Chapter 13 - Celeste’s Escape
For three seconds, nobody moved.
Then chaos exploded.
Jonathan’s men fired.
Federal agents returned fire.
Glass panels shattered.
Server alarms screamed.
Celeste disappeared behind a rack.
Dad pulled me down.
“Stay with me.”
Torres moved toward Jonathan.
“Drop it!”
Jonathan fired toward the ceiling and ran.
Malcolm ignored every warning and sprinted toward the stairs.
“Ethan!”
A federal agent followed him.
I crawled behind a concrete partition.
Celeste appeared beside me.
I nearly struck her.
“Don’t.”
She whispered.
“You kidnapped Torres.”
“Yes.”
“You manipulated Nathan.”
“Yes.”
“You helped him hurt me.”
Her expression changed.
“I did not order what happened in the hall.”
“You enjoyed it.”
She looked away.
That answer was worse.
“Why are you here?”
“To stop Jonathan.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
At least she was consistent.
She handed me a small access card.
“My father’s medical facility.”
“Where?”
“Virginia.”
“The Meridian site?”
“Yes.”
“Victor is there?”
“Yes.”
Dad reached us.
He immediately aimed his weapon at Celeste.
She smiled bitterly.
“Hello, Elias.”
“You should be in custody.”
“Your federal detention system has weaknesses.”
Torres appeared behind her.
“And now we know one of them.”
Celeste slowly raised her hands.
“Arrest me later.”
“Give me five minutes.”
Torres looked ready to refuse.
Then alarms sounded upstairs.
Malcolm screamed his son’s name.
We ran.
Ethan Reed was alive.
He had been locked inside Nathan’s study with an explosive device attached beneath the desk.
A timer showed four minutes.
Jonathan had not come to negotiate.
He had come to erase witnesses.
Federal bomb technicians moved in.
We evacuated to the front lawn.
Three minutes later, the device was disarmed.
Malcolm collapsed beside his son.
I turned toward Celeste.
“Why me?”
She understood the question.
“Why did Victor choose me?”
Celeste looked toward my father.
“Because you are not like him.”
Dad’s jaw tightened.
“Careful.”
She ignored him.
“Your father believes power must be controlled by good people.”
“My father believes he is one of those people.”
“Yes.”
“Victor believes good people eventually become corrupt.”
“Then why give me anything?”
“Because my father wants to prove a point.”
Celeste moved closer.
“He wants to give you the power of Vale Dominion and Meridian.”
“Then watch what you become.”
I stared at her.
“He destroyed my marriage for an experiment?”
“No.”
“Nathan destroyed your marriage.”
“My father simply removed the curtains.”
Those words hurt because they echoed Dad’s warning before my wedding.
If he believes you’re alone, eventually he’ll show you who he is.
Two powerful men had built philosophies around watching people reveal their worst selves.
And I was tired of being their experiment.
Celeste lowered her voice.
“Victor will activate the release at midnight tomorrow.”
“What does he want?”
“You.”
“For what?”
“To choose.”
“Choose what?”
“Merge the networks.”
“Destroy them.”
“Or release everything.”
She looked at Dad.
“Including what Elias has spent twenty-three years hiding.”
I knew then there would be no simple victory.
If we stopped Victor, my father might still fall.
If we protected Dad, innocent people might remain trapped beneath old secrets.
For the first time, I understood what real power felt like.
May you like
It was not control.
It was responsibility for consequences no matter which choice you made.
