Chapter 19: No Bargains

The gun against Mara’s daughter’s head didn’t shake.  

The man holding it was younger than Jennifer expected. Early twenties, hollow eyes, the kind of face that had learned not to feel things.  

“Put the drive down,” he said. His voice was flat. Bored.  

Jennifer didn’t move.  

David was still on top of Harry, blood running from Harry’s nose onto the concrete floor. Laurent had his gun trained on both of them, shouting for backup that wouldn’t come in time.  

“Jennifer,” David said, not looking at her. “Don’t.”  

Ravenna’s voice came through the intercom again, smoother now, like she was hosting a dinner party.  

“Isn’t it interesting,” she said, “how quickly people forget their morals when children are involved?”  

Jennifer’s hands trembled around the flash drive.  

If she gave it up, Ravenna would have everything. If she didn’t, a seven-year-old girl died.  

Mara wasn’t screaming. She was staring at her daughter, whispering something over and over.  

“Elena. Elena. Look at me, baby. Look at Mommy.”  

The girl’s eyes were wide and dry. She wasn’t crying. Kids who’d been through too much stopped crying.  

Jennifer met Mara’s eyes.  

Mara gave the smallest shake of her head.  

_Don’t._  

Jennifer swallowed.  

“You don’t get to win like this,” Jennifer said to Ravenna. “Not here. Not now.”  

Ravenna laughed. “Oh, Jennifer. I already won. You just haven’t realized it yet.”  

The gunman tightened his grip on Elena.  

“Five seconds,” he said.  

Jennifer looked at David.  

David stopped fighting Harry. He got off him slowly, hands up, and turned to face her.  

“Do it,” he said.  

Jennifer froze.  

“David—”  

“Do it,” he said again, louder. “Give it to her. Save the girl.”  

Rage and grief tore through Jennifer’s chest.  

This was what Ravenna wanted. To make her choose. To make her break.  

Jennifer looked at the drive in her hand. Eleven years of evidence. Her father’s name. Her company. David’s freedom.  

All of it, against one child’s life.  

There was no choice.  

She dropped the drive.  

It hit the floor with a soft clatter.  

The gunman kicked it toward Harry.  

Harry scrambled for it, grinning through the blood on his face.  

Ravenna exhaled on the intercom like she’d been holding her breath.  

“Good girl,” she said.  

Jennifer didn’t answer. She walked forward, slowly, hands out.  

“Let her go,” Jennifer said. “Now.”  

The gunman looked at Harry.  

Harry nodded.  

The gunman released Elena.  

Mara snatched her daughter and pulled her back, sobbing.  

“Get them out of here,” Jennifer said to Laurent.  

Laurent grabbed Mara and Elena and dragged them toward the door.  

Jennifer didn’t watch them leave. She kept her eyes on Harry.  

Harry picked up the drive, wiped it on his shirt, and held it up like a trophy.  

“You really thought you could beat us,” he said.  

David stepped between him and Jennifer.  

“It’s over, Harry,” David said. “Ravenna’s in custody. You’re about to join her.”  

Harry laughed. “Do you think one flash drive matters? I have copies. Everywhere. Cloud backups. Swiss servers. Dubai servers. You can’t stop this.”  

Jennifer felt cold.  

She’d been stupid. Of course Ravenna had redundancies.  

Ravenna’s voice came through again.  

“Upload complete,” she said, almost purring. “In 30 seconds, every email, every recording, every contract hits the internet. Including the one where you, David, ordered the hit on your own father.”  

David went still.  

Jennifer turned to him.  

“What?” she whispered.  

David didn’t look at her.  

Harry’s grin widened.  

“Tell her, David,” Harry said. “Tell her how you tried to kill Robert to take control of Loriss Corp.”  

David closed his eyes for half a second.  

When he opened them, he looked at Jennifer.  

“It’s not true,” he said.  

Jennifer’s chest tightened.  

“Then why are you afraid?” she asked.  

Because he was. She could see it.  

Ravenna spoke again.  

“Ten seconds,” she said.  

Jennifer stepped forward and grabbed the tablet from Laurent’s hand.  

The upload was at 94%.  

She didn’t hesitate.  

She slammed the tablet against the wall.  

Glass shattered. The screen went black.  

The upload stopped at 97%.  

The room went silent.  

Ravenna’s voice cut out.  

Harry stared at the broken tablet, then at Jennifer, and his face went white.  

“You—” he started.  

Jennifer threw the flash drive at him.  

“Take it,” she said. “Take it and leave. Before I change my mind.”  

Harry didn’t need to be told twice. He grabbed the drive and ran for the door, his two men following.  

David tried to go after him.  

Laurent stopped him. “Let him go. We’ve got him on twenty other charges. He won’t get far.”  

David shook him off and went to Jennifer.  

“Are you okay?” he asked.  

Jennifer couldn’t answer. She was shaking too hard.  

She’d just destroyed the only copy of the evidence that could clear them.  

She’d saved a child’s life.  

And she’d handed Ravenna everything else.  

David pulled her into his arms.  

“It’s okay,” he said. “We’ll rebuild it. We have witnesses. We have Mara. We have you.”  

Jennifer buried her face against his chest.  

“I don’t know if it’s enough,” she whispered.  

“It is,” David said. “Because you’re enough.”  

Agent Laurent cleared his throat. “We need to move. Ravenna’s people are still in the building. And Harry’s going to run.”  

David nodded and pulled back.  

“Can you walk?” he asked Jennifer.  

Jennifer nodded.  

They left Room 4B together, stepping over broken glass and blood.  

Outside, the Zurich night was cold and clear.  

Interpol had secured the facility. Flashing lights painted the walls red and blue.  

Mara was waiting by an ambulance, Elena asleep in her arms.  

Mara looked up when she saw Jennifer.  

“Thank you,” Mara said.  

Jennifer shook her head. “I’m sorry it came to this.”  

Mara reached out and squeezed her hand.  

“You did the right thing,” Mara said. “She’s my daughter. I’d do the same for you.”  

Jennifer managed a nod.  

David got a call. He listened for ten seconds, then hung up.  

“Harry’s plane is taxiing for takeoff,” he said. “Dubai.”  

Laurent swore. “We don’t have jurisdiction there.”  

Jennifer looked at David.  

“What about the drive?” she asked.  

David’s jaw tightened.  

“Ravenna has it,” he said. “And she’ll use it.”  

Ms. Okoro joined them, out of breath.  

“The upload stopped at 97%,” she said. “We might be able to salvage the rest. But it’ll take time.”  

Jennifer closed her eyes.  

Time was something they didn’t have.  

Ravenna’s voice came through Jennifer’s phone.  

She hadn’t hung up.  

“Did you really think it would be that easy?” Ravenna asked.  

Jennifer answered. “No.”  

Ravenna laughed. “Good. Because I’m just getting started.”  

There was a pause.  

Then Ravenna said, “Check the news, Jennifer. In five minutes.”  

The line went dead.  

David grabbed Jennifer’s phone.  

“What does she mean?” he asked.  

Jennifer didn’t know.  

They got back to the Interpol command vehicle in minutes.  

The TV inside was already on.  

Breaking news.  

*“LEAKED DOCUMENTS REVEAL CORRUPTION AT LORISS CORP. CEO DAVID LORISS IMPLICATED IN FATHER’S DEATH.”*  

The screen showed a document. Forged, but good. Signature, letterhead, everything.  

It said David had authorized a payment to a shell company three days before Robert Loriss’s “death.”  

The payment was labeled: _Silence F*e._

Jennifer felt the room tilt.  

David stared at the screen, face blank.  

“That’s not my signature,” he said quietly.  

“It doesn’t matter,” Ms. Okoro said. “Perception is reality now.”  

The anchor kept talking.  

“Sources say the documents were released by an anonymous whistleblower. Loriss Corp stock has dropped 22% in after-hours trading.”  

Jennifer looked at David.  

“Ravenna did this,” she said.  

David nodded.  

“And she’s not done,” he said.  

His phone buzzed.  

He looked at it and handed it to Jennifer.  

It was a text. From an unknown number.  

*Come to the Limmat River. Alone. 2 AM. Bring what’s left of your evidence. Or I release the other 3%.*  

Jennifer read it twice.  

“Ravenna?” she asked.  

David nodded.  

“She wants a meeting,” he said.  

Laurent stepped forward. “Absolutely not. It’s a trap.”  

Jennifer knew that.  

She also knew she had no choice.  

If Ravenna released the remaining 3%, it would be the real evidence. The stuff that couldn’t be explained away.  

David’s voice was low.  

“I’m coming with you,” he said.  

Jennifer shook her head.  

“No,” she said. “She said alone.”  

David grabbed her shoulders.  

“Jennifer, listen to me. If you go alone, you don’t come back.”  

Jennifer looked at him.  

Then she looked at Mara and Elena, safe in the ambulance.  

She thought about her father. About eleven years of lies.  

“I have to try,” she said.  

David’s face went hard.  

“Then I’m going too,” he said. “And if she touches you, I’ll burn Geneva to the ground.”  

Jennifer almost smiled.  

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” she said.  

David’s jaw clenched.  

“I keep every promise I make to you,” he said.  

They left for the Limmat River at 1:45 AM.  

The water was black and fast, reflecting the city lights like broken glass.  

Ravenna was already there.  

She stood on the bridge, alone, no guards, no guns.  

She looked smaller than Jennifer remembered.  

But her smile was the same.  

“Jennifer,” Ravenna said. “You came.”  

Jennifer stopped ten feet away.  

“Where’s the evidence?” Jennifer asked.  

Ravenna held up a USB drive.  

“Right here,” she said. “The real one. Not the fake I gave Harry.”  

Jennifer didn’t move.  

“Why?” she asked.  

Ravenna tilted her head.  

“Because I’m tired of playing games,” Ravenna said. “And because I want to see if you’ll do what I did.”  

Jennifer frowned.  

“What did you do?” she asked.  

Ravenna’s smile faded.  

“I killed your father,” she said.  

The world stopped.  

Jennifer felt like she’d been punched.  

“No,” she whispered.  

Ravenna nodded.  

“Robert wanted to. Harry pushed for it. But I pulled the trigger,” Ravenna said. “He was going to expose us all. Edward Benz was going to burn the Argent name to the ground.”  

Jennifer couldn’t breathe.  

David stepped forward.  

“Ravenna, stop—”  

Ravenna held up a hand.  

“Let me finish,” she said. “I killed him. And I’ve lived with it for eleven years. So now I’m giving you a choice.”  

She tossed the USB drive into the air.  

It spun, catching the light, and landed on the bridge between them.  

“Take it,” Ravenna said. “Take it and destroy the Argent family. Send me to prison forever. End it.”  

Jennifer stared at the drive.  

“Or,” Ravenna said, “walk away. Let me go. And I’ll give you something better.”  

Jennifer looked up.  

“What?” she asked.  

Ravenna’s eyes were wet.  

“The truth,” she said. “About why your father really died. About what he found out. About why it matters now.”  

Jennifer didn’t move.  

David was watching her, silent, waiting.  

Ravenna took a step forward.  

“Choose, Jennifer,” she said. “Revenge. Or the truth.”  

The river rushed below them.  

Jennifer looked at the drive.  

Then she looked at Ravenna.  

And she made her choice.