Semua Bab The Hostile Takeover: Signed, Sealed, and Claimed: Bab 11 - Bab 20

"Which one of you is lying?"The question scraped out of my throat, dry and tasting of copper. I looked at the two men. Two barrels. Two lives I thought I knew. My head was a mess of white noise."He’s on the payroll, Ethan! Reed bought him years ago!" Caleb’s voice was a jagged saw. He didn't lower his gun. His thumb was white on the hammer. "Why do you think the feds are always ten minutes late? Why do you think your father’s 'accidents' never got a real forensic sweep? Jonathan buried the files.""Don't listen to him! He’s the mastermind, Ethan!" Jonathan’s face was slick with sweat. His tactical vest heaved with every breath. "He’s been playing the long game. The 'informant' act? It’s a cover. He’s clearing out the competition. He’s using you to get to Reed’s secondary servers so he can take over the whole damn operation!""Ethan, look at me." Caleb took a half-step forward. The red emergency light hit his eyes. They were dark. Deep. "I scammed you. I broke you. I did it all. But

"Where the hell is he?"I gripped the edge of the empty hospital bed. The sheets were twisted, cold, and stained with a fresh, dark smear. My head throbbed. Every pulse of blood against my skull felt like a hammer on a nail."Mr. Vane, you shouldn't be standing." The nurse's voice came from the doorway. She was holding a clipboard."Where is Caleb Thorne?" I turned. My legs felt like water. My vision blurred, then snapped back into a sharp, painful focus."He was taken for more scans ten minutes ago.""Liar." I pointed at the floor. A single drop of blood sat on the white tile. Then another, leading toward the hall. "He wouldn't leave for a scan without waking me. And he wouldn't be bleeding this much.""Sir, please—"I pushed past her. I didn't wait for her to call security. I followed the trail. It was messy. Uglier than the sterile hallway deserved. Drops turned into smears on the wall where a hand had gripped the molding for support.The trail ended at the heavy steel door of the

"Is this the part where I thank you for the inheritance?"I didn't turn around. I didn't need to. The scent of Caleb’s expensive leather chair and the sharp, stinging smell of the antiseptic from his shoulder bandages told me exactly where he was. My fingers hovered over the keyboard of his encrypted terminal. The glow of the triple monitors washed my skin in a cold, electric blue."I thought you liked surprises, Ethan." Caleb’s voice was a rough rasp from the shadows of the doorway."I like assets. I don't like suicide notes disguised as trust funds." I hit Enter. A list of Lucas Reed’s shell companies scrolled down the screen. Millions of dollars. Dozens of front addresses. All of them ripe for the kill."It wasn't a note. It was insurance."I shed the high-moral executive persona like a layer of dead skin. It felt heavy. Useless. I stepped into the silence of the room with a chilling, newfound clarity. I wasn't the victim anymore. I wasn't the 'bottom' in this power play. I was the

"You're late, Ethan."Lucas Reed stepped out from behind a rusted shipping container. The wind tore at his tailored coat, but his eyes were still. Cold. He had six men with him. All armed. All looking at the black sedan idling behind me."Traffic was a bitch. Getting away from a man who thinks he owns you is harder." I stepped toward him. The shipyard was a graveyard of jagged metal and salt-rot. My boots crunched on gravel and broken glass."Did you bring it?" Lucas held out a hand. "The safe key. And the man.""I brought the key." I reached into my pocket. My fingers brushed the cold steel of the encrypted drive. "Caleb stays in the car until I see the transfer go through. My name. My father’s name. Cleared. Every file erased.""You're in no position to negotiate, Walker." Lucas snapped his fingers. Two of his guards moved toward the sedan."Stay back!" I held the drive over the edge of a deep, oil-slicked puddle. "One more step and this goes in the drink. You’ll never crack the enc

"Did you hear that?"Caleb’s voice was a dry rasp. He leaned against the damp brick of the alleyway, his weight shifting off his ruined leg. Above us, the penthouse of the Walker Building glowed like a jagged diamond against the charcoal sky. Rain slicked the pavement, reflecting the gala lights in oily, shimmering distorted rainbows."Helicopters. News crews." I gripped the cold steel of a heavy pipe wrench I’d pulled from a basement sub-pump. My knuckles were white. "Matthew is taking his victory lap. He thinks we're fish food in the harbor.""Let him think it. Pride makes men blind." Caleb spat a glob of blood onto the wet asphalt. He looked like a corpse that had crawled out of a shallow grave. His expensive shirt was a rag. His designer jacket was gone. But his eyes—those dark, predatory eyes—were sharper than I’d ever seen them."Can you make the stairs?" I stepped closer. I didn't ask if he was okay. We were past that lie."I'll make them if I have to crawl on my teeth." Caleb