Chapter 10 - Out of the Shadows
The flashing blue and red lights of the police cruisers painted the street outside my brownstone. I stood on the porch, wrapped in a blanket, sipping tea as the officers loaded a crying Caleb into the back of a squad car. He was being charged with attempted murder, illegal possession of a firearm, and a litany of corporate fraud charges thanks to the file I had sent the authorities.
Silas was a ghost. The authorities found his abandoned car near the border two days later, but he had vanished into the wind. Whether he was running from the FBI or from the remnants of the Vargas syndicate, he would spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder, jumping at shadows. A fitting punishment.
A week later, the brownstone was quiet. The broken glass in the basement had been repaired. The estate was fully transferred into my name, legally ironclad.
I sat in the plush armchair in my aunt's parlor, the morning sun streaming through the large bay windows, warming the room. The heavy, velvet-lined briefcase from the trial sat open on the coffee table. I picked up the DNI dossier—the proof of my existence, the proof of my pain, and the proof of my service.
For ten years, I had let the darkness define me. I let my family's betrayal make me hard, cold, and isolated. But as I looked around the beautiful, quiet house that was finally mine, I felt something I hadn't felt since I was recruited by the Division.
Peace.
May you like
I struck a match, dropped it into the brass fireplace, and tossed the dossier onto the flames. I watched the black ink and red seals curl and turn to gray ash. I didn't need the proof anymore. I didn't need to be a phantom fighting for a country that didn't know my name, or a daughter fighting for a family that never loved me.
My name is Maya Sterling. I survived the shadows. And for the first time in my life, I am stepping into the light.
