Chapter 2 - The Digital Paper Trail

By 4:00 AM, the Attorney General's regional headquarters was ablaze with light.

Whiteboards covered in complex financial diagrams filled the primary strategy room, linking Vance Construction to dozens of corrupt municipal officials, illegal zoning approvals, and black-market labor operations.

Ethan sat in an interrogation room downstairs, his high-priced defense attorney sitting beside him, both of them staring at the mountain of evidence laid out across the metal table.

Sophia and I sat behind the two-way glass, watching as federal prosecutors systematically went through the encrypted files recovered from Audrey's laptop.

"The paper trail is airtight, Liam," Sophia said, taking a sip of dark coffee. "The audio files from his phone calls to Audrey carry clear verbal threats regarding her mother's medical funds if she cooperated with any state audits."

"That gives us the witness tampering charge with zero possibility of bail," I noted.

"And the Belize transfers?" she asked.

"Matched to his primary construction ledger," I replied. "He was skimming ten percent off every public contract to fund his personal estate."

The door to the observation room opened, and Audrey walked in carrying a warm mug of tea.

She looked at Ethan through the glass—the man who had terrified her for over a decade, the man who had left scars across her body and made her feel utterly hopeless.

Now, sitting under the cold fluorescent lights of an interrogation room without his tailored suit or his entourage, he looked remarkably small.

"How do you feel?" I asked softly, stepping up beside her and taking her hand.