Chapter 71: An Honest Enemy

Nothing is more seductive than an answer that arrives too easily.

Maeve's father survived under another man's identity. The revelation changes the meaning of every earlier victory.

The trap is clever because it offers exactly what the hero wants. Recognizing that desire becomes the only escape.

Maeve Doyle keeps the larger goal in view: trace the missing names and prevent the new dam from burying the evidence. The immediate problem is smaller, sharper, and impossible to postpone.

They disagree without leaving. For both of them, that becomes a more intimate choice than agreement.

Maeve Doyle must choose between the safe version of the truth and the costly one that can still save others.

The recurring signs of river fog, ledgers, lanterns return with a different meaning, linking this choice to what came before.

A betrayal closes the obvious escape and leaves only the forbidden route.