Evelyn’s hand shook.

That saved us.

My mother knocked over a lamp.

The room went dark.

I lunged.

The gun fired into the ceiling.

Andrew burst through the door with building security.

He had come to deliver signed divorce papers I had forgotten at the office.

He tackled Evelyn before she could fire again.

Police arrested her.

During interrogation, she revealed the truth.

She had worked for Dane for eight years.

But recently, she had been building a case against him.

“My brother disappeared after refusing to launder campaign money,” she said.

“I wanted proof.”

“Then why point a gun at me?”

“Dane threatened my daughter.”

She showed us a photograph.

A twelve-year-old girl leaving school.

Someone had drawn a red circle around her face.

Evelyn had betrayed us.

But she was also trapped.

My mother believed her.

I did not.

Trust had become a luxury I could no longer afford.

Andrew stood outside the interrogation room.

“You followed me home?” I asked.

“No.”

“Your building called because someone bypassed security.”

“You came anyway.”

“Yes.”

I looked at the signed divorce papers in his hand.

“You could have left.”

“I already left when it mattered.”

For once, I had no reply.

Evelyn agreed to wear a wire and contact Dane.

She told him she still had my mother’s original ledger.

Dane arranged a meeting at a charity gala.

The same kind of event I had organized for Andrew for years.

This time, I attended under my own name.

Mariana Escalante.

Not Mrs. Whitmore.

The ballroom was full of cameras.

Donors.

Politicians.

Dane smiled when he saw me.

“You look stronger without your husband.”

“I was always stronger.”

He leaned closer.

“Strength is only useful if you live long enough to use it.”

Across the room, Evelyn approached with a silver case.

Dane’s men surrounded her.

Andrew stood near the exit.

He pretended not to know me.

The exchange began.

Then the lights went out.

When they returned, Evelyn was gone.

The silver case remained.

Inside was not the ledger.

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It was a bomb.

The timer showed sixty seconds.