six-digit code.
The lock clicked.
Inside was a room colder than the basement.
Rows of servers hummed beneath fluorescent lights.
Russell stared.
“You rebuilt it.”
Margaret nodded.
“I never dismantled anything.”
“What is this?” I asked.
“The real inheritance.”
Russell looked at me.
Not the house.
Not the money.
Not his company.
Information.
Margaret approached a terminal.
“Russell’s network wasn’t just blackmail.”
Russell added quietly, “It became an archive.”
“Of what?”
“Corruption. Bribery. Financial crimes. Violence. Cover-ups.”
Daniel looked around.
“You kept evidence on everyone?”
Russell nodded.
“At first for leverage.”
“And later?”
His eyes dropped.
“Insurance.”
Margaret inserted a drive.
“Three months ago, someone accessed Russell’s medical file.”
A timestamp appeared.
Claire leaned closer.
“Who?”
“His private physician.”
Russell frowned.
“Dr. Bennett?”
“His credentials were used.”
“Were?”
Margaret enlarged the log.
“From another location.”
A security image appeared.
A woman sat at a computer.
Young.
Blonde.
Elegant.
I recognized
