Chapter 21

ISABELLA

"Who else has been in this room tonight?" I asked.

Nobody answered right away. They looked at each other instead.

"Talk," I said, louder this time.

Antonio moved first. He walked to the door and checked the hall. Then he pulled it shut and turned back to face us.

"Three people came in before Fen set up," Antonio said. "Marcos. Reyes. And Luca."

"Luca has access to this floor?" Dante asked, his voice sharp and flat.

"He has access to the whole building," Antonio said slowly.

Fen was still staring at his screen. His hands rested on the keyboard but he was not typing.

"Someone sat at this desk," Fen said quietly. "Someone who knew exactly which file to open and when to close it without leaving a trace."

"But they did leave a trace," I said, stepping closer to him. "The timestamp."

"Yes," Fen said. "Either they made a mistake. Or they wanted us to find it."

I looked at the screen one more time. The name was still there. Staring back at me.

"Is there any way to track who accessed the machine?" Christian asked, moving away from the wall.

"I am already checking," Fen said, fingers moving fast across the keys. "Give me two minutes."

Nobody spoke. Dante paced slowly near the window. Antonio stood with his arms crossed. Christian stayed close to me without making it obvious.

"You said three names," I said to Antonio. "Marcos. Reyes. And Luca."

"Yes," Antonio said.

"Where are they now?"

"Marcos and Reyes were sent out an hour ago," he said, his eyes staying steady on mine. "I sent them to the east side."

"And Luca?" I asked.

Antonio's jaw moved. "He is still in the building."

"Which floor?" Dante asked.

"He was on this floor the last time I checked," Antonio said.

Dante stopped pacing. He turned around very slowly.

"You are telling me," Dante said, "that the man who could have accessed that drive is still walking around in this building right now?"

Antonio did not answer.

"Get him up here," Dante said. "Now."

Antonio pulled out his phone. He stepped to the side and made the call.

Fen made a sound. Something between a breath and a word.

"What?" I asked.

"I found something," Fen said. He pointed at the bottom of the screen. "A login. Not mine. Not any of yours." He turned his chair to face us. "Someone used a remote access key. Registered to a device that was on this floor."

"Can you see what device?" Christian asked.

"It is a burner," Fen said. "No name. No ID. But the signal came from inside this building." He paused. "From the room directly above us."

We all looked up at the ceiling at the same time.

"That is the storage room," Antonio said quietly, lowering his phone. "Nobody uses it."

"Someone does," Fen said.

Christian was already moving toward the door.

"Wait," I said.

He stopped and turned.

"If they used a remote device, they can see us right now," I said. "They can hear everything we are saying."

The room went very still.

I looked at Fen. "Can you cut the signal?"

"I already did," Fen said. He held up one finger. "The second I found the log, I killed the connection. They are blind now."

I let out a slow breath. "Good."

"But they know we found it," Fen said. "Which means they are already moving."

Christian opened the door. "Then so are we."

Dante looked at Antonio. "Back stairs. You and me." He did not wait for a reply. He was already walking.

Antonio followed without a word.

Christian looked at me. "Stay here with Fen."

"No," I said.

"Sarah," he said, voice low and careful.

"That room has information connected to my father," I said, keeping my voice steady. "I am not staying behind."

He held my gaze for one second. Then he nodded once and turned toward the door.

We moved fast. The hallway was empty. The building felt different now. Quieter in a way that was not safe.

Christian led. I stayed close behind him, my hand brushing the wall as we moved.

We reached the stairs. He pushed the door open slowly. We both listened.

Nothing.

We went up one floor. The storage room was at the end of the hall. The door was slightly open.

Christian raised one hand and we stopped.

He listened again. Then he pushed the door open with two fingers.

The room was dark. Shelving units. Old boxes. A single chair facing the wall.

On the chair was a laptop. Still open. The screen was dark but a small green light blinked at the corner.

"Do not touch it," I said.

Christian looked at me. "Why?"

"Because Fen killed the signal," I said. "If someone is still watching, they are doing it through the camera on that machine."

I turned my phone flashlight away from the screen and scanned the rest of the room slowly.

A bag near the back shelf. A water bottle. A folded jacket on the floor beside it.

"Someone has been sitting in here for hours," I said.

"Watching," Christian said. "Waiting."

"They were here before we even opened the drive," I said.

Christian moved to the bag. He crouched down and looked inside without touching anything. Then he stood.

"There is a badge in there," he said, voice low. "Building access. Level four clearance."

"Whose name is on it?" I asked.

Christian was quiet for one second too long.

"Luca's," he said.

I stared at the badge. My mind moved fast. Luca had access. Luca's badge was in this room. Luca had been on this floor.

But something was wrong.

"Antonio called Luca five minutes ago," I said slowly. "Luca answered the phone."

Christian looked at me. "Yes."

"Luca answered from somewhere in this building," I said. "So if Luca has been sitting in this room, who answered that call?"

Christian's face changed.

We heard it at the same time. A sound from the hallway. Not footsteps. Something softer. More careful. Like someone who did not want to be heard.

Christian stepped in front of me without saying a word.

The door swung open all the way.

A man stepped in. Not Luca. Not anyone I had ever seen before. He was calm. Too calm. And his eyes went straight to me, not to Christian.

"You found it faster than I expected," he said, his voice quiet and even. "Your father would be proud."

My blood went cold.

"Who are you?" I asked.

He reached into his coat pocket slowly. Christian tensed beside me.

"I am the reason your father is dead," the man said. He held out a small card between two fingers. "And I am the only person alive who knows where he hid the rest of the evidence."

I did not take the card. He set it on the shelf next to him.

"You have until midnight," he said. "After that, everything your father built disappears." He paused. "Including you."

He turned and walked back through the door before either of us moved.

Christian reached for me. "We need to go. Now."

I crossed to the shelf and picked up the card. A phone number on the front. Nothing else.

"Sarah. We need to go."

"He knew my father," I said, still staring at the card.

"I know. But we cannot stay here."

I turned the card over.

And that was when my legs almost gave out.

On the back of the card was handwriting. Not printed. Not typed.

Handwriting I knew better than my own name.

My father's handwriting.

One word. Four letters.

R-U-N.

"Christian," I said. My voice did not sound like mine.

"I see it," he said. He had looked over my shoulder. He saw the word.

"This was written before he died," I said. "He knew this moment was coming. He planned for it."

"Which means he knew someone would find you," Christian said. "Which means he also knew you would not be safe once you did."

I looked at the door the stranger had walked through.

"Who sent that man?" I asked.

Christian shook his head slowly. "I don't know."

"He said he was the reason my father is dead," I said.

"Yes."

"But he also just warned me," I said. "He could have done anything else. He could have taken me. He gave me a card instead."

Christian looked at the card in my hand. "Maybe that is the point."

I turned the card over again. The phone number stared back at me. Ten digits. No name.

"He wants me to call," I said.

"Or he wants you to run," Christian said. "That is what the writing says."

I closed my hand around the card.

"What if the call and the running are the same thing?" I said.

Christian looked at me for a long moment.

Then my phone buzzed.

A message. Unknown number.

I opened it.

The text was four words.

He is not dead.