Chapter 13 - The Names on the Screen
I gave the hard drive to the technician.
Nathan hesitated.
“This is evidence.”
“Make a forensic copy.”
“Elena.”
“Then show the copy.”
My father remained onstage.
Conrad began shouting.
“You don’t know what you’re doing!”
Charles looked at him.
“I know exactly what I should have done seven years ago.”
The screens changed.
Names appeared.
Transaction totals.
Shell corporations.
Dates.
Board approvals.
The ballroom erupted.
A senator pushed toward an exit.
Two federal agents stopped him.
A banker turned pale.
A contractor dropped his drink.
A woman near the front covered her mouth when her husband’s company appeared.
This was why my mother had been killed.
Not one criminal.
A system.
People who believed silence was just another business expense.
Conrad screamed at my father.
“You’ll destroy Hartwell too!”
Charles looked at me.
Then back at him.
“Maybe it deserves to be destroyed.”
I had never respected my father more.
I had never been angrier at him either.
Both feelings could exist.
That was something adulthood never warned you about.
You could love someone and still demand consequences.
The timer reached thirty-two minutes.
Nathan began reading account data into his phone.
Treasury officials started freezing domestic transfers.
But the final authorization remained active.
We needed Conrad’s code.
I walked toward Vivian.
She had been silent most of the night.
“What does he care about?”
She looked at me.
“Power.”
“That’s obvious.”
“No.”
Her eyes met mine.
“Not money.”
She glanced toward her husband.
“Power.”
I understood.
Conrad didn’t need ninety-six million dollars.
He needed to prove nobody could force him to surrender.
So asking would never work.
I stepped onto the stage.
“Conrad.”
He looked up.
“The transfer system uses biometric confirmation after three failed entries, doesn’t it?”
His face changed.
I had guessed.
That was enough.
The technician caught on immediately.
“Yes.”
He enlarged the settings.
“Three incorrect codes trigger biometric fallback.”
Nathan looked at Conrad.
“Fingerprint?”
The technician shook his head.
“Voiceprint.”
I smiled.
Conrad stopped smiling.
We didn’t need him to cooperate.
We needed him to speak.
Rachel pulled out her phone.
“What phrase?”
The technician checked.
“Eight words.”
Conrad realized what we were doing.
He closed his mouth.
Adrian laughed.
“Dad loves speeches.”
Conrad glared at him.
Adrian continued.
“Especially one.”
He looked at the technician.
“Try ‘Mercer men never kneel before anyone alive.’”
The technician entered two wrong codes.
Then a third.
The system requested voice verification.
A waveform appeared.
Nathan turned to Conrad.
“Say the phrase.”
Conrad stared at him silently.
Rachel played a recording from earlier in the ballroom.
Conrad shouting.
Audio analysis began.
Not enough.
The system rejected it.
Time remaining.
Twenty-four minutes.
We needed the exact phrase spoken cleanly.
Conrad smiled.
Then Owen laughed from the edge of the room.
Everyone turned.
“You think Conrad is the only voice registered?”
The technician checked.
His face changed.
“There are two.”
I stared at Owen.
He nodded.
“I can stop the transfer.”
Rachel narrowed her eyes.
“What do you want?”
Owen looked at me.
“One thing.”
“What?”
“Five minutes alone with Elena.”
My father immediately said no.
So did Rachel.
I looked at Owen.
“Why?”
May you like
His answer silenced everyone.
“Because Evelyn Hartwell didn’t die with only one secret.”
