dead can't

n Hal

corners, held together by a blood-stained belt

knew b

return, they don't

was soaked, collar turned up, shirt half-unbuttoned, exposing the tattoo of a ph

... he

he rasped. "Y

I whis

ood. That means t

tense, jaw flexing like he

be dead,"

"And you should be div

on, Mya, me, and the man who was supposed to be a memory. Rain fe

at the

in it?"

around the handle. "Everyth

all concrete, shadows, and silence. He walked ahead withou

we reached a small ch

he suitcase on the gro

ng," he said, paused for a

arms. "You a

aved

up in a system tha

ed the

ence sh

were fi

child-sized, si

ien and Victoria, smilin

ntract - titled Vale/C

ox containing

lett Hale. Amount: $100 million.

tried to give

. "He tried to b

is isn't about inheritan

locked on

n't. She didn't just steal my compan

o kill me,"

I let her thin

ult hissed open, revealing rows of documents

behind," Lucien

ck. "You burie

gnition. Paid off a coroner

you disappea

d. "And star

d me a h

orporate espionage logs. All tracing back to Crane Corp

m my hand, eyes s

d," he sa

. "Give me

aid. "Victoria doesn't

my lap. Lucien's scent clung to it - woodsmoke, a

child's drawing.

stick figures. Labeled: D

been scratched out viole

hite hospital gown. Hooked t

ient 071: Dissociat

ase me from public records. Sh

hrough Jaxo

ed it,"

e an operating room. A child screaming. A man's voice off-screen:

nterrupted: "She

ollowed, calm and

. Everything in

a securi

ms b

rabbed

's breache

nscreen - four masked figures slip

"They're aft

shed

moke. Shat

re to

ed. A guard bleeding out in the corner

irror

steel wall until

aced, f

restimat

We remembered her. A

tem left untouched in

scorched satin, was a

"Amara's

mber buried beneath Vale Tower's original fo

e camera. And

be

TESTIMONY

ying. Saying five words

de me b