Chapter 14 - THE NAME AT THE BOTTOM
The final name was not Anthony.
It was not Eleanor.
It was not David.
It belonged to someone Marissa had trusted long before she met Anthony.
Her former commanding officer.
A person who had recommended her for the career that eventually took her overseas.
A person who had attended her wedding.
A person she had never suspected.
Thomas read the page.
His expression became grim.
“This changes the entire investigation.”
Marissa looked at him.
“How?”
“The financial operation wasn't simply using your identity.”
“What was it doing?”
Thomas hesitated.
“It was using your career.”
Marissa stared at him.
“What?”
“They needed someone with unquestioned credibility.”
She looked at the documents.
Her military service.
Her clean record.
Her reputation.
Her discipline.
Her name.
Everything she had spent her life building had been useful to them.
Anthony had not chosen her because he loved her.
He had chosen her because she was valuable.
Marissa turned toward him.
“Was that why you married me?”
Anthony looked broken.
“No.”
“Tell me the truth.”
“At first, no.”
“At first?”
He looked down.
“I loved you.”
Marissa said nothing.
“But then I learned what they were doing.”
“And you stayed.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because by then, leaving wasn't safe.”
Marissa looked away.
For a moment, she felt pity.
Then she remembered every lie.
Every insult.
Every threat.
Every time he had told her she was lucky.
The pity disappeared.
“You could have told me.”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“The night before your deployment.”
Marissa remembered the hotel.
The document.
David.
Anthony entering.
Everything connected.
Anthony had tried to tell her.
Then he had chosen silence.
Eleanor had taken the document.
And the operation had continued.
Thomas placed the page into an evidence sleeve.
“We need to move quickly.”
“Why?”
“Because the name on this page is still active.”
David suddenly looked toward the window.
“We're too late.”
Outside, a black vehicle stopped.
Then another.
Then another.
Thomas ordered everyone inside.
The townhouse doors locked.
Marissa stood in the center of the room.
Anthony came toward her.
“What happens now?”
She looked at him.
“Now?”
“Yes.”
Marissa closed the black folder.
“Now you finally find out what it feels like to wait.”
The vehicles remained outside.
No one entered.
No one called.
Then Marissa's phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
A calm voice said:
“You found the second page.”
Marissa said nothing.
“You should have stopped at the first.”
“Who are you?”
The voice laughed softly.
“You already know.”
The call ended.
Marissa stared at the screen.
Thomas asked:
“What did they say?”
Marissa looked toward Anthony.
Then Eleanor.
Then David.
“I don't know.”
She lowered the phone.
“But they know we have it.”
A notification appeared.
One new message.
It contained a photograph.
Marissa opened it.
Her face went pale.
The photograph showed her townhouse.
Taken from inside.
Someone had been watching them.
May you like
The message underneath contained only one sentence.
You still haven't found the last room.
