Page 169 of What Remains

Molly’s breathing never changes. No spike, no tremor. Like this is just another negotiation. “Let’s say you’re right. You can’t prove it.”

Gwen hands me the iPad. “Oh, I already have. And in a matter of minutes, you’re about to make headline news.” She smiles. “Mya, you remember her, right? Your evil group had her attacked in Thailand a few years ago? Well, she wrote an excellent exposé about you and all your clients.”

Molly’s gaze moves between us, one by one—cataloging and calculating—until she finally realizes she’s in FUBAR territory. Although, at this point she may even be past fucked up beyond all repair.

“Nothing has ever been personal. Just business,” she says flatly.

“Even taking advantage of Zoey’s pain and using her?” Carter breaks his silence.

“You call it betrayal, I call it market manipulation. Money is the only thing reliable in this world. Friendships come and go, but you can always count on money.”

“Well, your money is gone. All of your friendships, too,” I grit out.

“You’re smart, I’ll give you that,” Gwen continues when I finish. “When you found out Julian’s still alive, you cooked up a plan you hoped would both handle him and us, all while giving your clients what they paid you to do. And to kick all this bullshit off, you had your hacker frame Carter with that fake video of him killing Preston.”

It was genius, but even the best have a weakness—pride. Gwen used that weakness to dismantle Molly’s whole scheme. She won the war against the enemy without ever having to fire a bullet.

“What you don’t know is that Julian had nothing on you. Well, nothing before you put yourself under a spotlight like this.”

Yup, let that sink in. You brought this on yourself.

Molly’s mouth tightens at my words, the first real crack in her composure.

“Let’s start with what you did down under in Australia, shall we?” Gwen squares her stance, aligning herself next to Carter as I protectively flank her other side. We can keep our backs to the door, because Wyatt and Falcon are outside the penthouse in case Molly isn’t flying solo like the CCTV led us to believe.

“You chose the island of Vanuatu because of its proximity to the Australian navy. You were hired by a defense contracting company to help them reacquire a contract they lost with their government,” Gwen reveals. “Everything that happened with the compound made their current security systems look weak. Not even twenty-four hours after that attack, they canceled the existing contract and rehired your client. A thirty-billion-dollar deal.”

It was never about trafficking. It was always about money. Not a shocker.

“As for London,” Gwen goes on, voice smooth and confident, “you tasked your hacker friend to take out air traffic control and create mass chaos with that fake video for a similar reason. Just yesterday, a new cybersecurity contract was signed—a direct result of that attack. And you crashed the stock market for⁠—”

“I get it, you know.” She stands. “Today’s tool is AI. A few years ago, it was something else. You think taking me down will stop this?” She fakes a dry laugh. “I don’t create monsters, I just monetize them. If it wasn’t me, it would be someone else doing this.”

“Can’t beat them, join them, huh?” Sarcasm drips through my tone.

“Precisely,” she snaps back, soulless eyes flying to mine. “You’ve really wasted your talents on the side of righteousness,” she adds, zeroing in on Gwen. “You could have owned the world.”

Gwen glances at me, a faint smile touching her mouth. “I already have the world.”

My chest tightens. Even now, even at a time like this . . .

God, I love you.

Molly approaches Carter, but he doesn’t budge or order her to back down. “It burns you that Zoey chose to trust me over you, the man she screwed.” She has to lift her chin to look up at him since he has a solid foot on her. “You don’t actually think she ever truly cared about you, do you? Her heart died when Preston’s did.” She grins. “At least you found Diana to keep your bed warm at night. We’ll see how long that lasts.”

Carter dips in closer, nostrils flaring. “Keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth, or I’ll forget every promise I made tonight.” He rights his posture, and with a slight shake of the head, he rasps, “You’re trying to get me to kill you, aren’t you?”

“Go ahead,” she baits him. “You’ll feel better for about three seconds.” She keeps her smartass smirk in place. “You won’t do it. Unlike the old you, this you follows the rules. Or so I’ve heard. Feel like proving me wrong?”

Carter stands down, which isn’t too shocking. The man’s a different person since he met Diana, but not by too much.

“Your backup plan to save you—you realize we know about him now, don’t you?” My words strike the final blow. “That’s why you want to provoke Carter into taking you out.”

Molly shifts her attention to me, but she remains quiet.

“Your backup plan wasn’t officially a client,” Gwen shares. “But when you realized your operation in using us could seriously impact the U.S. election, you made them an offer they couldn’t refuse, hoping to land yourself a president in your back pocket one day.”

“By destroying us, you thought you could help take down the two frontrunners in the race,” Carter says. “My mother-in-law.”