Claire shook her head.
“You’d destroy hundreds of lives.”
“I’d expose hundreds of crimes.”
“You’d destroy yourself too.”
Russell smiled sadly.
“I know.”
That was when I finally understood.
Russell hadn’t faked his death just to escape an assassin.
He had prepared to disappear because he intended to destroy the empire that had made him wealthy.
Margaret turned toward me.
“He changed the plan after marrying you.”
Russell looked embarrassed.
“What plan?”
“He was going to vanish alone.”
“And after?”
“He created a trust.”
Hayes’s face hardened.
Russell said, “Most of my fortune goes to victims connected to the files.”
Claire stared at him.
“Most?”
“Nearly all.”
Daniel sat down.
“That’s why the will wasn’t read.”
“Correct.”
Claire laughed once.
“So Emily
really wasn’t getting the fortune.”
Russell looked at me.
“Not exactly.”
I folded my arms.
“What did I get?”
Russell smiled.
“The farmhouse.”
I stared around.
“This?”
“And everything beneath it.”
The archive.
Margaret nodded.
“Legally, this property belongs to you now.”
My mouth fell open.
“You gave me the most dangerous thing you owned?”
Russell’s smile faded.
“I gave you a choice.”
“A choice about what?”
“What survives.”
The sirens were louder now.
Margaret looked at the terminal.
“There are two master commands.”
One button read RELEASE.
The other read DELETE.
Russell looked at me.
“Once law enforcement arrives, the choice will no longer be ours.”
I stared at him.
“You want me to decide?”
“Yes.”
Hayes stepped forward.
“Delete it.”
Claire said, “No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You want it released?”
“My mother died because people spent years protecting secrets.”
Hayes shook his head.
“You’re emotional.”
She turned
on him.
“And you shot at my mother.”
I stared at the glowing buttons.
Release.
Delete.
Both terrified me.
Then I noticed a third option.
ARCHIVE SEALED — TRANSFER TO FEDERAL CUSTODY.
“What’s that?”
Margaret smiled slightly.
“I added it.”
Russell looked at her.
“When?”
“While you were busy pretending to be dead.”
For the first time, I saw something like respect between them.
