“You only have the primary routing key,” I said. “You don’t have the secondary verification sequence.”

“I have the ledger,” Arthur said, tapping the leather case.

“The ledger was missing the final page,” I said. “I burned it. But I memorized the numbers first.”

Arthur’s face fell, the color draining from his cheeks.

He looked at the laptop screen, where a red prompt had just appeared: *Awaiting Secondary Authorization Key*.

“Give me the key, Lena,” Arthur pleaded, reaching his hand out across the desk. “If we don’t complete this, they will kill me. They will kill your mother.”

“No,” I said. “They won’t.”

Roman stepped up to the desk, placing his hands flat on the polished wood.

“Your father’s debts are no longer your concern, Lena,” Roman said.

He looked at Arthur, his eyes cold and dangerous.

“You are going to cancel the transfer, Arthur,” Roman said. “And then you are going to sign the legal power of attorney over to your daughter.”

“I can’t do that,” Arthur whispered. “The syndicate—”

“The syndicate is about to lose its primary source of funding,” Roman said.