Chapter 680: Has he gone?
Dayo sat at the table with his laptop open, studying the information Felix had gathered about Michael Erickson and Silas Vane prison and building plan.
He had barely spoken since Wayne, Valerie, and Ulrich arrived. Their attempts to change his mind had made no difference. He had listened to everything they said, but his decision remained the same.
Michael and Silas had taken Jennifer.
Dayo couldn’t accept that they might get away with it. He had spent months dealing with them through investigations, financial pressure, and the evidence he had helped bring into the open. He had wanted to dismantle their power and expose everything they had done. Now, after what happened to his daughter, none of that felt like enough.
Felix sat across from him, looking through the available records. Max stood near the doorway, while Bella had taken a seat beside the window. The room was quiet apart from the occasional sound of a vehicle passing outside.
Dayo moved a document aside and opened another file.
"How much do we know about their current situation?" he asked.
Felix leaned forward to look at the screen. "Michael is still being held at the police station. Silas is at the IRS facility. They’re being kept separately, and we don’t have a reliable picture of what access either of them has right now."
"Have their people been able to contact them?"
"Some communication has gone through, but we don’t know how much. Their legal teams are involved. There are also people trying to protect their remaining interests."
Dayo considered that information before opening the next document. He wasn’t interested in making a move based on assumptions. If he was going to act, he wanted to understand what he was dealing with first.
Max watched him for a while. "You’re really going to do this?"
"Yes."
"Even after what Wayne and the others said?"
Dayo looked up. "They said what they needed to say. And I heard them."
Bella moved her chair slightly closer to the table. "We know what they did, Dayo. Nobody here is defending them. But you need to be sure about what you/’re choosing."
"I am sure."
His answer was quiet, but it ended the discussion for the moment.
Felix returned his attention to the records. He had been hoping that Dayo might calm down after Jennifer came home. Instead, the time had only allowed him to think more carefully about what he wanted to do.
That frightened Felix more than a sudden outburst would have.
Dayo had always been capable of making difficult decisions. He could be harsh when necessary, but he usually kept his emotions under control. Even when people betrayed him or tried to destroy what he had built, he preferred to deal with them through a plan.
Now he was planning something far more serious.
Felix looked at him again. "What are you thinking?"
"I’m thinking about what happens after I make my move. I know where they are. I know what they’re facing. I know what they did to Jennifer, and I know they believed they could use her to control me."
He paused, then continued.
"They were wrong."
Dayo returned to the information on the screen. He considered the consequences of acting while both men were in custody, including the possibility that the attempt could fail or expose him to immediate danger. He wasn’t pretending those risks didn’t exist. He simply wasn’t allowing them to change his decision.
Felix could see that he was weighing every concern they had raised. That was what made the situation so difficult. Dayo wasn’t ignoring the warnings because he hadn’t understood them. He understood them and was moving forward anyway.
After several minutes, Dayo closed one document and opened a blank page.
"I need to know what options are actually available to me," he said. "Not what would be convenient. What can be done, and what would happen if it went wrong?"
Felix began listing the information they still needed. They discussed what was known about the two facilities, the limits of their current information, and the uncertainty surrounding Michael and Silas’s communications. Dayo asked questions whenever something wasn’t clear. He didn’t accept vague answers, and when Felix told him that a detail couldn’t be confirmed, Dayo moved on rather than pretending it was settled.
Max and Bella listened.
They had seen Dayo take control of difficult situations before, but they hadn’t seen him approach anything with this much personal anger behind it. His voice remained even. He didn’t lash out at Felix when the available information proved incomplete. Instead, he kept working.
That steadiness made the intention behind his actions impossible to dismiss.
Eventually, Dayo leaned back from the laptop.
"I know what I’m going to do."
Felix looked at him. "You’ve settled on something?"
"Yes."
"Can you tell us what it is?"
Dayo explained the broad direction of his plan. He intended to use the information already available to him and a resource connected to the contacts Marcos had left behind. He would not act blindly, and he would not involve anyone who had not agreed to be there. The plan would depend on a narrow opportunity, and if that opportunity wasn’t available, he would have to reconsider the timing.
He went through the important decisions and the risks he believed he could not avoid. He also made clear what he expected from the people who would accompany him and what he did not want them to do.
Felix listened closely. When Dayo finished, he remained silent for a moment.
Max looked from Felix to Dayo. "You think this will work?"
"I think it gives me a chance."
"That’s not the same thing."
"No," Dayo agreed. "It isn’t."
Bella looked down at the table. "And if it doesn’t work?"
"Then we’ll deal with what happens."
The answer was direct. Dayo wasn’t promising them that everything would go smoothly. He wasn’t pretending the risks were small. But he had made his choice, and he wasn’t going to dress it up as somethin
Felix studied the information again, then looked at Dayo.
"You’ve thought about this a lot."
"I had time."
"More time than I wanted you to have," Felix replied.
Dayo didn’t answer.
For a while, the four of them remained around the table. Felix checked the available details again, while Max and Bella considered what Dayo had told them. They were frightened by the direction he had chosen, but they couldn’t deny that he had approached the decision seriously.
Their respect for him had always come from his ability to stay focused when things became difficult. That respect hadn’t disappeared. If anything, it had grown, though none of them was happy about the reason.
Dayo finally shut the laptop.
"I’m going."
Max straightened. Bella rose from her chair.
Felix stood too. "When?"
"Now."
"Then I’m coming with you."
"No. You stay here."
Felix frowned. "Dayo—"
"I need you here."
"Why?"
"Because I need someone who can keep track of what’s happening while I’m gone. If anything changes, I want to know. And if something goes wrong, I need you to be able to respond without being caught up in the same situation."
Felix didn’t like it, but he understood the reasoning.
Max picked up his jacket. Bella checked that she had everything she needed before moving toward the entrance.
Wayne, Valerie, and Ulrich were still in the house. They had been speaking quietly in the adjoining room, hoping the others might find a way to reach Dayo. When they heard him moving toward the door, Wayne came out.
"Where are you going?"
Dayo stopped.
"To deal with it."
Wayne looked at Max and Bella, who were already preparing to leave with him. "Dayo, don’t do this."
"We’ve already had this conversation."
"I know, but you can’t expect me to sit here and watch you walk out knowing what you’re planning."
Dayo met his eyes. "I’m not asking you to watch. I’m telling you I’m going."
Wayne looked as if he wanted to argue again, but the words didn’t come. He knew Dayo well enough to recognize when another argument would accomplish nothing.
Valerie came into the room behind him. Ulrich followed.
For a few seconds, none of them spoke. They had all hoped the planning might give Dayo time to reconsider. Instead, it had only made his intention clearer.
Dayo opened the door.
Max and Bella went out first. Dayo followed them, leaving Felix, Wayne, Valerie, and Ulrich inside.
The door closed.
Wayne remained where he was, staring at it.
Felix walked back toward the table. He didn’t look relieved. He had wanted Dayo to stop, and he still wanted that. But he knew that Dayo had made the decision before any of them arrived.
Valerie looked at him. "Is there anything we can do?"
Felix shook his head. "I don’t know."
Ulrich sat down heavily. "We should have told him more forcefully what this could cost him."
Wayne turned toward him. "We did. He knows."
That was the part none of them could escape. Dayo understood the risks. He knew what he stood to lose, and he was choosing to move forward anyway.
Valerie took out her phone.
"Luna called earlier," she said. "She wanted to speak to him."
Wayne looked at her. "Did you tell her he was leaving?"
"I told her what he was planning. She didn’t answer."
Felix glanced toward the door. "Maybe she was trying to decide what to say."
"Maybe," Valerie replied.
She looked at the phone for a moment before calling Luna again.
The call connected, but Luna didn’t speak immediately.
"Luna?" Valerie said.
"I’m here." Said after a while.
Valerie could hear the strain in her voice. She didn’t know whether Luna was at Amanda’s place or with her parents at that moment, and she didn’t ask. It wasn’t the important thing now.
"Are you all right?"
Luna gave no answer.
Valerie continued carefully. "I know you’re angry with Dayo. I understand that. But I need to tell you something."
"I already know what you told me."
"Yes, but something has changed."
There was a pause.
"What changed?"
Valerie looked at the others. Wayne had moved closer, while Felix stood beside the table. Ulrich remained seated, watching her.
"Dayo made his plan," Valerie said. "He left a few minutes ago. Max and Bella went with him."
The silence on the other end lasted longer this time.
Valerie held the phone away from her ear for a moment, checking that the call hadn’t dropped. Then she put it back.
"Luna?"
A sharp, uneven breath came through the speaker.
Valerie’s face changed.
From the other side of the call, Luna’s voice finally emerged, quiet and cracked.
"Has he gone?"
Nobody in the room answered.
And Luna said nothing more.
A/N: Hey guys, please bear with me! The device I use to write broke recently, so it’s a real struggle for me to type out updates right now. On top of that, my network connection has been awful. Updates might be less frequent for a bit, but I really appreciate your patience and support!