The sound takes a long time to stop.
Silence fills the building.
Wolf exhales. “Target down.”
I don’t move.
I stand there and wait for the part of me that’s supposed to feel something.
It doesn’t come.
All I feel is… quiet.
Havoc steps beside me. “It’s over.”
“No,” I say. “It’s finished when she’s gone. I can’t let her live; she’ll never leave Laney and Emmy alone.
95
Marco
My mother doesn’t run.
That’s how I know something is wrong.
She’s always been a strategist, not a sprinter. She doesn’t flee burning buildings—she arranges for someone else to be inside them.
Everything she owns is burning now.
Accounts seized. Shell companies collapsing. Proxies trading immunity for names. Every layer of distance she ever built between herself and consequence is being peeled away in public.
“She’s not at any known location,” an analyst says.
“Of course she isn’t,” I reply. I was still surprised they allowed her bail.
My mother never used the same exit twice.
But she did have habits.
“Show me anything she ever owned that didn’t make money.”
They look at me like I’ve asked for a unicorn.
“That’s… not really her style.”
“I know,” I say. “That’s why she’ll be there.”
Three minutes later, a junior analyst clears her throat.
“There’s a property,” she says. “Held in a trust. Coastal. Bought thirty years ago. No income. No utilities registered in her name. No upgrades.”
My jaw tightens.
Of course.
The one place she never turned into a weapon.
“Get me eyes.”
