Chapter 13 - The Tower
Wind moved through the unfinished floor.
There were no exterior walls.
Only steel columns, concrete, and the glittering city far below.
Matthew pulled Sophie closer.
The child’s eyes were wide with terror.
Lauren took one step forward.
“Let her go.”
“Place the server on the floor,” Victor ordered.
I studied the space.
Two armed men stood near the stairwell.
Another watched the elevator.
Our microphone signal was weak because of interference from the tower’s equipment.
Federal agents might not hear us clearly.
Victor looked at me.
“You have your father’s talent for arriving where you are least wanted.”
“You kidnapped a child.”
“I corrected Lauren’s priorities.”
He spoke as though he were revising a contract.
I asked why he had betrayed my father.
For the first time, real anger entered his face.
He claimed Adrian Sterling had stolen the company they built together.
Victor handled lawsuits, regulators, and political pressure.
My father received magazine covers and control.
Victor believed he deserved half of Sterling Capital.
“Did you ask him?” I said.
“I did not need to ask for what was mine.”
That sentence explained all of them.
Victor.
Matthew.
Samuel.
Each man had decided entitlement was proof of ownership.
Matthew pushed the cane harder against Sophie’s throat.
“Enough talking.”
I placed the server case on the floor.
Victor ordered me to open it.
Inside was the original machine.
We had not brought a duplicate.
The federal agents had objected.
I insisted.
A fake would endanger Sophie.
The real server contained a hidden transmitter I installed before leaving the estate.
Victor connected an authentication key.
The screen displayed the complete archive.
His smile returned.
“Now delete every copy.”
“I cannot.”
Matthew raised the cane.
“You can.”
“The server automatically mirrored the archive when you authenticated it.”
Victor looked at the screen.
A transfer icon flashed in the corner.
The files were being transmitted to federal investigators, major newspapers, and every NexusCore director.
Victor struck me across the face.
I fell against a steel column.
Pain flashed through my back.
Matthew pulled Sophie toward the open edge of the floor.
Lauren screamed.
I saw the same pleasure on his face that I had seen in the penthouse.
He needed helpless witnesses.
He needed fear.
I stood.
“Twenty.”
Matthew froze.
I took one step toward him.
“That is how many times you struck me.”
“Stay back.”
“Nineteen times, I wondered whether you would kill me.”
Another step.
“On the twentieth, I understood something.”
His hand tightened around the cane.
“What?”
“You needed me on the floor because you were terrified of facing me while I stood.”
Lauren lunged.
She grabbed Sophie and pulled her away.
Matthew swung the cane.
It struck Lauren’s shoulder.
Federal agents stormed through the stairwell.
Victor ran toward the construction elevator.
May you like
Matthew seized me around the throat and dragged me toward the edge.
The city opened beneath my feet.
