The safe door swung open.
Inside were files, bank statements, photographs, a flash drive.
Sage grabbed everything, shoved it into her bag and started to close the safe then stopped. There was something else in the back. A small notebook.
She pulled it out and flipped through it. Pages of notes in Marcus's handwriting. Names, dates, payments, plans.
This was it. This was everything they needed.
"Got it," she said. "Let's go."
They ran for the door. Into the hallway. Toward the stairs.
The elevator dinged.
They froze. The elevator doors started to open.
Riley grabbed Sage's arm and pulled her into an empty office two doors down. They pressed against the wall behind the door just as footsteps came down the hall.
Security guard doing his rounds. Sage held her breath. Riley's hand was tight on her arm.
The footsteps paused. Right outside the office they were hiding in.
The guard's radio crackled. "Michaels, you on twenty?"
"Yeah. Checking offices."
"Camera just caught movement in the stairwell. Nineteen or twenty. Could be nothing but take a look."
"Copy that."
The footsteps moved away. Back toward the stairwell they used.
"We need another way down," Riley whispered.
"Fire escape," Sage said. "End of the hall."
They left the office and ran the opposite direction from the guard. Found the fire escape door and burst through it. Alarms started blaring immediately.
"So much for quiet," Riley said.
They ran down the metal stairs. Twenty floors. Sage's legs were shaking. Riley was faster and had to keep stopping for her.
Behind them she heard the fire escape door open again. Voices shouting. Multiple people.
"They are coming," Riley said.
"Keep going."
They reached the tenth floor. Fifth floor. Ground level.
The exit door led to an alley. They burst out into the cold air and ran toward the street where they left the car.
Two security guards came around the corner ahead of them.
Riley shifted without hesitating. His clothes tore as he changed into a gray wolf. He lunged at the guards giving Sage time to run past.
"Riley, no!"
"Go!" he shouted. Then he was fully wolf and attacking.
Sage ran. Around the corner, down the block. She found Jenny's car and got in. The keys were still in the ignition because Riley had left them there.
She started the engine, looked back toward the alley.
Riley was down. Four guards were on him. He was fighting but they had tasers.
Sage's hands tightened on the wheel. She could go back. Try to help him.
Or she could get the evidence somewhere safe.
Riley had told her to go. Had sacrificed himself so she could escape.
She could not let that be for nothing.
Sage drove away from the building with tears running down her face and Riley's sacrifice heavy on her chest like a stone.
The bag full of evidence sat on the passenger seat. Proof that Marcus was behind everything. Bank statements showing millions stolen from pack accounts. Photos of Marcus meeting with armed men. The notebook with his plans written in his own handwriting.
She had what she needed to bring him down.
She just had to get it to Kade before Marcus realized what she found.
The clock on the dashboard said four in the morning. Three hours until sunrise. Three hours until the city woke up and Marcus discovered his office had been broken into and his safe emptied.
Sage drove toward Kade's building because that is where this had to end.
At the beginning. Where it all started with a debt and a contract and two people who never should have met.
She parked in the garage and took the elevator up to the penthouse using the key card that still worked somehow.
The elevator doors opened.
Kade was standing in the living room like he had been waiting for her.
They stared at each other across the space. His eyes were red like he hadn't slept. His clothes were wrinkled.
"I have proof," Sage said. Her voice came out hoarse. "Marcus is behind everything. The attacks. The hunters. All of it."
Kade did not move. "Where did you get it?"
"His office safe. I broke in tonight." She held up the bag. "Bank records. Photos. His notebook with all his plans."
"Why would you do that?" Kade asked. "After everything. Why would you help me?"
Sage looked at him. At the man who was her mate whether he wanted to be or not. The man whose father her father allegedly killed. The man who locked her up and pushed her away and broken her heart.
"Because Marcus is killing innocent people," she said. "And that is not justice. That is just murder."
Kade crossed the room and took the bag from her hands. Sat down on the couch and started going through everything.
Sage stayed by the elevator not sure if she was allowed to stay or if he'd send her back to the cells.
She waited while he read. While his face got harder with each page. While he saw exactly what his Beta had been doing behind his back.
Finally he looked up at her. "How did you escape the holding cells?"
"My friend helped me, we picked the lock."
"Riley was caught breaking into my building."
"I know. He helped me get the evidence. Gave himself up so I could run." Her throat tightened. "Is he alive?"
"In custody. I will have him released." Kade stood up. "This evidence. It's enough to turn the pack against Marcus. Enough to prove he's been lying."
"Then use it."
"I will." He moved closer to her. Close enough that she could smell him. Pine and earth and something uniquely Kade. "But first you need to tell me about your father. About what really happened with my father. The truth this time."
Sage looked deep into his eyes. "I don't know the whole truth. I only know what I was told. But I will tell you everything I remember."
"That is all I'm asking."