Chapter 296: An Admission, Not a Conversation
After taking their final statements the previous night, Crucible Concord released Martin and Rias. They logged out to rest, then returned to Mountain Risen the next evening for an evidence update. Cassandra’s note arrived while they were waiting at the visitor point.
Martin read it twice before Rias opened a private call. She stood beside him in her fitted black coat while the others appeared in live windows around them. Alexandra joined from Endless Rain with Kumoe pressed against her side. Elisebeth and Katherine had also logged in for the call. Katherine’s window showed Crimson Halo’s composed face framed by raven-black hair.
No one spoke until Martin finished reading the note aloud.
Alexandra’s hand remained buried in the fur beneath Kumoe’s right jaw. "A future market."
Kumoe’s curious head stopped sniffing at the floating call window. All three heads watched Alexandra, and none of her tails moved.
"She knew what Raze did to Ashy. She knew what NineLivesLeft did to Nyxshade and what he tried to do to Kumoe," Alexandra continued. "She still calls it a future market."
"She says she planned to control it," Rias replied. "That distinction matters to Cassandra. It won’t matter to anyone who lost a beast."
Elisebeth clenched her fists in her lap. "Nuh-uh. She can’t write ’my plans failed’ and leave us with that. She can talk that way about a canceled show or a bad investment. This was us, and she was playing with all of us."
Elisebeth leaned closer to the call window. "Night Espresso was ours too. She gave us ranks and asked us to build it with her, so of course we thought we had a say in what it became. Now she calls the whole thing her failed plan and disappears before we can even get angry with her properly. She doesn’t get to file all of us away in one sentence."
Martin stared at Cassandra’s final sentence.
"She told us to leave the guild before explaining anything, and now she’s telling us to keep going without her." His hand curled into a fist at his side. "She keeps deciding what we’re allowed to know. She doesn’t have to make any of this okay, but I need to hear what she chose and why. If the truth means I can’t trust her anymore, that should be my decision, not another one she makes for me."
Rias gave a slight nod. "Her silence may also be costing us time. Cassandra could know how Just Die routed its funding, which officers had access to the research, or where Raze might rebuild. Crucible Concord still hasn’t confirmed whether a usable formula left the laboratory."
Until then, Martin had thought only about what Cassandra’s silence was doing to them. He had not considered how much time it might be buying Raze.
Rias expanded the note and highlighted two lines. "She admits that she treated Just Die as an asset and intended to control Beastslayer progression. She still doesn’t say what authority she had over the guild, why Victoria is listed as the sponsor, or why Cassandra’s account was condemned when the project collapsed."
"Victoria could have worked for her," Martin said. "Cassandra could also have funded the project without telling us."
"Either explanation would fit what we know," Rias replied. "We don’t have enough evidence to choose between them."
When Rias said nothing more, Martin looked at the dark space where Cassandra’s live window should have been. "Or there is another damn identity she hasn’t told us about."
Nobody dismissed the possibility.
Elisebeth opened her mouth, then closed it again. Even she had no accusation ready that felt worse than the possibility itself.
Alexandra tightened her grip on Kumoe’s fur, careful not to tug at it. "An explanation won’t bring Ashy back or undo what happened to Kumoe. I still want Cassandra to say it herself. If she expects me to hate her afterward, she can stay long enough to find out whether she was right."
Katherine closed Cassandra’s note after listening without interrupting. When she finally looked up at the call, the others fell quiet.
"That note is an admission, not a conversation," she said. "She wrote it like a final report, then logged out before any of us could answer. Cassandra can handle strangers hating her. She has had years of practice. Hearing it from us is different."
Alexandra’s eyes narrowed. "She’s making it easy for us to leave her."
"I think she expects us to." Katherine’s expression softened. "She probably believes leaving is the one useful thing she can still do for us. I understand why she can’t face us yet. That doesn’t mean she gets to decide how this ends for everyone."
Martin still did not know whether he could forgive Cassandra. The empty place where her live window should have been bothered him almost as much as the note itself. Cassandra knew how badly hidden identities had hurt him before, yet she had decided that this truth would drive him away and disappeared before he could prove her right or wrong. Whatever remained between them was his choice too, and he wanted the chance to make it after hearing everything.
"I want to talk to her face-to-face," he said. "I don’t want an avatar or another message she can send before disappearing."
"Her office would be the worst place for it," Katherine said. "She would sit across a table from you and turn the whole thing into a meeting before you reached your second question."
That sounded exactly like Cassandra.
"Then where?" Martin asked.
Katherine held his gaze. The corners of her mouth lifted, and her orange eyes brightened for the first time since Cassandra’s note arrived.
"I hoped our first real meeting would be for something happier," she said. "I’m still looking forward to it."
"You’re coming with me?"
"Yes." The smile stayed, though her voice remained calm. "Send me your city and whatever travel details my assistant asks for. I’ll handle the rest."
Martin glanced at Rias. She gave him a small nod but said nothing.
"All right," he said. "Where are you taking me?"
"To Cassandra’s penthouse."