Chapter 852:

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“She has been feeding him information for months,” Solomon said. “In exchange for a promise. That he would find and destroy the men who murdered her father.”

The betrayal was so profound, so absolute, that it left Eliza breathless. Josephine hadn’t been a ghost haunting the gala. She had been a spy. Her grief was real, but she had weaponized it, selling out her own family for a chance at revenge.

“She is meeting him again. In one hour,” Solomon stated. “At the St. Regis Hotel. Penthouse suite. She is delivering the final piece of information he needs to bypass your husband’s personal security protocols.”

The voice paused.

“This is your opportunity. Not to stop the meeting, but to use it. The choice is yours, Eliza. How will you play the game?”

The line went dead.

Eliza stared at the screen, at the audio file named “JUDAS.” She had the weapon. Now she had to decide how to use it, not just to wound Gideon, but to cauterize the rot within her own family.

The St. Regis penthouse was a study in sterile luxury: white marble, white leather, and floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the cold gray expanse of Central Park. Josephine Koch sat on a white sofa, a glass of water untouched on the table before her. She had not slept. The grief and the guilt pressed down on her like a physical weight, but the hope of vengeance was a fire in her belly, the only thing keeping her upright.

Barnes wheeled Gideon Sterling out of a side room in a state-of-the-art mechanized medical wheelchair. A cashmere sweater was draped over his rigid halo brace. Despite being immobilized from the chest down, he looked rested, relaxed, almost serene. He smiled at her, a gesture devoid of all warmth.

“Josephine,” he said. “Thank you for coming. You look tired.”

𝖬𝗼𝘀𝘵 𝘳𝗲a𝗱 𝘁𝗁𝗂s 𝘄е𝘦𝗸 𝗼ո 𝗴a𝗹𝗇𝗼𝘃𝖾𝗹𝘴.𝗰o𝗺

“I have the information,” she said flatly, ignoring the pleasantries. She slid a data chip across the marble table. “The access codes to the family’s private server. The ones that control the LVAD monitoring system. Dallas’s health data is all there.”

The act was monstrous, and she knew it. She was handing this man the keys to her nephew’s life. But Gideon had sworn an oath. He would use the access not to kill Dallas but to control him, to neutralize him, while Gideon’s forces hunted down the true monsters: the syndicate that had murdered her father. It was a devil’s bargain, but it was the only one she had.

Gideon looked down at the chip on the table. “Excellent,” he murmured. “Truly excellent. Your father would be proud of your… dedication.”

“You have what you want,” Josephine said, her voice trembling slightly. “Now I want what you promised. The names. The locations. The men who killed my father.”

Gideon’s smile widened. He maneuvered his wheelchair to face her, the faint whir of the electric motors breaking the silence.

“Ah, yes. The promise.” He sighed, a theatrical sound of regret. “There has been a slight complication, Josephine. You see, in my… enthusiasm… to help you, I may have been a bit premature.”

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