Chapter 7
The decoding process consumed Landon for three grueling weeks,
as he locked himself in the study with Varga's sinister ledgers.
Mave brought him meals on trays,
forcing him to eat and drink,
and she sat quietly on the sofa while he muttered over endless columns of numbers.
It was dark,
poisonous work,
and she could see the toll it was taking on his spirit,
dragging him back into a mindset he had tried so hard to bury.
One night,
around two in the morning,
Mave woke up to find the bed empty and the study door slightly ajar.
She slipped on a silk robe,
and walked silently down the hall,
pushing the heavy door open to check on him.
Landon was sitting at his desk,
his head buried in his hands,
surrounded by scattered papers and empty coffee cups.
He looked utterly defeated,
a man haunted by the ghosts of the violent world he had escaped.
Mave walked up behind him,
and wrapped her arms around his shoulders,
pressing her face into his dark hair.
"It's too much,"
Landon whispered,
his voice cracking with a vulnerability he only ever showed to her.
"I am reading the names of men I used to do business with,
men who smiled at my face while they signed death warrants for innocent people."
Mave tightened her grip,
and she kissed the side of his head,
offering him all the strength she possessed.
"You are not one of them anymore,"
she reminded him fiercely,
her voice a steady anchor in his storm.
"You are the man who is going to burn their empires to the ground,
with nothing but a pen and the truth."
He let out a ragged breath,
and he reached up to cover her hands with his own,
drawing warmth from her unshakeable faith in him.
"I found the key,"
he admitted,
picking up a piece of paper covered in complex equations.
"It was hidden in the transaction dates,
a shifting algorithm based on offshore accounts."
Mave leaned over to look at the paper,
though the numbers meant nothing to her,
she understood the magnitude of his victory.
"You did it,"
she said proudly,
smiling down at him.
"I did,"
he agreed,
turning his chair around to pull her onto his lap.
He buried his face in her neck,
and he held her tightly,
breathing in the clean,
sweet scent of her skin.
"Tomorrow,
I hand this over to Whitlock,
and then I never want to look at another ledger again."
Mave ran her fingers through his hair,
and she promised him that it was finally over,
and that the past could no longer touch them.
The next morning,
a heavily guarded federal convoy arrived at the estate,
and Whitlock took possession of the decoded files with a look of absolute triumph.
Within forty-eight hours,
the city was rocked by a wave of high-profile arrests,
sweeping up corrupt officials in a massive,
unprecedented sting operation.
Landon and Mave watched the news from the comfort of their living room,
with June sitting on the floor painting her nails,
completely oblivious to her brother's role in the historical takedown.
Landon reached over,
and he took Mave's hand in his,
giving it a gentle,
meaningful squeeze.
They had fought the monsters,
May you like
and they had won,
and the city was finally a safer place for everyone.
