Friday.
7am.
The article published.
Damian read it on his phone in the guest suite before he was fully awake.
He had made wrong coffee.
It was sitting on the counter going cold.
He sat at the small table and read.
The journalist had done exactly what they had hoped.
Victor Hale's eleven-year campaign.
Documented.
Specific.
The three cases.
Named.
The Garrett connection.
The committee misconduct.
The pattern that Damian had mapped in a library at 3am and built into a document over three days.
All of it.
In print.
With his name in it.
Not as a victim.
As the person who had found the pattern.
He read it twice.
Then he sat very still for a moment.
His phone was buzzing.
Lena: I'M READING IT
Marcus: Article is live. Victor's team is already responding.
Then Kendrick.
Not a text.
A call.
He picked up.
"I'm reading it," Damian said.
Kendrick: "I know. I can tell by your breathing."
Damian: "What does my breathing sound like."
