Chapter 14

Isabella's POV 

​The Vane Tower is an ivory cage. Glass and steel. It feels like it’s humming. A low, electric vibration in the floorboards.

​The DOJ is in the lobby. I can see them on the monitors. Men in windbreakers. They carry boxes. They look like movers, but they move like soldiers. They are here for the hard drives. They are here for my father.

​Arthur is in his office. The door is mahogany. It’s thick. I can still hear him screaming at a lawyer. The sound is muffled. Like a dog barking in a neighbor's yard.

​I sat in the corridor. I didn't hide. I sat on a bench meant for waiting.

​My phone buzzed.

​L.S.

​I didn't answer. I looked at the screen until it went dark. Then it buzzed again.

​I picked up. I didn't say hello.

​"The service elevator," Liam said. His voice was tight. "The freight entrance on 48th. My team has the bypass."

​"I have the data," I said.

​"Leave it. Just get out."

​"I can't leave it."

​"Isabella. Now."

​I stood up. My legs felt heavy. I went to the server room. The air was cold there. It smelled like ozone. I pulled the master drive. The metal was hot. It bit into my palm.

​I walked to the freight elevator. The hallway was empty. The sirens were louder now. They bounced off the glass buildings outside.

​The elevator doors opened.

​Liam was there.

​He didn't look like a CEO. He wore a dark hoodie. Jeans. His shoulder was stiff. He held a tactical tablet in one hand.

​He stepped out. He looked at me.

​He didn't touch me. He just checked the space behind me.

​"The stairs are blocked," he said.

​"I know."

​"We have two minutes before they cut the power to the lift."

​We got in. The doors slid shut. The elevator dropped. It was a fast, stomach-turning fall.

​"My mother's garden," I said. "Julian."

​"Gone," Liam said. "He’s a ghost again."

​"And the money?"

​"Irrelevant."

​I looked at the floor. The metal was scuffed.

​"You bought the board," I said.

​"You gave me the capital."

​"It wasn't a gift, Liam."

​"I know what it was."

​The elevator hit the ground floor with a thud. The doors opened to a loading dock. It smelled of wet concrete and exhaust. A black SUV was idling near the gate. The windows were opaque.

​"Get in," Liam said.

​"Where?"

​"A safe house. New Jersey. No records."

​I stayed on the dock. The wind pulled at my hair. It was a cold wind. It didn't taste like the island. It tasted like carbon.

​"I don't go to safe houses," I said.

​"You do today."

​"Arthur is still up there."

​"Arthur is done, Isabella. The SEC filing was just the start. The DOJ has the logs from the Medusa core. They know about the offshore accounts. They know about your mother."

​I tightened my grip on the drive.

​"They don't know everything," I said.

​"They know enough to bury him."

​Liam stepped closer. He was in my space now. I could smell the antiseptic from his bandage.

​"You're not a target," he said. "Not yet. But if you stay here, they'll take the drive. And then you have nothing to trade."

​"I don't trade," I said. "I survive."

​"Same thing."

​He opened the car door.

​"The house is secure," he said. "No staff. No cameras. Just a perimeter. You stay there until the heat clears. I’ll handle the lawyers."

​"As what?"

​"What?"

​"As what, Liam? Why are you doing this?"

​He looked at the SUV. He looked at the street. He looked everywhere but my eyes.

​"Structure," he said. "You're a key component. If you’re compromised, the whole system fails."

​"I’m a component."

​"Yes."

​I got into the car. The leather was cold.

​Liam sat next to me. He didn't look at me. He tapped his tablet.

​"Drive," he said.

​The safe house was a colonial. Brick. Heavy shutters. It sat at the end of a long driveway lined with oaks. The trees were bare. They looked like veins against the gray sky.

​Inside, the air was stale. Dust motes danced in the light from the hallway.

​Liam walked through the rooms. He checked the locks. He checked the windows. He was methodical. He looked for risk. He looked for entry points.

​I stood in the kitchen.

​"There's food in the pantry," he said. "Water in the fridge. The phone is encrypted. Only one number works."

​"Yours."

​"Yes."

​He stood by the island. The marble was white. Cold.

​"You'll have protection," he said. "Two men at the gate. They don't know your name. They just know you’re a guest."

​"A guest."

​"That’s the label."

​"And the others?"

​"There are no others."

​I looked at him. He was standing three feet away. His hand was on the counter. His knuckles were white.

​"You offered this," I said. "Without terms."

​"Terms are for contracts."

​"Everything is a contract, Liam. You taught me that. What am I paying with?"

​"Nothing."

​"Nothing is never the price."

​Liam turned. He looked at me then. His eyes were dark. They weren't strategic. They were... something else. Something he was trying to kill.

​"You're safe here," he said. His voice was low. "That’s it. No strings. No headlines. Just... quiet."

​"I don't know how to be quiet."

​"Learn."

​He started toward the door.

​I felt a sudden, sharp panic. It wasn't about the DOJ. It wasn't about Arthur.

​It was the house.

​The walls were thick. The gates were high.

​If I stayed here, I was safe.

​But if I stayed here, I belonged to him.

​The protection was a wall. The safe house was a vault.

​I was the sapphire. He was the safe.

​"Liam."

​He stopped at the threshold.

​"The coordinate I gave you," I said. "The frequency."

​"I called it."

​"And?"

​"It’s a dead drop. A server in Zurich."

​"Did you open it?"

​"No."

​"Why not?"

​"I was busy getting you out of a building full of federal agents."

​"You should open it."

​"Later."

​He reached for the door handle.

​"Isabella," he said.

​"Yes."

​"Don't go near the windows at night. The infrared is sensitive."

​"Okay."

​He hesitated. He looked like he wanted to say something. His mouth opened. Then it closed.

​He was avoidant. He was looking for the exit strategy. He was calculating the risk of staying one more minute.

​"I have a board meeting," he said.

​"The vote is over."

​"The cleanup isn't."

​He opened the door. The cold air rushed in. It smelled like dead leaves.

​"Liam."

​One last time.

​He didn't turn around.

​"If I stay here," I said. "If I accept this. What does that make me?"

​I wanted him to say it. I wanted a label. A definition. A boundary.

​If it was a business deal, I could manage it. If it was a debt, I could pay it.

​But silence? Silence was a trap.

​He stood in the doorway. The light from the porch was behind him. He was a shadow.

​"It makes you a survivor," he said.

​"No. That’s what I was on the island."

​I took a step forward. My shoes clicked on the hardwood.

​"What am I to you, Liam? Right now. In this house."

​I saw his shoulders tense. The bandage under his shirt pulled. He was in pain. He was stressed.

​He didn't move.

​"You're a liability," he whispered.

​"Then why am I here?"

​"Because I can't afford to lose the asset."

​"The asset."

​"The asset."

​He stepped out onto the porch.

​"I'll call you at eight," he said.

​"Liam."

​I followed him to the door. I grabbed the frame.

​"The frequency," I said. "It wasn't a dead drop. It was a mirror. If you didn't open it, you didn't see the feedback."

​"Feedback?"

​"The data is being uploaded to your servers, Liam. From this house. The moment I walked through the door, the sync started."

​He turned around slowly. His face was a mask.

​"What data?"

​"My mother’s project. The real one."

​"Isabella—"

​"You said you wanted to save the company. Well, look at your phone."

​He pulled it out.

​The screen was red.

​System Overload.

​"What did you do?" he asked.

​"I didn't do it. The house did. It’s a node, Liam. Didn't you check the deed?"

​He looked at the house. He looked at the brick.

​"Who owns this place?" he asked.

​"A shell company," I said. "Registered in 2005. The 'E.V. Legacy Trust.'"

​The realization hit him. I saw it in the way his eyes widened. Just a fraction.

​He had brought me to her.

​He had put the prize back in the cage.

​"Where is she, Isabella?"

​He stepped back into the house. He closed the door. He was inside now. With me.

​"I don't know," I said.

​"Liar."

​"I don't know, Liam. I just know the logic."

​"The logic?"

​"She wants the core. And now, she has you to help her build it."

​He grabbed my arm. Not hard. But firm.

​"Is this why you came? Was this the plan the whole time?"

​I looked at his hand on my arm.

​I looked at his face.

​I felt a heartbeat. Mine. Or his.

​I didn't answer.

​I let the silence sit between us.

​Cliffhanger:

​"Isabella," he said, his voice dropping to a rasp. "Did you love me on the island, or was that part of the sequence too?"

​I looked at him. My throat was dry.

​"Does it change the math?" I asked.

​Liam let go of my arm. He stepped back.

​He looked at the red screen on his phone. He looked at the locked door.

​"Answer me," he said.

​I didn't.

​He turned away and walked toward the window.

​"Liam," I said. "Look at me."

​He wouldn't turn around.

​"The vote is at nine tomorrow," I said. "Are you going to be there?"

​He didn't answer.

​He just watched the dark trees at the end of the drive.

​And for the first time, I realized that I wasn't the only one who knew how to withhold.