“We need to move before Gregory realizes the files are missing from his safe.”

She picked up the receiver and began dialing.

I looked out the window at the empty Sacramento streets below.

The streetlights cast long, distorted shadows on the pavement.

My phone vibrated in my pocket, the screen lighting up.

It was a call from my mother, Eleanor.

I hesitated for a moment, then pressed the phone to my ear.

“Natalie,” her voice came through, thin and trembling.

“Where are you?”

“I am safe, Mother,” I said.

“Gregory knows what you took,” she whispered.

“He is packing his things at the estate.”

“He is calling everyone he knows in Washington.”

“It won’t help him this time,” I said.

“Natalie, please,” she sobbed.

“He said if you do this, he will ruin all of us.”

“He already ruined us, Mother,” I said softly.

“He buried the truth about my father.”

“And you let him do it.”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line.

“I had to protect you,” she whispered.

“You protected his dynasty,” I said.

“Now it is coming down.”