Aria hadn’t spoken to Lila since the night Hale left the box.

The silence hadn’t been anger—it had been strategy. Aria knew her sister well enough to understand one thing: when Lila felt backed into a corner, she lashed out. When given space?

She thought.

Which is why Aria wasn’t surprised when Lila called first.

But she was surprised by what she said.

“I think I did something bad.”

Ten minutes later, they met at a small rooftop garden in Midtown. Neutral ground. Quiet. Private.

Lila sat hunched on a bench, twisting a silver ring on her thumb—the nervous tic she'd had since childhood.

“I didn’t sign anything,” she said quickly. “But I talked to Hale again. I thought I could bluff him. Get info. Play him.”

Aria didn’t respond. She just waited.

Lila pulled a folded piece of paper from her coat.

Aria took it. Read it. Stared.

It was a draft email.
Written by Lila.
Addressed to the press.
Leaking everything—Nathan, the contract, the rewritten company launch.
All of it.
All with one sentence at the end:

"I didn’t know what she’d done… until it was too late."

Aria felt her pulse in her teeth. “Did you send this?”

“No.” Lila’s voice cracked. “But Hale has it. He copied it from my tablet. I thought I deleted it, but he’s one step ahead. Always.”

“Why would you even write this?”

“Because part of me hated how easy it looked for you,” Lila said, eyes rimmed red. “The success. The headlines. The power. And I thought maybe—if I just told the truth—some of it would finally feel fair.”

Aria looked away. Her jaw clenched.

“He told me,” Lila whispered, “that if I didn’t send it, he’d do it for me. With my name on it anyway. And make sure no one believed you didn’t lie to your investors.”

Aria folded the paper, tight and slow.

“He’s going to use you,” she said. “As a weapon.”

“I know.”

“Then give me what he doesn’t have.”

Lila looked up, confused. “What?”

“Your voice. On the record. On camera. Say you made the mistake. Say you were manipulated. Tell the truth—not the one that burns, but the one that protects.”

Lila hesitated.

Then nodded.

“I owe you that much.”

Back at the office, Dominic watched the city from his penthouse window. The sun was going down, but the war was heating up.

His phone buzzed.

A message from Sloane.

He’s pulling assets from Europe. Looks like he’s liquidating.

This is it. He’s prepping his endgame.

Dominic replied with one word.

Good.

Because Aria had already decided something.

She wasn’t going to fight Hale anymore.

She was going to finish him.