Chapter 86

The Man in the Coffee Shop

Lex returned to London, disguised in plain clothes, and entered a small coffee shop in Southbank where Cartwright assets were rumored to make drops. He ordered nothing. Just sat in the back, watching.

After twenty minutes, a man walked in.

Well-dressed. Mid-40s. Scar along his jawline. He walked straight to Lex's table and sat.

"You should've left it alone," he said.

Lex stared. "Who are you?"

"I'm a silence broker. You ask questions like those, someone like me follows."

Lex leaned in. "I'm not afraid of you."

The man smiled. "You should be afraid for her."

Lex's jaw tightened.

"She doesn't remember what she hid," the man continued. "But that baby… she's got more than blood in her. That child's the vault now."

Lex stood. "Touch her, and you'll wish you were erased."

The man didn't flinch. "They already tried. And she survived. That's what scares them."

Then he dropped a key onto the table. Small. Old. Labeled: Talis Station / Level 3 / Unit 4B

Lex picked it up.

"Go there," the man said. "You'll find the original files. Before they rewrote everything."

He stood and left.

Lex remained seated, gripping the key tightly, his mind spinning with one growing truth:

Rhea wasn't just part of the past. She may be the key to what the Cartwrights still fear the most.