CHAPTER 5 — SEVEN MINUTES OF DARKNESS
Emergency lights flashed red.
Agent Mercer drew his weapon.
Two federal officers moved to the door while my father stood between my bed and Celeste.
The hospital’s backup generators should have activated immediately.
They did not.
For seven seconds, there was only darkness.
Then screaming erupted down the corridor.
A gunshot cracked from the stairwell.
Mercer opened the door just enough to see outside.
“Lock this room.”
One officer remained with us while the others moved into the hall.
Celeste began trembling.
“He found me.”
“You don’t know that,” I said.
“I know Adrian.”
My father stared at her.
“How?”
She looked away.
“Nathan introduced us two years ago.”
“Why?”
“Because Nathan wasn’t the one who recruited me.”
The door handle moved.
The officer raised his weapon.
A man outside called, “Federal security. Agent Mercer sent me.”
The officer did not unlock the door.
“What’s the verification code?”
Silence.
Then bullets tore through the wood.
My father dragged the mattress upright as the officer returned fire through the door.
Celeste threw herself beneath the window.
I could not move quickly enough.
The first round struck the metal rail beside my shoulder.
The second buried itself in the wall.
The officer fired three controlled shots.
A body fell outside.
Emergency power surged back.
The room filled with harsh white light.
Mercer rushed in moments later.
The attacker wore hospital scrubs and carried a suppressed pistol. In his pocket was a temporary badge issued to one of my father’s private security contractors.
Someone inside Vale Meridian had not merely helped Adrian steal money.
They had given him access to my father’s security network.
Celeste stared at the dead attacker through the shattered door.
“He won’t stop.”
Mercer crouched in front of her.
“Then tell us everything.”
She looked at me.
“Nathan thought the goal was your trust. Adrian wanted something else.”
“What?”
“Your voting shares.”
My mother’s inheritance gave me enough influence to block any attempt to break Vale Meridian apart.
Adrian had spent years proposing risky acquisitions, weapons contracts, and deals with sanctioned foreign companies.
My father rejected them.
I would have rejected them too.
But if Nathan inherited my shares and transferred them through Celeste, Adrian could remove my father as chairman.
“This was a corporate coup,” I said.
Celeste nodded.
“And tonight was supposed to be the final step.”
My father’s phone rang.
He answered on speaker.
His chief legal officer spoke rapidly.
“Julian, we have an emergency board meeting in forty minutes.”
“Cancel it.”
“I can’t. Adrian called it under Article Nine.”
“He doesn’t have the votes.”
“He does now.”
My father looked toward me.
The lawyer continued.
“Someone transferred Isabella’s proxy authorization at 3:16 this morning.”
I stared at the clock.
At 3:16, I had been unconscious in surgery.
My father asked the only question that mattered.
“To whom?”
May you like
A pause followed.
“To Nathan Ashford.”
