Chapter 6 - The File Beneath Gina's Desk
Roman pushed Sadi behind the desk.
Marcus entered from the hallway with two security men.
The voice did not speak again.
When the lights returned, nobody was there.
Only an envelope lay outside the office.
Inside was a photograph of Roman and Sadi entering her apartment.
Written beneath it:
THE GHOST AND THE KING.
Sadi hated the implication.
Roman seemed more interested in the photograph's angle.
“Taken from Elias's building.”
Marcus nodded.
“We have someone inside.”
Roman looked at him.
Marcus understood what that meant.
Trust had narrowed.
Gina finally broke.
She admitted receiving payments to manipulate staffing, records, and security.
She had been ordered to hire Sadi if she ever applied.
“That makes no sense,” Sadi said. “How could they know?”
Gina stared at her.
“They gave me your photograph two years ago.”
Sadi felt cold.
Someone had known where she would eventually go before she did.
Unless her choices had been engineered.
The cheap apartment.
The anonymous job listing.
The dealership desperate for a cashier.
Every small coincidence.
A corridor built around her.
Roman told Gina she would cooperate with investigators.
Gina laughed bitterly.
“You think police can protect me?”
“No.”
Roman looked toward Sadi.
“But she might be able to tell them where the money went.”
Sadi understood the invitation.
The Ghost.
She had buried that woman.
But Mateo was alive.
And someone had dragged the past into her present.
She opened the encrypted files.
For six hours, she worked.
Roman brought coffee.
Never asked whether she wanted help.
Never hovered.
At dawn, she found the first real break.
Payments to Gina originated from a trust.
The trust belonged to a dead man.
Luca Costa.
Roman stared.
“Impossible.”
“Dead people are excellent financial masks.”
She traced another transfer.
And another.
Then stopped.
The authorization signature was current.
Someone possessed Luca's original encryption certificate.
Roman whispered, “Only three people had access.”
“Who?”
“Luca. Me.”
He paused.
“And Marcus.”
Sadi slowly looked through the glass.
Marcus stood outside speaking on the phone.
Roman said nothing.
Neither did she.
Trust narrowed again.
That evening, Sadi prepared to go to Warehouse 17.
Roman insisted on coming.
“You heard the message.”
“They threatened Mateo if you come.”
“They specifically ordered me there later.”
“They're manipulating us.”
“Yes.”
“So stop cooperating.”
Roman stepped closer.
“Would you?”
She knew the answer.
“No.”
“Neither will I.”
At 10:52 p.m., they arrived separately.
Warehouse 17 stood dark.
Sadi entered through the east door.
A light switched on.
One chair.
One computer.
On screen was Mateo.
Live.
“Sadi.”
She approached.
“Where are you?”
“Close.”
“Who has you?”
His face tightened.
“Nobody.”
She stopped.
“What?”
“I stayed away voluntarily.”
“Why?”
“To protect you.”
“From Roman?”
Mateo looked off-camera.
“From what Roman would become if he learned the truth.”
Roman stepped from the darkness.
“I'd like to hear it anyway.”
Mateo closed his eyes.
“You brought him.”
“He came.”
Roman approached the screen.
“Tell me.”
Mateo whispered, “Luca wasn't killed by Vega.”
Roman froze.
Sadi felt the room change.
“Who killed him?”
Mateo looked directly into the camera.
“Someone from your family.”
Roman's face emptied.
Then the video feed changed.
A live camera appeared.
Marcus.
Bound to a chair.
Blood on his face.
Roman stepped forward.
“Marcus?”
A distorted voice spoke.
“Choose carefully, Roman.”
Two doors illuminated at opposite ends of the warehouse.
“Behind one door is Marcus.”
The other light turned red.
“Behind the other is Mateo Morales.”
Sadi stared.
Mateo was here.
The voice continued.
“You can open only one.”
Roman looked at Sadi.
She looked back.
May you like
Then both doors unlocked at the same time.
And someone began screaming behind the red one.
