The next morning broke with an eerie stillness. The sky was grey—not the stormy kind, just dull and indecisive, like the calm before something worse. Siena didn't sleep. She couldn't. Her mind had been going in circles since Waverly's confession and the recovered footage from Lexington Tower.
She sat at the kitchen island with a cup of untouched coffee. Alexander leaned against the counter across from her, his shirt sleeves rolled up, hair tousled from a restless night. They were quiet.
"It's almost funny," Siena finally muttered, not looking up. "I thought I knew the enemy. Trent. Withers. Dorian. But they were just surface-level."
Alexander nodded slowly. "And the real one's still watching. Still hiding."
"Watching us try to piece this together like some elaborate game," she said, finally locking eyes with him. "But someone killed Dael. And someone sent that contractor after her. We just don't know whose name is really on the leash."
Alexander walked over and gently slid a USB stick onto the counter.
"What's that?" she asked.
"Something Reeve found last night." His voice dropped. "It's from a locker in a storage unit registered to Dorian Gray's alias."
Siena blinked.
Alexander plugged it into her laptop and opened the folder inside. There were several audio files and a few heavily encrypted documents. One of the audio files was labeled "Final Confession – DG."
Siena hesitated. Then clicked play.
Dorian's voice filled the kitchen.
"If you're hearing this… I'm probably already gone. I didn't plan to die, but I knew it was possible once the deal started falling apart. I was never supposed to be the face. Just the one who cleaned things up. Laundered. Hid. Helped the board look squeaky clean."
A pause.
"But then Dael started asking too many questions. She saw through the PR, the lies. She tracked the merger inconsistencies before I could bury them. When she got close to the real name behind the offshore accounts, someone panicked."
Siena's grip on the counter tightened.
"I didn't kill her. I swear on everything—I didn't lay a hand on her. But I know who did. Or rather, who ordered it."
A click. The sound of Dorian sighing, frustrated.
"W.H. That's the name you're probably chasing. But that's not a name. That's a code for a company. A hidden holding—Whitelake Holdings. It was the shadow company backing the original Blackwood-Hartline merger."
Alexander froze.
Siena felt like the air had been punched out of her lungs.
Whitelake Holdings. That wasn't a person—it was a front.
And one only a few people even knew about.
"The person behind Whitelake?" Dorian said, his voice dropping to a whisper now. "It's someone on the federal commerce committee. Someone who's been using their influence to bury files, block investigations, and monitor whistleblowers. I'm not saying their name because if I do, this recording won't survive. But I left a document in the encrypted folder. Break the password, and you'll know."
The recording clicked off.
Silence.
Siena looked at Alexander.
A federal figure. Connected to the board. With reach in law enforcement, corporations, and politics.
"We're not fighting a company," she said. "We're fighting a system."
---
Hours later, Reeve joined them in the penthouse. He looked tired, his eyes sunken, tie loosened like he hadn't slept either.
"You're sure about Whitelake?" he asked Siena, who'd just briefed him.
"We heard it from Dorian himself," Alexander said. "But the password to the files is still locked."
Reeve nodded slowly. "We'll bring in someone from cyber crimes to crack it. But if this is true—if Whitelake is funding both Hartline and Blackwood through shells—then every move you've made, Siena, has probably been tracked."
"I know," she said quietly. "And I don't care."
Reeve placed a folder on the table. "And there's more."
Inside were several high-resolution stills from the Lexington Tower surveillance enhancement. The one that had shown a man following Dael.
Reeve flipped to the last image.
It was clearer now.
The man's face wasn't hidden anymore.
Siena stared.
And her whole world tilted.
"No," she whispered.
Alexander looked at her, confused.
She stumbled back a step, then picked up the photo with both hands, as if it would change by touching it.
"It's not possible."
"Who is he?" Alexander asked gently.
Siena's throat burned.
"His name is Richard Holden," she said, voice shaking. "He was my father's closest friend. Godfather to my brother. A man I trusted since I was twelve."
Alexander went still.
Reeve's voice was quiet. "He disappeared from the public record five years ago. But his name shows up on property documents in the Caymans. And more importantly—he was a founding partner in Whitelake Holdings before it was sealed."
Siena wanted to scream. Or break something.
Instead, she collapsed into a chair, hands over her face.
"He used to sit in our house and talk about ethics," she muttered. "He was there when my dad died. He gave the speech at the funeral."
Reeve spoke carefully. "He's also the last person seen entering Dael's floor. We think he ordered the hit."
The words were final. Heavy.
Siena nodded once, then looked up with eyes like steel.
"Then we go after him."
---
Later that night, Alexander and Siena stood on the balcony of the penthouse, the wind brushing past like whispers from the city.
"You okay?" he asked quietly.
She nodded. "No. But I will be."
"You want to stop?"
She looked at him like he'd lost his mind. "Now?"
He half-smiled. "Just had to ask."
She leaned into him. "I want justice. For Curtis. For Dael. For my father. And even for myself."
"I want that too," he said.
They stayed that way for a while.
Then her phone rang.
Waverly.
Siena answered, tone cold. "What?"
"They're going to try to silence me," Waverly said without preamble. Her voice was trembling. "I got a letter today. No return address. Just a single line inside."
"What did it say?"
"'You've said enough.'"
Siena gritted her teeth. "Where are you?"
"My apartment. I haven't left."
"Don't. I'm sending security."
Waverly choked back a sob. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen."
"You were scared. But now you have a chance to be brave. Don't waste it."
The line went dead.
Siena turned to Alexander. "We're out of time."
---
The next morning, Siena, Alexander, and Reeve prepared for the next phase. ADA Chen had agreed to freeze Whitelake's visible assets. But they needed testimony, proof, and public pressure.
And as Reeve loaded the audio and image files into secure federal systems, Siena stared at the screen.
Dael's face.
Still frozen in that final recording.
Her voice still echoes in her mind.
Protect each other. Don't underestimate the ones who seem loyal.
Siena whispered to the screen.
"I promise, Dael. I'm going to end this."