All Chapters of The Hostile Takeover: Signed, Sealed, and Claimed: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Who gave you the key?"I didn't turn around. I didn't need to. Caleb’s limp had a specific rhythm now—the heavy thud of his left boot followed by the scrape of his right. The sound echoed off the stripped marble walls of the Walker Enterprises lobby. The place smelled like dust and stale ozone. Yellow police tape crisscrossed the elevators like a crime scene. Because it was."The security guard. The one who didn't get a bribe from Collins." I ran my thumb over the brass nameplate sitting in a cardboard box labeled EVIDENCE. Ethan Walker, CEO. The plastic was cracked. I dropped it back into the bin. It hit the bottom with a hollow thud."The board resigned an hour ago." Caleb stopped five feet behind me. I saw his reflection in the darkened glass of the directory. He looked like a ghost in a bespoke suit. "Every investor pulled their stake. The SEC froze the primary accounts.""I know." I looked at the empty reception desk. No phones ringing. No assistants scurrying. Just the silence o

"Are you really going to kill a six-year-old’s father?"Caleb’s voice sliced through the medicinal reek of the guest wing. He stood in the doorway, a shadow against the dim amber glow of the hall. I didn't stop pacing. My boots hit the Persian rug with a rhythmic, muffled thud. The room was a museum of dead things—stuffed heads on the walls, heavy velvet drapes that choked out the moonlight."Samuel wants him gone." I stopped at the window. The Atlantic was a black thrashing beast a hundred feet below the cliff. "He didn't specify the method. He just wants the threat neutralized.""Neutralized is a hitman’s word, Ethan. You’re an Ivy League prick who plays with spreadsheets." Caleb walked in. He didn't close the door. He just leaned against the frame, watching me with those dark, unreadable eyes. "You don't have the stomach for this. Not really.""You don't know what I have the stomach for anymore." I turned. My heart slammed against my ribs. "You spent five years paying a protection

"He’s going to kill her."The glass in my hand shattered. Ice and water soaked my boots. I didn't care. On the monitor, the progress bar for the vault crawled toward ninety-one percent. Below it, a grainy sub-window showed a basement. Concrete walls. A single flickering bulb. And Sophia. My sister was zip-tied to a wooden chair, a black box with a blinking red light taped to the pillar behind her."He won't." Caleb didn't look up from his keyboard. His fingers were a blur. "He’s a businessman, Ethan. He doesn't destroy assets unless the ROI hits zero. As long as that bar is moving, he’s paralyzed.""Look at her face, Caleb! She’s bleeding!" I lunged for the desk. My heart slammed against my ribs like a trapped bird. "Give me the override. I’m aborting the sequence.""Touch that key and I’ll break your hand." Caleb grabbed my wrist. His grip was iron. Cold. Lethal. "If you stop the upload, the leverage dies. If the leverage dies, we’re just two corpses in a high-rise and Sophia is a he

"Get the hell down!"Caleb’s shoulder slammed into my ribs, driving me toward the wet concrete. A bullet whined off the corrugated steel of a nearby container. Ping. The sound echoed through the fog like a flat bell. I scrambled behind a rusted forklift, my lungs burning with the sharp, metallic taste of diesel and salt."Two shooters on the crane!" Caleb barked. He didn't look at me. He was already leaning out, the muzzle of his handgun spitting fire. Three shots. Rapid. Methodical. "Noah, move left! Ethan, the container is twenty yards out. Go!""I'm going!"I lunged from cover. My boots skidded on the oil-slicked ground. I didn't think about the Ivy League degrees or the boardrooms. I only thought about the weight of the iron bar in my hand and the way my heart hammered against my ribs. I was a predator now. Or maybe just a desperate animal.Another round chewed into the concrete at my heels. I dove behind a stack of wooden pallets. Splinters sprayed my cheek. I didn't flinch. I ro

"Open the door, Caleb."My voice sounded like it belonged to someone else. Someone colder. Someone who hadn't just climbed a hundred feet of jagged, wet granite while the Atlantic tried to swallow him whole. My fingers bled. The salt from the spray stung the raw meat of my shredded cuticles. I didn't care."I’m working on it." Caleb’s breath came in ragged hitches. He knelt by the heavy oak double doors of the study, his hands moving with a frantic, jerky precision over the keypad. "Brooks changed the encryption. It’s not a standard rolling code. It’s biometric-sync.""Then use the bypass." I stood behind him, my damp tactical vest heavy against my chest. My handgun was out. Steady. Pointed at the dark hallway we’d just traversed. "We have three minutes before the patrol rotates. Noah said the thermal cameras in the garden have a ninety-second blind spot. We’ve used sixty.""Got it."The lock clicked. A heavy, hydraulic hiss followed. The doors swung inward, revealing a room that smel