“What is she doing?”
“Being my mother.”
Isabella typed.
LIFE SHORT.
Dominic sighed.
“Ma.”
For the first time in twenty-four hours, Marin laughed.
Then Lucas suddenly shouted.
“I found something.”
Everyone turned.
“What?”
“The release script.”
“Can you stop it?”
“No.”
Dominic’s hope disappeared.
Lucas raised a finger.
“But I can redirect it.”
“Where?”
“Anywhere.”
Dominic stared.
Elaine understood.
“Send it to us.”
Lucas nodded.
“Instead of sixty recipients, route every package to an internal evidence server.”
Dominic looked at the clock.
11:14.
“Do it.”
Lucas began typing.
At 11:26, Rocco called.
“We have the box.”
“Token?”
“Opening now.”
Dominic listened.
Paper tearing.
Then silence.
“Rocco?”
“It’s not here.”
Dominic’s face went cold.
“What is?”
“A note.”
“Read it.”
Rocco hesitated.
Then:
“IF DOMINIC REFUSES THE RING, LOOK UNDER ISABELLA’S CHAIR.”
Every person in the library turned toward the wheelchair.
Marin crouched.
Her hand searched beneath the seat.
She froze.
“There’s something here.”
Dominic knelt beside her.
Taped beneath the frame was a small padded envelope.
Isabella stared in disbelief.
Marin removed it.
Inside was Antonio’s missing archive token.
And a tiny electronic device.
Lucas saw it.
“Don’t touch the button.”
Nobody moved.
“What is it?”
Dominic asked.
Lucas leaned closer.
“A transmitter.”
“For what?”
Lucas looked toward his computer.
Then his face changed.
“The release system.”
The clock showed 11:31.
Vivien had placed the final control beneath Isabella’s wheelchair.
Possibly days ago.
Marin whispered.
“She could trigger it from anywhere.”
Lucas nodded.
May you like
Dominic looked toward the sitting room.
Vivien was gone.
