voice interrupted.
“Step away from that wall.”
Dorian stood at the far end of the corridor.
Two armed men followed him.
He was dressed in an immaculate navy overcoat, his silver hair neatly combed, as though he had arrived for a business meeting rather than a massacre.
His eyes moved from Matteo to Talia.
“Gabriel’s little sister,” he said softly.
“Don’t call me that,” she answered.
Dorian sighed.
“You were never meant to be working tonight.
The manager assured me you’d been taken off the schedule.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew you’d ask the wrong questions if you saw something unusual.”
Talia understood now why the gunman had recognized her.
Dorian had known where she worked.
He had planned around her presence, and when she unexpectedly stayed for the dinner shift, his men had been prepared to silence her.
Matteo stepped between them.
“This ends with me, Dorian.
Let everyone else leave.”
Dorian glanced toward the frightened customers.
“Give me the envelope first.”
Matteo hesitated.
Talia watched his expression.
She could see him weighing the evidence against the lives in the room.
Then he held out his hand.
“Talia.
The envelope.”
She stared at him.
“No.”
Dorian smiled faintly.
“Smart girl.
Give it to your employer’s favorite customer.”
“He’s not my employer,” she replied.
“And I don’t work for either of you.”
Dorian’s smile disappeared.
“You have no idea what you’re holding.”
“I know exactly what I’m holding.”
She lifted the document with Matteo’s signature.
“This is the order that locked my brother inside your warehouse.”
Dorian’s eyes flickered toward the page.
“Your brother should never have been there.”
The words came out too quickly.
Talia felt the entire corridor go still.
“Why?” she asked.
Dorian realized his mistake.
“It was an inspection.”
“Then why was a delivery truck entering at ten twenty-six?”
He said nothing.
“Why did your company say it left before eight?”
Dorian’s gaze moved to the photographs protruding from the envelope.
His expression changed.
For the first time that night, he looked frightened.
“Where did you find those?”
Matteo answered.
“You kept copies in the wrong place.”
Dorian turned toward his cousin.
“You think this makes you innocent? You signed the order.
You took the profits.
You were happy not to ask questions.”
“You’re right,” Matteo said.
The admission surprised everyone.
“I signed it.
I took the money.
And I stayed silent afterward.
I’m prepared to answer for all of it.”
Dorian stared at him.
“You’ve lost your mind.”
“Maybe I finally found it.”
PART FIVE: THE SOUND THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
Dorian stepped closer.
One of his armed men reached toward the envelope.
Matteo moved in front of Talia.
“Let the customers go.”
“The documents first,” Dorian insisted.
Talia glanced toward the alarm station.
Ben stood near the frightened elderly man, watching her.
She couldn’t fight armed men.
She couldn’t negotiate with a man who had ordered a warehouse fire concealed and had now brought violence into a crowded restaurant.
But she understood the building.
She knew where the exits were, where the alarms were positioned, and what happened when the emergency system activated.
She had spent eleven months learning details that wealthy guests never noticed.
Dorian reached for the envelope.
Talia let the papers slip from her fingers.
They scattered across the marble.
Dorian instinctively looked
