Episode 17: The Judas Contract
340 Words
The red dot of a laser pointer danced across the living room wall, just inches from the photo of us. Kabir tackled me to the floor, his body a heavy shield over mine. We waited in the suffocating darkness for a shot that never came.
"It’s not a sniper, Aria," Kabir breathed into my ear, his heart racing against my back. "It’s a message. She’s telling us she can touch us whenever she wants."
We crawled away from the windows. The luxury of the Singhania apartment now felt like a tomb. Kabir grabbed the laptop and started typing furiously. His face was pale, lit only by the blue glare of the screen.
"What are you doing?" I asked, my voice trembling.
"Checking the Singhania servers," he muttered. "If Natasha found us this quickly, it’s because someone let her. The Singhanias aren't protecting us; they’re using us as bait to draw Natasha’s father into a legal trap."
He stopped. His eyes widened as he looked at a hidden directory in the Singhania files. "Aria... look at this."
On the screen was a draft of the press release for tomorrow. It didn't just denounce Natasha’s father. It included a 'confession' from Kabir, admitting to financial crimes he never committed, effectively turning him into a fall guy so the Singhanias could take over the London firm.
"They saved us from one cage just to put us in another," I realized, the horror sinking in.
"We leave," Kabir said, his jaw set. "Now. Before the morning shift of guards arrives."
"But we have nothing! No money, no car, no ID," I argued.
Kabir reached into his boot and pulled out a small, encrypted flash drive he had hidden since Mumbai. "I don't have money, but I have the one thing Natasha and the Singhanias are both terrified of: The original London Ledger. It’s time we stop being the prey and start being the hunters."
We headed for the service elevator, knowing that if we were caught now, there would be no more second chances.
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