"No," Roman said, his voice dropping an octave as he stared out the floor-to-ceiling glass of his study, watching the cold Chicago rain streak down the skyline. "Do not touch her accounts, Marco. Do not track her phone records."

The encrypted financial ledger delivered by Victor Vance—supposedly the smoking gun that would finally unmask the legendary corporate ghost known as The Architect—had just been automatically re-routed by an external security protocol.

"Sir," a junior analyst stammered, standing behind him. "We have a massive data influx on the server. The Vanguard files... they've been overwritten."

"Overwritten by whom?" Agent Vance demanded, slamming his hand on the desk.

"Not by whom, sir... by an automated compliance trigger," the analyst pointed frantically at the monitor. "The moment we opened the file, it triggered a federal whistleblower protocol. It links every single offshore bribe, kickback, and tax evasion scheme directly to... to Victor Vance and the federal prosecutor's office."

The conference room door flew open.

Two internal affairs investigators, accompanied by armed marshals, stepped into the room, their badges gleaming coldly under the fluorescent lights.

"Special Agent Vance," the lead investigator said, his voice flat and official. "Step away from the terminal. You and your superiors are under federal investigation for obstruction of justice and accepting syndicate bribes."

Across the city, sitting in a plush leather chair in a high-end downtown hotel suite, Victor Vance smiled as his cell phone rang. He expected to hear Agent Vance announce that Celeste Vascari's arrest warrant had been finalized.

Instead, a heavy federal task force kicked his hotel room door off its hinges, sending splintered wood flying across the room as four agents pinned him face-down to the carpet.