The cab pulled up to Victor's mansion.
Adrian didn't move. The USB drive was still in his hand. Small. Black. Heavy.
Andrew looked at him. "You gonna sit there all night?"
Adrian got out.
Victor was waiting in the study.
Stacy was still at her laptop. The encrypted device was open now. Lines of code on her screen.
She looked up when Adrian walked in. "Find something?"
Adrian held up the USB drive.
Stacy's eyes widened. "That from the box?"
Adrian nodded. He set it on the table in front of her.
"I need to know what's on it."
Victor stepped closer. "We all do."
Adrian turned to him. "No. I do. You get what I decide to share."
Silence.
Victor's jaw tightened. But he nodded. "Fine."
Stacy took the drive. Plugged it into her laptop.
The screen flickered. Folders appeared. Dozens of them.
"Encryption is old," she said. "But I can crack it. Give me an hour."
"You have thirty minutes," Victor said.
Stacy looked at Adrian. He nodded.
She started typing.
Adrian walked to the window. Watched the rain.
Andrew stood beside him. Quiet.
"You okay?" Andrew asked.
Adrian didn't answer.
"Whatever's on that drive," Andrew said, "it's not your fault."
Adrian turned. "You don't know what he did."
"Neither do you. Not yet."
Adrian looked back at the rain.
Twenty-eight minutes later, Stacy leaned back.
"I'm in."
Adrian walked to the screen.
Files. Documents. Lab notes. Scanned handwritten formulas. Photos of a plant. Microscopic images.
Stacy opened the first file.
Project: Aurelia
Below it, a summary.
"Target: Rare neurodegenerative disorder. No known cure. Patient: E.V. (mother's initials)."
Adrian's chest tightened.
His father wasn't a criminal. He was a scientist. Trying to save his wife.
Stacy scrolled. Lab results. Trial data. A progress log.
Year 3: Isolated compound from rare plant species. Promising.
Year 5: First successful animal trial.
Year 7: Human trial ready. But she's getting worse.
Year 8: She died before I could administer the final formula.
Adrian stared at the screen.
His father had almost done it. Almost saved her.
Then why did he disappear?
Stacy opened another file. A letter. Typed.
"To Adrian,
If you're reading this, I'm gone. Not by choice.
I was close. So close to a cure. But the people funding my research weren't doing it for charity. They wanted the formula. To sell it. To control it. To weaponize it.
I refused to give it to them.
They called themselves the System. Six men. They run this city from the shadows.
I hid the final formula. Encrypted it. Split it across multiple locations. The USB has the map.
Don't trust anyone. Not Victor. Not the police. Not the people who offer to help.
Burn the formula. Sell it. Give it to a hospital. I don't care. Just don't let them have it.
I loved you. I loved your mother. I'm sorry I couldn't save her.
Dad"
Adrian read it twice.
His hands didn't shake this time.
Victor was watching him. "Well?"
Adrian looked up. "The System killed my father. Because he wouldn't give them the cure."
Victor's face didn't change. "I figured."
Andrew stepped forward. "You knew?"
"I knew he was hiding something. I didn't know it was a cure." Victor paused. "But the System doesn't care about medicine. They care about power. A cure like that... they could charge anything. Control anyone."
Adrian pulled the USB drive from the laptop. Tucked it into his pocket.
"What are you doing?" Stacy asked.
"Keeping it safe."
Victor's eyes narrowed. "That formula could save lives."
"It could also get me killed. Like my father." Adrian said
Silence.
Victor nodded slowly. "Fair. But you can't run from this, Adrian. The System knows you exist now. They'll come for you."
Adrian turned to leave.
"Where are you going?" Andrew asked.
"To think."
He walked outside. Rain had stopped. The air was cold.
Tony was asleep in the cab. Adrian didn't wake him.
He just stood there. The USB drive in his pocket.
His father had almost saved his mother. Then he was murdered by six men who wanted to profit from death.
Adrian had the formula. The map. The evidence.
Now he had a choice.
Give it to the world. Or use it as leverage.
Either way, the System would come for him.
He got back in the cab.
"Tony. Drive."
"Where?"
"Anywhere."
Tony started the engine.
Adrian watched the mansion disappear in the mirror.
He had his father's legacy in his pocket.
Now he needed to survive long enough to decide what to do with it…