“Kel doesn’t authorize me breathing either,” I murmur. “Yet here I am.”
Fyr swallows.
He places his palm on the reader. The console hums, scanning. A green line crawls up the panel like a verdict.
ACCESS GRANTED — VAULT NODE 1
The vault door gives a heavy mechanical clunk, then slides open with the slow confidence of something that knows it can’t be rushed.
Warm server air rolls out—hotter than the corridor, dry, smelling of dust baked into circuitry. A sound hits too: a low, constant hum, like a choir singing one note forever.
Inside, the vault is a cathedral of wealth. Racks of servers. Steel cabinets. Old safes with combination wheels. Physical ledgers in sealed drawers like relics.
I walk in and Fyr follows, because he doesn’t have a choice.
I point at the central ledger bank. “Full audit.”
Fyr blinks. “Full?—”
“Full,” I repeat. “Nine tribute accounts. All of them. Ledgers, shell transfers, routing tags, backdated emergency protocols, internal escrow caches. Everything.”
Fyr’s jaw works like he’s chewing on the wordnoand realizing it won’t go down.
“That’ll take?—”
I cut him off. “It takes what it takes.”
He tries again, voice smoother. “Lonari, this is going to look like a coup.”
I tilt my head. “Good. I like when things look honest.”
Fyr’s eyes flash. “You can’t just?—”
“I can,” I say. “And I am.”
Renn steps forward slightly, speaking for the first time. “Boss wants the emergency protocols too.”
Fyr turns sharply. “Those are sealed.”
I glance at Fyr. “So unseal them.”
Fyr’s lip curls. “You’re treating me like an enemy.”
I smile without warmth. “You acted like one.”
Silence lands hard. The server hum fills the gap.
Fyr looks away first. “Fine,” he mutters.
I tap the console. “And hear me real clear. This isn’t optional. Anyone obstructing this audit is an enemy. Anyone hiding data is an enemy. Anyone moving funds without my authorization is an enemy.”
Fyr’s gaze snaps back. “You’re going to execute half the family.”
“If half the family is traitors,” I say evenly, “then I’m doing housekeeping.”
That gets a tiny, nervous laugh from one of the guards—an involuntary sound he clamps down on immediately.
I start pulling the files myself because I don’t trust anybody’s hands but mine right now.
