I looked out at the dark, churning water. “Adrian manipulated her, but she still made a choice. She’ll have to answer for the charity fraud. I can’t protect her from the truth.

That’s the one thing my father taught me never to compromise on.”

I slipped the coin into my pocket. The storm was breaking at last, the first pale light of dawn cracking over the horizon. I was battered, exhausted, and my family was in pieces.

But as I watched the helicopters hover over the captured submarine, a profound sense of peace settled over me.

The clerk had closed the case.

THE END.