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“Think carefully.”

“I said no.”

“Did you know people were dying around the network?”

That silence tells me more than his answer.

“I knew there were incidents.”

“Incidents.”

“People disappear in our world, Adrianos. You know that better than anyone.”

Something inside me goes flat.

Elena notices. She does not touch me, does not interrupt, but she redirects the room before I can act on the impulse.

“Did you create the shell companies?” she asks.

“Some.”

“How many?”

“Twenty-three directly.”

“Indirectly?”

“I don’t know.”

“You do.”

“Thirty, perhaps.”

“Perhaps?”

“Thirty-seven.”

She writes it down.

“Did you route funds away from Crown systems?”

“Yes.”

“Did you alter fee structures to trigger movements?”

“Yes.”

“Did you know the money was being consolidated?”

“Eventually.”

“Did you know it was being held liquid?”

“Yes.”

“Did you ever ask why?”

Karras laughs once, hollow and tired. “You don’t survive fifty years around men like him by asking why.”