“The perimeter is secure, sir,” the officer said to Gabriel.

Gabriel took a deep breath, his shoulders finally dropping.

He turned to me, looking at the ledger still clutched in my arms.

“Are you hurt?” he asked.

I shook my head, my hands trembling.

“I’m fine,” I whispered.

“We have the ledger. It’s safe.”

Richard looked up from the floor, his face pressed against the wet wood.

“You think this is over, Claire?” he hissed.

“You have nothing. You are a disgraced accountant.”

“No one will believe you over me.”

“The federal prosecutors will,” Gabriel said.

He reached down and picked up the bundle of letters tied with the blue ribbon.

He handed them to me.

“Let’s get out of here,” Gabriel said.

We walked out of the lake house, leaving Richard in the custody of Gabriel’s security team until the federal agents arrived.

The rain was still falling, but the air felt cleaner now.

We drove back to Chicago in silence.

The city lights began to appear on the horizon, a glowing grid against the dark sky.

Gabriel took me to his penthouse, a secure building high above the city.