“Financial pressure.
Discrediting.
Isolation.”
“Or?”
She looked at Constantine.
“Or making sure no one believes there was interference.”
Constantine shook his head.
“An old administrative note proves nothing.”
“It proves you knew him,” Amelia said.
“It proves someone knew him.”
Dominic tapped the initials impressed inside the back cover.
“Then let us establish who that someone was.”
A knock sounded at the door.
Silas opened it just wide enough to speak to someone outside.
He listened, then looked at Dominic.
“Four men in the underground garage,” he said.
“Two near the service exit.
All carrying Valarious credentials.
One had a remote trigger linked to a vehicle parked across the street.”
Constantine’s face changed.
Dominic’s remained still.
“Any movement at the warehouse?”
“Our people checked the route after your call.
The shipment never reached the listed transfer point.
It was redirected forty minutes ago.”
The journal had predicted each step.
Constantine tried one last time to recover control.
“You cannot touch me.
The routes collapse without Valarious.
Your eastern partners will abandon you by morning.”
Dominic leaned close enough that Constantine had to look up at him.
“You built your leverage on the belief that I could not read your records.
That belief ended when you mocked the wrong waitress.”
He straightened and looked at Arthur.
“Make three copies of every translation.
One stays with me.
One goes to counsel.
One goes somewhere Constantine cannot reach.”
Arthur nodded quickly.
Then Dominic turned to Silas.
“Secure the men downstairs.
No public scene.
Preserve their phones, credentials, and the remote device.”
Constantine’s confidence finally broke.
“You think documents will protect you?” he shouted.
“Half the names in that journal belong to people who will destroy this building to keep them buried.”
Dominic looked at Amelia.
“Are there names?”
“Coded ones,” she said.
“But the key is here.”
She pointed to the apparently devotional references.
Each saint corresponded to a region.
Each feast day represented a company number.
Combined with the prison ranks, the system could identify intermediaries, payment channels, and officials who had been useful to Constantine’s network.
It would take hours to decode completely, perhaps days to verify.
But the structure was no longer hidden.
