Chapter 4 - The Ghost in the Machine
The safehouse was a decaying cabin deep in the Adirondack Mountains, a ghost property Julian owned under an alias. There was no heat, no internet, and only a generator for power.
Seraphina sat at a wooden table wrapped in a heavy wool blanket, her bare feet tucked underneath her. Julian set down a cup of instant coffee and opened his encrypted laptop.
"We need to trigger the data dump now," Julian said, his fingers flying across the keyboard.
"No," Seraphina said firmly. "The audio of Marcus is enough for a murder charge, but I want to dismantle the Blackwood empire. To do that, I need to unlock the master ledger I stole. It’s double-encrypted. The password is tied to Leo."
Julian paused. "Leo's favorite quote?"
"I tried them all," she sighed. "Nothing."
Julian stared at the screen. "Leo didn't trust digital files. He always hid his most important passwords in plain sight. What did he give you before he died?"
Seraphina’s hand flew to her neck, tracing the delicate gold locket she always wore. "He gave me this. He said to never take it off."
She unclasped it and pried it open. Inside wasn't a picture, but a tiny micro-SD card. Julian inserted it into the laptop. A string of numbers appeared on the screen. He typed them into the Blackwood ledger.
The screen flashed green. ACCESS GRANTED.
They began scrolling through thousands of pages of financial crimes. But suddenly, Seraphina stopped breathing. She pointed a trembling finger at a specific shell company listed under the payoffs.
Croft Holdings Ltd.
"Julian..." Seraphina choked out, tears finally breaking through her steely resolve. "Look at the dates."
Julian looked. The payments to the assassin who killed Leo didn't just come from Marcus Blackwood. They were co-signed by Arthur Croft.
Her own father had authorized the hit on his son to ensure the Blackwood merger went through.
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Seraphina didn't cry. The tears froze in her eyes, replaced by a cold, hollow void. Her father had murdered her brother for a stock spike.
"They're both going to burn," Seraphina whispered into the dark cabin. "I'm going to take everything from them."
