Chapter 7 - THE TWIST IN THE SILKI pulled Devlin into a private holding room near the lobby. "What are you talking about, Devlin? The DOJ has them. It's over."
"It's not over," Devlin said, his voice shaking. "I traced the encrypted transmission that sent the final key to the DOJ servers tonight. It didn't come from your laptop, Marcus."
I frowned. "What do you mean? Elara gave us the drive."
"The drive Elara gave you was a decoy to draw out her father's legal team," Devlin explained, showing me the screen. "The actual master file—the one that exposed Project Asclepius and triggered the federal arrests—was sent from an IP address in Zurich three days ago."
My heart stopped. "Zurich? Who owns that address?"
Devlin looked up, his eyes wide with disbelief. "Elara."
I stood frozen. Memories from the last few weeks flashed through my mind at light speed.
The quiet villa in Amalfi. The zipper on her dress. The sudden breakdown. The way she had steered me toward Arthur, toward her father, toward using my private equity network to crush them.
She hadn't just been a victim waiting to be saved. She had orchestrated every single move.
I walked back out to the main terrace where Elara was standing alone, looking out over the city lights, a glass of sparkling water in her hand. The ocean breeze blew her dress slightly, showing the faint outline of her scars under the moonlight.
"You knew," I said softly, stepping behind her.
May you like
She didn't turn around. "Knew what, Marcus?"
"You knew about Project Asclepius before we even left for Amalfi," I said. "You didn't collapse because you were broken, Elara. You collapsed because you needed me to play my role."
