Chapter 13 - The Wrong Enemy.
Mara walked outside without asking anyone to follow.
Adrian followed anyway.
He stayed ten feet behind her.
That was the closest thing to giving space he knew how to do.
Mara crossed the lawn until the house was hidden behind maple trees.
Then she stopped.
“My father is alive.”
Adrian said nothing.
“My mother is alive.”
He waited.
“My aunt never existed.”
“Apparently.”
She turned on him.
“And your aunt is alive.”
“Yes.”
Mara laughed once.
“We have very inconvenient families.”
That finally got a small smile from him.
It disappeared quickly.
Mara looked at the ground.
“Do you think Thomas joined Mirror willingly?”
“I don't know.”
“That is becoming everyone's favorite answer.”
“It is better than pretending.”
She looked at him.
That was aimed at both their families.
Adrian understood.
A car engine sounded from the road.
His posture changed instantly.
Mara noticed his hand move beneath his jacket.
“Could you not?”
“Not what?”
“Turn every vehicle into a threat.”
“Not today.”
A dark sedan stopped at the gate.
Everett Kane stepped out.
Mara stared.
“Did we invite the entire board?”
Adrian's expression darkened.
“No.”
Kane walked up the drive alone.
He stopped several yards away.
“I need five minutes.”
Adrian folded his arms.
“You've had nine years.”
Kane looked at Mara.
“Then give me three.”
She glanced at Adrian.
“Talk.”
Kane held up a small flash drive.
“I know who moved the three hundred and twelve million.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“Your credentials say I did.”
“That is why I knew it was Mirror.”
Marcus and the others had come outside behind them.
Kane continued.
“Your signature was too perfect.”
Mara frowned.
“How can perfect be suspicious?”
“Because Adrian's biometric approvals contain a consistent delay.”
Adrian looked at him.
Kane nodded.
“You pause before confirmation.”
“Usually half a second.”
“You've done it for years.”
“The forged approvals had no pause.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“And my audit deletions?”
“Same issue.”
Kane looked at him.
“You type your password wrong on the first attempt about once a week.”
Marcus looked offended.
“That is not a security protocol.”
“It became one.”
Nolan almost smiled.
Kane held out the drive.
“The transfers went to shell entities tied to an old Voss trust.”
Adrian did not take it.
“Why bring this now?”
“Because Eleanor has been lying to you.”
Eleanor appeared in the doorway behind them.
“That is rich coming from you.”
Kane looked at her without surprise.
“I assumed you'd be here.”
Mara rubbed her forehead.
“Of course you did.”
Eleanor walked closer.
“You concealed the transfers.”
“I traced them.”
“You kept Adrian in the dark.”
“Because I did not know whether the Adrian approving them was the real Adrian.”
The sentence stopped everyone.
Kane looked at Adrian.
“Mirror does not only create stand-ins for cameras.”
Celeste came outside.
“We know.”
Kane's eyes moved to her.
For the first time, his composure broke.
“Celeste.”
She stared at him.
“Everett.”
Kane looked as if he had seen a ghost.
Mara almost laughed at the absurdity.
Instead, she said, “She's alive.”
Kane nodded slowly.
“I can see that.”
Eleanor crossed her arms.
“Finish your point.”
Kane looked at Adrian again.
“Two months ago, I met with you in Boston.”
Adrian frowned.
“I haven't been to Boston in six months.”
“I know.”
Kane removed his phone and showed a photograph.
Adrian Vale stood outside a private club in Boston wearing a navy coat.
The face was his.
The build was his.
The scar on his chin was his.
Mara looked at the real Adrian.
“That is not you?”
“No.”
Kane swiped to a second photograph.
The duplicate Adrian was shaking hands with Thomas Ellis.
Mara stopped breathing.
Her father was older now.
Gray at the temples.
Lean.
Alive.
Very alive.
She took the phone from Kane.
“When?”
“June ninth.”
She stared at Thomas's face.
“Where did they go after this?”
“We lost them.”
Adrian looked at Kane.
“You were following me.”
“I was following the person using your face.”
“Why not tell me?”
Kane's voice sharpened for the first time.
“Because I did not know whether you were him.”
No one had a quick response.
Mirror had turned suspicion into a closed circle.
Any warning could go to the impersonator.
Any investigation could be led by the person being investigated.
Any ally could become evidence against themselves.
Mara handed the phone back.
“What did my father say?”
Kane hesitated.
“I only heard one sentence.”
“Say it.”
“He told the duplicate Adrian, ‘The girl is finally inside.’”
Mara's expression hardened.
“The girl.”
Kane nodded.
“He meant you.”
Celeste looked sick.
Mara turned toward her.
“You told Nolan to recruit me.”
“Yes.”
“Did Thomas know?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
Celeste said nothing.
That was enough.
Mara stepped back.
Adrian watched her anger sharpen into something deliberate.
She looked at Kane.
“Where was the photograph taken exactly?”
He gave her the address.
Marcus searched it.
The private club had closed two weeks earlier.
The property had been purchased by a new company.
Nolan leaned over the screen.
“Who owns it?”
Marcus's face changed.
“Mara does.”
She stared at him.
“I do what?”
“The buyer is Ellis Restoration LLC.”
“That is my business.”
Mara had opened the tiny company years ago for freelance archive work.
She had never used it to buy property.
Kane looked at her.
“Mirror is not just proving you exist anymore.”
Adrian understood.
“It is building a financial identity around her.”
Eleanor nodded grimly.
“Enough assets, signatures, and transactions to make it appear Mara has been directing the operation.”
Mara stared at the house hidden behind the trees.
“They're not making me the beneficiary.”
“No,” Kane said.
“They're making you the controller.”
Mara looked down at the trust card in her hand.
The same object that could give her control of the company could also make every crime look like hers.
Her phone vibrated.
A message appeared from an unknown number.
A photograph loaded.
Thomas Ellis stood beside a train platform clock.
He was holding a newspaper dated that morning.
Beneath the image was one line.
May you like
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT THE TRUTH.
THE SYNDICATE'S QUIET HOUR
