Chapter 11 - THE EDGE

Lily screamed as Heller’s weight pulled her across the wet concrete.

Arthur dropped flat and grabbed her other arm.

Heller dangled over forty floors of open air, one hand locked around Lily’s wrist.

“Let go of her!” Arthur shouted.

Heller laughed through clenched teeth. “Give me the key.”

Richard crawled toward them, leaving a dark trail behind him.

Arthur could not release Lily without losing her. He could not reach Heller without shifting his grip.

Richard looked at Lily.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

Then he slammed his wounded shoulder into Heller’s hand.

Heller lost his grip and fell.

Lily rolled into Arthur’s arms.

Richard collapsed beside them.

Paramedics rushed onto the roof as Mara’s team secured the building. Richard’s wound had missed his heart, but he had lost a dangerous amount of blood.

Lily knelt beside him.

“Why did you help me?”

Richard struggled to breathe. “Because once should have been enough. I should’ve protected you the first time.”

“It doesn’t erase what you did.”

“I know.”

Arthur watched his daughter take Richard’s hand—not in forgiveness, but in recognition of one decent act at the end of many cruel ones.

Mara approached with the payment key secured in a case.

“We can open the network now,” she said.

Back at the command center, analysts used the key to access hidden ledgers. Money trails lit up across screens. Judges, doctors, bank officers, guardianship attorneys, and politicians appeared in linked charts.

Then one account began moving funds.

“Someone’s emptying the central reserve,” an analyst said.

“Who?” Arthur asked.

The screen resolved to a live authorization.

Mara Cole.

Every person in the room turned toward her.

Mara slowly removed her badge and placed it on the table.

“Arthur,” she said, “Elena was right about the person closest to you.”

Agents raised their weapons.

Mara did not resist.

But she smiled sadly.

“You still don’t understand,” she said. “I’m not stealing the money.”

“Then where are you sending it?”

“To the victims.”

Arthur looked at the transfer counter.

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