Chapter 10 - Demons ChooseDaphne did not speak to Anna for eighteen hours.
Not because she lacked questions.
Because she had too many.
They returned to the printing-facility bunker with Sofia under Milani protection and Crane missing.
Valentino ordered two separate security teams around the sisters.
Daphne objected.
Sofia objected louder.
Valentino ignored both.
“You two can hate me together.”
Sofia studied him.
“You always this controlling?”
Daphne answered.
“Yes.”
Valentino pointed at her.
“She likes it.”
“I tolerate it.”
“That sounded less convincing this time.”
Sofia almost smiled.
It was unsettling.
She and Daphne did not look identical, but similarities emerged constantly.
The same skeptical eyebrow.
Same habit of placing their backs toward walls.
Same tendency to inspect exits before sitting.
Their father had apparently contributed more than eye color.
At 4:00 a.m., Sofia finally told Daphne the story.
They sat alone in the bunker’s small library.
“Adrian found Anna inside the Syndicate,” Sofia said.
“You knew him?”
“I was nine when he disappeared.”
“Your mother?”
“Claire Vale. She died when I was six.”
Daphne nodded.
Sofia continued.
“After that, Dad took assignments that kept him close to London. Then he started investigating a network laundering covert operations through private contractors.”
“The Syndicate.”
“Yes.”
“He met Anna.”
“Yes.”
“And had me.”
Sofia studied her.
“He loved you.”
Daphne looked away.
“You couldn’t know that.”
“I have letters.”
That hurt more than expected.
“What letters?”
“Dad wrote journals for me. After you were born, he mentioned you constantly.”
Daphne’s throat tightened.
“What did he say?”
“That you screamed louder than any baby he’d ever heard.”
A laugh escaped her before she could stop it.
Sofia smiled.
“He called you Daffy.”
“Absolutely not.”
“He did.”
“I’m glad he’s dead.”
The joke landed badly.
Silence.
Daphne closed her eyes.
“Sorry.”
Sofia looked at her.
“No. You’re allowed.”
That sentence nearly destroyed her.
After a moment Daphne asked, “How did he die?”
Sofia’s expression hardened.
“He discovered Marcus planned to use the Atlas as blackmail. Dad decided to steal the root encryption and expose everything.”
“And Anna stopped him.”
“She shot him.”
The words were simple.
Daphne felt no surprise.
Only emptiness.
“Did you see it?”
“No. Crane showed me the recording years later.”
“Crane?”
“He recruited me.”
Of course.
Different organization.
Same pattern.
Children inheriting wars adults created.
“What are you?”
“Cyberoperations. Intelligence analysis. Occasionally field work.”
“You kill people?”
Sofia looked at her.
“Do you?”
“Not the answer I wanted.”
“Then yes.”
Daphne leaned back.
“What does Crane want?”
“The Atlas.”
“Why keep you alive?”
“My retinal profile is one half of the root key.”
“And mine is the other.”
“Yes.”
“Do we have to be physically present together?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“Why good?”
“Because they don’t have me.”
Sofia gave her a look.
“They’ve captured you before?”
“Several people tried.”
“How’d it go?”
“For them?”
“Yes.”
“Poorly.”
Sofia smiled.
“I think I’m going to like you.”
Daphne looked toward the door.
“Don’t decide too fast. Apparently our family has issues.”
By noon, Anna requested a meeting.
Daphne refused.
Valentino entered the library twenty minutes later.
“You should talk to her.”
“No.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because not talking is still letting her control the conversation.”
Daphne hated when he was right.
“You’re annoying.”
“I’ve built a successful career around it.”
She looked at him.
“And last night?”
“What about it?”
“You said something.”
“I say many things.”
“Valentino.”
The performance vanished.
He sat opposite her.
“I meant it.”
Daphne’s pulse changed.
Ridiculous.
Bombs did not alter her heart rate.
This man did.
“That’s inconvenient.”
“I mentioned that.”
“You’re a criminal.”
“So are you.”
“You’re arrogant.”
“You’re terrifying.”
“You manipulate people.”
“You stab people with dinner utensils.”
“I threw the handle.”
“Romantic distinction.”
She stared at him.
He did not smile now.
“I love you, Daphne.”
No grand speech.
No performance.
Just truth.
She felt every defense inside her searching for somewhere to hide.
There was nowhere.
“You’re terrible at timing.”
“I know.”
“I spent most of my life learning not to need anybody.”
“I know.”
“And every person I’ve trusted has lied to me.”
“I know.”
“If you betray me—”
“You’ll kill me.”
“No.”
He waited.
“That’s the problem.”
Daphne looked down.
“If you betray me, I’ll survive.”
She looked at him again.
“But I won’t be the same.”
Valentino reached across the table.
“You think that scares me less?”
For once, she had no answer.
He took her hand.
Daphne whispered, “I love you too.”
His eyes closed for half a second.
As though the words had hit harder than any bullet.
Then he leaned across the table and kissed her.
Not desperately.
Not possessively.
Carefully.
When they separated, Sofia stood in the doorway.
“Should I come back?”
Daphne closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Excellent. Because your mother is trying to leave.”
Daphne was on her feet instantly.
Anna had reached the garage.
Rico blocked the vehicle exit.
“You’re not leaving,” Daphne said.
Anna turned.
“Yes, I am.”
“Why?”
“Because Helix tracks me.”
“They track all of us.”
“I can draw them away.”
Daphne laughed.
“Running. Interesting.”
Anna flinched at her own lesson reflected back.
“You want to protect me?”
“Yes.”
“Then stay.”
“Daphne—”
“Stay and tell the truth.”
Anna looked at Sofia.
Sofia stood beside Daphne.
Two daughters.
One biological.
One inherited through the same man and the same disaster.
Anna seemed suddenly old.
“I killed Adrian.”
Daphne’s jaw tightened.
“Why?”
“Because Marcus captured you.”
Daphne stopped breathing.
Anna continued.
“You were three. Adrian had the Atlas key. Marcus offered an exchange.”
“My father for me?”
“The key for you.”
“What happened?”
“Adrian refused.”
Sofia stared.
“What?”
Anna looked at her.
“He believed surrendering the Atlas would endanger millions.”
Sofia stepped back.
“No.”
“He intended to rescue Daphne another way.”
Daphne’s voice barely emerged.
“And you?”
“I couldn’t wait.”
“So you killed him.”
“I shot him and took his access token.”
Sofia’s face twisted.
“You murdered him.”
“Yes.”
“And gave Marcus the Atlas?”
“No.”
Anna looked at Daphne.
“I gave Marcus a false token. He released you long enough for me to get you out.”
“Then he discovered it.”
“Yes.”
“And came after us.”
“Yes.”
Daphne understood.
“You put me in foster care.”
“The only system large enough to hide you.”
“And became the Widow.”
“To make sure Marcus never found you again.”
“But he did.”
“Yes.”
Anna’s voice broke.
“He always did.”
Sofia walked away.
Daphne almost followed.
Then alarms sounded.
Chen’s voice came over the intercom.
“Security breach. Multiple inbound teams.”
Valentino drew his gun.
“How?”
Chen answered.
“Someone transmitted our coordinates.”
Everyone looked toward Anna.
She shook her head.
“Not me.”
Sofia appeared at the corridor entrance.
Her face was pale.
Daphne understood.
“Sofia?”
“I’m sorry.”
Valentino raised his weapon.
Daphne moved between them.
“What did you do?”
Sofia swallowed.
“Crane implanted a transmitter.”
“Where?”
“I didn’t know.”
A red light blinked beneath the skin near her shoulder.
Daphne cursed.
Chen shouted through the speakers.
“Vehicles two minutes out.”
Valentino started issuing orders.
Daphne grabbed Sofia.
“Medical room.”
“No time.”
“There’s time.”
Anna produced a knife.
“I can remove it.”
Sofia looked horrified.
Daphne took the knife.
“I’ll do it.”
“You know how?”
Daphne gave her a look.
“Unfortunately.”
Ninety seconds later the transmitter lay bloody on a steel tray.
Rico entered.
“They’re here.”
Gunfire erupted outside.
Valentino looked at Daphne.
“Demons?”
She chambered her weapon.
“Run together.”
The bunker became a fortress.
Helix operators attacked from three access points.
But this was Valentino’s territory.
His soldiers knew every corridor.
Daphne controlled defense from the center.
Sofia joined Chen at the network station.
Anna took a rifle.
Valentino fought beside Rico.
For twenty-three minutes, Helix threw men into concrete corridors and gained nothing.
Then Sofia shouted.
“They’re not trying to enter!”
Daphne turned.
“What?”
“They’re uploading something through the breached network.”
Chen typed furiously.
“It’s a wipe.”
“Of what?”
“Everything connected to Vesper.”
Anna understood.
“The Atlas fragments.”
Helix was deleting what it could not obtain.
Daphne looked at Sofia.
“Can you stop it?”
“Not alone.”
“What do you need?”
Sofia stared at her.
“You.”
They connected the two biometric keys.
Retinal scan.
Blood verification.
The system opened.
For the first time in thirty-one years, the complete Atlas appeared.
Not fragments.
Everything.
Millions of files.
Names.
Payments.
Governments.
Executives.
Assassinations.
Daphne stared at history’s hidden graveyard.
Chen whispered, “My God.”
Sofia looked at Daphne.
“We can expose it.”
Anna said, “If you do, governments fall.”
Valentino entered, blood on his collar.
“Do it.”
Anna turned.
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand secrets.”
“This could start wars.”
Valentino looked at Daphne.
“Then it’s her choice.”
Not his.
Not Anna’s.
Hers.
Daphne realized what he had done.
The man who once told her she would work for him because he was “not asking” now stood beside her and refused to choose for her.
She looked at Anna.
Her mother had loved by controlling.
Valentino had learned to love by letting go.
Daphne faced the screen.
“No.”
Sofia stared.
“You’re protecting them?”
“No.”
Daphne selected a different option.
“Not everything.”
She isolated Helix.
Eleven council members.
Every payment.
Every illegal operation.
Every murder order.
Every company.
Every secret account.
“We expose them.”
Valentino smiled.
“Targeted strike.”
Daphne nodded.
“And we keep the rest encrypted.”
Anna stared at her daughter.
“You’re sure?”
“No.”
Daphne pressed EXECUTE.
“But I’m choosing.”
The files transmitted to hundreds of journalists, prosecutors and intelligence oversight bodies simultaneously.
Across the world, phones started ringing.
Stock markets reacted within minutes.
Arrest warrants began being drafted.
Helix companies lost billions before sunrise.
The assault outside stopped.
Their employers suddenly had more urgent problems.
Rico entered the command room.
“They’re retreating.”
Valentino looked at the screens.
“Crane?”
Sofia searched.
A location appeared.
Chicago.
Daphne frowned.
“He never left?”
Sofia shook her head.
“He’s at the Gilded Cage.”
Valentino looked personally offended.
“That man is becoming irritating.”
Daphne picked up her weapon.
“No.”
She looked at Sofia.
“Alive.”
Sofia nodded.
Anna moved forward.
“I’m coming.”
Daphne studied her.
Then handed her a spare magazine.
“Fine.”
Anna looked surprised.
“Don’t make me regret it.”
Valentino smiled.
The four of them walked toward the exit.
The King.
The Viper.
The Widow.
And the sister nobody knew existed.
May you like
Outside, Chicago burned with headlines instead of fire.
For once, Daphne preferred it that way.
