The slap echoed louder than the music ever could—and in that single second, the entire wedding stopped breathing.

The hotel room was a penthouse suite Lila’s parents had booked for the wedding night.

It had a view of Central Park, a king-sized bed, and a fully stocked bar.

None of them felt like celebrating.

Lila ordered room service—three burgers, fries, and a bottle of the cheapest soda they had.

They sat around the coffee table in silence, picking at their food.

Elara watched Julian.

Every move he made.

Every time he reached for his phone.

Every time he looked away when she caught him staring.

He noticed.

Halfway through his burger, he put it down.

“Okay,” he said. “What’s going on? You’ve been staring at me like I’m a criminal since we left the station. Did I do something?”

Elara set her burger down.

“Mr. Torres called,” she said. “Someone leaked the early Viraflu trial data to the press an hour ago. The files were accessed from your personal laptop. While you were at the police station.”

Julian’s eyes went wide.

“What?” he said. “That’s impossible! My laptop was in my tuxedo bag the whole night! I didn’t touch it! I haven’t even opened it in three days!”

“Then how did someone get into it?” Elara said. Her voice was sharper than she intended. “The IT team says the access was logged under your fingerprint ID. Your unique ID. No one else could’ve used it.”

Julian stood up.

He was angry now.

“You think I did it?” he said. “After everything we found out tonight? You think I’d help Margaret destroy our mom’s work? Is that what you really think of me?”

“I don’t know what to think!” Elara said, standing up too. “I just found out I have a brother twelve hours ago! A brother who was raised by the woman who killed our mom! A brother who had every reason to want to keep the Hale empire intact! Forgive me if I’m not ready to hand you the keys to the kingdom!”

“Then why did you tell the cops not to charge me with kidnapping?” Julian shouted. “Why did you hug me outside the station? If you think I’m just like Margaret, why are we even here?”

“Because I wanted to believe you!” Elara screamed. “I wanted to believe I finally had family! That I wasn’t alone anymore! But every time I turn around, another secret pops up! And I don’t know what’s real and what’s another lie!”

Lila stood between them.

“Stop!” she said. “Both of you! This is not helping!”

She turned to Elara.

“Julian didn’t do this,” she said. “I know he didn’t.”

“How do you know?” Elara said.

“Because his laptop was with me the whole time he was being questioned,” Lila said. “The cops made us leave all our bags in the lobby with the advocate. I sat right next to them for three hours. No one touched Julian’s bag. No one even went near it. I swear.”

Elara stared at her.

“You’re sure?”

“One hundred percent,” Lila said. “I was so nervous I couldn’t stop staring at the bags. I thought Margaret’s lawyers might show up and take them or something. No one touched them. Not once.”

Elara turned to Julian.

The anger drained out of her.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have yelled. I just… I’ve been alone for so long. I don’t know how to trust people.”

Julian nodded.

His anger was gone too.

“I get it,” he said. “If the roles were reversed? I’d be suspicious too. But I swear on Mom’s grave, Elara. I had nothing to do with this leak. I want her work to help people. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. Even when I didn’t know it was hers.”

Elara took a deep breath.

“Okay,” she said. “I believe you. For now. But we need to figure out who did this. And fast. If the full trial data gets out before we can explain it, people will stop taking Viraflu. Thousands of kids could get sick. Die.”

Julian pulled out his phone.

Tapped the screen a few times.

“Wait,” he said. “I have a tracker on my laptop. I installed it last year after someone broke into my house and stole my old one. It shows me everywhere it goes. Even if it’s turned off.”

He turned the screen toward them.

A map popped up.

A blue dot blinked in the middle of Greenwich.

At the Hale mansion.

“That’s impossible,” Julian said. “My laptop is right there.”

He pointed to his tuxedo bag on the floor by the door.

He walked over.

Unzipped it.

Pulled out his laptop.

Or what looked like his laptop.

He opened it.

Turned it on.

The lock screen came up.

But it wasn’t his background.

It was a photo of Margaret.

Julian’s hand started shaking.

“It’s a decoy,” he whispered. “Someone swapped my laptop at the wedding. While we were all watching the video. While Margaret was screaming. While Arthur was getting shot. They swapped it. Put a fake one in my bag. Took the real one. That’s how they got the files. That’s how they made it look like me.”

Elara’s blood ran cold.

“Who would do that?” Lila said. “Who had access to your bag?”

“Everyone,” Julian said. “The wedding planner. The caterers. The groomsmen. The maids. Margaret’s personal assistant, Cole. He was everywhere that night. He’s the one who carried my bag to the bridal suite before the ceremony.”

“Cole?” Elara said. “Cole Henderson?”

“Yeah,” Julian said. “You know him?”

Elara sat down.

Hard.

“Cole Henderson was the hitman Margaret paid to kill our mom,” she said. “The $500,000 wire transfer? It went to his offshore account. My PI found it last month. But he disappeared before we could serve him with papers. I thought he’d fled the country.”

She looked up at Julian.

“He’s been working for Margaret this whole time,” she said. “Right under your nose. Helping her plan everything. And now he’s got your laptop. And he’s trying to destroy Mom’s work.”

Julian’s face went pale.

“I trusted him,” he said. “He was like an uncle to me. He taught me to drive. He helped me pick out Lila’s engagement ring. He was the only person in that house who was ever nice to me.”

“That’s what he does,” Elara said. “He gets close. He gains your trust. Then he destroys you. Just like he did to Mom.”

Elara’s phone rang again.

It was a number she didn’t recognize.

She answered.

Put it on speaker.

A familiar voice came through.

Smooth.

Cold.

Cruel.

“Hello, Elara,” Cole Henderson said. “I see you’ve noticed the laptop swap. Smart girl. Just like your mother.”

Elara’s hand tightened around the phone.

“What do you want, Cole?”

“Simple,” he said. “You’re going to drop all the charges against Margaret. You’re going to sign the Viraflu patent back over to the Hale holding company. And you’re going to disappear. Take your brother and the little bride with you. Go to Europe. Go to Africa. I don’t care. But if you ever come back? I’ll release every last bit of that trial data. And every person who dies because of it? Their blood will be on your hands.”

“Go to hell,” Julian said.

Cole laughed.

“Julian,” he said. “Still the loyal little puppy. How’s your dad doing? Oh, wait. He’s dead. Margaret always did have terrible aim. She was supposed to shoot Elara first. Oh, well. Collateral damage.”

“You killed Arthur?” Elara said.

“Pulled the trigger myself,” Cole said. “Margaret was too much of a coward to finish the job. Just like always. But don’t worry. You’ll all be joining him soon. You have twenty-four hours, Elara. Sign the papers. Or the data goes live. And then I come for you. All three of you.”

He hung up.

The room was silent.

Lila looked at Elara.

“What do we do now?” she said.

Elara looked at Julian.

Then at Lila.

She thought of her mom.

Of the three people who’d died in those early trials.

Of the millions of kids Viraflu had saved.

She thought of Cole.

Of Margaret.

Of all the people who thought they could take what wasn’t theirs.

She stood up.

Straightened her shoulders.

“We don’t negotiate with monsters,” she said.

She picked up the phone.

Called Detective Miller.

Then Mr. Torres.

Then her PI.

“Twenty-four hours,” she said to Julian and Lila when she was done. “They think they’ve got us cornered. But they don’t know who they’re dealing with. They don’t know what Clara Bennett’s kids are capable of.”

She looked out the window.

The sun was fully up now.