جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 70

Cole’s PovThree days after we decided not to postpone the wedding, Roman walked into the lakeside house carrying a tablet. I was on the living room floor helping Ava fit the last few pieces of a puzzle together when she looked up and grinned at him. “Uncle Roman!”“Hey, sweetheart.” He crouched down and studied the puzzle with mock seriousness. “You need help with that corner piece?”“Yes! It won’t go anywhere.”“I’ll help after I borrow your dad for a few minutes, okay?”She nodded and went back to hunting for edges, and I followed him into the kitchen, where he set the tablet on the counter like it might explode.“We’ve been getting calls all morning,” he said.“About Victor?”“Partly. But mostly about you.”“Me? What do they want?”“An interview. A real one, on camera, not some leaked statement pieced together from old photographs.” He tapped the screen and turned it toward me. “The evidence we recovered has been changing public opinion fast. People are starting to believe you’re

Cole’s PovThe call came just after six in the morning. I’d barely finished making coffee when my phone started ringing, Roman’s name lighting up the screen.“Roman.”“We found him.”Every trace of sleep vanished. “Where?”“An abandoned industrial district outside the city. We tracked one of his contacts.”“So Victor’s there.”“We believe so.”“I’m coming.”A long pause. “No.”“What do you mean no?”“You stay where you are.”“I’m not staying home, Roman.”“I’ve waited years for this.”“The police are already on their way.”“I’m still coming.”“You don’t need to.”“I do.”Another silence, then a sigh. “I knew you’d say that.”“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”When I reached the district, police cars already ringed a row of empty warehouses — broken windows, rusted fencing, factories nobody had touched in years. Roman spotted my car and walked over before I’d even shut the door.“I told you not to come.”“I know.”“You never listen.”“Not today.”He rubbed his forehead. “This could ge

Roman’s PovThree days after Cole and Sienna announced their engagement, my phone rang before sunrise. I’d barely made it into the office when the head of the cybercrime unit came through the line.“Roman Calloway.”“We got it open.”I stood up so fast my chair rolled backward. “You opened the drive?”“Yes.”“I’m on my way.”Twenty minutes later I walked into the investigation office, and the atmosphere felt different — nobody rushing, nobody frustrated, just a room full of people gathered quietly around the conference table. The lead investigator smiled when he saw me.“You’ve been waiting a long time for this.”“I think all of us have.”“Please, sit.” He gestured toward the monitor, where a single folder filled the screen, its title unchanged: Project Redemption.The technician looked wrecked. “I finally broke the encryption.”“How long did it take?”He laughed weakly. “Long enough that I never want to see another encrypted drive as long as I live.”A few people smiled despite thems

Cole’s PovThe call came early the next morning while I sat on the back porch with a cup of coffee. Roman’s name lit up the screen.“Morning.”“We found him.”I was already on my feet. “Are you sure?”“This time, yes. He tried to contact a journalist.”“A journalist?”“He wanted to get his own version of the story out before we arrested him. It didn’t go the way he planned — the journalist called the police instead.”I let out a slow breath. “So Victor walked into a trap.”“You could say that,” Roman said, and I could hear the faint smile in his voice.“I’m coming.”“I know you are.”Thirty minutes later I walked into police headquarters, where Roman and Nate were already waiting with a group of investigators around a conference table. One of them looked up.“Mr. Calloway.”“Cole’s fine.”“We’ve confirmed everything,” he said, and Roman handed me a file thick enough to need both hands.“What is all this?”“The complete investigation.”I flipped through it — financial records, bank tra

Cole’s PovThe alarm rang at six thirty, and for once I didn’t have a board meeting waiting for me. No lawyers, no investigators, no emergency phone calls — just a normal Tuesday. I stretched before getting out of bed, careful not to wake Sienna, and smiled to myself as I slipped quietly out of the room.As I reached the kitchen, I heard small footsteps behind me. “Daddy?” I turned to find Ava standing in the hallway, rubbing her eyes. “Good morning,” I said, and she yawned before informing me that I was awake early. “So are you,” I pointed out. She told me she wanted to make breakfast, then tilted her head and asked if I could actually make breakfast. I laughed. “I guess we’re about to find out.” She grinned. “I’ll help.” “Deal.”Twenty minutes later, the kitchen looked like a disaster — eggshells across the counter, flour somehow on the floor, and a fair amount of it on Ava’s cheeks. “I think we made a mess,” I said, surveying the wreckage. She agreed, then added that Mommy would pr