For a few seconds after Vanessa spoke, the archive room remained quiet.
Not peaceful quiet.
The kind of quiet that only exists when everyone in the room understands that something much bigger has just been revealed.
The dim desk lamp continued to hum softly, illuminating the old contract lying between them. The yellow light made the aged paper look almost fragile, like something that should have crumbled decades ago.
Yet somehow, that thin document had survived long enough to ignite a war.
Marco finally broke the silence.
"Well," he said, rubbing the back of his neck, "that explains a lot of things I didn't want explained."
Vanessa glanced at him.
"Such as?"
Marco pointed toward Gale.
"For starters, why the most dangerous criminal organization on the planet has been trying to capture him all night."
Vanessa couldn't argue with that.
She folded the contract carefully and placed it back inside the folder.
The weight of the information felt heavier than the paper itself.
