Jake had spent the entire night hunched over his desk, surrounded by old police files, encrypted financial logs, and a pot of untouched, cold coffee.
His eyes were bloodshot.
His jaw tight.
His mind spinning.
Every time he blinked, he saw Samantha's face from last night—haunted, shaken, holding a secret she refused to share.
He couldn't sleep until he found something. Anything.
A clue.
A link.
A truth.
At 3:17 a.m., his cursor stopped over a sealed PDF buried in archived police documentation.
Classified Supplemental Note – Case 4897: Vehicular Assault
Access: Restricted
Jake's breath stalled.
He hacked through three layers of encryption—not Elevate systems, but police systems, buried deep and deliberately.
The file opened.
A single paragraph.
Two sentences.
But it detonated everything.
"Driver's family was compensated post-incident.
Payment was wired from an offshore account linked to Carter Group's subsidiary, Medbridge International."
Jake froze.
His pulse hammered painfully in his ears.
Medbridge International.
Only two people had access to that dormant account seven years ago.
Chloe Carter and Naomi Carter.
Naomi was...
Which left—
"Chloe," Jake whispered, horror crawling up his spine.
He leapt from his chair, grabbing his keys and phone.
There was only one person who needed to know immediately.
---
Samantha's Office – 5:45 a.m.
Samantha stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, staring at the city blanketed in early morning gray. She hadn't slept. She didn't blink.
When Jake burst in, she turned sharply.
"Sam," he gasped. "I found something."
His voice was shaking.
Samantha's eyes sharpened instantly.
"What is it?"
Jake handed her the printed page.
Her heart stopped.
Her face didn't move, but her fingers tightened around the paper until it crinkled.
"They paid off the driver's family," Samantha whispered.
"Someone from Carter Group paid for silence."
Jake nodded. "The offshore account used… belonged to Chloe."
Silence.
Not a breath.
Not a blink.
Until suddenly—
Samantha grabbed her coat.
"Where are you going?" Jake demanded, stepping in front of her.
"To get answers," she said, voice icy enough to cut bone. "From Chloe."
"Samantha—"
"Move, Jake."
He moved.
Because the look in her eyes wasn't rage.
It was something sharper.
Something colder.
Something dangerous.
---
Private Rooftop Lounge – Midtown
Chloe Carter arrived trembling, wrapped in a beige coat, sunglasses masking her bloodshot eyes.
Samantha sat at a small table, waiting.
Not a hair out of place.
Not a single emotion visible.
"Samantha?" Chloe whispered. "Why did you ask to meet like this? You're scaring me."
Samantha slid a tablet across the table.
The financial record glowed brightly.
Chloe stared.
Her face drained of color.
"S-S-Sam… I—this isn't what it looks like."
"So what is it?" Samantha asked quietly.
Her voice calm.
Too calm.
Chloe's hands shook violently.
"I didn't—I swear—I didn't plan anything! I didn't even know what that payment was for." Tears pooled in her eyes. "I was told to send it to Kate. She said it was for a lawsuit settlement. Damage control. She said Dad was furious, that it would ruin the family—"
Samantha leaned in, her gaze piercing.
"So you wired hush money," she said softly, "without asking who you were paying."
Chloe let out a strangled sob.
"I thought—God, I thought it was just another scandal Kate cleaned up! I didn't know someone got hurt. I didn't know it was… that accident."
Then Chloe froze.
Her eyes widened.
She looked at Samantha slowly.
Suspiciously.
Fearfully.
"Why…" Chloe whispered, "do you care so much? Why are you this… invested? You act like Ally was—"
"My twin sister," Samantha said smoothly.
Chloe blinked.
Confused.
Then skeptical.
"T-Twin sister?" she stuttered. "But we never heard—there were never any—"
"It was kept private." Samantha tilted her head. "The Carters killed her."
Chloe inhaled sharply.
The explanation made sense.
Almost.
But something…
something didn't fit.
Chloe stared harder.
"You don't look surprised by any of this," she whispered. "It's like you already knew. Or like you're… remembering."
Samantha's expression didn't flicker.
Chloe's breath hitched.
"You're hiding something," she whispered. "You talk like you were there. Like you lived it."
Samantha's eyes hardened—just slightly.
Enough to make Chloe swallow her words.
After a long, heavy beat, Chloe broke down again.
"I thought it was a lawsuit," she sobbed. "I swear. I didn't know I was covering up a crime. I didn't know it was… murder."
Samantha's jaw clenched imperceptibly.
"This wasn't you," she said coolly. "You were a pawn."
Chloe wiped her tears, voice shaking.
"If Kate was involved even back then… does that mean she—"
Samantha stood.
"Don't say her name," she said quietly.
"Not until I'm ready."
Chloe stared up at her like a terrified child.
"Sam… whoever did this… they're still out there, aren't they?"
Samantha's eyes darkened, stormy and lethal.
"Yes," she said softly.
"And I will find them."
She turned to leave.
But Chloe whispered one last thing—
her voice trembling, broken.
"Samantha… are you sure Ally was only your twin?"
Samantha paused. "If this comes out to anyone or the public, I promise to pin your stupid lips together with a stippler"
Just for a moment.
Then she walked away without turning back.
Chloe's blood ran cold.
Because for the first time—
She felt like Samantha Bradley wasn't telling her the truth.
And that truth, whatever it was,
could destroy them all.