Chapter 15 Austin’s Sacrifice – Belle #2
We fall into a rhythm. I run the program. It spits out partial solutions. We work together to complete the decryption. One file at a time. One message at a time.
The first file is mundane. Communication about a shipment. Nothing specific enough to be incriminating. The second is similar.
But the third file makes my blood run cold.
It’s a conversation between Selena and someone identified only as “R.G.” The date is three years ago.
R.G.: My girl is becoming a problem. She’s asking questions about Wilson.
S.H.: Then give her answers. False ones. She’s young enough to believe what we tell her.
R.G.: And if that doesn’t work?
S.H.: Then we adjust her memories. It’s been done before. The technique is reliable.
R.G.: The Founder won’t like using the procedure on another inner circle child.
S.H.: The Founder will understand necessity. The girl is an asset. We won’t dispose of her unless absolutely required.
R.G. is my father. Richard Gallagher. And they’re discussing me. Discussing how to manipulate my memories.
“Belle.” Max’s hand covers mine. “Breathe.”
I realize I’ve stopped breathing. Stopped moving. I’m just staring at the screen, at proof that my memories were deliberately altered. That the blackouts weren’t accidents. They were intentional.
“Keep going,” I manage to say. “We need to see the rest.”
We decrypt four more files. Each one reveals another piece of the network’s structure. Communications between Selena and people identified only by initials. Discussions of “acquisitions” and “placements” and “removals.” The language is coded but the meaning is clear.
Children. They’re discussing children.
The eighth file we decrypt is recent. Just three weeks ago.
Unknown: The Queen testimony was damaging. Several members are worried about exposure.
S.H.: Let them worry. Fear keeps them compliant. As long as The Founder remains protected, the network survives.
Unknown: And if Stone’s brother continues investigating?
S.H.: Then we handle him as we’ve handled other complications. The island provides many opportunities for accidents.
Unknown: The four of them are back on campus. Brooks, Gallagher, Queen, Stone. Having them all in one place seems risky.
S.H.: On the contrary. It’s efficient. Better to manage them here than chase them across the mainland. Besides, the island has advantages. Isolation. Control. If they become too problematic, they can simply disappear. It’s happened before.
I feel sick. She’s talking about us. About making us disappear.
“This is it,” Max says. His voice is hollow. “This is the proof we need. Selena discussing the network. Discussing eliminating witnesses.”
“But who is she talking to? And who is The Founder?” I scroll through the file. “The other person isn’t identified. Just a string of numbers.”
“Can we trace it?”
“Maybe. If we can figure out what system they’re using.” I open another program. “Austin was good at this. He must’ve included tools for tracking.”
We work for hours. The sky outside the window shifts from black to deep blue. Dawn is approaching. We’ve barely made a dent in the encrypted files. There are dozens more. Hundreds, maybe.
But what we’ve found so far is damning. Years of communications proving Selena’s involvement. Proving the network extends far beyond what the trials revealed.
Government officials. Police. Judges. Businessmen. All referenced in these messages. All complicit.
And somewhere above them all, The Founder. The person even Selena answers to.
“We need to make copies,” I say. “Multiple copies. Cloud storage. Physical drives. Everything.”
“Already on it.” Max has his own laptop open. He’s uploading files to the encrypted server he set up. “But Belle, we can’t do this alone. This is too big. Too many people involved.”
“I know. But who do we trust? David Stone was nearly killed. Detective Harper is part of the network. The police are compromised.”
“What about the FBI? Or media? Someone outside the local system.”
“With what? Encrypted files that took us all night to partially decode? They’ll think we’re paranoid kids making accusations we can’t prove.
” I rub my eyes. They’re burning from staring at the screen.
“We need more. We need something concrete. Something that directly ties Selena to crimes. Not just coded conversations.”
“The photos you took in her library. Those are concrete.”
“They show the scale of operation. But they don’t prove she’s The Architect. Don’t prove she’s actively running things.” I look at the clock. Six-thirty AM. “We should sleep. We have class in a few hours. We need to act normal.”
“How?” Max’s laugh is bitter. “How do we act normal when we just found proof that Selena is planning to make us disappear?”
“The same way we’ve been acting normal for the past week. We pretend. We perform. We make her think she’s winning.” I close my laptop and unplug the thumb drive. “And while she’s watching us play the roles she expects, we keep digging. Keep decrypting. Keep gathering evidence.”
“And Austin?”
My throat tightens. “We make sure his sacrifice means something. We use what he gave us to bring the whole network down.”
Max pulls me against him. I bury my face in his chest. For just a moment, I let myself feel the fear. The grief. The overwhelming weight of what we’re trying to do.
Then I pull back and look at him. “We’re going to win this. I don’t know how yet. But we’re going to win.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because we have something they don’t. Something they’ve never had.” I touch his face. “We have each other. Real connections. Real trust. Not alliances built on blackmail and fear.”
“That’s very optimistic for someone who just learned her memories were deliberately altered.”
“It’s not optimism. It’s rage.” I kiss him hard. “They took everything from us. Our childhoods. Our families. Our sense of reality. And I’m done letting them take anything else.”
When we finally lie down, I don’t sleep. I just stare at the ceiling, mind racing through everything we learned. Austin’s sacrifice. The encrypted messages. The Founder.
Somewhere above Selena is another monster. One we don’t even have a name for yet.
But we will. We’ll decrypt every file. We’ll trace every communication. We’ll follow the thread all the way to the top.
And then we’ll burn it all down.
For Austin. For Luna. For every child whose photo hangs in Selena’s hidden gallery.
For ourselves.
The thumb drive is hidden in my pocket. Such a small thing. But it contains enough truth to destroy an empire.
If we can survive long enough to use it.