Ch.33: The Decryption

The cemetery was a city of the dead, silent and cold under the relentless rain. We moved through the rows of headstones, our flashlights cutting thin beams through the fog.

"Here," I whispered, stopping in front of a modest gray stone. **MARGARET VANCE. BELOVED MOTHER.**

"Do it," Julian said, handing me the shovel.

I hesitated. This was desecration. This was madness. But the image of Rats foaming at the mouth pushed me forward. I dug.

The earth was wet and heavy. My muscles burned. Julian took over when I flagged, his movements precise and powerful despite his injuries.

Finally, the shovel hit something solid. Not a coffin. A small, watertight box buried just above it.

I pulled it out, my hands trembling.

Inside was a cassette tape. **LIAM'S MIX - 2043.**

"We need a player," Julian said.

"The car," I said. "It's old enough to have a deck."

We ran back to the sedan. I shoved the tape into the slot.

Static hissed through the speakers. Then, a voice.

*"Hey, Harp. Happy Birthday. I know things are tough right now, but..."*

Julian hit pause.

"That's it," he said. "That's the voiceprint."

He connected the Cleaner's decryption unit to the car's audio system. He fed the audio into the algorithm.

"Scanning..."

The progress bar on the small screen crawled forward.

**VOICEPRINT GENERATED.**
**APPLYING TO GHOST DRIVE.**

The screen flashed green.

**ACCESS GRANTED.**

The drive opened.

Thousands of files. Videos. Emails. Financial ledgers.

"Search for 'Mia'," I said, my voice barely a whisper.

Julian typed the name.

A folder appeared. **PROJECT: LEVERAGE.**

He opened it.

It wasn't what I expected. There were no photos of Mia being tortured. No ransom notes.

It was a thread of emails. Between Liam and Mia.

**FROM: LIAM**
**TO: MIA**
**SUBJECT: THE PAYOUT**

*I found the backdoor, Mia. We can drain the accounts. All of them. Sterling won't even know until it's too late.*

**FROM: MIA**
**TO: LIAM**
**SUBJECT: RE: THE PAYOUT**

*Don't be an idiot. Stealing is small time. We don't want the money. We want the power. If we have the key, we own Sterling. We can make him do whatever we want. We can run this city.*

My breath hitched. "No."

**FROM: LIAM**
**TO: MIA**
**SUBJECT: RE: RE: THE PAYOUT**

*That's too dangerous. I'm going to sell it to Vane. Get the cash and get out.*

**FROM: MIA**
**TO: LIAM**
**SUBJECT: THE END GAME**

*If you sell it to Vane, you're dead to me. Stick to the plan. We blackmail Sterling. We take the throne. Or I'll tell him where you live.*

I stared at the screen, the words blurring through my tears.

They weren't trying to expose Sterling. They weren't trying to save the city.

They were trying to take it over.

Mia wasn't a victim. She wasn't even just a collaborator. She was the mastermind. She had pushed Liam. She had threatened him.

And when he tried to back out... she gave him up.

"Look at the date on the last email," Julian said softly.

**DATE: 10/12/2045. 4:00 PM.**

One hour before he died.

"She called the hit," Julian said. "She told Sterling where he was. She traded her brother for a seat at the table."

I leaned back against the seat, the truth crushing me. My family wasn't a tragedy. It was a crime syndicate.

"They weren't victims," I whispered, the final illusion shattering. "They were extortionists who got caught."