Chapter 5

The heavy oak door slammed open, hitting the stone wall with a deafening crack that echoed through the mountain suite. Corbin marched into the room, his presence a sudden, violent intrusion. Four massive private security contractors filed in behind him, their tactical gear a stark contrast to the refined sanatorium. Corbin held a heavy canvas straightjacket in his hands, his face a mask of professional cruelty. "Put this on her," he barked at the guards, his voice booming with the authority of a man used to disposing of the Kirk family's problems.

Carma didn't scream, nor did she back away. She stood her ground, leaning her weight heavily against the oak bedpost to keep the pressure off her bandaged, throbbing soles. As Corbin stepped closer, she lunged-not with the agility of an athlete, but with a desperate, calculated snap-and clamped her hand around his wrist. Her nails dug into his pulse point, and her hiss stopped him cold. "Marge is talking," she whispered, the words slicing through the room like a razor. "Right now. In a Geneva holding cell. And she's starting with your name, Corbin."

Corbin froze, the straightjacket slipping from his fingers. He stared at his cousin, his predatory confidence wavering at the mention of the family's most dangerous cleaner. Carma didn't give him space to breathe; she pressed the small, sleek laptop-not the lipstick, but the high-tech tool Lawson had provided-toward him. She tapped a key, and a voice perfectly mimicking Johnie's sharp, aristocratic tone filled the air. "Handle Marge. And when it's done, make sure Corbin takes the fall. He's been skimming enough to make a convincing scapegoat. Make it look like a suicide of conscience."

The deepfake, rendered with the advanced software Carma had accessed via the laptop's encrypted uplink, hit Corbin like a physical blow. He had been skimming campaign funds for months, and the intersection of his real guilt and this fabricated betrayal was paralyzing. Carma saw the sweat break out on his forehead. "She's setting you up for international kidnapping and murder," she said softly, her eyes locking onto his. "You're not the executioner this time, Corbin. You're the loose end."

Corbin swallowed hard, his arrogance disintegrating into the survival instinct of a cornered animal. He waved his hand frantically at the guards. "Get out! Wait in the hall! Now!" The door clicked shut, leaving them in a charged silence. "What do I do?" he choked out, his voice thin. Carma reached into her drawer and pulled out a forged attorney visitation pass-an official-looking document prepared by Lawson's fixers and hidden in her luggage's false bottom.

"You take this. You go to Marge before the police break her," Carma instructed, her voice cold and steady. "Make her sign a confession stating Johnie ordered the poisoning of Betty-Jo. Tell her it's the only way Johnie won't have her silenced in prison." She handed him a heavy fountain pen along with the pass. "Get this signed, and I'll use my leverage with Lawson to keep your name out of the DOJ's reach." Corbin snatched the paper and the pen, turning on his heel to bolt from the room.

Carma walked gingerly to the window, watching the convoy speed down the Alpine road. Three hours later, Corbin was in the Geneva detention center, screaming at a terrified Marge. Believing Johnie had truly marked her for death, Marge grabbed the fountain pen. As she signed the document, the contact neurotoxin-a potent convulsant Carma had meticulously applied to the pen's barrel-began to permeate her skin. Marge pressed her thumb onto the page, her own blood from a bitten lip staining the paper as the first tremors took hold.

Suddenly, Marge clutched her throat, a wet, strangled gasp escaping her. Her body seized violently, white foam appearing at the corners of her mouth as the toxin hit her nervous system with surgical precision. Alarms blared as she collapsed onto the linoleum. Corbin, watching the woman die exactly as the "recording" had predicted Johnie would want, felt his heart hammer against his ribs. He scrambled out of the prison, jumped into his SUV, and dialed the secure, encrypted line Lawson's fixer had pre-configured on Carma's laptop.

"She killed her! Marge is dead! It happened just like the tape said!" Corbin screamed into the receiver, his voice cracking with terror. "She tried to kill us both!" Carma, sitting calmly on her bed while a nurse changed her blood-spotted bandages, replied with chilling detachment. "Bring the paper to the private terminal, Corbin. It's your only shield now."

At the Geneva airport, Corbin was a broken man, his professional veneer completely shattered. He practically fell to his knees as he handed the blood-smudged confession to Carma. She took it with gloved hands, sliding it into a hidden compartment of her Birkin bag. "Only I can protect you in D.C. now, Corbin," she said, looking down at him with a gaze that held no warmth. Corbin nodded frantically, his spirit crushed. Carma turned and walked up the stairs of the Gulfstream jet, her steps slow but regal. The blade was unsheathed; it was time to return to Washington and cut the throat of the Kirk family legacy.