Chapter 7 - Roman Costa's Real Enemy
Sadi ran toward the red door.
Roman caught her.
“Wait.”
“My brother is in there!”
“That's what they want you to believe.”
The screaming stopped.
Roman looked upward.
Speakers.
Recorded sound.
He kicked open neither door.
Instead he fired the emergency release.
Both doors opened.
One room was empty.
The other contained Marcus.
No Mateo.
A projector had created the illusion.
Marcus was conscious.
“Victor,” he gasped.
Roman crouched.
“What?”
“Your uncle.”
“He's dead.”
“No.”
Marcus looked toward Sadi.
“He's running everything.”
Roman went silent.
Marcus confessed.
Victor Costa had approached him after Luca's death.
He claimed Luca had secretly partnered with Vega.
Marcus didn't believe him.
Then Victor showed evidence.
Some real.
Some fabricated.
Marcus spent years investigating alone.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because every time I got close, someone around you died.”
Roman looked wounded in a way stitches couldn't fix.
Marcus continued.
“Victor wanted you angry. Isolated. He wanted you to destroy Vega's network for him.”
Sadi understood.
Victor had used Roman as a weapon.
“And me?”
Marcus looked at her.
“You were insurance.”
“For what?”
“Vega's money.”
Sadi's old systems contained pathways to accounts nobody else could access.
Victor needed the Ghost.
The bullying at Monza had not been the plan.
That was simply cruelty.
But her employment there had been engineered to place her within reach of Roman.
Eventually, a crisis would connect them.
Her mistaken text had merely accelerated the schedule.
Roman helped Marcus stand.
“Where is Victor?”
Marcus shook his head.
“I don't know.”
A slow clap echoed from the upper catwalk.
Roman looked up.
A man stood behind the railing.
Silver hair.
Black coat.
Victor Costa.
Alive.
“My nephew.”
Roman's entire body hardened.
Victor smiled.
“You've become exactly what I needed.”
Roman moved toward the stairs.
Victor lifted a phone.
“Another step and Mateo dies.”
Sadi froze.
Victor turned the screen.
Mateo sat in a vehicle.
Alive.
Terrified.
Sadi whispered his name.
Victor looked at her.
“And the Ghost finally returns.”
“I won't help you.”
“You already have.”
She frowned.
“The moment you opened the Monza files, your old authentication signature activated.”
Sadi felt sick.
“You needed my biometric pattern.”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
Victor smiled.
“The account.”
Roman asked, “What account?”
Victor looked delighted.
“Arturo's final reserve.”
Sadi knew the rumor.
Hundreds of millions distributed through dormant holdings.
She had never found the master account.
Victor believed she could unlock it.
“I can't.”
“You can.”
Victor raised the phone.
“Mateo gave me the first half.”
Sadi stared.
Her brother knew.
Victor continued.
“You have the second.”
“No.”
“Not consciously.”
Sadi understood.
Arturo had embedded something in her old system.
A cryptographic key generated from her own behavior.
Victor didn't need a password.
He needed the Ghost working again.
And she had just worked for six hours.
Victor's smile widened.
“Thank you.”
His phone chimed.
“Transfer authorized.”
Roman lunged toward the stairs.
Victor disappeared.
An alarm began screaming.
Sadi looked at her laptop.
A countdown appeared.
00:59.
Roman grabbed Marcus.
“Move.”
They ran.
00:41.
Sadi stopped.
“The money.”
Roman turned.
“Forget it.”
“If Victor gets it—”
“I don't care.”
She stared at him.
“Three hundred million dollars?”
“I care whether you leave this building.”
For a moment she couldn't speak.
Then the ceiling shook.
Roman pulled her toward the exit.
They reached the parking lot as an explosion tore through the rear of Warehouse 17.
Sadi hit the pavement.
Roman covered her.
Flames climbed behind them.
She looked at him.
“You came back for me.”
“You sound surprised.”
“I am.”
His eyes held hers.
“Stop being surprised.”
Then Sadi's phone rang.
Mateo.
She answered.
“Sadi?”
“Mateo!”
“I escaped.”
“Where?”
“Don't tell Roman.”
She looked at him.
Roman could hear.
Mateo continued.
“I found something about Luca.”
“What?”
“Roman needs to see it.”
“Where are you?”
“The old Costa house.”
A pause.
“Sadi, there's something else.”
“What?”
“Victor wasn't the one who killed Luca.”
The line crackled.
“Then who was?”
Mateo whispered a name.
Sadi's face went white.
Roman saw it.
“Who?”
May you like
Before she could answer, a gunshot sounded through the phone.
Then the line went dead.
