“Those accounts touch judges, contractors, unions, private security firms, city officials. Your companies were only the river. I redirected part of the water.”
“Thirty-two million?”
“Closer to ninety.”
Elena stared.
Daniel hadn’t even known the full amount.
Marcus continued.
“Your husband thought he was stealing thirty-two. I let him.”
“Why?”
“Because greedy men make excellent shields.”
“And me?”
Marcus looked at Elena.
“You were better.”
A chill moved through her.
“You had no criminal history. No financial sophistication. No connections. A small business with legitimate international clients.”
He smiled.
“Perfect.”
Elena understood.
“My studio.”
“Old books cross borders every day. Nobody questions conservation materials. Nobody asks why a nineteenth-century volume moves from New York to London to Geneva.”
“You hid records in them.”
“Encryption keys. Account numbers. Instructions. Insurance.”
“And Daniel brought them to me.”
“He never understood why.”
Elena thought of all the books she had handled.
Every fragile spine she repaired.
Every hidden strip she photographed and then returned because she assumed it was part of the object’s history.
She had been preserving the evidence of a criminal empire without knowing it.
Marcus looked at Adrien.
“But then you started asking questions.”
Adrien’s voice was ice.
“So you prepared Carter.”
“I prepared Elena.”
He nodded toward her.
“If investigators came too close, thirty-two million dollars, digital instructions, signed transfers, and physical records would all lead to Mrs. Carter.”
Elena’s stomach twisted.
Marcus continued calmly.
“Daniel would testify she manipulated him.”
“And Vanessa?”
“Same.”
“And then?” Elena asked.
Marcus shrugged.
“Prison, probably.”
She thought about the life insurance policy.
“Daniel planned to kill me.”
Marcus smiled faintly.
“Daniel planned many things.”
The elevator sounded again.
Marcus glanced toward it.
The doors opened.
Daniel stumbled into the studio.
Vanessa was behind him.
Daniel looked furious.
“What the hell is going on?”
Marcus muttered, “Idiot.”
Daniel saw the gun.
His face went white.
“Marcus?”
Adrien turned toward him.
Understanding spread across Daniel’s face.
“No.”
Marcus said, “You were supposed to stay at the house.”
“You stopped answering me.”
“I was busy.”
Daniel looked at Elena’s computer.
Then at Marcus.
“You told me Vale was the problem.”
Marcus smiled.
“You believed me.”
Daniel’s breathing quickened.
“You said once the money cleared, Vanessa and I could leave.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“You said what?”
Daniel froze.
Elena almost laughed.
Even their affair had been built on separate lies.
Vanessa stepped away from Daniel.
“You told me we were going to cooperate.”
Daniel snapped, “Shut up.”
Marcus sighed.
“This is why I hate amateurs.”
He shifted the gun toward Daniel.
Elena saw it before Daniel did.
“Daniel!”
The shot exploded through the studio.
Daniel spun and collapsed.
Vanessa screamed.
The bullet struck Daniel high in the shoulder.
Adrien moved.
Marcus fired again.
Glass shattered.
Elena ducked behind a worktable.
Adrien slammed Marcus into a cabinet.
The gun skidded across the floor.
Vanessa ran toward Daniel.
Marcus drove his elbow into Adrien’s ribs.
Adrien hit the wall.
Elena saw the gun.
Three meters away.
Marcus saw it too.
They moved at the same time.
Elena reached it first.
She picked it up with both hands.
Marcus stopped.
So did everyone else.
Her arms shook violently.
Marcus smiled.
“You’re not going to shoot me.”
Elena pointed the weapon at his chest.
“I restored a Gutenberg leaf once.”
Marcus blinked.
“What?”
“My hands shook for six hours because it was worth more than my house.”
Her finger rested beside the trigger.
“They’re not shaking now.”
Marcus’s smile disappeared.
Then the fire alarm began screaming.
Vanessa looked around.
Smoke seeped beneath the rear door.
Marcus smiled again.
“You’re already too late.”
Elena’s eyes widened.
“You set the building on fire.”
“I set the evidence on fire.”
Flames appeared behind the glass partition.
Adrien lunged for Marcus.
Marcus threw himself sideways.
