Chapter 12 - The Building That Never Existed
The gun fired.
Meline ducked.
The bullet shattered the window behind her.
Then she realized her mother had fired past her.
A man behind Meline fell.
One of Greg’s agents had entered through the rear staircase.
Her mother shouted, “Get down!”
Dominic fired.
Greg’s men scattered.
Meline’s mother ran inside.
“Mom?”
“No time.”
She had infiltrated Greg’s operation after Evelyn’s arrest.
Greg wanted the archive.
But he also wanted out.
“He thinks Crown will kill him if he walks away.”
“Evelyn is arrested.”
“Crown is bigger than Evelyn.”
Meline looked at the drives.
“Then this ends it.”
They copied everything.
The files exposed decades of corruption.
But one folder remained encrypted.
BUILDING ZERO.
Meline recognized the name.
A building that officially did not exist.
Her father had once taken her there as a child.
She remembered concrete.
No windows.
A blue door.
And a carved bird.
“Roosevelt Island.”
Dominic frowned.
“There’s no such building.”
“That’s why he called it zero.”
They found it beneath an abandoned hospital utility structure.
Inside was Crown’s original command center.
Old equipment.
Paper archives.
And evidence nobody could remotely erase.
Meline stood among her father’s life’s work.
Thomas had known digital systems could disappear.
So he had printed everything.
Dominic opened a ledger.
Names filled hundreds of pages.
Police.
Judges.
Executives.
Criminal families.
Then Meline found one final envelope.
FOR MELINE.
Inside was a letter.
Sweetheart,
If you ever reach this room, I am sorry.
I wanted you to inherit nothing from this war except the freedom to choose your own life.
Meline cried silently.
Dominic stood beside her.
She continued.
Do not become obsessed with punishing everyone who hurt us. Give the truth to people who can use it. Then walk away.
Live.
Build something instead of spending your life destroying what others built badly.
That would be enough for me.
Meline pressed the letter to her chest.
Dominic took her hand.
Then applause echoed from the doorway.
Greg.
Alone.
He looked exhausted.
“Thomas always did love speeches.”
Dominic raised his gun.
Greg did not.
“I came to surrender.”
“Why?”
“Because Evelyn escaped.”
Meline stared.
“What?”
“Crown had people inside federal custody.”
“Where is she?”
Greg looked toward the archive.
“Coming here.”
Dominic checked the entrances.
Greg handed him a weapon.
“You’ll need it.”
Dominic looked at his half brother.
“Why help us?”
Greg’s face became bitter.
“Because she told me the truth.”
“What truth?”
“She never intended me to inherit Crown.”
“Then who?”
Greg looked at Meline.
“She still intends you to.”
Vehicles arrived outside.
Dozens.
Dominic’s security team was minutes away.
Too late.
Evelyn entered the building.
Armed people behind her.
She smiled at Meline.
“Give me Thomas’s archive.”
“No.”
“I won’t ask twice.”
Meline stood in front of the files.
Greg moved beside Dominic.
For the first time, the brothers stood together.
Evelyn’s smile disappeared.
“Gregory.”
“No.”
“You belong to me.”
Greg shook his head.
“That’s the problem. You always thought people could belong to you.”
Sirens sounded outside.
Evelyn raised her gun.
Dominic raised his.
Greg did too.
And Meline saw the red laser dot appear on Dominic’s chest from the window behind him.
“Dominic!”
She shoved him.
May you like
The sniper fired.
And Meline felt the bullet hit...
