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Title: Content: The threat was naked. McBride felt the last of his pride dissolve. He was a minister of the state, a man of power and influence, and yet here he was�reduced to a scolded subordinate. His future snapped into focus: forever indebted, forever cleaning a mess that could never be clean, forever chained to this man. When he spoke, his voice was a whisper stripped of all defiance. �I understand.� �Good.� Lesley�s tone cooled again, businesslike, as if the storm had never broken. �The waiting is over. Don�t call me again unless you have actionable intelligence. I�ll be in touch.� The line went dead. Now Ted McBride was standing alone in his lavish study, the phone still clenched in his hand. The only sound was the frantic hammer of his heart. He had asked for help�and in doing so, he had unleashed the devil. Sam�s desperation had nothing to do with McBride�s restless pacing tonight. It ran deeper�born of his own failure to unearth the truth he�d come home for. Two years had passed since he set foot back on South African soil, and still he hadn�t found a single thread to pull, no whisper that led to the men who had shattered his life. Revenge was the compass that brought him here, and yet the needle hadn�t moved. He had believed proximity would be his weapon�that serving as Minister McBride�s housekeeper would crack open doors long sealed. But the minister was a vault, welded shut by paranoia. He trusted no one, least of all the quiet man polishing his floors. Maybe this had been folly from the start. His idea..? No. Sithole�s, the old colonel had dangled this job like a key, warning him first with a question: Are you sure you want to open that door? Sam�s answer had been immediate, unwavering. Yes. The only way to silence the ghosts was to face them head-on. But now, that door felt more like a wall. McBride�s demons danced in the shadows every night, and Sam was tired of watching him spiral through episodes he didn�t understand. The minister had his ghosts. Sam had his own. And his were screaming louder by the day. Page Number: Update Page