Chapter 13 - THE GOLDEN CHILD’S LAST THREAT
Firefighters refused to let me enter.
Then Adrian revealed that the old executive elevator operated on an isolated backup circuit.
It could reach the twenty-second floor.
From there, a private staircase led to the boardroom.
Detective Ortiz arrived while the fire chief reviewed the plan.
“You are not going up there,” she said.
“He has the original trust.”
“That document is not worth your life.”
“It is not only the trust.”
“The cash ledger can prove who participated in the fraud.”
“We can prosecute without it.”
“Can you guarantee that?”
She did not answer.
Madeline stepped forward.
“I know the archive layout.”
Detective Ortiz looked between us.
“This is not a rescue operation for civilians.”
Adrian handed her a tablet.
“The boardroom cameras are still transmitting.”
The screen showed Preston walking through smoke.
He carried a gasoline can.
My grandmother’s box sat on the table.
The handwritten ledger lay beside it.
He had placed furniture against the staircase doors.
The fire had not reached the boardroom yet.
Preston stared toward the camera.
Then he held up his phone.
Mine rang.
Detective Ortiz activated the speaker.
“Evelyn.”
“What do you want?”
“You destroyed everything.”
“No.”
“You did that.”
“The company was mine.”
“It was never yours.”
“Grandma chose me.”
“She gave us equal shares.”
“She gave you pity.”
“She gave you responsibility.”
“She knew you could not handle either.”
He kicked the larger boardroom chair backward.
“You always hated me.”
“I was afraid of you.”
The answer silenced him.
“I spent thirty-eight years adjusting my life around your anger.”
“I left rooms because you wanted them.”
“I gave up jobs because you made them unbearable.”
“I stayed quiet because Mom called silence love.”
“I am not doing it anymore.”
Smoke thickened around him.
“Come upstairs.”
“No.”
“I will burn the trust.”
“Then burn it.”
His face changed.
The document mattered to me.
But not enough to make me obey him.
“The copies are valid.”
“The footage survives.”
“The witnesses survive.”
“You are the only thing in that room becoming unnecessary.”
Preston lifted the gasoline can.
“I will burn the entire floor.”
“You are already standing inside it.”
Madeline moved closer to the tablet.
“Preston.”
He looked toward the camera.
“Madeline?”
“I am here.”
“You should not be with her.”
“You threatened me into marrying you.”
“I protected your father.”
“You used his crimes to control me.”
“He deserved it.”
“So do you.”
Preston’s face twisted.
He swept the wooden box from the table.
It struck the floor.
The lid opened.
My grandmother’s envelope slid beneath a chair.
The trust remained on the table.
Preston poured gasoline across it.
Then the boardroom camera went black.
The fire chief shouted toward his team.
“We lost the twenty-third-floor feed.”
Detective Ortiz looked at me.
“You stay here.”
She entered the elevator with two tactical officers and three firefighters.
Madeline grabbed her arm.
“The archive has a second entrance from the service library.”
“Show us.”
“I need to go.”
“No.”
“You will waste time finding it.”
Detective Ortiz hesitated.
Then she pointed toward me.
“Evelyn stays.”
Madeline entered the elevator.
The doors closed.
I stood beneath the tower watching smoke pour from the windows.
Five minutes passed.
Then seven.
A firefighter carried one security officer through the main entrance.
Another team rescued the second.
No one came from the executive elevator.
My phone rang again.
Preston.
His voice was weaker.
“Your detective is trapped.”
“What did you do?”
“The service library is burning.”
“Where is Madeline?”
“She came back for me.”
A scream sounded behind him.
Madeline.
I moved toward the building.
Adrian caught my arm.
“You cannot.”
“He has her.”
“The firefighters are inside.”
“He wants me.”
“That does not mean you give yourself to him.”
I looked toward the old executive elevator.
The indicator light showed twenty-two.
Then twenty-one.
The elevator was descending.
The doors opened.
Detective Ortiz stumbled into the lobby coughing.
One officer supported her.
“Where is Madeline?”
“She went through the archive door before the ceiling collapsed.”
“Preston took her into the boardroom.”
The fire chief ordered everyone back.
The flames had reached the elevator shaft.
No team could reach them from below.
Adrian looked toward the construction drawings on his tablet.
“There is a window-washing platform.”
“It can reach the boardroom terrace.”
The fire chief stared at him.
“Can it operate during a fire?”
“From the roof of the neighboring tower.”
I looked toward the building across the street.
Detective Ortiz understood before I spoke.
“No.”
I took the safety harness from a firefighter’s equipment cart.
“He will not open the terrace door for police.”
“He might open it for me.”
“You are not trained.”
“I do not need to enter.”
“I need him to come outside.”
The platform reached the boardroom terrace eleven minutes later.
Wind pushed smoke across the gap between the towers.
I stood inside the metal cage with a firefighter named Marcus Hale.
He secured my harness to the rail.
“You do exactly what I say.”
I nodded.
The boardroom windows glowed orange.
I called Preston.
“I am outside.”
He appeared behind the glass.
For the first time, he did not look golden.
His hair was burned at one side.
Blood ran from his forehead.
Madeline stood behind him with her hands bound.
He unlocked the terrace door.
Smoke rushed outside.
“You came.”
“Yes.”
He smiled.
“You always come when I make things difficult enough.”
“No.”
I looked directly at him.
“I came to take away the last person you were hurting.”
He pulled Madeline onto the terrace.
A knife rested against her throat.
“Trade places.”
Marcus moved behind the equipment controls.
Preston pointed the knife at him.
“Send the firefighter away.”
“He controls the platform.”
“Then you both stay.”
Madeline looked at me.
“Don’t.”
Preston tightened his grip.
“Come closer.”
I stepped toward the open edge of the platform.
“You hit Sophie because I said no.”
“You humiliated me.”
“You framed a child.”
“You challenged me at my wedding.”
“You wanted obedience.”
“I wanted respect.”
“No.”
I looked toward the cameras mounted on the neighboring roof.
“You wanted witnesses.”
His eyes followed mine.
News helicopters hovered above the river.
The entire confrontation was being recorded.
Preston realized it too late.
I lifted my phone.
The call was connected to Detective Ortiz below.
Every word had been transmitted.
Preston dragged Madeline backward.
“You planned this.”
“I learned from you.”
The terrace door slammed shut behind him.
The electronic fire lock engaged.
May you like
Preston turned.
He was trapped outside with us.
