Page 189 of Brutal

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This is not the forbidden room.

This is something else.

I press lightly.

Nothing.

I press a different point.

A soft release answers, and the panel shifts inward by half an inch.

I open it.

Inside are neatly stacked documents.

I pull the first one out and skim.

Entity names.

Numbers.

Transfers.

Legal structures.

For a second it means nothing.

Then I notice the date. It predates the night at the marina.

I flip to the next.

Then the next.

A chill spreads through me when I look lower on the page and see a name.

Nathaniel Vexley.

My mouth goes dry because I understand immediately what this means, and I also understand that I do not understand it enough.

Nathaniel knew.

Or at least Nathaniel was already positioned.

Already moving within the structure before Samson ever struck.

Which means Samson was telling the truth. He was used. Which means the lie ran deeper than the blow on the dock.

Which means?—

“Delaney.”

His voice behind me is low enough that I feel it more than hear it.

I turn.

Samson stands several feet away at the mouth of the corridor.

Barefoot.

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