Then silence.
I stood.
“What happened?”
“Stay here,” Priya ordered.
I did not.
Clara and I followed at a distance until we reached the old loading platform.
Victor stood at the edge of a collapsed section of flooring.
Below him, rainwater rushed through a drainage channel.
He had nowhere left to go.
Officers approached from both sides.
Victor looked at me across the broken floor.
“You think this ends with me?”
“It ends with the truth.”
“No. People like Reeves will make deals. Harold will lie. Marcus will blame you. Rachel will beg forgiveness. And you will spend the rest of your life wondering which parts were real.”
“That is where you are wrong.”
He laughed.
“You don’t even know your own family.”
“I know enough.”
“You know your children chose money.”
“Yes.”
“You know your husband lied to you.”
“He protected me imperfectly.”
“Your sister abandoned you.”
“She came back.”
