Elara’s testimony sent shockwaves through the city. She didn't deny the contract—she leaned into it. She explained it as a desperate act by two people hunted by the same ghost: Arthur Vanderbilt.

"Julian Vane didn't kidnap me," she declared to the cameras outside. "He gave me a choice. And today, I choose him."

The hearing was adjourned for a week to review the "Black Fund" evidence Elara provided—the photos she’d taken of the ledger in France. But as she walked to her car that evening, the hair on her neck stood up.

A silver sedan followed her from the courthouse.

She drove toward the outskirts of the city, toward the old theater where it all began. She needed a place with security, but the sedan was faster. It rammed her bumper, sending her car spinning into a ditch.

As the world went sideways, Elara saw a figure emerge from the sedan. It wasn't a lawyer or a cop. It was Vanderbilt’s lead "fixer," the man from the loading dock in Chapter 1.

"Julian’s a dead man walking, Elara," the man said, pulling a lighter from his pocket and flicking it. "And you? You’re just a loose end that’s survived one fire too many."