Zahra laughed, but it wasn’t only funny. It had truth in it. We both knew it.
As we hit a red light, I lifted her hand from my thigh and kissed the back of it, then set it back where it belonged.
She stayed there, and her fingers relaxed on me, while I drove us home through our city.
SINCERE BELLAMY
I walked into Kai’s office carrying the smoking gun Jamir finally dug up.
Kai’s assistant tried to block me at the door, but she saw my face and got out the way without saying much. I pushed into Kai’s office and shut the door behind me.
Kai looked up from behind his desk like he was annoyed first, then confused, then alert when he realized it was me. “Sincere, you can’t just—”
I walked right up to his desk and slid the folder across the wood.
Kai’s eyes dropped to it like he didn’t want to touch it.
“Open it,” I told him.
He didn’t move. He just stared at it, completely oblivious that it was held the end of his life as he knew it.
“I said open it!” I roared.
Kai nearly jumped out of his skin. He opened the folder and saw that word in bold: RIVERGATE.
Kai froze as the air suddenly left his lungs.
“Rivergate Residences,” I taunted him with a smirk. “It happened two years ago during a renovation project. Thefire started on the lower floors. The sprinkler system wasn’t active because the building had been flagged as ‘in progress.’ The emergency exits were blocked. Temporary permits were approved anyway. Violations were documented, but inspectors were pressured to sign off. People died in that fire.”
Kai’s mouth opened and closed a few times before he finally found his words. “That was an accident.”
“That was preventable,” I told him. “Andyouhelped make it possible.”
He shook his head. “No.”
“The Crown cut corners. They used cheaper materials. They rushed labor. They ignored safety precautions. They wanted bodies in units before anybody could look too close. And you gave them what they needed.”
Kai started to panic. I could see him hyperventilating. “You can’t prove that.”
I tapped the folder again. “It’s all there.”
He looked down again and forced himself to read the emails, inspection reports, permit history, and recorded call transcript between a Crown fixer and someone in Kai’s office that Jamir was able to uncover. There were even messages about “keeping that inspector quiet” and a payment schedule.
Kai’s face went blank.
“This isn’t one dirty deal,” I told him. “This is negligence that got multiple people killed. The feds do not let you spin that. There will be mandatory minimums. This is conspiracy. And if prosecutors decide to widen the case, they can stack organized-crime charges on top of it. The media will annihilate you. There is no speech you can give that survives murdering innocent people because of conspiracy.”
He stared at me, then finally asked, “What do you want?”
I sat back with a grin. “You are going to back the project. You are going to kill that moratorium. You are going to stop hiding behind environmental reviews while you do Crown business.”
Kai’s lips pressed together. “I can’t just—”
“Youcan.”
“And if I don’t?”
“I walk this folder into the DA’s office, and I make sure the press gets it too.”
