shaking,

questions at my back. I felt the cold air hit my skin, the red silk dress suddenly feeling too thin for the weight of what I had just done. I

n's rumpled figure through the tinted glass as he struggled to find a taxi. "I'm shaking because I

"You took his oxygen. Jason Vanguard doesn't know how to survive without a balance sheet. By tomorrow mornin

tched it. "He still has my mother's money. He still has the codes she's sending him from

om the glitz of Midtown. "Your father's old law firm has a physical vault in the basement of the Miller Foundry. It's been sealed si

rning with a sharp, suspicious edge. "Why wo

st the city lights. "We've been the gatekeepers of your family's secrets for two generations, Sarah. My father wasn't just your father's bus

he vault all these years, and you let Jaso

still trying to win Jason's heart, you would have given him the contents just to see him smile. I couldn'

here my grandfather had started the Miller legacy. It looked like a tomb. Julian stepped out of the car a

es groa

to take my hand. His skin was warm, a sharp c

rates. At the back of the building, beneath a heavy steel floor plate, was a hidden e

a man who had kept secrets from me for a decade. He was the "insurance," the "sha

t was filled with server racks, their blue lights blinking in the silence. I

with Catherine, but this is the master override. If we can get inside, we can see every transaction she's mad

I asked, my heart ham

lates on either side of the box. "Place y

rs. I felt a wave of "Cold Disappointment" in myself. I had been so blind. I had lived i

to the glass. Ju

n, a mechanical click echoed through the bunker. The lid of the box hissed

. I opened it to a random page

High-ranking officials, bankers, and CEOs. And

s insurance. My mother didn't just hide the Miller fortune; she use

" Julian said,

ok. There, on the last page, wa

pending. Note: Collateral no longer r

hadn't just used me as a placeholder; she had been planning to get rid of

ll me." I said, my v

howing a blinking red dot in the heart of the city. "That's the biometric signal from the Mirror Gro

d and turned red. A siren began to wail, a

the journal, shoving them into his jacket. "We have three minutes b

ammed his arm into the gap, the metal grinding against his suit. He growle

our arm!"

ed, shoving me

ntly. I collapsed against the wall, the raw drama of the moment crashing over me. We were being hun

the ground beneath the foundry beginning to rumble. We barely cleared the gates befo

, weaving through the dark streets. I looked back at

I said, my voice shaking

blet in his hand. "But we have the ledger now. And we have the map. She's

s where Jason is taking Elena for the 'victo

join the part

actly the kind of place Jason loved. I stepped out of the car, the red silk dress a blood-red stain ag

. The guards tried to stop us, but Julian simply showed

he double doors. T

a group of bankers who looked like they were trying to find a wa

when he saw me. "You? How did y

ward him, the silver tablet held high in my hand. "The fo

ed, his eyes darting to Julian. "We can set

owd, then back at the man who had wasted three years of my life. "You're a puppet, Jason. You're a cheap,

epped between us, his hand catching Jason's throat

d, a sound so dark it made the ban

let him g

gasping for air. I looked down at him, the "Cold Disap

"But you're not even a servant. You're a footnote. Get ou

t. He looked at Elena, who was backing away from him. He had nothing left. He tur

shimmering under the chandeliers. I looked at Julian, who

own."

o." Julia