Chapter 7 - THE TOWER OVER THE RIVER
Ethan demanded my presence.
Mara refused before he finished speaking.
I listened from the hospital bed while he described the tower.
The financial server was on the thirty-second floor.
The original building plans were there.
So were payment records connecting city inspectors, board members, and contractors.
If he destroyed them, many crimes would become difficult to prove.
Mara reminded him that copies existed.
He smiled.
“Not the structural records.”
Without those plans, officials could not identify which occupied buildings were unsafe.
He had turned hundreds of residents into leverage.
“Come alone,” he said.
“Or the server burns.”
I looked at Liam.
“No.”
He understood before I spoke.
“You cannot leave this hospital.”
“People are living inside buildings that may collapse.”
“State engineers can inspect them.”
“That takes time.”
“Ethan has the list.”
Liam stood.
“He nearly killed you twelve hours ago.”
“That is why he believes I will obey him now.”
Mara prepared a controlled transfer.
I wore a hospital brace beneath loose clothing.
Each breath hurt.
My face remained swollen.
I refused makeup.
Ethan needed to see what he had done.
More importantly, the cameras needed to see it.
The unfinished tower rose over the river like a skeleton.
Rain moved through the open floors.
Mara’s tactical team entered through lower service levels.
I went to the thirty-second floor in a construction elevator with a concealed microphone.
Ethan waited near the edge.
He wore the same shirt from the night before.
My blood marked one cuff.
The remote rested in his hand.
“You look terrible,” he said.
“So does your company.”
His mouth tightened.
“Apex is mine.”
“My trust owns fifty-one percent.”
“You never cared about that until you wanted to punish me.”
“I cared enough to prevent you from selling it when you were desperate.”
“I saved you from bankruptcy.”
“I gave you a name.”
He laughed.
“You gave me spreadsheets.”
“I gave you financing.”
“I restructured your debt.”
“I found every investor you later called your own.”
His eyes hardened.
“You always needed credit.”
“No.”
“I needed you to stop stealing it.”
The server blinked behind him.
A countdown showed fifteen minutes.
Ethan held out a document.
It restored his executive authority and transferred my trust vote for thirty days.
“Sign.”
“No.”
“Then the tower comes down.”
“You are standing inside it.”
“I know the safe route.”
He always believed escape routes belonged only to him.
I looked toward the unfinished wall.
The city lights moved beyond it.
“Did you plan to kill me in the kitchen?”
He glanced at the microphone beneath my collar.
“Do not perform for the police.”
“Answer.”
“I wanted the password.”
“You kicked me after I lost consciousness.”
“You were still resisting.”
The words entered the open floor.
Clear.
Unapologetic.
Mara heard them.
So did Liam.
So did the recording devices placed throughout the tower.
I held out my hand.
“Give me the remote.”
Ethan smiled.
“You still think you can manage me.”
“No.”
“I think you have always needed me to believe you were smarter.”
His face changed.
I continued.
“The explosives are not connected to that remote.”
“You would never trust Vale with a device that could kill you.”
“You programmed a biometric lock.”
“The signal requires your heartbeat.”
He stared at me.
I had designed the original Apex security systems.
Ethan changed passwords.
He never understood architecture.
“If you die, the detonation stops,” I said.
“For once, your life is the thing protecting everyone else.”
Fear entered his eyes.
He looked toward the service stairs.
Tactical officers appeared.
Ethan ran for the edge.
Not to jump.
To reach a suspended construction platform.
The platform controls failed.
Laura had given Mara the override code.
Ethan turned.
The countdown continued.
He raised the remote and pressed it.
Nothing happened.
Mara placed him in handcuffs.
The timer reached zero.
Instead of an explosion, the server released every structural record to state engineers.
I had entered the transfer command from my hospital bed hours earlier.
Ethan looked at me.
“You tricked me.”
May you like
“No.”
“I audited you.”
