Exhaustion hung over the lobby like toxic fog. Two days of terror had drained everyone to their breaking point—bank employees slumped against walls, Rose’s tactical composure showed stress fractures, and even Brick’s military bearing sagged with fatigue.

Wyatt stood before Jaxon with predatory satisfaction, digital evidence blazing across laptop screens that confirmed every accusation with devastating precision.

“Your confession was quite illuminating,” Wyatt announced with deadly calm, his scarred features reflecting triumph that had cost everything. “Board manipulation, coerced signatures, survival through complicity.”

“You have what you wanted,” Jaxon replied with executive exhaustion that couldn’t disguise his mounting terror. “The truth about Henderson Consulting.”

“I have part of the truth,” Wyatt corrected with steel conviction. “But justice requires more than confession.”

“What more could you possibly need?” Jaxon demanded with desperate fury.

“Accountability,” Wyatt declared with finality that made marble walls vibrate. “Public acknowledgment of systematic murder before witnesses who deserve vindication.”

“And then?”

“Then we settle personal accounts.”

“Stop,” she commanded that cut through their warfare. “Both of you, just stop.”

“He’s stalling—” Wyatt began.

“He’s exhausted!” Addison interrupted with blazing conviction. “We’re all exhausted! Look around you!”

Her gesture encompassed the lobby’s human wreckage—Marcus slumped over his security desk, Sarah’s eyes red with fatigue and tears, bank employees clustered together like survivors of the apocalypse.

“Two days,” she continued with a voice that cracked despite her effort at control. “Two days of terror, accusations, revelations that shattered everything we thought we knew.”

“The truth doesn’t care about our comfort levels,” Wyatt stated with brutal efficiency.

“Doesn’t it?” Addison stepped closer, close enough that her presence invaded his tactical space. “Look at him, Wyatt. Really look.”

She gestured toward Jaxon, who stood swaying slightly with exhaustion that made his executive mask transparent.

“You think he’s the mastermind,” Addison declared with devastating clarity. “But what if he was just another victim?”

“What are you talking about?” Rose demanded with sharp attention.

“He was twenty-eight when his father died,” Addison explained with growing conviction. “Thrown into board meetings with men twice his age, men who’d been running criminal operations for decades.”

“That doesn’t excuse—” Wyatt started.

“He didn’t know!” Addison exploded with fury that echoed off marble walls. “A grieving son manipulated by corrupt board members who used his signature for their crimes!”

The revelation struck like lightning, illuminating possibilities that recontextualized everything they’d assumed about guilt and innocence.

“The Henderson contracts,” Addison continued with relentless logic. “Buried in legitimate paperwork, disguised as standard consulting agreements.”

Jaxon’s face reflected recognition and something that might have been relief at finally having someone understand his nightmare.

“They told me it was operational security,” he said with a voice that broke like glass. “Standard military consulting protocols.”

“We can end this,” she said with quiet conviction. “All of us together. Justice for your family, truth about the real perpetrators.”

She stepped away from Jaxon’s protective proximity, her movement creating charged space between the two men who’d fought over her loyalty.

“Wyatt,” she said, extending her hand with a gesture that symbolized a bridge across an impossible distance. “Partners in justice.”

Wyatt stared at her outstretched hand like it was a holy relic, his entire being radiating desperate hope that transcended five years of planning revenge.

“Partners,” he agreed with a voice that shook despite his tactical training.

His gloved fingers reached toward hers, the gesture promising alliance that could heal wounds deeper than individual vengeance—when Viper’s voice exploded across the moment like a bomb detonating.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he roared with theatrical fury that shattered the fragile peace. “Partnership? Justice? We came here to destroy these people, not hold hands and sing songs!”

“Viper, please, stop,” Rose begged.

“I don’t want to.” Viper’s painted grin leered with malicious satisfaction. “Watch the great Ghost get manipulated by pretty words and pregnancy hormones?”

“You’re out of line,” Brick warned with deadly calm.

“I’m the only one still thinking clearly!” Viper declared with explosive rage that sent bank employees scrambling for cover. “While everyone else falls for this emotional manipulation!”

His weapon swung toward the fragile alliance forming between exhausted enemies and potential allies, promising violence that would destroy everything they’d built toward justice.

The reconciliation moment shattered like glass under hammer blow, leaving everyone frozen between hope and terror as Viper’s instability threatened to obliterate their chance for peaceful resolution.