52-I CAME HOME EARLY AND FOUND MY TEN-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER EATING DINNER ON THE KITCHEN FLOOR BESIDE OUR DOG—THEN I DISCOVERED MY MOTHER HAD BEEN HIDING SOMETHING FAR WORSE.

Gabriel entered the manor through the cellar bulkheads, moving like a phantom through the stone corridors he had walked as a child. He climbed the servant’s staircase, emerging into the grand formal dining room on the ground floor.

The room was bathed in the warm, yellow glow of an antique crystal chandelier. A roaring fire crackled in the massive limestone fireplace.

At the head of the forty-foot mahogany table sat Marlene Vance. She was dressed in an immaculate emerald silk blouse, her pearl necklace gleaming against her throat, a cup of Earl Grey tea resting beside her fine bone china plate.

At the far end of the table stood Arthur Vance, his silver-tipped cane resting against the arm of a velvet wingback chair. Standing behind Marlene were the courier and two armed enforcers.

"You're late, Gabriel," Marlene said without looking up, delicately stirring a sugar cube into her tea. "And you look positively dreadful. Mud, blood... you always did lack the dignity of a true Vance."

Gabriel walked into the center of the room, dropping the iron tire iron onto the Persian rug with a dull, heavy thud. He held the waterproof dossier in his right hand.

"Call off your dogs, Marlene," Gabriel said, his voice echoing in the vast room. "It's over."

Arthur chuckled, limping forward. "Over? My dear boy, you are surrounded. We have the files from your locker. We know you have Nora’s final documents in that folder. Hand them over, and we might still let you walk away with your life."

"You think this folder is my only copy?" Gabriel said, a cold, mocking smile touching his lips.

Marlene froze, her teaspoon hovering mid-air. "What did you say?"

"Nora was three steps ahead of you until the day you cut her brakes," Gabriel said, stepping toward the table. "She didn't just mail Locker 714's key to Zurich. She sent encrypted digital backups to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s financial crimes division in New York, with a timed-release protocol. If I didn't enter the emergency override code from my personal email by 4:30 AM... the files were automatically forwarded to the United States Attorney General."

Marlene’s face drained of color. She looked up at the grandfather clock ticking on the wall.

It was 4:28 AM.

"You're bluffing," Arthur snarled, his hand gripping his cane so tightly his knuckles turned white. "You don't have the stomach for mutual destruction!"

"Try me," Gabriel whispered.

Arthur lunged forward, barking an order at the armed men: "Kill him! Search his pockets for the phone!"

The two guards drew their weapons, aiming directly at Gabriel’s chest.