The confrontation with Red had been underwhelming. Not the storm of clarity she had braced for. Not the fire she had wanted to step into.
Maybe that was naive of her.
But then again, she was just a girl who had started this for something greater than herself. Greater than greed. Greater than fear.
She still remembered that night. The one where she crept into her father's office, breath held, hands trembling on polished wood. The night she watched him leave.
If only she had spoken. If only she had reached for him.
Would he have turned back? Would he have stayed?
No.
His absence had been a certainty long before his footsteps ever faded.
And now she was chasing another ghost. Another man's word.
The day she learned of Hamza's trip to Palestine, something inside her shifted. Before that, she had teetered on the edge of indecision. The job was simple, but dangerous. A gamble with no promise of a prize.
But the moment Hamza left—her hesitation left with him.
She walked into Hotel Belmonde with the weight of a choice already made. No second-guessing. No retracing her steps. She had spent too much of her life lost in the past.
The prince's money was a means to an end. A lifeline for those who had none. A whisper in the dark for Gaza, for the prisoners who had been swallowed whole by war, for the families who clung to names spoken only in prayer.
She had tried every door. Knocked until her hands bled. Every path led to silence.
Perhaps the prince's connections could break it.
Perhaps hope was not yet a grave she had to mourn.
Because what is a life, if you live it not knowing whether your loved ones still breathe or if they were buried long before you ever thought to search?
If all it took was a stolen file, a name erased from existence, to carve a way forward—she would do it.
Gladly.
But now—now she had gone too far.
This wasn't about records anymore.
She was sinking into his game.
A night meant not for the lost, but to make them lose. Their will. Their lives.
Or perhaps to take them outright.
Davenport would not be merciful.
Dalia had walked into this for a cause.
But causes did not keep you alive.
And she wasn't sure if dawn would still find her standing.