"And I spent seven years trying to destroy it."
Ethan looked toward the surveillance screens.
Sophia was already accessing the central network.
"Can you broadcast the recording?" he whispered.
She nodded.
"If I can reach the city's emergency transmission system."
Michael handed her the master device.
"Use the old police network. It connects directly to every major news station."
Sophia connected the device.
A progress bar appeared.
UPLOADING: 12%.
Voss noticed.
"Stop her!"
Two guards moved toward Sophia.
Michael fired a warning shot.
"Nobody moves!"
The guards froze.
Voss smiled.
"You think broadcasting a recording will change anything? I have judges, politicians, police officers, and businessmen who will deny every word."
Ethan looked at him.
"Then we'll make sure everyone sees it."
The upload reached thirty percent.
Sophia opened the first recording.
It showed Edward Voss meeting with Samuel Cole inside a private office.
Voss spoke clearly.
"The Riverside facility must be destroyed. There can be no surviving evidence."
Samuel asked:
"What about the workers?"
Voss answered:
"They are replaceable."
The recording continued.
Voss instructed Samuel to disable the emergency ventilation systems.
He ordered Richard Hayes to control the police investigation.
He instructed Victor Hargrove to create false financial records.
Then he gave one final order.
"Make sure Daniel Cole is blamed. If he disappears, nobody will question the report."
The upload reached sixty percent.
Voss's expression changed.
"Turn it off!"
He rushed toward Sophia.
Ethan intercepted him.
The two men crashed into a metal table.
Voss dropped his weapon.
Ethan grabbed his arm.
But Voss struck him across the face.
Ethan fell.
Voss reached for the gun.
Daniel rushed forward and knocked it away.
The two men struggled.
Voss was older, but he fought with surprising strength.
He managed to grab Daniel's neck.
"You should have stayed dead!"
Daniel pushed him against the wall.
"I did. For seven years."
He looked directly into Voss's eyes.
"But not anymore."
Michael rushed over and restrained Voss.
The upload reached one hundred percent.
UPLOAD COMPLETEEvery major television station in Blackwood City received the footage.
Within minutes, the first broadcast appeared.
News anchors interrupted their programs.
The mayor's office was surrounded by reporters.
Police officers began receiving orders from headquarters.
And across the city, people watched the same images.
Edward Voss.
Samuel Cole.
Richard Hayes.
Victor Hargrove.
The men who had hidden the truth for seven years.
Then Sophia opened another recording.
It showed Richard Hayes meeting Samuel inside the municipal records building.
Hayes handed Samuel a document.
Samuel examined it.
Then he asked:
"Are you certain the body was identified?"
Hayes nodded.
"Daniel Cole is officially dead. Jonathan Reed has taken his place."
Samuel smiled.
"Good. Nobody will ever know."
The broadcast continued.
Then another video appeared.
It showed Victor Hargrove transferring millions of dollars to shell companies connected to the project.
Finally, the last recording began.
It showed Samuel standing inside Daniel's home.
Laura Cole entered the room.
She held a folder.
"You're going to destroy everything," she said.
Samuel smiled.
"You should have stayed out of this."
Laura tried to leave.
Samuel grabbed her arm.
The recording ended abruptly.
Ethan looked toward his mother.
"That's the night you disappeared."
Laura nodded.
"He took me to the underground facility."
Ethan turned toward Samuel.
"You did this to your own family."
Samuel said nothing.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
Then the laboratory doors opened.
Police officers entered.
At the front was a woman wearing a federal investigator's badge.
"Edward Voss, Samuel Cole, you are under arrest."
Voss laughed bitterly.
"You have no authority here."
The woman held up a document.
"Federal authorization. Your accounts have been frozen, your properties are being searched, and every recording from this facility has been secured."
She turned toward Samuel.
"You're finished."
Samuel slowly lowered his head.
But just as the officers approached, he looked toward Ethan.
"There's something you still don't know."
Ethan frowned.
"What?"
Samuel smiled.
"Your father didn't save everyone that night."
Ethan looked toward Daniel.
Daniel's expression changed.
Samuel continued.
"Jonathan Reed was not the only person who disappeared."
He paused.
"One of the twelve workers survived. And that person has been working for me ever since."
Ethan felt a chill.
"Who?"
Samuel leaned closer.
"Look at the person standing beside you."
Ethan turned.
Sophia was staring at the floor.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Michael looked devastated.
And Laura began crying.
Ethan stepped backward.
"What is going on?"
Daniel finally spoke.
"There's one more truth we have to face, son."
Before he could continue, an officer escorted Samuel away.
The laboratory slowly emptied.
But Ethan couldn't move.
After seven years of searching, the truth had finally emerged.
Yet somehow, he felt that the greatest betrayal was still waiting.
Three weeks later, Blackwood City was no longer the same.
Edward Voss had been arrested.
Samuel Cole was facing multiple charges, including murder, conspiracy, evidence tampering, and illegal human experimentation.
Richard Hayes had been removed from office.
Victor Hargrove's company had collapsed after investigators froze its assets.
Mayor Thomas Caldwell resigned before the federal investigation reached his office.
The Riverside disaster was officially reopened.
For the first time in seven years, the families of the twelve workers were receiving answers.
But Ethan Cole still had one question.
Who had been helping Samuel from inside the investigation?
And why had Samuel told him to look at the person standing beside him?
He found Sophia sitting alone outside the hospital.
She had barely spoken since the events at Riverside.
Ethan approached.
"Can we talk?"
Sophia nodded.
He sat beside her.
"Samuel said someone close to us had been working for him."
Sophia looked away.
"He's right."
Ethan's heart tightened.
"Who?"
She took a deep breath.
"Me."
Ethan stared at her.
Sophia continued.
"Not because I wanted to help him. Because I was forced to."
She explained that Michael Bennett had discovered the Nightfall conspiracy seven years earlier.
Before the explosion, he had hidden several recordings inside the municipal surveillance network.
He knew the people involved would eventually destroy the evidence.
So he arranged a plan.
Michael would disappear.